A bold interdisciplinary contemporary art collaboration landing at St John’s Hyde Park for one night only
On 18 June, St John’s Hyde Park will turn red for a single evening. The Scent of Babylon brings together painting, photography, projection, live performance and scent inside the Gothic church, developed by Anna Kiparis in collaboration with photographer Andy Go and curator and performer Alexandra Dolgosheina.
The church will be filled with moving images projected across walls and ceiling, created by Andy Go and layered over Kiparis’s paintings. Thirteen figures appear within it, drawn from scripture, mythology and literature — Mary alongside Salome, Ophelia with Lilith — shifting as the space changes around them.
Across the evening, a performance by Kiparis and Alexandra Dolgosheina, choreographed by Nick Hodos, will move through the church. Two performers will walk in opposite directions — one towards the altar, the other towards the exit — crossing and reversing their paths. Physically connected throughout, they will remain tied together as the movement repeats.
The work follows Kiparis’s installation at Emmanuel Church in West Hampstead. It was developed through conversations with the congregation. The subject matter and individual motifs of each stained-glass piece were shaped by those exchanges, before being installed temporarily in windows left empty since the Second World War.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Dor Olfactory and Speciality Brands. It runs for one night only, 18 June, 7pm–10pm, at St John’s Hyde Park.
THE SCENT OF BABYLON
18 June 2026
7pm–10pm
St John’s Hyde Park, London
Tickets:
Available via Eventbrite
Support the project:
Crowdfunder
