The Roger Ely Experience

Captivated by process and collaboration, she works as the ‘space-between’ – a receiver, receptor and conjuror. These strategies enable her to plug into time and timelessness and to embody changing issues, as well as deeply rooted concerns. Since 1970 she has presented solo and collaborative projects, worldwide. She travelled extensively through Europe in the early ‘seventies with Moody and the Menstruators and the Kipper Kids and later ‘seventies with Paul Burwell. She curated many large-scale events in her Butlers Wharf studio where she first met Roger Ely. They continued crossing paths – at the Zap Club and at B2 Wapping, David Dawson’s space, where Bean and Burwell performed. Dawson, Ely and Genesis invited Bean and Burwell to take part in the Final Academy with Burroughs, Giorno, Gysin and others in 1982. This strand of Bean’s work continues, currently with Unruly – The body in punk at ARoS Museum, Denmark, 2026.

A co-founder of Indica Books & Gallery (where Lennon met Yoko) and of International Times – Europe’s first underground newspaper – Miles was also an influential critic for the NME during the punk years and a co-editor of Time Out. He knew Roger Ely in New York in the 1980s and later through David Dawson’s B2 Gallery in Wapping. Miles’s archives are held at Columbia University and the British Library. 'If you can remember the 60s, then you must be Miles.' – The Sohemian Society.

He has exhibited in many galleries including the Laing Gallery, Newcastle and the Economist Building in London. In his career as a performance artist he has performed in over 100 venues in the US, Canada, Europe as well as the UK. His practice often moves between disciplines and some of his recent work combines elements of all of them. He studied with Roger at Leeds Art School in the early 1970s when Jeff Nuttall’s arrival helped it become a powerhouse of experimentation, happenings and performance. He was a member of the performance collective Matchbox Purveyors formed by Ian Hinchliffe and Mark Long (co-founder of the People Show with Jeff Nuttall). Other members included Patti Bee, Lol Coxhill, Gerry Fitzgerald, Jude Morris, Kevin O’Connor, and Roger.

Neil worked closely with Roger Ely at Brighton Contemporary Arts Festival 1977 and invited Roger to curate events at the Zap Club Brighton 1982 – 1997. Together in 2022 they founded the Sunbeach Hotel in Sri Lanka where Neil established the Suramedura international artists residency and Roger worked as a chef and performer.

She previously worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Arts Council of Great Britain and Midland Group, Nottingham. Lois worked with Roger Ely on events at the ICA, on LADA’s publication of the DVD he co-produced about Ian Hinchliffe, HINCH, and on the early development of Roger’s archive.

In the 1970s he was a member of Action Space, specialising in early video-making and producing performances for the Serpentine Gallery, London and De Appel, Amsterdam. He directed the Edge Biennale, producing exhibitions in Glasgow, Madrid, Newcastle, and London, and was curator of the art-science organisation The Arts Catalyst. He has held visiting professorships and curatorial positions at the University of Texas at El Paso, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, FACT Liverpool, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. He founded and edited the influential Performance Magazine, launched alongside Roger Ely’s PS Magazine, and recently created an online archive devoted to its history in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency. He wrote about the Final Academy for Performance Magazine.

The Drama and Literature Recordings section, which he leads, collects audio and video documentation of all kinds of poetry, prose, theatre and experimental performance. In 2016, he videoed the Roger Ely tribute event at Toynbee Studios, which featured several of today's contributors. The following year, he drove the effort to bring the Roger Ely collection to the Library. The Roger Ely collection is a multimedia archive featuring audio and video documentation of many performances by Roger and others, with corresponding paper, print, photographic and manuscript elements.