Autumn Cultural Events season at Bishopsgate Institute

Travel with us Back to the 80s for a thoughtful look at a time which changed British politics forever but also gave us New Romantics, big hair, even bigger shoulder pads and the Young Ones.

You can also take a look through the camera lens at key radical moments in London’s history in Radical London in Focus, part of Photomonth 2012.

For music lovers we have the return of our free Tuesday lunchtime concerts plus our evening jazz concerts including  the Vortex City sessions.

Back to the 80s

What made the 80s such a cult decade? Revisit the music of the 80s with Pauline Black and Gary Kemp, question the Iron Lady’s legacy with Owen Jones and Clare Short or take a look at some shocking fashions of the time. Also explore with Peter Tatchell and Michael Cashman MEP how far we have come towards equality for the LGBT community or debate what strikes, past and present, have achieved. 

• Dissent, Protest and Change
• Poptastic: Music in the 80s
• Riots on the Streets: What can we Learn?
• Right to Strike?
• From Warehouses to Penthouses – The Transformation of Docklands
• Pride and Prejudice
• The Legacy of the Iron Lady: Are we all Thatcher’s Children?
• From Royal Wedding to City Traders – The City in the 1980s
• Fashion, Change and Identity
• The 80s – Lessons for Today?

We also have 80s themed courses in our Courses For Adults this autumn.

Radical London in Focus

During October and November we are delighted to be part of Photomonth 2012 with our series of Saturday talks, Radical London in Focus, in which three leading photographers discuss how they have used photography to document key moments of unrest. Plus explore the radical history of the East End in our walking tour.

There will be an exhibition of all three photographers work at Bishopsgate Institute to accompany these talks from 1 October to 30 November 2012.

• David Hoffman: Policing Protest
• Rebels, Strikers and Anti-Fascists: The Radical East End
• Ed Thompson: Occupy London
• Jenny Matthews: From Reclaim the Night to Slutwalk – 30 years of Feminist Activism in London

 

Spitalfields Life Chit Chats

There’s another opportunity to meet some of the wonderful characters that feature in the hugely popular blog and book Spitalfields Life in the second of our Chit Chats series.

• Immigrants
• Queer Spitalfields
• The Old Market

Other events in the season

Historian Sarah Wise delves into the scandals of sane individuals being sent to the lunatic asylum in Victorian Lunacy: Inconvenient People and leading Philosopher Julian Baggini asks Why Philosophy Matters. Also take a stroll around the squares of London, and find out more about the 19^th century reformists in Victorian Bloomsbury.

• The London Square
• Why Philosophy Matters
• Victorian Lunacy: Inconvenient People
• And the Memory Lingers on: The Jewish East End
• Active Citizenship and the Humanities: The Victorian Model
• Victorian Bloomsbury
• God and Muhammad

Music

 

Come and relax to the beautiful sounds of classical music in our wonderful Great Hall in our series of free Tuesday lunchtime music concerts from 11 September to 6 November 2012.  For full listings, click here.We also bring you the best in live Jazz in our evening concert series

• Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith and John Tilbury
• Perret/trioVD/Puma
• Nils Petter Molvaer

Open House London

Bishopsgate Institute opens its doors for Open House London, a city-wide celebration of architecture. Come and explore our historic Grade II* listed building in the City of London.

Founded in 1894, Bishopsgate Institute was one of three major public buildings designed by architect Charles Harrison Townsend (1851–1928), the other two being the Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum. Guided tours will take place on the hour, every hour (last tour at 4.00pm).