Attitude is never in short supply at the Arches.

When the invitation goes out to "let your expectations of theatre go into freefall" you know that Arches artistic director Jackie Wylie and her associates aren't just talking the talk of radical, experimental practice – they've programmed work that walks the walk of the new, the untoward, the raw and provocative. So it was a bleak chapter in the Arches calendar when the rorty risk-taking Behaviour showcase – only launched in 2009 – couldn't go ahead as intended last year because of financial cutbacks.

Instead of moping and moaning, however, Wylie and her team adopted the attitude that, if you have to miss a year, then you come back bigger and better next time. And so Behaviour 2011 is now on the starting blocks, ready for the off come Saturday and scheduled to run for a longer-than-usual eight week period. The programme has expanded to include a collaboration with contemporary art festival, Glasgow International (GI), and is also embracing the newest endeavour on the city's performance/live art scene, Buzz Cut – this latter is especially welcome since the abrupt demise of the unrivalled New Territories season has robbed audiences and artists alike of an outstanding platform for performance in many guises.

Keen followers of Arches activities will, of course, scan the roster of Behaviour events with glee, as they recognise many of the listed names. Some – like that fabulous American wild card, Ann Liv Young, or the inspirational Nic Green, whose Trilogy made such an impact on audiences all across the UK – are returning with current projects. Young, by the way, has the Little Mermaid in her sights. It's doubtful if Disney makes the cut as she guts raw fish and fairy-tales with customary lascivious gusto. Other attractions – like the brilliantly irreverent Gob Squad – are infrequent visitors to any Scottish stages, but the Squad's reputation for melding entertainment with reality, intellectual provocations with gut feelings makes their one-off performance lecture at the end of March a must.

Wylie's own take on the programme is that it brings together interesting and exciting international artists and their Scottish counterparts – albeit not always underneath the vaulted brickwork of the Arches. Ever since engineering work in Central Station resulted in a highly successful programming initiative tagged Off-site, the creative team at the Arches has been keen to explore other ways of connecting with the environment beyond their own building. There are, they know, thousands of folk who walk past the Arches' Argyll Street threshold day in, day out, who would never think of venturing into the unknown corridors – or the unknown artforms. Even those who no longer go clubbing know that the Arches is a top-ranking destination for avid clubbers all across the UK, and beyond – but theatre? dance? exhibitions? This vital aspect of the Arches profile doesn't always cross the radar of, say, the interested parties who turn up at the nearby Tron or not-so-distant Citizens, Kings or Theatre Royal. Off-site helped knock a few holes in those maddening barriers of preconception – now Behaviour hopes to push that breakthrough forward by locating work in parks, shops, museums and on the street.

And in fact, the whole eight-week shebang starts off on this "off-site" footing. Among the home-grown talents recruited by Wylie is Fish and Game's Eilidh MacAskill, who will be getting on her bike this very weekend to get Behaviour up and rolling. Her Bicycle Boom sees MacAskill donning the garb of a late 19th century female cyclist for a three-part collaboration between the Arches and Glasgow Museums.

On Saturday, she'll take to her impassioned Soapbox in the main hall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as part of its Victorians Rediscovered weekend. Having pronounced on the bicycle as a force for change, and indeed emancipation, MacAskill will – on Sunday March 4 and Saturday March 10 – head up a history-infused cyling tour, Kelvingrove to Riverside, before re-imagining (in April) a family-friendly version of Glasgow's 1901 Cycling Gymkhana complete with bizarre races and a prize for Best Dressed Wheel.

It all sounds, and is, tremendous fun. But, as the Fish and Game iPad series of productions, Alma Mater, has shown in the last couple of years, we live constantly among the echoes of history. Being aware of that ever-evolving context can, like the best performance work, really enrich our engagement with the everyday.

Context, too, is a significant factor in Nic Green's much anticipated performance diptych Fatherland, Motherland. The first part, given an "in progress" showing in Arches Live! 2010 opened up universal issues of personal and national identity, heritage and roots through Green's own prism of experience and a family history with ties in Scotland and Yorkshire that tug at her heart and intellect.

The Arches Brick Award continues, bringing in choice work from the Edinburgh Fringe 2011 while the Platform 18 scheme will premiere new shows from Keiran Hurley and Gary Gardiner. Long before Behaviour ends – with Haircuts by Children, which does what it says in the title – the festival will have teased and pleased audiences with a feast of unexpected gambits, a sewing-machine orchestra among them. So – let your expectations go into freefall and check out the tasty details on the Arches website.

Behaviour is at the Arches and other locations across Glasgow from Saturday until April 29.

Times, places and ticket prices are all on www.thearches.co.uk