Roger K Burton, who has died aged 76 from acute myeloid leukaemia, turned a derelict former stables for ailing cab horses into London’s most independent and outré arts space. “The building had been unused for about 10 years when my friend Guy Adams found it in 1992. There were pigeons flying about, rats and mice everywhere and ivy growing through the collapsed roof – not to mention a thick layer of printing ink covering up the fabulous floor,” he said.
“It took a good six months to make the place habitable, but it was more than worth it. I still adore seeing the surprised faces of first-time visitors.” Since opening in 1993, the Horse Hospital, in a mews in Bloomsbury, has hung art by Joe Coleman, Ron Athey, Jamie Reid and Banksy; held transgressive film, literature and fashion festivals; run salons on all manner of unpopular culture; and hosted disparate performers such as Gavin Bryars, Lydia Lunch, Anita Pallenberg, Coil and Crass. The Turner prize-winning Tai Shani cut her teeth programming events under the wing of the unswervingly enthusiastic and generous Burton, whose magnetic presence drew in serious, but often marginalised, talent from around the globe.
