After dark arts
We visit the London’s clubs that have embraced art
WORDS | SCOTT MANSON
LONDON’S CLUB SCENE IS GOING ARTY. Gone are the days when cutting-edge clubbing was about thousands of sweaty people bouncing along to the latest tune out of Ibiza. In the last few years London has seen a new wave of club openings and ‘pop-up’ events which truly embrace new artistic talent and where the visual installations are as important as what the DJ is dropping on the turntable.
Places such as Camden’s Proud gallery and bar, the nightlife space that combines contemporary photography and installation galleries with a club that plays host to top bands and DJs every night. Their Tales of the Unexpected night – a ‘dark circus’ with performance artist, conjurers and psychedelic lighting – running every Friday throughout December, proves that the limits of London’s nocturnal entertainment are being pushed.
The pioneer of the scene was the Shunt Lounge under London Bridge station, which closed last month to make way for redevelopment. Entered through an unmarked door in the middle of the station concourse, this hidden-in-plain-sight club hosted experimental theatre and off-the-wall art installations.
Past performances have included a museum dedicated to London’s pearly kings and queens, and a paddling pool filled with grapes that revellers were encouraged to walk through in order to press the grapes for wine.
“I’m surprised art and clubbing have taken so long to come together,” says Nahum Mautra, Shunt’s programme manager. “If you look at other European cities like Berlin, they have a great tradition of exotic, challenging nightlife. Fewer people want to take risks in London venues. But look out for a new venue from us soon that will push things even further.”
The DJ History duo, Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster, are also adding an arty element to all-night partying. Authors of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life and architects of London’s infamous Low Life club events, they’ve recently run a series of gigs called DJ Flicks, giving clubbers the chance to see rare films and documentaries about aspects of club culture, from disco to old school raves, followed by a club night playing music from that era.
“Clubbing is a culture,” says Broughton, “and our parties have always looked to reflect that. With DJ Flicks we wanted to transport people back in time through the dual mediums of film and music. Remember as a kid how excited you were when you left the cinema after seeing a film? Well, imagine then being hit by relevant tunes from a top DJ as you walk from the screening room to a dancefloor. It was sensory overload for our punters.”
Broughton adds: “Look at the Mudd Club’s connection to the whole Warhol era, or the Sound Factory in New York which used to commission a new piece of art for its dancefloor every weekend – there is a legacy of clubbing and art.”
MOST RECENTLY, JAMES PRIESTLY, FOUNDER OF LONDON’S RESOLUTELY UNDERGROUND SECRETSUNDAZE PARTIES, has opened a new venue – the City Arts and Music Project – on Shoreditch’s City Road. With a two-year lease, it’s a pop-up style set-up, but one with a little more longevity than most, giving local artists the chance to transform the venue on a regular basis, while an eclectic mix of DJs soundtrack the nights.
“The blurring of lines between nightlife and art fascinates me,“ says Priestly. “I want people to see artwork outside the traditional gallery setting. Artists work in all sorts of different mediums and a less formal venue for display complements this.”
Nearby is the Queen of Hoxton, a new bar whose monthly Not Night joins the dots between great tunes, spoken word, burlesque and, depending on the musical programmer’s predilections, some gypsy punk rock.
Step a little further east to Bethnal Green to find Bistrotheque, a modish restaurant, bar and cabaret venue that’s been a hit despite its location down a grimy back street. Super-hip and run by the same team who started the 333, the Shoreditch Electricity Showrooms and the Bricklayer’s Arms, post-meal entertainment includes alternative drag artists and ‘challenging’ cabaret.
Also in east London are the HungaMunga events, held in various venues on a semi-regular basis. Here the usual nocturnal staples – DJs, drinks, stand-up comedians – are accompanied by free arts and crafts tables, where visitors can cut, stick, draw, sew, knit and sculpt. Describing their events as ‘arty parties without the arty farties’ they certainly throw some of the more disarmingly creative events.
“HungaMunga is an ever-expanding collective who put on parties filled with painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, life drawing, collage, you name it,” says founder Lloyd Ellis. “For nearly four years we’ve been having fun at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club and festivals around London and the UK.” Their new monthly night, the HungaMunga Musicarium, is held at the aforementioned Proud Gallery in Camden – further proof, if any was needed, that these artsy promoters are keen on collaboration.
Indeed, Proud branched out into the business community last month, opening Proud Cabaret within London’s financial district. The new venue, on Mark Lane, takes its cues from Weimarera Berlin and the golden age of Hollywood, offering chic supper-club dates, jazz, cabaret and burlesque shows.
Meanwhile, over the river in Battersea, a pop-up bar is doing its bit to beat the credit crunch: beers are £2.50, bottles of wine a tenner. DoodleBar aims to spur creativity in the local community by hosting exhibitions, film screenings (run by Vivienne Westwood) and club nights featuring, among others, top London DJ Ross Allen. And as the name suggests, visitors are allowed to doodle anywhere on the venue. Walls, chairs, tables and even waiters are a blank canvas for scribblers, painters and graffiti artists.
“Our waiters will be wearing white jeans and shirts,” says Jules Cocke of film-makers Squint/ Opera, who came up with the idea for the bar with illustrator Serge Seidlitz. “So you can doodle anywhere you want on their clothes. It’s up to them where they draw the line.” As it were.
Art has hit the clubs, and London’s club scene has never looked so good.
Scott Manson is the former editor of Ministry magazine, published by the Ministry of Sound club
What’s On When
TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED
4, 11, 18 December
Proud Camden, Stables Market
Chalk Farm Road NW1
www.proudcamden.com
HUNGAMUNGA MUSICARIUM
14 December
Proud Camden
www.hungamunga.co.uk
PROUD CABARET
Regular nights, Tuesday – Saturday
1 Mark Lane EC3
www.proudcabaret.com
THE REBEL DINING SOCIETY
2 and 16 December, at The City
Music and Arts Project,
www.therebeldiningsociety.co.uk
OTHER CLUBS
Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club
42-46 Pollard Row E2
www.workersplaytime.net
Bistrotheque
23-27 Wadeson Street E2
www.bistrotheque.com
The City Arts and Music Project
70-74 City Road EC1
www.thecamplondon.com
The Doodlebar
33 Parkgate Road SW11
www.thedoodlebar.com
The Queen of Hoxton
1 Curtain Road EC2
www.thequeenofhoxton.co.uk
