Hot Desque

Founded in 2018, Hot Desque is a partnership between artists Lizzy Drury and Neena Percy. Their worldbuilding practice spans installations, set design, film, writing, publications and workshops. Pushing the boundaries of curation, we explore the potential to re-enchant matter and create theatrical mise-en-scènes through collaborations with other artists. Through their site-specific installation practice, Hot Desque have exhibited in alternative venues and artist-led galleries across the UK and internationally, including: on stage at Theatre Royal Newcastle, CCA Glasgow, The NewBridge Project, APT Gallery, Artists Residency at The Swiss Church in London, New Delhi Collatoral Art Fair. They have been featured in Resurgence Art & Ecology magazine, and have received awards and grants from Arts Council England, Freelands Foundation, A-N Union and the Gibbs Trust. They have also been Visiting Lecturers at Universities across the UK, most recently Northumbria and Newcastle University.

As long-term South London residents Hot Desque feel deeply connected to the area and wish to bring art’s benefits to local communities. They engage diverse & marginalised locals in free collaborative model-making and film workshops. So far, they have run multiple world-building workshops titled ‘Reworlding’. They use ‘What if’ questions to prompt imaginary scenarios of a future green world. Participants use recycled materials and clay to build models, captured and narrated on a phone camera. Hot Desque have also hosted a reading group discussing texts on matriarchy, archaeology and re-enchantment that have influenced their practice.
Hot Desque aim to present a collective voice of young people across London and the UK. Previous partners include The Climate Coalition and community groups such as Shieldfield Youth Group, Lewisham Youth Theatre..

Katy Wan, Assistant Curator, International Art at Tate Modern and Simon Tate, Managing Director of Wetherby

Katy Wan is Assistant Curator, International Art at Tate Modern, delivering across the range of exhibitions and displays, as well as acquisitions of international photography and art from the Asia and Pacific region.

Simon Tate is the Managing Director of Wetherby, a private property development and investment company based in London. Simon set up his own devleopment company in 2007 where schemes included Riverbank House, a 30,000sqm headquarters building in the City designed by David Walker Architects and pre-let to Man Group in partnership with Pace Investments.