Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate, will be in conversation with writer, fashion critic and curator, Charlie Porter, who initiated the display, and Siobhán Lanigan of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership.
Charlie Porter is a writer and author of the novel Nova Scotia House. His non-fiction books with Penguin are What Artists Wear and Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion.
Siobhán Lanigan is a community activist with more than 30 years experience of working and volunteering in the HIV charity sector, from London Lighthouse in the 1990s to The Food Chain today. She is one of the founders of AIDS Quilt UK, and serves as the chair of the partnership.
The talk will explore the origins of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, its role in highlighting the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS from the 1980s onwards, and the many people it continues to memorialise and represent.
Following the talk, there will be a special evening of drinks and music in the Corner bar.
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt was started in the 1980s at the height of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. A combination of 42 quilts and 23 individual panels will be displayed in the Turbine Hall from 12 to 16 June 2025, echoing how the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt (c.1989-ongoing) was shown outdoors to raise awareness of the ongoing AIDS pandemic and humanise the people who had died from it.
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt display is presented by Tate in partnership with the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership and initiated by Charlie Porter. Curated by Elliot Gibbons, Collaborative Doctoral Researcher.