Barry Kay – Posthumous Events – 2020 et seq

2019

Michael Werner
1941-2019

With deep sadness we have to announce that on 20 November 2019, founder and curator of the Barry Kay Archive Michael Werner has passed away. He has been fighting a brave struggle against prostate cancer for some years. An unexpected pneumonia killed him in 3 days.

Michael has been the driving force behind the Archive ever since he founded it in 1985. As a close personal friend of Barry Kay, his knowledge and involvement were unparalleled and essential for this Archive.
His unstoppable passion has yielded the incredibly comprehensive and detailed piece of heritage it is today.

Michael lived for the Arts, as a graphic designer and photographer. As the number one assistant and secretary to Barry Kay, he used his creative skills to their fullest. He was literally never too old to learn new things.

After his mate Barry died, far too young, Michael had to find new challenges. He started a very successfull antique silver business that lasted until the internet and fashion killed the antique trade in Notting Hill, London.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all people who helped Michael fight his battle:
First of all our friend and former GP Dr. Dorothea Ridder and Dr. Ronald Krüger, both doctors in Berlin, who stood beside us with counsel and support, as well as our GP’s in Amsterdam, Renate Zwiers and her partner Arnoud Robbers, who saved Michaels life three years ago; lung specialist Dr. Bob Groot; urologist Dr T.Q.T. Tong; internists Dr. Jan Willem Mulder and Dr. Saskia Vrouenraets and in particular specialist nurse Hanneke Paap at the former Slotervaart Hospital in Amsterdam. Without all their support and early and fast diagnostics Michael would not have survived so long.

Also many thanks to surgeon-oncologist Dr. Houke Klomp, lung specialist Dr. Sjaak Burgers, urologist Dr. Pim van Leeuwen and oncologist Dr. Sofie Wilgenhof at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam and finally the emergency doctors and nurses at the OLVG Hospital in Amsterdam, who took great care of Michael the last 3 days of his exciting life.

GPs Dr. Hitesh Mistry and Dr. Angela Sharma, Pembridge Villas Surgery, in Notting Hill, London and internist Paul Lumba at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, we thank you.

Also very special thanks to the ambulance and emergency staff in Pisa and in Amsterdam, as well as to the fire brigade of Amsterdam, who lifted Michael out of the 4th floor window.

Last but not least: many thanks to the kindest and best dentist in the world, Dr. med. dent. Elmar Dammann and to all his staff in Harsewinkel, Germany.

Many, many thanks to all for your valuable time and empathy.

In the face of his illness Michael has been working hard on completing this website and upgrading it to up-to-date web standards. Sadly, he will not witness its completion, but his spirit and creativity will live on in these pages.

Our dear friend Michael was cremated at Zorgvlied cemetary in Amsterdam on 27 November 2019.

Michael will be sorely missed.


2023

From 18 February until 9 July a large selection of Barry Kay’s As A Woman photography project will be on display at a major exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. The exhibition takes a queer lens to the State Library’s vast collection and shares more than 20 untold stories that celebrate LGBTQI+ communities.

Barry kay (r) accompanied by Barry Kay Archive founder Michael Werner (l). Bottom right a short note in which Barry thanks Michael for giving him the camera that allowed him to create (among other projects) ‘As a Woman’.


2023

15 March 2023
In a creative feat that saw ballet transposed from screen to stage, the Australian Ballet recreated Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Helpmann’s 1973 film Don Quixote in a wildly colourful, palpably textured stage spectacle. For this production, artistic director David Hallberg told set designer Richard Roberts, ‘I want the film on stage’. In the video below Roberts describes how he recreated Barry Kay’s movie sets into a new stage design.