One of the festival’s most anticipated events takes place on its opening evening, when Susie Cave joins Bella Freud in conversation at Cadogan Hall.
The evening centres around the new book Susie, an intimate portrait created with Nick Cave, renowned photographer Dominique Issermann and celebrated book designer Irma Boom. Photographed by Issermann across several decades and accompanied by Nick Cave’s personal reflections and lyrical texts, the book considers Susie Cave as a mother, wife, designer, collaborator and creative force in her own right.
In conversation with Bella Freud, Cave will explore creativity, style and motherhood, as well as the part beauty and art can play in living through profound loss. Freud feels like the perfect person to guide the discussion. Her own work moves effortlessly between fashion, interiors, film, fragrance and publishing, often using clothing as a way to explore identity, memory and emotion. Her podcast, Fashion Neurosis, has become known for revealing the stories behind what we wear and the way fashion connects with our inner lives. Together, Cave and Freud promise a thoughtful and deeply personal conversation about image, identity and the creative relationships that shape a life.
Then there is the new exhibition Celebrating 50 Years of Punk.
The King’s Road occupies a central place in the history of punk, making Chelsea the natural setting for a major celebration marking 50 years since the movement exploded into British culture in 1976. On Friday evening, Saatchi Gallery hosts A Night of T/Reason: Celebrating 50 Years of Punk, curated in association with photographer Jane Ashley and Caroline Gration. Bringing together figures from the original scene with a generation influenced by its legacy, the evening will explore the collision of music, fashion and cultural rebellion that made punk such a transformative force.
Contributors include former Clash drummer Terry Chimes, Gaye Advert of The Adverts, writer and broadcaster Robert Elms, pioneering designer Lloyd Johnson, filmmaker and writer Phil Strongman, designer and DJ Edie Ashley and award winning filmmaker Celeste Bell, custodian of her mother Poly Styrene’s archive. Through conversation, music and first hand memories, they will revisit the people, places and ideas that shaped punk while asking what its spirit means today. At the heart of the event will be an exhibition of intimate photographs by Jane Ashley, who documented figures including the Sex Pistols and The Clash from within the scene itself. Her images offer a close and personal visual record of an era that continues to influence music, fashion and popular culture. The photographs will remain on display at Saatchi Gallery throughout the festival, giving visitors another opportunity to encounter this remarkable archive beyond Friday evening’s event.
Elsewhere, the festival brings together an impressive collection of writers, actors, performers and thinkers. Bernardine Evaristo curates an evening celebrating women’s writing, joined by Bonnie Garmus, Jacqueline Crooks, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Joelle Taylor, with readings and live musical performances.
Bestselling author Katherine Rundell introduces her eagerly awaited new novel The Neverfear, while Diaries of Note brings remarkable diary entries to the stage through performances by Celia Imrie, Denise Gough and Lucas Jones.
Dance company Rambert presents work from its centenary programme, while the National Youth Jazz Orchestra celebrates the music of Miles Davis and Nina Simone. Architect John Pawson appears in conversation with Deyan Sudjic, and Professor Daisy Fancourt joins Emma Gannon to discuss creativity, health and the transformative power of the arts.
Comedy, theatre, poetry and live podcasts complete a programme that reaches well beyond the festival’s principal venues and out into the streets of Chelsea.
Chelsea Arts Festival has always celebrated the area’s creative heritage while making space for new ideas and voices. This year’s programme draws a compelling line between Chelsea’s radical past and its contemporary cultural life, offering five days in which to listen, discover, question and be entertained.
Back to all posts