For the best part of a century, a colourful cavalcade of countercultural tribes – from beatniks and Teddy boys, to cyber-goths and scene kids – have enlivened our city streets. Provoking curiosity, fear, and contempt from outsiders, many are content to dismiss them as the visible symptoms of youth rebellion. In his colourful, lively talk Gavin Baddeley will lift the lid on the, history of counterculture, while showing why they are at once wholly throwaway and absolutely key to the societies that spawn them.

Beginning in the 1960s, Feminist Art’s challenged the dominance of men in both art and society, in order to support equality for women artists, and to question assumptions about womanhood. As many of these issues are still ongoing, a younger generation of feminist artists are now using their art to bridge these concerns with those of  race, class, privilege, and gender identity.

Join us to take a journey of discovery through history to learn about some of the incredible heroes and heroines in Black British heritage.  We will explore some amazing stories of the contributions of black Britons through the ages that have largely been forgotten or marginalised in our telling of British history today.

Beauty is a universal concept, or is it? How does the concept of a female beauty evolve throughout the Chinese history? How does it reflect the value and state of the society? This 1h online talk takes a historical view of Chinese perception of female beauty and its representation in Chinese poems and paintings.

Samurai unique philosophy valued honour, reckless bravery and selflessness, as well as duty to the warrior’s master with the purpose of giving up one’s life and embracing death. There was no place for fear in the way of the warrior and this conduct of self discipline and respectful, ethical behaviour was to become the role model behaviour for modern lifestyle.

LEVEL hosts monthly TED Circles and wants to invite you to our next conversation – Agree to Disagree!

TED empowers small communities to get together (Circles), explore materials focusing on a specific monthly theme and discuss them together. It is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to engage with a new topic and to challenge yourself to different views and opinions.

The internet generation has grown into a monolith determining what we can and cannot consume, what’s funny and why and even how you’ll wear your hair if you don’t want to get left behind. In this talk we investigate through a materialist lens the shifting approaches to culture, humour and politics as a generation raised on the internet and subjected to constant streams of information comes of age.

Significant changes occurred in China over the past 40 years since it’s opening up reform. How does that impact on the life and values of each generation? How do Chinese people who were born at different stages of Chinese political and social development perceive themselves? This lecture explores the similarities and differences of generations in China and aims to provide an overall review of the challenges and opportunities each generation faces.

We are inviting you to join our unique event – Calligraphic Meditation. As its name suggests, we will focus on practicing Japanese calligraphy but we will do it in a very mindful way. Drawing symbols and characters from the core of our bodies, aligning posture, breathing and senses, focusing on our inner emotional state, we will create a channel to release our inner feelings.

This Pride month join us as we explore the history of cross-dressing, drag and performance intent on queering gender expression. We will delve into the vast array of genres in which drag has appeared including theatre and opera, investigate drag kings, queens, things, bio queens and creature drag and discuss the future of the art form given its meteoric rise.

Intersectionality was originally coined by Dr Kimberle Crenshaw to refer to double oppression and was adopted by the black feminist movement before becoming mainstream.  Today it has been repurposed to reflect the many diverse facets of our identities. Join us for a study of black feminism and the evolution of intersectionality.