Reading Prison hosts new digital art exhibition

An empty jail that once held Oscar Wilde is now the subject of a new augmented-reality exhibition about the history of the site.

The attraction at Reading Prison has been put together by the Reading Guild of Artists, a group of more than 200 professional and amateur artists.

The prison formally closed in January 2014 and last year was sold to educational charity Ziran Education Foundation for £7m.

Linda Saul, who is chair of the guild and curated the exhibition, said the jail was “very inspirational”.

In order to view the exhibition, a smartphone is required and the public will have to download a specific app to see the exhibition.

Ms Saul said: “Once you’ve downloaded the app, you basically look through the camera on your smartphone and holding up to the prison walls then you’ll see the works appearing to be hung on the prison walls.”

The works will appear either side of a portrait by street artist Banksy, which appeared on a prison wall in 2021.

Oscar Wilde spent two years at the prison after being convicted in 1895 of gross indecency – effectively for being gay.

He spent the last three years of his life in exile in France, where he composed his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, describing an execution at the prison.

The building has not been a functioning prison for over a decade, but it’s connection to Oscar Wilde has meant its become a pilgrimage for many people, from writers and the LGBTQ+ community.

There are 20 pieces in the augmented reality exhibition, with about 50 online.

Ms Saul said the idea of putting an augmented reality on the walls of he jail came about in 2023 when the Reading Guild of Art had an exhibition at the old fire station in Henley.

She said: “One of our members put up an augmented reality display outside the old fire station and he said he had this vision of putting something on the walls of Reading Gaol.

“I’d already had involvement with putting on an exhibition of work inspired by the Ballad Of Reading Gaol and I knew it was very inspirational.

“So, I suggest a jail themed exhibition on the walls.”

She added: “We put a challenge out to our members to produce work, some of the work is new and produced especially, whilst some of it is older and has already been exhibited.”