UBIK 2025

6 Sugar House Lane, London, E15 2QS

PV: Thursday, 23rd January, 6 – 9pm
Open: 24th January – 1st March 2025, Thursday – Sunday 11:30am – 5pm

Drinks kindly sponsored by Jim and Tonic

UBIK 2025 is a two-part project by Changeable Beast that invites viewers into an otherworldly “Third Space” inspired by UBIK, the elusive and multi layered substance in Philip K Dick’s 1969 novel. 

The idea for this project emerged when the artists of Changeable Beast, travelling through space on their way to an interplanetary studio critique, encountered UBIK. 

UBIK is slippery- at once a tangible substance, a concept, and a metaphor but always a catalyst for exploring time, reality and social change. Previous accounts of UBIK have manifested as a life-preserving force appearing in the form of an aerosol spray; a commentary on socio-economic theories; a sobering agent and an entity of divine power taking on a phallic shape.

Drawing on these metaphors and interpretations as well as Dick’s essay “Who is an SF writer?” In which he outlines the SF writer as someone who “reframes reality from within”, UBIK 2025 examines art as a subtle yet potent form of activism that redefines the world we live in, challenging societal norms and allowing for boundless inquiry.

Set out over two 3-week long exhibitions, through performance, sculpture, time-based media, drawing and print, Changeable Beast (+ special guests) invite viewers into speculative narratives, exploring alternative futures and cultivating dialogues about potential change.

Part 2:
Aileen Kelly
Carolyn Whitaker
Clare Jarret
Chuting Lee
Diana Wolzak
Ellie Reid
John Summers
Kay Senior
Ornela Novello
Susan Young
Tessa Garland