Exhibition: Middlesex Hospital Blues — Fitzrovia Chapel

Curators in residence Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard present the third in a trio of immersive exhibitions responding to the layered history of the Fitzrovia Chapel and surrounding Middlesex Hospital site.

Middlesex Hospital Blues centres around Blue, the final film by Derek Jarman, released just four months before his death from AIDs-related complications. However, rather than install Jarman’s film, the curators translate its singular gesture into a collective act of remembrance and resistance. The setting is deliberate and poignant:, as the Fitzrovia Chapel was once part of Middlesex Hospital, home to the country’s first dedicated HIV/AIDS wards.

Including a newly commissioned ambisonic work by composer, Simon Fisher Turner created with Tilda Swinton, a sculptural installation by Jenkin Van Zyl, a lighting design by Arup and an original oil on canvas by Jarman himself, the exhibition becomes an act of bearing witness – to the lost, to the care given, and to what was once deemed unseeable, unspeakable and untouchable.

Location: Fitzrovia Chapel, 2 Pearson Square, W1T 3BF
Nearest Station: Goodge Street, via Northern line
Date: 16 October — 18 November 2026