This Saturday sees the culmination of a fruitful artistic relationship, one involving the disciplines of music, visual art, and theatre. the Arches catacombs in Glasgow are host to an annual jamboree called Vault 2001 that opens with the Arches Arty Party. Incorporating the ''decknologist'' talents of DJs Twitch, Dave Clarke, and Miss Penelope Pornstar, the theatrical expertise of companies Kultyer Dance and Fine Line, and the visual art experience of 16 selected artists, this is an art opening with a dancing difference.
Rather than the Chardonnay-sipping art mafia who usually attend such openings, the Arches are aiming Vault 2001 at clubbers looking for an unexpected flash of theatrical colour and originality on their night out. And hopefully, once recuperated, the clubbing animals will return to check out the exhibition (which runs till March 29) in a different frame of mind.
As Arches curator Guyan Porter explains, the marriage of disciplines is intended to create ''a carnivalesque atmosphere''. Having already proven that a collaboration of this kind could work with Vault 1999, the art, sound, and movement fusion was on surer footing this time around in the new-improved Arches space.
''We are trying to get across the fact that the Arches is a creative centre specialising in hybrid arts, so this is an ideal opportunity to prove that,'' continues Porter. The idea that visual art is a poor relation deployed to decorate a club is stood on its head. ''This time around its music and theatre being used as the decor for a very radical alternative to the usual static art opening,'' he argues, before adding mischievously: ''It's a way of introducing clubbers to art and perhaps art dignitaries to clubbing.''
The 16 site-specific works have been selected from an original list of 140 submitted after the proposal was advertised round Scotland. These were then whittled down by a panel including Glasgow School of Art lecturer Sam Ainsley, artists Ross Sinclair and Wendy McMurdo, and Porter himself. The criteria, he says, were very simple - it had to be exciting; it had to bear in mind the Arches' space; and the artists had to be experienced enough to deal with their work being exhibited in a club with over 1000 potential viewers. The built-in rough-and-tumble factor in a space heaving with 1000 sweaty dancers precluded precious artistes touting fragile wares. Yet the work had to be able to stand independently outwith the one-off Arty Party.
The finalists, three of whom will be awarded prizes of #1000 and #250, cover the spectrum of visual arts. Sculpture, painting, video, and soundscapes are just some of the exhibits to have made the shortlist of potential names of tomorrow.
Ian Balch has collaborated with the theatre companies to create revolving video pieces and a coloured graphite floor piece upon which the company will dance. James McLardy has bought himself a bat detector to record the internal bodily functions of musicians as they play their instruments, while Susan Leask is building 70 coloured tubes to be placed round the building.
Sculptor Chris Biddlecomb and composer David Trouton have collaborated on their ''musical environments''; Steven Anderson's potentially provocative neo-Nazi imagery and figurative paintings should cause comment, as may James Robertson's 40 wooden pallets in various states of deconstruction and reconstruction. Vault 1999 graduate Susan Sloan is to create a life-sized video work. A contemplation on human motion, the pulsating figure has been composed through digital animation technology and the projected image will give the impression of walking towards the viewer without actually moving.
Sloan is a MPhil student of motion graphics at Glasgow School of Art and a former set-designer. She confesses to feeling initially ''daunted'' by the Arches space. ''As an artist, you are probably more used to showing your work in the white cube of a gallery that is not going to impose. With the Arches you are talking about a dank, underground space where air doesn't flow readily.''
This perception may have contributed to her Vault 1999 exhibit - a bank of desk-top fans stuck on one of the vaults. Thrilled with the effect they had, Sloan recalls how clubbers reacted to this interactive art piece.
''It was a real insight into human behaviour to watch how people reacted. It seemed the fans were the place to go and kiss their partners! Unconsciously people gathered to cool off and kiss.'' She is equally curious about the clubber's reactions to this year's exhibit. ''I think people are initially bemused and surprised that their dancing space can be used for different functions,'' she says.
The Arches is obviously becoming the place to work, rest, and play.
l The Arches Arty Party is on Saturday at 7pm. Tickets are #10 (#5).
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