A Night with the Neo Naturists

A Night with the Neo Naturists celebrates the subversive 1980s performance group founded by Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie and Wilma Johnson, on the occasion of their large-scale retrospective at Studio Voltaire (8 July–28 August 2016). 

The evening includes film, live performances and music evoking the spirit of the original works’ anarchic innocence. This is the Neo Naturists' first live performance with the full original line up of founding members since 1986. They present a special collaborative performance with Ana da Silva and Gina Birch, founding members and songwriters of The Raincoats.

Supporting acts include Jill Westwood and Antal Nemeth, Christine Binnie and Paul Murphy and a DJ set by Peas in a Pod (Will Larnach-Jones, Joe Scotland and Julie Verhoeven). 

The Neo Naturists were part of London’s subculture that arose in the aftermath of Punk, the emergence of the New Romantic club scene and advent of Thatcherism. They performed wearing little more than body paint celebrating the naked female form, and their performances were “bodypositive” and celebratory, in stark contrast to the increasingly commodified, "sexually packaged" body widely promoted in the 1980s. 

The seminal post-punk band The Raincoats last performed at the ICA in 1980; the ‘godmothers of grunge’ created a sound that, while inspired by Punk and rock music that had come before, was uniquely and uncompromisingly powerful and female. 

Audience members are welcome to participate in full body painting.  

This performance includes nudity.  

Presented in partnership with Studio Voltaire. 

This event has been generously supported by Yana & Stephen Peel. 

Additional support from Arts Council England, The Henry Moore Foundation and Thomas Dane.