Celebrate the launch of issue 6 of the Erotic Review with readings, conversation and a film premiere.

Philippa Snow will discuss the enigma of Bonnie Blue, Sharmadean Reid will channel Cleopatra and guest art curator Holly Blakey will introduce The Rehearsal, her new work created with photographer Oliver Chanarin for the magazine. Holly, Oliver and film director Fiona Jane Burgess will be in conversation about the project with ER editor Lucy Roeber, followed by the premier of Fiona's short film of the work. Stay for music from Gwilym Gold, cocktails and conversation.

Thursday 22nd October

7pm for 7:30pm

Tickets £12/£5 concessions

Holly Blakey is a choreographer and director working across stage, screen and installation. Rooted in an intersectional feminist perspective, her practice explores the body’s capacity to hold contradiction, intimacy and transformation. Her film work includes Harvest, Urchin and Sense and Sensibility; alongside collaborations with artists and fashion houses including Rosalía, Harry Styles, Burberry, Dior and Gucci. Original works include Cowpuncher, Triptych, England on Fire, A Wound With Teeth, Phantom and Cry, Heart, premiering in early 2027.

Fiona Jane Burgess is a London-based director whose work spans music, fashion and commercial filmmaking. Her films have been recognised by D&AD, AICP, British Arrows, CICLOPE, the Webbys and Vimeo Staff Picks. She has directed work for Mercedes, Gucci, Burberry and Calvin Klein as well as music videos for Wolf Alice, The Last Dinner Party and Christina Aguilera. She is currently developing her debut narrative short film.

Oliver Chanarin is an artist working primarily with photography. His work culminates in different media including books, installation, robotics and printed matter. Chanarin held the position of professor of photography at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg and is one half of Broomberg & Chanarin, whose work is held by the Pompidou, Tate and MoMA, among others. Awards include the ICP Infinity Award and the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.

Sharmadean Reid is a multidisciplinary innovator. In 2021, she launched The Stack World, a media platform dedicated to the advancement of women through community and knowledge exchange. Her first book, New Methods for Women: A Fresh Perspective on Life, Work and Relationships (Penguin Random House) was published in 2024. Awarded an MBE for services to beauty and women, her work collapses boundaries between the intellectual and the intimate, the aesthetic and the infrastructural.

Lucy Roeber is the founder, editor and publisher of the Erotic Review. Recently, she’s been curating events with the ICA, PornFlimFestival Berlin, Reference Point and the Groucho Club, and has published articles and essays in the TLS, the Guardian and the Real Review amongst others.

Philippa Snow is a critic and essayist, based in Norfolk, England. Her work has appeared in publications including Bookforum, Los Angeles Review of Books, Spike, Tate Etc., ArtReview, Frieze, The White Review, Vogue, The Nation, Texte Zur Kunst, New Statesman, Artforum, TLS and The New Republic. She is the author of five books, including It’s Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me (Virago, 2025).

Description supplied by the event organiser.