Free Tate Modern Exhibition

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

12–16 June 2025

Colourful textile quilt featuring the names of people who died from AIDS which will be shown as part of the display at Tate Modern. Names include Nick Game, Paul Ashton, NAZ Project, Stevie, Space, Bev, Paul, Body Positive Newcastle Upon Tyne, Steve.

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt (Quilt 27: Nick Game, Paul Ashton, NAZ Project, Stevie, Space, Bev, Paul, Body Positive Newcastle Upon Tyne, Steve), c.1989-ongoing, fabric, thread, ribbon, paint, ink, and other materials. Overall dimensions variable. Courtesy of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.

View the entire UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall

A combination of 42 quilts and 23 individual panels will be displayed in the Turbine Hall, echoing how the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt (c.1989-ongoing) was shown outdoors as a form of protest to raise awareness for the ongoing AIDS pandemic.

From 12 – 15 June, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (1995), a previously unseen documentary about the largest display of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, will be screened in the Starr Cinema. Please check screening times in the drop-down box below. Entry is free and no booking is required.

On Saturday 14 June, there will be a live reading of the names at 11.00 and 14.00. Bakita Kasadha will open each reading with a poem. This will be followed by a special choral piece by the London Gay Men’s Chorus at 12.45 and 16.00. For further information and a full events programme, see the drop-down box below.

This display is presented by Tate in partnership with UK AIDS Memorial Quilt and initiated by Charlie Porter. Curated by Elliot Gibbons, Collaborative Doctoral Researcher.

Talk

An Evening of Remembrance: The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

Join us for an evening of conversation, remembrance and celebration as Tate welcomes the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to Tate Modern

Tate Modern

12 Jun 2025

Thursday 12 June

Free Screening of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. See timings in the drop down below.

19.00-21.00 An Evening of Remembrance: The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt with Maria Balshaw, Cleve Jones, Charlie Porter and Siobhán Lanigan. Click here to book.

Friday 13 June

Free Screening of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. See timings and further info in the drop down below.

15.00 - 16.30 UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Audio Description & Touch Tour. Click here to book.

Saturday 14 June

Free Screening of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. See timings and further info in the drop down below.

11.00 – 12.15 Reading of names in the Turbine Hall. Free, drop-in.

11.45 - 12.45 Quilt Making Workshop with Karina Thompson and Emma Duggan in the Tanks Studio. Free, with ticket, email AIDS Quilt UK or speak to AIDS Quilt UK volunteer.

12.45 - 13.00 Choral set from London Gay Men’s Chorus in the Turbine Hall. Free, drop-in.

14.00 – 15.15 Reading of names in the Turbine Hall. Free, drop-in.

14.45 - 15.45 Quilt Making Workshop with Karina Thompson and Emma Duggan in the Tanks Studio. Free, with ticket, email AIDS Quilt UK or speak to AIDS Quilt UK volunteer.

16.00 - 16.15 Choral set from London Gay Men’s Chorus in the Turbine Hall. Free, drop-in.

Sunday 15 June

Free Screening of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. See timings and further info in the drop down below.

Monday 16 June

11:00 - 12:30 UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Audio Description & Touch Tour. Click here to book.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (1995) is a previously unseen documentary about the 1994 display of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in Hyde Park Corner, London. Quilt makers remember their loved ones who lost their lives to AIDS, the names of those memorialised are read out, and the organiser Alastair Hume reflects on the importance of the historic display.

The film was made by a group of friends at the beginning of their work in film and the creative fields during the 1990s. The documentary was never publicly released and presumed lost for thirty years. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is a social document capturing the despair, compassion and hope of a community devastated by HIV and AIDS, thirteen years after the first reports of deaths from the virus. No other known film of the ‘Quilts of Love’ display is in existence.

At the time, the ‘Quilts of Love’ display was the largest ever showing of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, echoing the ‘Names Project Quilt’ displays on the National Mall in Washington D.C, United States. The ‘Quilts of Love’ display was a crucial moment in the history of HIV and AIDS in the UK: until now, it was an event largely undocumented.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, directed & edited Peter Martin, produced by Anna Powell, additional production & direction from Zowie Broach, researched by Martin Cohen, United Kingdom 1995, shot on 16mm, digitally transferred from VHS, 48 mins, subs.

The master copy that was shot on 16mm film has been lost. The version of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out which will be screened has been digitally transferred from a VHS copy. The original also included a voice over by the great late actor Ian Holm.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is one chapter of the largest community art project in the world. In response to the AIDS pandemic, American activist Cleve Jones formed The NAMES Project in 1985. The project invited people to create textile panels to commemorate friends, family and loved ones lost during the pandemic. The individual panels are sewn together to create larger quilts. These larger quilts were often shown outdoors as a form of protest to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. The displays often included a reading of all the names upon the panels. Activist groups across the globe organised their own local quilts.

In the late 1980s, Scottish activist Alastair Hume visited San Francisco, where he witnessed an early display of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Hume later returned home to Edinburgh, where he set up The NAMES Project UK. One of the largest public displays of the quilt was the ‘Quilts of Love’ display in June 1994 at Hyde Park Corner, London, showing selected panels from the US and the UK, alongside sections created by fashion designers. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt represents approximately 384 people affected by HIV and AIDS in the UK.

After the quilts had been in storage for a number of years, seven UK HIV support charities formed the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership in 2014 to conserve and display the quilt publicly as much as possible. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is an important reminder of those who sadly died before the introduction of antiretrovirals and that the HIV and AIDS pandemic is still ongoing. While antiretrovirals have made it possible to live with HIV, those who can access this medication still varies dramatically across the globe. HIV and AIDS continue to affect people and communities all over the world.

Find out more about the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt by visiting their website.

Throughout the course of the display, volunteers from UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be working alongside our Visitor Engagement colleagues to provide further information and support for visitors. There will be a dedicated quiet room for members of the public adjacent to the display should they wish to.

The film There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is fully captioned.

All Tate Modern entrances are step-free. You can enter via the Turbine Hall and into the Natalie Bell Building on Holland Street, or into the Blavatnik Building on Sumner street.

There are lifts to every floor of the Blavatnik and Natalie Bell buildings. Alternatively you can take the stairs.

Fully accessible toilets are located on every floor on the concourses.
A quiet room is available to use in the Natalie Bell Building on Level 4.
Ear defenders can be borrowed from the Ticket desks.

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