'A giant playground for the imagination': New book looks back at Glasgow's iconic venue The Arches

For decades it was the beating heart of Glasgow's cultural scene. From clubbing to theater, the sprawling arts complex under Central Station was home to some of the most exciting talent not just in Scotland but from around the world.

Then in 2015, after 24 years of setting Scotland's alternative artistic agenda, it was forced to close after losing its late-night liquor license, cutting the centerpiece of the budget that helped maintain the space.

Now two former Arches employees have written a book, Brickwork, which details The Arches' story and examines its history and why, according to them, it "probably couldn't be replicated".

Continue reading

Related articles

Kirstin Innes and David Bratchpiece, authors of Brickwork (Image: Andrew Parry)

The writer Kirstin Innes and the actor and comedian David Bratchpiece

What makes The Arches so special?

Kirstin says: “A big part of it was Andy Arnold and the team he put together right from the start. For a long time, people showed up and screwed up their free time for the love of what they did, until it became a viable business model.

"It was the first place in the UK - and, I believe, all of Europe - that did this public / private funding, with all of the club's revenue going to fund an arts program."

Brickwork: A Biography of The Arches is out now (Photo: Salamanderstraße)

The title alone gives an idea of ​​why the space was so successful as a venue, especially for live music and clubbing. Kirstin explains that the secret was in the brick arches that gave the venue its name. "They work so that the sound goes in and out of them, which is a really intense experience for a clubber." The bricks, she says, “soak up hedonism” as they ran for two and a half decades.

David agrees.

“This room was filled with the energy of all the different creative people who got through. No matter what they were doing, whether they were working on a gig, a club or an exhibition - it generated energy inside the building, you could always feel the buzz in the building, you could even feel it in the basement after the renovation, where it was there were new rehearsal rooms. "

DJ Sonique at The Arches Glasgow in 2000

But as with any performance space, it was the shows themselves that were the real star. Kirstin has it all "from the club to the Beckett piece," says Kirstin that the ethos of the venue allowed it to explore a wide variety of voices, genres, and media.

“It was fun-loving, disrespectful, but also very interested in interesting things. And above all not elitist - absolutely not elitist. "

Both writers have good - if sometimes fuzzy - memories of the time they spent there, both as clients and employees. For Kirstin, her time there was the transition from indie kid to house and techno fan, and a highlight for David is when funk legend George Clinton played (and a pint dripped across the light panel).

"He went on stage with an Arches staff t-shirt and when the crowd saw that they went absolutely wild."

While listening to and reading the stories in the book itself, it becomes clear that the room not only shaped the professional lives of the people who did their jobs, but also shaped their creative tastes.

"It was just a gigantic playground for the imagination," says Kirstin. "You could come in there and there could be so many things. This gigantic open space that was only available in possibilities and experiments."

The Arches may be closed, but its legacy lives on - both in the careers it shaped and in the memories of the people who played, danced and performed there.

continue reading http://dailytechnonewsllc.com/a-giant-playground-for-the-imagination-new-book-looks-back-at-glasgows-iconic-venue-the-arches/?feed_id=3820&_unique_id=61be74beaca5f