Queer Social Dreaming Matrix

This queer social dreaming matrix aims to provide a safe, communal space for LGBTQIA+ folk, their allies and supporters, to share dreams and associations, and to explore the meaningful connections that can come through doing this. The focus is not on what dreams mean for the dreamer, but on our responses to the dreams we share – a process which enables us to pool our creative resources in an imaginative way. A period of reflection, after the matrix has closed, will enables us to identify emerging themes, relating them to the context in which we meet - a celebration of Pride 2026 in the Freud Museum - and the wider zeitgeist.

The dreaming matrix will be followed by a short break and then a discussion with Research Manager Tom DeRose and Curator Vanessa Boni, who will explore the themes of the dreaming matrix in relation to the Museum's exhibition Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal . Vanessa and Tom will facilitate a space to think about the queer aspects of Carrington's work, which will have provided a backdrop to the dreaming matrix, and the free associations of participants with her work.

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Speakers:

Laurie Slade is a member of the Guild of Psychotherapists, and the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy. He practiced for 30 years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and continues to act as a creative consultant. He has been involved in social dreaming since 2001, hosting sessions in a variety of settings, in the UK and internationally. He co-founded the Queer Social Dreaming Matrix, running since 2016, a monthly open access meeting in London for sexual minorities, and has hosted sessions for the queer support group Loving Men. Published papers include: Social dreaming for a Queer culture (in Self & Society - 2005); Image to gesture – Social dreaming with student theatre directors (in The Creativity of Social Dreaming – 2010); Renewing the Land – the Dreaming Mind in Community (in Social Dreaming – Philosophy, Practice, Theory and Research - 2019); Perspectives on the Shadow through social dreaming (in Jung's Shadow Concept - the hidden light and dark within ourselves - 2023). Laurie has also written a number of plays, often queer-themed - those performed include Joe & I, about the playwrights Terence Rattigan and Joe Orton having a one-night stand, with the ghost of Oscar Wilde wandering in and out (Kings Head, London 2005), The Specimen, about abusive medical attitudes to intersex (Drill Hall, London 2010), and Equinox, an end-of-life narrative for a gay man, which starred Ian McKellen in a rehearsed reading at the inaugural Out in the Hills Festival in Pitlochry (2026)

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Tickets: £35

Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.

A limited number of £25 bursary tickets are available for those under financial hardship. Priority will be given to UK unemployed and PIP/ESA claimants. Please email [email protected] to apply for a bursary.

The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular Government income. We are grateful to you for supporting our independent museum as generously as possible.

The event will be held on the first floor of the Museum. Unfortunately the Freud Museum does not have step-free access at this time. Advance booking is highly recommended as capacity is limited.

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