We Showgirls Are Offline

Are you a digital slut, a Grindr whore, or a Hinge princess?

Do you need to unplug?

Tom Marshman is looking for eight queer artists/creatives of different ages to join him in Southend for a shared intergenerational enquiry into digital identities and intimacies

Co-produced with Duckie and hosted at Metal, this playful three-day offline lab creates space to slow down, log off and reconnect – with ourselves and each other

Across lazy brunches and tea parties, we will share stories of desire, shame, hedonism, sexuality, vanity, visibility, and disappearance

We will explore how queer lives move between online and offline worlds, and how our digital selves perform alongside our live bodies

Artists will arrive on Friday night and spend a cosy time together in the lovely Metal lodge house, eating and talking

On Sunday morning, artists will pair up into duos and create and present short (up to 5 minutes) live responses inspired by these conversations

These double acts might explore themes of: performer and avatar; memory and screen; presence and absence

This lab is interested in exploring these questions:

What does it mean to perform offline when queer visibility is so tied to the internet?

What kinds of intimacy and community can live art create beyond the feed?

How do different generations of queer artists experience visibility, connection and care?

We Showgirls Are Offline fits in with the themes Tom is currently researching and exploring for his new work. He is interested in generating and collecting stories from a variety of queer folks about online connections and experiences.

Where

Activities will take place in person in Chalkwell Hall in Southend-on-Sea, a lovely Georgian house sitting within the grounds of Chalkwell Park, overlooking the Thames Estuary.

When

Friday 31 July – Sunday 2 August 2026. Timings to be confirmed

Who

This DIT project seeks eight queer artists/practitioners interested in exploring digital identity, ageing, performance and intergenerational exchange

We are particularly keen to hear from queers local to Southend, and so will ask for your postcode within the open call. Practitioners based outside of Southend are still welcome to apply

We can feed you and put you up

It's free to attend, but you don't get paid

Apply Here