The Beautiful Octopus Club
London’s longest-running inclusive club night will return this summer for a one-night-only free event at Wellcome Collection.
Friday 12 July 2024, 19:00 – 23:00
The award-winning creative arts charity Heart n Soul will present ‘The Beautiful Octopus Club’, an immersive late-night line-up of music, DJs, art and live music performances from headline artists Dean Rodney Jr & The Cowboys, Electric Fire and Sebastian Golgiri, among others.
Free and open to everyone over 16 years, the Beautiful Octopus Club is a celebration of learning-disability culture, with arts and creative community at its core. Created by and for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, the club has inhabited unique venues in London since 1995 and is coming to Wellcome Collection for the first time this July.
On Wellcome Collection’s ground floor, visitors will be welcomed by the Heart n Soul choir and a silent disco before encountering ‘The Fuse’, a hub of live performances and art projections from Heart n Soul artists and DJs, including Dean Rodney Jr & the Cowboys and Electric Fire. Live performances in ‘The Fuse’ will be accompanied by BSL interpretation.
The museum’s upper floor will host the ‘Warm Wellcome’ space, with immersive acoustic music and poetry readings hosted by Tilley & Del the Piggie, featuring space trumpet from Robyn Rocket, new music from Pino Frumiento and poetry from Sam Castell-Ward. The evening will also mark the live debut of the ‘Cheryl Moment’, a piece of calming music by Heart n Soul artist Cheryl Lyte, designed to create a friendly and relaxing ambience and a break from the outside world.
The Beautiful Octopus Club will have a chill-out room for those seeking rest and relaxation, along with ‘Your Space to Create’, an art-making area facilitated by Heart n Soul artists Ben Connors and Catherine Long. The Heart n Soul radio studio will broadcast live to attendees throughout the night.
Heart n Soul’s team of visual artists, the Feel-Good Designers, will craft the club’s exuberant visual identity, transforming the space and guiding club-goers around everything that the Beautiful Octopus Club has to offer.
Wellcome Collection’s Being Human gallery and ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’ – a joyful exhibition created by artist Jason Wilsher Mills – will be open and accessible to attendees throughout the event.
From 2018 to 2020, Heart n Soul were residents of The Hub at Wellcome Collection. The Hub is a transdisciplinary research centre that brings together different voices and expertise to explore health-related questions in a new way. Heart n Soul’s Hub residency shed new light on public attitudes towards learning disability and imagined an alternative, more inclusive future through art and design.
“Bringing the Beautiful Octopus Club to Wellcome Collection, fusing a nightclub in gallery spaces, connecting new audiences with each other, and everyone having the opportunity to experience joy, freedom and pride together is just what the world needs right now!”
“We are delighted to be hosting the Beautiful Octopus Club this summer, an event that has a long-standing reputation for inclusivity, accessibility and openness. The team at Heart n Soul are experts at bringing people from all walks of life together to celebrate, connect and have fun. With live performances, DJ sets, creative activities and relaxation rooms, there is something on offer for everyone and we can’t wait to bring this free and inclusive experience to Wellcome Collection.”
The Beautiful Octopus Club at Wellcome Collection is free and open to everyone over 18 years. Those aged 16 to 18 years must be accompanied by an adult throughout the event. A bar will be open to purchase drinks throughout the evening.
Please note: space is limited and the building may be busy.
Book free tickets in advance to either the in-venue club night or the live-streamed event at https://wellcome.info/BeautifulOctopusClub.
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Ticketing information
The Beautiful Octopus Club
Friday 12 July 2024, 19:00 – 23:00
Address: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
The evening is free and open to everyone over 16 years (16–18 year olds must be accompanied by an adult).
Book free tickets to either the in-venue club night or the live-streamed event at https://wellcome.info/BeautifulOctopusClub.
Access information
All events will have step-free access and seating will be available throughout the building. This is a relaxed event, which means that if you need to, you are welcome to move around and make noise at any time and there will be a chill-out room for those wanting a break from the action.
You can use The Beautiful Octopus Club Visual Story to help you plan and prepare for your visit.
About Heart n Soul
Heart n Soul is an award-winning creative arts charity that believes in the power and talents of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. We work together to make great art with imagination, love and trust. At Heart n Soul everyone is valued and leadership is shared. We offer a place for people to create, connect and help to lead change. We also have a lot of fun. Heart n Soul were previous residents of The Hub.
Website: www.heartnsoul.co.uk
Social media tag: Twitter/ X, Instagram, Facebook: @heartnsoulart
About Wellcome Collection
Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library exploring health and the human experience, and our vision is a world where everyone’s experience of health matters. It offers changing curated exhibitions, museum and library collections, public events, in addition to a shop and café. Wellcome Collection publishes books on what it means to be human, and collaborates widely to reach broad and diverse audiences, locally and globally.
Wellcome Collection actively develops and preserves collections for current and future audiences and, where possible, offers new narratives about health and the human condition. Wellcome Collection works to engage underrepresented audiences, including d/Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, and racially minoritised communities.
Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, which supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.
Websites:
www.wellcomecollection.org
www.wellcome.org
Social media:
Twitter: @ExploreWellcome
Instagram: @wellcomecollection
Facebook: @wellcomecollection