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Goingunderground
Kirstin lnnes gets excited about a one night only performance tour of one of the country's best-loved venues in all its eclectic glory
lasgow’s Arches. as anyone who’s worked G there will tell you, is the sort of place that doesn’t so much defy your expectations as consistently confound them. Audiences might marvel at the sort of building that can stage a theatre show. art exhibition, rock gig and 2,000 strong club night all on the same evening, but hanging out behind the scenes reveals a very different side to the building. This is what Arches Artist in Residence David Overend is aiming to reveal to the public, for one night only, with a promenade performance piece— cum-guided tour called Underneath The Arches.
‘My brief, as Artist in Residence, is to make performance that responds to everything that happens in the building. A lot of site—specific work is just about responding to the geography of a particular building, but I’m looking at the people that work there, the club, the bar, the cafe’, the corporate events, the art. I want to incorporate as much of all of that as possible.’
The event will take the form of a guided tour of the building, with the IOU-strong audience broken down into small groups, all departing from the bar area at different times. They’ll go deep into the building’s bowels, witness actors preparing for Alien Wars, waiters finishing up shifts at the cafe, and technicians setting up for the Death Disco club night.
‘I want to let people experience all the facets of the Arches,‘ says Overend, ‘so during the performance Death Disco will be rumbling into existence — really loud music from the club night booming through the concrete floors down all the dark corridors.’
This isn’t just a straight behind-the—scenes tour, though. There’s a team of 50 actors, dancers, writers and musicians involved in the project.
‘We wanted the theatrical aspects of the project to have the same status as the daily workings of the venue: blurring the lines between the Arches as it is every day and the Arches when it becomes a performance space.’ In doing so, he’s referencing the original modus operandi of the venue, where founder Andy Arnold ran Café Loco, a club night that mixed DJs and live performance. In fact, Underneath the Arches incorporates many aspects of the venue’s history.
‘I uncovered a lot of rumours while I was researching this. That children sheltered here during World War Two. That there was a Glaswegian parrot living wild in here. That Wet Wet Wet used the space for early rehearsals! I decided early on not verify any of them: I like the idea of all these myths becoming part of the building’s story.’
The Arches, Glasgow, Sat 17 Jan.
=i< Jean Muir Event: Fashion photography workshop weekend Budding Baileys and wannabe Rankins are encouraged to sashay over to the National Museum for a workshop on fashion photography. See picture, overleaf. Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland: Hawthornden Court, Sat 17 Jan.
a: Penguin Awareness Day Yay! Exactly what you need to beat the winter blues and learn a little more about the environment. A day of waddling, fish-guzzling, honking black and white activities to highlight the 200’s conservation work within the penguin community. Edinburgh Zoo, Sun 78 Jan.
3|: Skin Deep: A History of Tattooing
Arr. seadog! Look into the strange practice of skin inking, from sailor-blue anchors to today’s hipster retro designs, probably with a brief dalliance into Robbie Williams’ weird tribal arm-bands. Glasgow. The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour, until Sun 7 7 May.
it Alien Wars Back in 1992, an alien spacecraft crash landed in the bowels of the Arches. Now rumour has it the Facehuggers are back for more, in a revamped installment of the terrifying total reality experience. Have you got the. er, guts for it? Glasgow, The Arches, until Tue 31 Mar
8—22 Jan 2009 THE LIST 31