The Enduring Enigma of Mata Hari
Event Information
Description
SPACES STILL AVAILABLE - PLEASE JUST TURN UP!
Part of The Culture Capital Exchange's Inside Out Festival 2017
In October 1917, the woman known throughout the globe as Mata Hari was executed on espionage charges by a firing squad at Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris. Born Margaretha Zelle (1876) in Leeuwarden, Holland, in 1905 she reinvented herself as the exotic dancer Mata Hari, trading on the fascination with colonial cultures at the fin de siècle. Although history has provided little evidence of her spying, Mata Hari’s French prosecutors condemned her as ‘the greatest female spy the world has ever known’, a vamp, a courtesan and a divorcee who had caused the deaths of 50,000 allied combatants. On the centenary of Mata Hari’s death, this event combining talk and performance considers the iconic legacy of this enigmatic woman who challenged the gendered expectations of early-twentieth-century culture.
The event will be presented by:
Julie Wheelwright (PhD) Senior lecturer at City, University of London
Aletia Upstairs Performing artist, cabaretist, singer-songwriter and vintage songstress in the third year of a PhD based on Performing Archives.
Ada Kan Classically trained pianist and accompanist from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.
Image credit: Mata Hari 1910 - Pedro Ralha
Organiser The Culture Capital Exchange
Organiser of The Enduring Enigma of Mata Hari
TCCE is a company promoting the exchange of Universities knowledge and expertise with the capital’s business, cultural and creative sectors. The members are: City, University of London; Guildhall School of Music & Drama; Faculty of Education, Health and Community at Liverpool John Moores University; London South Bank University; Loughborough University London; Middlesex University London; Ravensbourne University London; Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; University College London; University of West London.
