LAB (Revisited): Katherine Araniello’s The Dinner Party Revisited

Live Art Bookshop (Revisited) is a new event series that marks the anniversaries of significant LADA publications. As part of our 2025 rebrand from Unbound to Live Art Bookshop, the series celebrates intergenerational dialogue in shaping the future of Live Art.

The Dinner Party Revisited (2014) was an audacious and ambitious large-scale performance by the late ground-breaking artist Katherine Araniello: a cacophonous, chaotic soiree, inspired by the 1963 TV comedy sketch Dinner for One.

In 2015, LADA published a book with the same name, drawing together video footage, creative responses, first-hand accounts and reflective essays on Katherine’s major contribution to Disability Arts and Live Art alike.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of The Dinner Party Revisited, we will host an evening of readings, screenings and a performance offering from Tamm Reynolds, a recipient of the 2020 Katherine Araniello Bursary Awards.

Join us to reflect on Katherine’s legacy, and documentation and aural history as community archiving.

Bios:

Katherine Araniello was a brilliant artist, an extraordinary human being, and a tireless and audacious activist, as well as being a great friend of LADA and member of our Board of Trustees. Katherine made essential and challenging work engaging with disability, agency and the aesthetics of the body. Her film, performance and digital art was politically fearless and infused with subversive humour. She was heavily invested in collaboration, working with Aaron Williamson as The Disabled Avant-Garde (DAG) and with many other artists on individual projects.

Tamm Reynolds is a live and visual artist who also performs as their drag alter-ego, Midgitte Bardot. Tamm met Katherine Araniello in 2018 and became slow friends. Tamm's work explores power dynamics, comedic and sobering crip-time, expectations of a freak body and more and more these days, whatever's on their bodymind that week. They perform in cabaret, theatre(ish), live art spaces, and have two current passion projects: an hour show, Shooting From Below, (exploring the history of dwarfism and the downfall of the freakish celebrity). The other is hosting Midgitte Bardot's Personal Spot, a (used-to-be) monthly queer performance art night produced with Willy Amott. Both are looking for future homes.

Access Information

Event information

This is a seated event. Various seating options will be available including fold out chairs, office chairs, a sofa and a bench. All are welcome to join in a relaxed space and are free to come and go as they please. The lighting will be fixed with no sudden changes and microphone amplification will be used. There are disposable masks and hand sanitiser available. 

LADA space

The building is wheelchair accessible by lift and provides a wheelchair accessible ground-floor bathroom. All bathrooms are gender inclusive. There is no isolated quiet space inside, but there is a small quiet outdoor area. Some of the art on display in the space includes naked bodies. You can find more information and see photos of the space here. Should you have any particular access requirements, please email willy@thisisliveart.co.uk and we will be happy to offer further support.

Content notes:

Please email willy@thisisliveart.co.uk  if you would like more information on what to expect.

Image credit: Tamm Reynolds