On the evening of October 31, writer Ken Hollings and sound artist Howlround, otherwise known as The Howling, present a special Halloween show at Margate Caves. The Howling, described in The Wire as ‘the missing link between John Cage and Suicide’, stage intense performances in which words collide with heavily looped effects. For this special Howloween presentation, The Howling are premiering a new work for multiple voices specifically created to be realized in Margate Caves. ‘Be Quiet In This Church’ is a fractured meditation on repetition and variation in which a series of uncorrected language exercises are transformed into a haunting subterranean experience. 

Howloween begins with a reading by Ken Hollings from his latest book, Paradise: The Psychoanalysis of Trash, which is about to be published by Strange Attractor Press. The third and final volume in The Trash Project, Paradise offers some final thoughts on the aesthetics of waste, sovereignty and excess. This will be the first time Ken has read any of his latest work in public, making this a unique underground event, not to be missed.

Ken Hollings is a writer, broadcaster and performer whose work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and been featured for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4. His books include Welcome to Mars, The Bright Labyrinth, The Space Oracle, Inferno and Purgatory, all available from Strange Attractor/MIT Press. His latest book for them is Paradise.

Howlround was founded by composer, sound designer and radio producer Robin The Fog in 2012 to create recordings, performances and installations. Several albums later, his approach has increasingly exploited closed input tape-loops to create blistering noise and primitive techno. His latest release is A Loop Where Time Becomes for the Castles in Space label.

The Howling have performed at Iklectic, Café OTO, The Horse Hospital, Acid Horse and the British Film Institute. Their track ‘David Gest, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor’ was prominently featured in the Loewe SS24 catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week. The Howling’s releases include All Hail Mega Force, released by Tapeworm in 2022, and their 2023 CD for Wormhole: Incredible Night Creatures of the Midway. 

Ceremonial and ritualistic attire welcomed.

7PM - 10:00PM