Abstract

This paper examines the production and consumption of hospitality during an event called The Church. The Church is a carefully orchestrated orgy of drinking, political incorrectness and moral transgression, which takes place during four hours every Sunday afternoon at a London venue. This ritualised gathering was started by a group of antipodeans in 1979 and has grown into a cultural institution that attracts visitors from all over the world. Drawing on data gathered through participant observation, the paper examines two related issues: firstly, how particular myths of antipodean identity and culture are mobilized in the production and consumption of liminoid space; and secondly, the mapping of cities through the concepts of hospitality and play. I use the case of The Church to develop the notion of hospitality or hospitable landscapes: moral topographies that are reaffirmed and transgressed through playful, often deviant consumption. I discuss how such landscapes are reconfigured in particular moments and how they are perpetuated over time