Back before the wedding and Whistable Biennal we hosted a Chap themed Evening at the Montague Arm featuring the return of Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer. ‘Gentleman’s Night’ seemed a bit misogynistic so I was going to call it ‘Ladies and Chaps Night’. Martin at the pub had kindly offered prizes for the best dressed ladies and chaps. However, all the ladies I invited wanted to dress like chaps, not ladies.

I only curated half the live programme for Whitstable Biennale. Emma Leach curated the other half during the weekend I was busy getting married. Emma’s weekend presented a series of intimate and delicate and feminine performance artists. My weekend was more noisy and blokey (in Dave TV or Radio 6 sense of bloke entertainment, not the Nuts Magazine sense).

All this got me thinking about the old performance art stalwart of gender politics.

As Cherie Blair has shown over the last few months, the way to success as a female is not by becoming a respected member of the court, but instead by courting the gutter press. Cherie Blair is not a good role model for women.
The Spice Girls can now only be found in the bargain basket at Woolworths - girl power was too cheap and it didn’t work properly. Burning bras were replaced with wonder bras. However, all those sexy girls wondering the streets has led to a concerning increase in the number of reported rapes and the decrease in the number of successful prosecution. Wonder bras too easily confuse men. Forget Girl Power. We need some Lady Power. The lady is feminine and demands respect.

On the 10th of July in the Montague Arms I decided to host a Ladies Night, but there were no strippers. I wanted ladies whose performances are feminine and demand respect. Gentlemen were welcome.



The night featured Caroline De Lannoy, Holly Darton & Jenny Hunt, Lucy Panesar, Emma Leach and Jo Stephenson.

Labels: Caroline De Lannoy, Cherie Blair, Emma Leach, feminism, Girl Power, Holly Darton, Jenny Hunt, Jo Stephenson, ladies night, Lucy Panesar, Montague Arms

This is a lovely photo of me getting married.

Whitstable Biennale was the week after my wedding. I had been told by Victoria (now Mrs Frog) that I should not arrange any stupid art antic that week. Then Sue Jones phoned and offered me the chance to program some events for the Biennale. I said no. I told Victoria. Victoria said I was an idiot as it was the best show I had ever been offered and I was to phone them back and say that I am going to do it.

I’m not going to write about the wedding on here in case anybody gets confused and thinks my marriage is a performance art piece. It wasn’t. It was a real wedding.

Whitstable went very well. Lee Campbell (who I programmed) got loads of press and even got on Midweek on Radio 4 with Libby Purvis. Lee did a recreation of the opening titles of THE RISE AND FALL OF REGINAL PERRIN.

Click here to hear Lee Campbell on Radio 4

LEE CAMPBELL on BBC News South East June 20 2008


Below is an interview I did for one of the Kent newspapers about Whitstable Biennale. It is probably in an editor’s waste paper basket somewhere in Canterbury. It is a nice summary of Whitstable Biennale.

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Frog Morris. I am an artist, poet, performer and curator of a weekend of live performances at Whitstable Biennale on 28th and 29th of June.

What were the highlights of the Biennale for you this year?

Last year I went to Venice Biennale, it was enormous, and I had to walk past so much boring art to find the good bits. At this year’s Whitstable Biennale everything I saw was a highlight in one way or another. Everything was good, from the big commissioned work by established artists, such as Ryan Gander’s animation, though to all the crazy satellite projects people organised themselves, such as Knitstable. I was really proud to be a part of it.

Kim Noble's performance was one of my favourite moments. Kim rode up Whitstable beach on a jet ski dressed in an amphibian costume and then waded up to an unsuspecting family and presented them with a brand new electric toaster.



I also enjoyed meeting The Man From Above. He set up a scaffolding tower on the beach and explained to passers by that they should embrace climate change and prepare platforms to live on above the rising sea levels. He also offered advice on buying wetsuits and eating more fish.

Other memorable moments included Das Schimmel attempting invade Whitstable Castle and also Charlotte Young’s Guided Tour which took in some usual points of interest around the town. And, of course, I couldn’t believe how many people turned up and joined in for Lee Campbell’s re-enactment of the opening titles from Reginald Perrin.

On Saturday Night we had a Cabaret in the Smack Inn with body beat boxing by Leigh Clarke, music by Victor Mount and spiritual healing with Princess Penang. We also had a drag act to compare, Brian Dawn Chalkley. She was a little nervous when she arrived because as she didn’t see many other people who looked like they might enjoy cross-dressing, but she was made to feel most welcome. It was very touching.

We rounded the weekend off with a special pub quiz night with no right or wrong answers on Sunday evening. We finished with a bit of an old fashioned sing-along with musician Daren Callow. We taught everyone a song about an Angry Badger.


Not many similarly sized towns have such a vibrant arts scene. What is special about Whitstable?

Whitstable is such a lovely town with a wonderful seafront and there is so much nice food and fine ale. It is not hard to convince artists to spend time there.

What do contemporary arts have to offer people?

Artist Kim Noble offered people electric toasters.

It seemed like such a useful gift but not everyone seemed to understand.

Sometimes people are a little confused when they first see a work of art. If the artwork is good it will stimulate people’s brains in one way or another, even if it is to articulate their dislikes. Many people who spoke to The Man From Above were initially bemused by his plan to flood Whitstable but he was also asking people important question about how they are going to deal with climate change.


How important do you think events like the Biennale are to Whitstable, and to society as a whole?

Nobody really gets rich from projects like Whitstable Biennale, there must be some other reason all these people want to do it and to get involved. I am glad that people are being supported in doing something they obviously want to do. I am glad that festivals can happen without charging £150 a ticket and getting sponsored by some awful tasting lager.


What are your plans for the future?

I run a regular night in a pub in London called the Montague Arms (it’s just by the turn off for the A2 in New Cross). We do a contemporary variety show on the second Thursday of every month with music, comedy and performance art. This week we are doing a Ladies Night, but not with naughty strippers. There will be performance by some respectable young lady artists. It includes a performance by Emma Leach who curate the other half of the live programme at Whitstable. Gentlemen are welcome.

Tell us something about you not many people know

I first started performing and organising art events because of a silly art student joke made during a lecture at KIAD in Canterbury in 2001. It’s funny how one thing leads to another.

Labels: Whitstable Biennale Kim Noble Charlie Tweed Das Schimmel Charlotte Young Lee Campbell Daren Callow Mark Quinn Katy Richardson Sue Jones