the late shows 2026
Saturday 9 May, 6pm-10.30pm
D6: Culture in Transit, 5, Charlotte Square, Newcastle, NE1 4XF (map)
Free
Step into D6's studio for an evening of live performance, film and sound installation by artists taking part in Contested Desires: Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, Paul Nataraj and Ziza.
Building on their exhibitions and residences in Santiago, Amsterdam, Budapest, Lisbon, Turin and Newcastle, they will present work at this year's Late Shows. The artists will transform D6's studios with powerful interdisciplinary work, examining the contested legacies of empire and revealing lesser-known stories of the communities and individuals they collaborated with in the North East of England. Be part of the conversation.
What to expect
Acts of Witnessing is part of Elisabeth’s research into Newcastle’s theatres and music halls during an era of empire and abolition. Through songs and images, she brings to life the stories of those working within - and against - the world of blackface minstrelsy - presented in a video installation for the Late Shows.
We Sound Each Other is Paul's installation shaped by collaborative listening with communities in South Shields and Budapest, collaging songs and stories of migration with political rhetoric. Paul’s work captures the tension between division and solidarity, affirming listening as an act of care and resistance.
Free to Roam is a new body of work by Ziza that both playfully and critically examines how histories are constructed and sustained through systems of power and knowledge. For the Late Shows, Ziza’s live performance reimagines maps and found objects to reveal colonial traces and hidden hierarchies.
Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues is an ambitious conversation between contemporary artists and the museums, archives, and communities that hold and shape Europe’s colonial histories. Artists from Africa, Europe and South America respond to two central questions: What is the continuing impact of colonial heritage today, and whose stories are given space to be heard?
D6: Culture in Transit, 5, Charlotte Square, Newcastle, NE1 4XF (map)
Free
Step into D6's studio for an evening of live performance, film and sound installation by artists taking part in Contested Desires: Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, Paul Nataraj and Ziza.
Building on their exhibitions and residences in Santiago, Amsterdam, Budapest, Lisbon, Turin and Newcastle, they will present work at this year's Late Shows. The artists will transform D6's studios with powerful interdisciplinary work, examining the contested legacies of empire and revealing lesser-known stories of the communities and individuals they collaborated with in the North East of England. Be part of the conversation.
What to expect
Acts of Witnessing is part of Elisabeth’s research into Newcastle’s theatres and music halls during an era of empire and abolition. Through songs and images, she brings to life the stories of those working within - and against - the world of blackface minstrelsy - presented in a video installation for the Late Shows.
We Sound Each Other is Paul's installation shaped by collaborative listening with communities in South Shields and Budapest, collaging songs and stories of migration with political rhetoric. Paul’s work captures the tension between division and solidarity, affirming listening as an act of care and resistance.
Free to Roam is a new body of work by Ziza that both playfully and critically examines how histories are constructed and sustained through systems of power and knowledge. For the Late Shows, Ziza’s live performance reimagines maps and found objects to reveal colonial traces and hidden hierarchies.
Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues is an ambitious conversation between contemporary artists and the museums, archives, and communities that hold and shape Europe’s colonial histories. Artists from Africa, Europe and South America respond to two central questions: What is the continuing impact of colonial heritage today, and whose stories are given space to be heard?
the artists
Elisabeth Efua Sutherland is concerned with layered colonial histories, following bodies through different geographies and spaces by diving into images, texts, maps and landscapes. Building on residencies in Newcastle in 2024 and 2025, Elisabeth is delving into the city’s theatres and archives to uncover stories of performers who toured the UK and other parts of Europe from the mid-1800s until the beginning of the 20th century.
|
Paul Nataraj is a sound artist interested in sonic materiality in the space of diasporic memory and identity and postcolonial subjectivities. His work explores the connections and relationships between the objects of sound and assemblages of the self. Methods of close listening and sharing are part of his practice, which he brought into Contested Desires collaborations in Budapest and South Shields with We Sound Each Other.
|
Ziza is a multidisciplinary artist, engaging with mediums of performance and installation to challenge preconceived ideologies about identity, power and blackness. They create a variety of work that explores and challenges euro-centric and Western knowledge systems. Through their unfolding embodied practice and research, they reveal the entangled legacy of colonialism in the contemporary world and the everyday things we are exposed to but rarely question.
|
Thanks to artists and partners
We warmly thank the artists taking part. Contested Desires is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. In the UK, we are grateful for the support of Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Newcastle Cultural Investment Fund.
More on the Late Shows
The Late Shows are one of the biggest events in Newcastle and Gateshead’s cultural calendar - over one weekend galleries, museums and venues open late across the city.
Plan your route
Venues that are just around the corner from D6 include Blackfriars, Dance City, Newcastle Arts Centre and Grainger Market. To plan your art journey, see the full line up here https://thelateshows.org.uk/2026
Accessibility: Due to the age and change of use of our building, our studios are not wheelchair accessible. We will ensure the work presented will be shared on our channels.
Travel: D6 studios is located at 5, Charlotte Square, Newcastle, NE1 4XF. We are a five minute walk from Central Station and a ten minute walk from Haymarket and Eldon Square bus stations. The Late Shows run a bus service with the nearest stop to D6 at the Discovery Museum, which is a five minute walk away.
If you need support covering travel costs, we have a small number of travel bursaries. Please contact [email protected].
Light refreshments will be available and the team will be on hand to answer any questions.
Free - join us and bring your friends!
Find out more about Contested Desires here.
Images: Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, mapping lives in Newcastle presentation, Dance City, 2024. Photo: Fly Films UK | Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, Acts of Witnessing sharing, 2026, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Photo: Luke Waddington | Paul Nataraj, We Sound Each Other (detail), 2025, Great North Museum: Hancock | Ziza, Breathing Stela (durational performance), Museo Egizio, Turin, 2025
We warmly thank the artists taking part. Contested Desires is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. In the UK, we are grateful for the support of Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Newcastle Cultural Investment Fund.
More on the Late Shows
The Late Shows are one of the biggest events in Newcastle and Gateshead’s cultural calendar - over one weekend galleries, museums and venues open late across the city.
Plan your route
Venues that are just around the corner from D6 include Blackfriars, Dance City, Newcastle Arts Centre and Grainger Market. To plan your art journey, see the full line up here https://thelateshows.org.uk/2026
Accessibility: Due to the age and change of use of our building, our studios are not wheelchair accessible. We will ensure the work presented will be shared on our channels.
Travel: D6 studios is located at 5, Charlotte Square, Newcastle, NE1 4XF. We are a five minute walk from Central Station and a ten minute walk from Haymarket and Eldon Square bus stations. The Late Shows run a bus service with the nearest stop to D6 at the Discovery Museum, which is a five minute walk away.
If you need support covering travel costs, we have a small number of travel bursaries. Please contact [email protected].
Light refreshments will be available and the team will be on hand to answer any questions.
Free - join us and bring your friends!
Find out more about Contested Desires here.
Images: Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, mapping lives in Newcastle presentation, Dance City, 2024. Photo: Fly Films UK | Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, Acts of Witnessing sharing, 2026, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Photo: Luke Waddington | Paul Nataraj, We Sound Each Other (detail), 2025, Great North Museum: Hancock | Ziza, Breathing Stela (durational performance), Museo Egizio, Turin, 2025
