Navigating 'The Bastard Fields': Rebecca Edwards and Most Dismal Swamp

Join us for an evening with Dane Sutherland and Rebecca Edwards as they discuss The Bastard Fields, a new work of outsider cinema by Most Dismal Swamp. The film is currently showing at Autotelic Foundation’s Kennington gallery, The Bacon Factory, accompanied by an exhibition that expands its imaginative universe.

This conversation invites audiences to delve into the ideas, processes, and stories behind Sutherland’s immersive and evolving “swamp world.” Expect a discussion that meanders through neural media, internet cultures, and the “weird,” tracing the currents that shape The Bastard Fields and the wider practice of Most Dismal Swamp.

If you haven’t yet seen the exhibition and film The Bastard Fields, we recommend visiting before the talk. The gallery is open 12–6 pm, Thursday–Sunday. To catch the full run of the film before the talk begins, please arrive by 5:30 pm.

Most Dismal Swamp is the project of curator, artist, and researcher Dane Sutherland (b. 1985, Scotland). Operating through multimedia commissions and speculative collaborations, Most Dismal Swamp spans video, installation, and online hallucinations dredged from the slumgullion world of digital, platform, and neural media.

Rebecca Edwards is a London-based curator, writer, and producer whose work explores experimental curatorial methods, new forms of cultural production, and the intersections of technology, digital aesthetics, and internet culture. Formerly curator at arebyte (2017–2024), she is currently co-host of the Future Artefacts Podcast and an access worker for artist Petra Szemán.

About the exhibition

Autotelic Foundation presents a solo exhibition by Most Dismal Swamp, curated by Nadim Samman. The exhibition includes the UK premiere of the new film, The Bastard Fields, accompanied by an installation that expands its imaginative universe.

The Bastard Fields is a bold new work of outsider cinema, combining real-world locations and unreality engines. Directed by Most Dismal Swamp and co-commissioned by Autotelic Foundation the film blends folk-horror, futurism and experimental video art to hallucinatory effect. Set in a nightmarish terrain defined by ‘model collapse’ (in which toxic AI systems, trained on biased data, have completely flooded the zone), a cast of strange characters variously seek resistance or accommodation with “midification”.

Location: The Bacon Factory, 6 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AA
Dates: 3 Oct – 14 Dec 2025
Hours: Thurs – Sun, 12:00 – 18:00

Photo: Installation view of The Bastard Fields by Most Dismal Swamp at Autotelic Foundation, 2025. Photo: Stephen James.

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