Earthly Paradise: Radical Alternative Living in the UK – William Morris Gallery

Key Takeaways

• Exhibition runs Oct 3 2026–Mar 28 2027, touring UK until 2028.
• Funded by Art Fund’s £5.36 m (~$6.7 m) Going Places programme.
• Show links historic Arts & Crafts homes to modern housing activism.
• Highlights queer, feminist, anti‑racist and anarchist domestic experiments.
• New commissions by Abel Holsborough and David Spero address housing insecurity.

Pulse Analysis

The concept of radical domesticity has deep roots in Britain’s cultural history, stretching back to the Arts and Crafts movement that championed craftsmanship, communal living, and social reform. William Morris’s Red House epitomized this ethos, blending aesthetic innovation with socialist ideals. By anchoring the exhibition in such historic precedents, Earthly Paradise offers visitors a lens to understand how alternative homes have long functioned as laboratories for reimagining society, a narrative that resonates amid today’s search for sustainable, community‑focused living.

Beyond nostalgia, the show connects past experiments to contemporary housing activism. It foregrounds feminist collectives, queer safe‑houses, and anti‑racist squatting movements that have used domestic spaces to challenge gender norms, racial exclusion, and capitalist property regimes. The inclusion of post‑Thatcher Right‑to‑Buy critiques, alongside works by modern artists like Abel Holsborough, underscores the persistent relevance of housing insecurity and the political power embedded in everyday spaces. This framing positions the exhibition as a timely commentary on the UK’s ongoing affordability crisis and the grassroots strategies that seek to address it.

Supported by the Art Fund’s £5.36 million Going Places programme (approximately $6.7 million), the touring model ensures the exhibition reaches audiences beyond London, from Wrexham to Edinburgh. By engaging regional communities, the project amplifies local histories of alternative living while fostering national dialogue about future housing policy. Curators Hadrian Garrard, Linsey Young and Tayyabah Tahir aim to inspire both cultural institutions and policymakers to view homes not merely as private shelters but as platforms for collective innovation and social change.