Arthrob were an underground arts collective in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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. ArthrobLOGO

Founding

Arthrob was founded by Chilean brothers Ernesto Leal and Juan Leal. 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 (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

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 generation". 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 Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

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 William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

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 Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born 7 January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

failed to be realised.

Record label

In 1997, together with Nigel Dewart Gibb, Robin Hancock and Caroline Teeling Arthrob founded a record label backed by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

offshoot Coalition Recordings, releasing an eclectic roster of artists from the contemporary classical music of Michael Gordon to Pelirocco, Fini Dolo,

Towa Tei is a Japanese artist, record producer, and DJ. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Towa was a member of Deee-Lite, from the US label Elektra Records in 1990 and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his solo ...

with

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

, Silva Bullet, Crude Reality,

Hubert Hudson Huberht Taylor Hudson, RD (17 September 1886 – 15 June 1942), commonly known as Hubert Hudson instead of by his actual first name (an Old English version of the name), was a navigating officer in the British Royal Navy, who took part in Ernes ...

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 Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

's music and a soundtrack compilation of classic acid house to accompany Sarah Champion'sSarah Champion - interview from Barcelona Go magazine 2001
collection of short stories ' Disco Biscuits'.

References

* *{{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/jun/18/artsfeatures1, title=Let's talk about it, last=Simpson, first=Dave, date=18 June 1999, work=The Guardian, accessdate=19 August 2009 Arts in London English artist groups and collectives