The Hidden Glasgow Forums

by **JayKay** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:21 pm

Think this might be of interest. Dates in Easterhouse ((July 10) and Cumbernauld (july 14) Free but reservations required

Box office for the Easterhouse performance is 0141 276 9696

more here - http://www.arika.org.uk

There are places in the towns and cities where you live that exist not by planned design, but by circumstance. Their elusive ambience attracts those with nowhere else to go, and those who wish to go elsewhere.

overlooked bypassed unwatched detached unconsidered shadowed

They offer respites from society and routine. They are found by necessity, by those driven by desire, more than destination. Shadowed Spaces is a tour of nooks and crannies like these, in your towns and cities: forgotten steps that lead nowhere, alleyways, old railway tunnels. We’ll place musical performances in these spaces that will hopefully help us to think about the continued need for a sense of privacy in public.

In the mid 70’s academic and (amongst other things) the architecture critic of The Village Voice, Michael Sorkin collected an influential series of essays under the title ‘Indefensible Space’. In it, he discussed the move towards an approach to town planning that attempted to design-out spaces in which furtive activities could be fostered; a kind of architecture of security, you might say.

At the same time, and I suppose gloriously counter to this argument, Denis Wood (at the time a recently graduated geographer, or more particularly psychogeographer) wrote an impassioned essay, titled ‘Shadowed Spaces’. It was an ardent and poetic defense of our need to feel a sense of privacy in public, and the subsequent need for places where one might take refuge, or engage in transgressions which we may be unwilling to share with a wider public, but which are important to our lives and development, to our needs and desires.

The essay Shadowed Spaces has never been published, but exists in a sort of parallel way to the kinds of spaces it discusses, handed around and sought out by people who maybe need to find it. And it’s served as a loose inspiration to a clutch of artists and musicians who are also drawn to these kinds of spaces, and to a desire to perform there, in a kind of artistic parallel to that need for privacy in public: ‘cause isn’t a musical performance just that, a private thing done publicly?

Our tour brings together 3 incredible experimental musicians from the USA and Japan, as well as Denis Wood, and takes them to some of our favourite, secret spaces, where collectively perhaps we can share in something hidden from the eyes of those keepers of the norm.

I hope you can join us.

by **My Kitten** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:57 pm

sounds very interesting, definately a date for the diary.

by **lynnski** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:18 pm

Sounds intruiging!!

by **cheesemonster** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:52 pm

I'll be going to the Easterhouse one

by **JayKay** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:40 am

this event's been organised by the chaps behind the annual instal music event at the arches, who have pulled many an interesting rabbit from their hats over the years.

I've booked for the Ehoose and Scumbernauld ones, although there's a possibility I'll be on holiday at the time...

by **Field Marshall Shug** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:14 am

'Bout time the East End got a look-in...sounds vague...which is a good thing. Is it free?

by **JayKay** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:35 pm

Free gratis and for nothing.

by **My Kitten** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:35 pm

well it certainly challenged the mind.......

psychogeography and drums and saxophone

bit wierd.....

[img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1385/772008347_4676a682ec.jpg[/Iimg]

I actually thought the sound the saxophonist was playing was the brakes on the nearby buses :oops:

by **cheesemonster** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:22 am

i left after about 15 mins of music, did the guys learn how to play their instruments eventually? ::):

i saw someone setting up microphones round the back (micing up a door?) was that worthwhile?

by **johnnyanglia** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:10 am

I was there !. I can handle some pretty atonal stuff but these guys were just at it. I got some video clips on my phone just to prove to other people how bad it actually was. Yes i believe in experimentation and pushing the boundaries in every direction but this was just SHIT.

by **jim** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:25 am

No it was not shit.
I went to the Cumbernauld event and the combination of brutal modernism and droning sound was really amazing. If you can maybe get past the idea that 'music' can only be a linear progression of chords? They were riffing of the sense of place, in this case liminal spaces – underpasses, pissy stairwells, cantilevered concrete. It was beautifully poetic. Open you mind!
At one point about fifty seagulls were wheeling above us listening and responding to the saxophonists squealings. A brilliant moment. And the talk was really interesting to. If you are into the way cities function and the effect architecture has on the way we live our lives (as many at HG are) then this event was a must. Can't wait till next year.

by **johnnyanglia** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:02 pm

If you can get past the idea that 'music' can only be a linear progression of chords?

I have had an interest in what can be termed "avant garde" music for over 20 years Throbbing Gristle, Sun Ra, Musique Concrete etc. I have also had a long standing interest in 20th Century architecture and the relationship between buildings, space and users. I believe in pushing and exploring the boundaries but i did not "buy" any of what i saw or heard at Easterhouse.

by **My Kitten** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:01 pm

I dont think the group interacted with the architecture surrounding them at all.

Where did they go to in the Cumbernauld one? I did fancy that one too.

by **jim** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:32 pm

I'd heard the Easterhouse one was dodgy. Some kid started to whistle along and got slapped down by a security guard! Any event like this that needs a security guard is a bit dubious?
In Cumbernauld we visited the top of the old shopping centre, where there were penthouse flats at one time. Then it was down to the bottom of a stairwell, then a walkway open to the elements and then a grimy, smoke-blackened underpass. I like brutalist concrete piles.

You obviously have an appreciation for out there music, so why the low tolerance for what these guys did? On the scale of things it may not have been really special, but it was interesting . . .

by **My Kitten** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:53 am

Bah the cumbernauld one sounded much better. I just got the feeling that the guys didn't "click" with their surroundings.

I did like the psycho geography idea.

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Shadowed Spaces tour July 6 - 15

Shadowed Spaces tour July 6 - 15

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