John Water. Image courtesy of the artist and Look Again Festival, 2019

John Water. Image courtesy of the artist and Look Again Festival, 2019

John Walter
Turn My Oyster Up

Saturday 7 June 2014
12:00—19:00

Beach Hut

‘Turn My Oyster Up’ is a phrase translated as ‘make me smile’ taken from Polari, the 1950’s gay cant epitomized by Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick in ‘Round the Horne’. Walter will perform as host at a ‘slang bar’ in a beach hut using the local oyster culture as a linguistic hook upon which to engage the audience in verbal and visual games addressing slang. The installation will include video, flooring, wallpaper, and will host events and performances over the weekend. ‘Turn My Oyster Up’ continues Walter’s longstanding interest in hospitality as a device for engaging audiences in the dissemination of the work. He will serve locally made gypsy tarts to accompany gins and tonics. ‘Turn My Oyster Up’ will provide an alternate reality for those who come to visit Whitstable – something visually luxurious, entertaining and engaging but also out of place, unusual and thought provoking – a ‘queering’ of the local culture.