Arthrob were an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

arts collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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 Juan Leal Goraz (1676–1742 or 1743), also called Juan Leal Gonzal, was a Spanish settler and politician who served as the first '' alcalde'' (a municipal magistrate with both judicial and administrative functions) of La Villa de San Fernando, ...

. The Leals had been born in Chile but their trade unionist family were forced to flee the

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean Captain general#Chile, general who ruled Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990), Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Gover ...

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, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

and

Hanif Kureshi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Early l ...

. 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 The Chemical Generation refers to a collection of writers in the 1990s who created work responding to the hedonistic ecstasy culture of the 1990 era of ecstasy and rave culture. Irvine Welsh's book ''Trainspotting'' is often described as inciting ...

". 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 professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

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 is a performance arts theatre and community centre in the Hoxton area of Shoreditch, 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 MacDonal ...

, 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 Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

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 Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educate ...

Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born 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 at ...

, Neil Bartlett,

Bella Black Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...

, Hanif Kureshi, Ben Richards and

Tam Dean Burn Tam Dean Burn (born 1958 in Leith, Scotland) is a Scottish actor who has played a wide range of roles on stage and screen. On television this includes multiple roles on long-running detective series ''Taggart'', youth sci-fi thriller '' Life For ...

. Plans to create an Arthrob theatre space to showcase new writing talent and to create a live arts centre in the derelict

GPO GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...

building in central Edinburgh during the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of 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 Edinburgh Fe ...

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

offshoot

Coalition Recordings A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

, 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 debuted as 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 s ...

with

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

, 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 Glamorous may refer to: * "Glamorous" (Fergie song), a 2006 song by Fergie * "Glamorous" (Natalia song), a 2007 song by Natalia & En Vogue * ''Glamorous'' (album), a 2005 album by Denise Ho * ''Glamorous'' (TV series), a 2023 Netflix televisio ...

, Daz-i-kue,

Sonja Sohn Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams; born May 9, 1964), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, is an American actress, activist and filmmaker, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). She is ...

, Girl Talk, Frantic Language,

Fonda Rae Fonda Rae Wood (performing as simply Fonda Rae) is an American R&B singer best known for her club hits like "Over Like a Fat Rat" and " Touch Me" (the latter which was later covered by Cathy Dennis). She has also worked with artists such as Don ...

, 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 known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

’s music and a soundtrack compilation of classic acid house to accompany

Sarah Champion Sarah Deborah Champion (born 10 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012. Champion studied Psychology at Sheffield University. Before entering Parliament, she ran ...

’sSarah Champion - interview from Barcelona Go magazine 2001
collection of short stories ‘

Disco Biscuits The Disco Biscuits are an American jam band from Philadelphia. The band consists of Allen Aucoin (drums), Marc "Brownie" Brownstein (bass guitar, vocals), Jon "The Barber" Gutwillig (guitar, vocals), and Aron Magner (keyboards, synths, voca ...

’.

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 Culture in London English artist groups and collectives