Arthrob
Encyclopedia
Arthrob were an underground
arts collective in London
during the mid-late 1990s. They organised cultural events such as book readings and theatre in nightclubs, aiming to bring together club culture and the arts.
. The Leals had been born in Chile but their trade unionist family were forced to flee the Pinochet regime and they eventually found a new home in Scotland thanks to the National Union of Mineworkers. During the 1980s the brothers ran clubs in their adopted home town of Edinburgh and later in London. They were responsible for many acid house parties including the Zoom Records party in Clerkenwell, London.
Arthrob began life in 1995 as a vehicle to organise events to provide innovative book launches for Irvine Welsh
and Hanif Kureshi. The goal was to bring culture into nightclubs and clubs into culture. Arthrob events were untidy affairs but the chaos heightened the immediacy and excitement.
The Leals founded a board of creatives known as the Arthrob Trust to guide the organisation.
". A typical event would involve theatre, book readings, bands and fine arts together with DJs and dancing. Visual installations were often provided by graphic design studio Tomato.
One event involved a tour bus of novelists on a 'rock and roll' literary road trip under the banner Defining a Nation, funded by the Arts Council.
In 1998 they devised and, in conjunction with the Random Collective produced seven theatre events in one afternoon in seven different venues around east London in celebration of the Bertolt Brecht
centenary. Entitled "The Seven Deadly Sins", each site specific event took a different sin as its theme. The venues were varied - Hoxton Hall
, The Old Axe public house hosted a strip show; The Lux cinema, the old Hoxton Boxing Club, St Monica's Church hall and a former Barclays Bank in Shoreditch High Street played host to a reading on greed by Bill Drummond
though many of the audience couldn't fit in this deliberately claustrophobic setting. The event was directed by Jan-Van Den Bosch and as well as Bill Drummond there were performances by Iain Sinclair
, Miranda Sawyer
, Neil Bartlett
, Bella Black, Hanif Kureshi, Ben Richards
and Tam Dean Burn
.
Plans to create an Arthrob theatre space to showcase new writing talent and to create a live arts centre in the derelict GPO
building in central Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival
failed to be realised.
offshoot Coalition Recordings, releasing an eclectic roster of artists from the contemporary classical music of Michael Gordon
to Pelirocco, Fini Dolo, Towa Tei
with Kylie Minogue
, Silva Bullet, Crude Reality, Hubert Hudson and Belle Mouki, Glamorous Hooligan, Daz-i-kue, Sonja Sohn, Girl Talk
, Frantic Language, Fonda Rae, Da Lunartiks, Saul Williamson and The All New Accelerators. The label also released a remix album of Steve Reich
’s music and a soundtrack compilation of classic acid house to accompany Sarah Champion’s collection of short stories ‘Disco Biscuits
’.
Underground art
Underground art, as with underground music and underground film, is a term that seeks to describe art forms that are aloof to the mainstream art world, are illegal, taboo, unconventional, rebellious or revolutionary...
arts collective in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
during the mid-late 1990s. They organised cultural events such as book readings and theatre in nightclubs, aiming to bring together club culture and the arts.
Founding
Arthrob was founded by Chilean brothers Ernesto Leal and Juan LealJuan Leal
Juan Leal Goraz was the founder and first Mayor of San Antonio. His family settled by order of the Spanish crown in San Antonio in 1731, together with other families. He had become the most important member of the community in his early years in San Antonio, since he became the leader and...
. The Leals had been born in Chile but their trade unionist family were forced to flee the Pinochet regime and they eventually found a new home in Scotland thanks to the National Union of Mineworkers. During the 1980s the brothers ran clubs in their adopted home town of Edinburgh and later in London. They were responsible for many acid house parties including the Zoom Records party in Clerkenwell, London.
Arthrob began life in 1995 as a vehicle to organise events to provide innovative book launches for Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
and Hanif Kureshi. The goal was to bring culture into nightclubs and clubs into culture. Arthrob events were untidy affairs but the chaos heightened the immediacy and excitement.
The Leals founded a board of creatives known as the Arthrob Trust to guide the organisation.
Events
The organisation was defined by their cross-genre events, presenting art for the "chemical generationChemical generation
The Chemical Generation refers to a collection of writers in the 1990s who added a literary dimension to the hedonistic ecstasy culture of the era....
". A typical event would involve theatre, book readings, bands and fine arts together with DJs and dancing. Visual installations were often provided by graphic design studio Tomato.
One event involved a tour bus of novelists on a 'rock and roll' literary road trip under the banner Defining a Nation, funded by the Arts Council.
In 1998 they devised and, in conjunction with the Random Collective produced seven theatre events in one afternoon in seven different venues around east London in celebration of the Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
centenary. Entitled "The Seven Deadly Sins", each site specific event took a different sin as its theme. The venues were varied - Hoxton Hall
Hoxton Hall
Hoxton Hall is a community centre and performance space in Hoxton, at 130 Hoxton Street, in the London Borough of Hackney.A grade II* listed building, the theatre was first built as a Music hall in 1863, as MacDonald's Music hall. It is an unrestored example of the saloon-style...
, The Old Axe public house hosted a strip show; The Lux cinema, the old Hoxton Boxing Club, St Monica's Church hall and a former Barclays Bank in Shoreditch High Street played host to a reading on greed by Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
though many of the audience couldn't fit in this deliberately claustrophobic setting. The event was directed by Jan-Van Den Bosch and as well as Bill Drummond there were performances by Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair FRSL is a British writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.-Life and work:...
, Miranda Sawyer
Miranda Sawyer
Miranda Sawyer is an English journalist and broadcaster.She grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. She has a degree in Jurisprudence from Pembroke College, Oxford...
, Neil Bartlett
Neil Bartlett (playwright)
Neil Vivian Bartlett, OBE, is an award-winning British director, performer, translator, and writer. He is one of the founding members of Gloria, a production company established in 1988 to produce his work along with that of Nicolas Bloomfield, Leah Hausman and Simon Mellor...
, Bella Black, Hanif Kureshi, Ben Richards
Ben Richards (writer)
Ben Richards is an English writer, born in 1964. Before writing novels and TV dramas, he worked for three years as a housing officer in Newham and Islington, London...
and Tam Dean Burn
Tam Dean Burn
Tam Dean Burn is a Scottish actor who has played a wide range of roles on stage and screen, including in Taggart. Recent theatrical roles include being the narrator of the 2009 play 'Year of the Horse', about artist Harry Horse.-External links:*...
.
Plans to create an Arthrob theatre space to showcase new writing talent and to create a live arts centre in the derelict GPO
GPO
-Organisations:*General Post Office **General Post Office UK*German Patent Office, *United States Government Printing Office, a federal government agency*Green Party of Ontario, a policial party in Ontario, Canada...
building in central Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
failed to be realised.
Record label
In 1997 Arthrob founded a record label backed by Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
offshoot Coalition Recordings, releasing an eclectic roster of artists from the contemporary classical music of Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon (composer)
Michael Gordon is an American composer and co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and ensemble. His music is associated with the genres of totalism and post-minimalism.-Early life:...
to Pelirocco, Fini Dolo, Towa Tei
Towa Tei
is a DJ, artist and record producer in Yokahoma, Japan.Tōwa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the U.S. label Elektra Records in 1990, and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart"...
with Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Silva Bullet, Crude Reality, Hubert Hudson and Belle Mouki, Glamorous Hooligan, Daz-i-kue, Sonja Sohn, Girl Talk
Girl Talk (musician)
Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
, Frantic Language, Fonda Rae, Da Lunartiks, Saul Williamson and The All New Accelerators. The label also released a remix album of Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
’s music and a soundtrack compilation of classic acid house to accompany Sarah Champion’s collection of short stories ‘Disco Biscuits
Disco Biscuits
The Disco Biscuits are a band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known for their live performances and light shows. The band consists of Allen Aucoin , Marc Brownstein , Jon Gutwillig , and Aron Magner ....
’.