Matilde CERRUTI QUARA, ninna nanna per un aquilone — lullaby for a kite, 2024
6.15 pm doors open | 6.45 - 8 pm poetry
ALL welcome - latecomers won’t be admitted
Visit our dedicated Online Viewing Room with the artist's special edition, priced at £75, here.
Initiated in 2023 by multimedia artist, poet & performance-maker Matilde Cerruti Quara, POETRY NIGHTS is an ongoing series of public jam sessions of words & moving energies exploring the possibilities of contemporary poetry.
Line-up: Matilde Cerruti Quara, Annie Rockson, Sarah Shin, Echo aka Tahini Molasses
The intention was to get out of my studio, my head, my writing cave, my ego and be like “who else is out there? “ creating a safe space for women and queer poets to experiment and connect amidst each other and to gift myself a recurring appointment with other writers and audiences in a non-pretentious way. I’ve always loved the idea of jam sessions in music so why not having that for words and poetry ?
On the other hand I’m hoping for new audiences to come in and feel poetry belongs to them too, as poetry is an intrinsic part of lived life, it is storytelling and feeling, which we can all connect to. You shouldn't need to be particularly literate or part of a specific crowd to connect to poetry. Poetry is easy, it’s mundane words arranged to echo some sense of infinity and in my opinion it should be simple and immediate and emotional. Poetry is everywhere in the streets you just need to catch it !
THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.
About the performers
Matilde Cerruti Quara is an Italian-British multimedia artist, poet, performance-maker, actor and writer whose practice expands across experimental theatre, text-based artworks and immersive installations. Rooted in language and storytelling, their work investigates identity, archetypes, systems of belief, natural forces, spirituality & rituals, sexuality & power dynamics. Latest works or commissions include: Castello di Rivoli, Turin (IT); MUDAM - Museum of Contemporary Art, Luxembourg (LUX); Swiss Institute, New York (USA); CIRCA Art, London (UK). Matilde holds a MLitt in Modern Art Theory from the University of Glasgow as well as an Acting Diploma from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. They are a two-times recipient of Arts Council England’s DYCP Grant.
Sarah Shin is a writer, publisher, researcher and curator interested in transformation, mysticism, cosmic speculation and altered states. She is weaving and is woven by nested realities, such as dreams, texts, games and practices. Her collaborations include, with artist Sammy Lee, Mirror, a video game that journeys through a mythical world of correspondences. She is a founder of Silver Press, the feminist publisher, and Spiral House, a new imprint for art, poetry and ways of knowing; Ignota, a creative publishing and curatorial house that closed in 2024; New Suns literary festival at the Barbican Centre; and Standard Deviation, a multidisciplinary collective exploring the coincidence of psychic, geometric and inhabited spaces.
After participating in the transformative poetry workshop Voices that Shake, Annie Rockson embarked on a journey as a spoken word artist. She has performed at notable venues including The Mayor of London’s Office, The House of Commons, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and the inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival. She has additionally had her poem featured in the world's first Instagram poetry exhibition at The National Poetry Library. Her poetry has further been published in the Voices that Shake Anthology, and showcased on global platforms such as the Piccadilly Lights and billboards in Berlin and Milan. Deeply aware of what it feels like to be unheard, Annie crafts her poems to both empower and challenge societal perceptions. Through her work, she seeks to motivate her audiences to speak out, fostering a sense of community and inspiring collective action towards a more positive, inclusive world.
Tahini Molasses is a Cypriot musician and artist whose work engages with themes of history, nostalgia and queerness. By reinterpreting traditional songs and symbolism from a trans perspective, they aim to expand queer representation within the region’s cultural memory and imagination. Tahini regularly performs throughout Cyprus, often to support queer and political resistance movements on the Island. Based in London, Tahini is also active in building spaces to showcase and celebrate the queer SWANA (South West Asian North African) community.
