Less Common More Sense 12 | The Subversive/Subculture Issue

The Students’ Union MagazineUniversity of the Arts London

*SUBVERSIVE/ SUBCULTURE ISSUE

Subcultures exist globally, but are present on a local level, and are categorised as reflecting beliefs or interests that are different from the larger cultural group within which they exist. You could say that their purpose is to subvert the natural discourse of society. But it is by no means their only intention; indeed, one can be subversive without being part of a subculture.

This issue of Less Common More Sense aims to bring together artists and creatives whose work explores subversion, subcultures, or both, and to give you an insight into a small cross section of the subcultures that exist within our society.

One may ask ‘what is the relevance of a sausage in a banana here’? We asked ourselves the same question when we came across the unusual submission, but have reached the conclusion that not everything in art has to be obvious! In fact, sometimes the most innocuous images can have the greatest impact. Trust Less Common More Sense – the power of a sausage in a banana will stay with you.

Enjoy!

Rachel BrownDeputy Editor

Less Common More Sense

Subversive / Subculture Issue.

CONTENTS.

05-08

Adham Faramawy and Subversive Collective: !WOWOW!

09-14

Join the Dots: A Reflection On The Small Story

15-18

The Mod Culture Revival: Here To Stay Or Gone Tomorrow?

19-24

Roma People

25-26

The Moot With No Name

27-30

Squat

31-32

Battle 2008

33-38

Underground New York

39-42

Mainstream Fashion Take On Underground Fetish Dominatrix Gear & Sexual Liberation

43-48

The Bears Have Come Out To Play

COLOPHON.

PublisherThe Students’ UnionUniversity of the Arts London65 Davies StreetLondonW1K 5DA

Editor-in-ChiefRonan Haughton

Deputy EditorRachel Brown

Journalism Sub-EditorChris Ackerley

Fashion Sub-EditorHuma Humayun

Lead DesignerHei Shing Chan

DesignerTatiana Woolrych

LCMS Logo DesignDaniel Camacho

Proof ReaderHannah Devoy

Proof ReaderLouisa Koussertari

Proof ReaderAlex Linsdell

ADVERTISINGAmelia [email protected] 1300 667

Production AdvisorGuy DeVilliers

CONTRIBUTORS.

Camberwell College of Arts

Hei Shing Chan MA BOOK ARTS

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

Sylvie Goy PG CERT PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICE (ALUMNI 2007)

Hannah Devoy BA PRODUCT DESIGN

Eva Sajovic BA GRAPHIC DESIGN/ AV, PHOTOGRAPHY

Chelsea College of Art and Design

Dan Westlake BA FINE ART

London College of Communication

Chris Ackerley MA JOURNALISM

George Webster MA JOURNALISM

Sarah Vanstone MA JOURNALISM

John Christopher Smith BA GRAPHIC MEDIA DESIGN, ADVERTISING

Faith Millin BA PHOTOGRAPHY

Vron Harris MA PHOTOGRAPHY

India Roper Evans BA PHOTOGRAPHY

Rachel Brown BA PHOTOGRAPHY

Tatiana Woolrych BA TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN

Norman Wilcox-Geissen ABC DIPLOMA PHOTOGRAPHY, BA PHOTOGRAPHY (ALUMNI 2006)

Selvi May FDA DESIGN FOR GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION

Daniel Camacho BA GRAPHIC DESIGN

Alex Linsdell BA MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES

Guillame Mercier BA PHOTOGRAPHY

London College of Fashion

Agnieszka Jarzebska BA FASHION STUDIES: CULTURE & COMMUNICATION

Huma Humayun BA FASHION STUDIES

Louisa Koussertari FASHION MARKETING AND PROMOTION ONLINE FOUNDATION DEGREE

Grace Buckland BA FASHION DESIGN TECHNOLOGY (WOMENSWEAR)

Heather Meikle BA FASHION DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

Charlie Athill MA HISTORY AND CULTURE OF FASHION (ALUMNI 2007)

Natalie Wardle BA FASHION STUDIES (FMCC PATHWAY)

THANKS TO.John BloomfieldJohnny EvesonAndrea StrachanDuncan MannDavid RichardsonJake & Helen Elster-JonesEldi DundeeJames AllanCarolina HerbstAndrew Watson

GET INVOLVED / SUBMIT YOUR WORK.Visit www.suarts.org/lesscommon to submit your work or to find out how to become part of the magazine’s volunteer team. You must be a current student to be part of the team. You must be a current student or an alumnus of the University of the Arts London to submit your work.

© COPYRIGHT 2008.The Students’ Union, University of the Arts London and the authors. No article may be reproduced or altered in any form without the written permission of the editor(s). The views expressed by the contributors/writers are not necessarily those of the editor(s), the publishers or the University of the Arts London.

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03 04

AF: The group expands and contracts according to

the nature of the event. !WOWOW! is now a context

for creative people to produce and show their work

together. It includes artists, film makers, painters, per-

formers, writers, musicians and really anyone else who’s

interested in working with us. The most recent perform-

ance of ‘Late at Tate’ was orgnised by myself; it is run by

Adrian Shaw and was curated by Andy Hunt. The next

thing !WOWOW! is doing is a festival in Berlin.

AF: !WOWOW! was started in 2003 as a performance night at the Joiners pub in Camberwell by a group of students

from the Slade, Camberwell and St Martins. The group that started the night and were the initial performers was

made up of Matthew Stone, Hanna Hanra, Gareth Pugh, Katie Shillingford, Boo Saville, James Balmforth, Tara Grant

and myself. This is a skeleton list - it doesn’t include everyone, as the whole list is huge! The group continued to put

on events and performances around Camberwell until we all started squatting in Peckham as a means to carry on

making art and exhibiting. We started putting on exhibitions, parties and gigs in late 2004 in the old Co-op building

which we named !WOWOW! house. The building was incredible; it included a gym (which at one point belonged

to ‘Wolf’ from the ‘Gladiators’ on ITV), mirrored dance studio (which was my bedroom), a club, theatre, church,

Nigerian video shop, tile warehouse and saunas.

SM: Adham, could you tell me how ‘WOWOW’ all began?

SM= Selvi May

AF= Adham Faramawy

AF: The gigs included the Mystery Jets, The Pipettes, The

Noisettes and the Rocks and Ludes amongst others. Also

there was an incredible performance of ‘Thriller’ by Lali

(now Spartacus) Chetwynd. The parties were, for the

most part, organised by Matthew Stone, James Balforth

and Tamzin Brown, though we all played our parts in

putting the events on.

SM: What were the parties and the gigs like? Who organized them?

AF: Yes, this is when Gareth’s career started to take off,

which brought a certain level of media attention that

has continued to escalate since.

SM: Was this around the time Gareth Pugh’s fashion label began to get attention?

SM: And what about !WOWOW! at the moment, are there any events lined up?

TEXT BYSelvi May

FDA Design for Graphic CommunicationLondon College of Communication


05 06


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SM: What about yourself? SM: Do you also work outside of !WOWOW!?

SM: How do you describe your work?

AF: I studied at the Slade, graduating in 2004. I was

one of the people who started !WOWOW! and have

worked alongside everyone since, as well as squatting

and exhibiting with them until 2005. I

made a film for Nick Knight’s website

‘Showstudio’ with Tara Grant. In late

2005 I moved into a studio with fashion

designer Carri Mundane who has a

label called Cassette Playa. I worked

on two films for her collections; one was

exhibited in ‘SidebySide’ in Tokyo and the

second was screened as part of fashion

East at the Truman Brewery. It is important

to note that my attitude to

art making is very inclusive

and post-Pop, in that I

refuse to acknowledge

definitions of high/low

or commercial/fine

art practices. Anyway,

Carri’s work started to

receive acclaim and the

New Rave youth cultural

phenomenon happened.

I moved to my own studio

and began to make films

in earnest.

AF: I organised shows separate to the !WOWOW!

events as well as screening in clubs and events such

as the Fe Arts event at

the Tate Modern. In 2007

I started working with the

URA space in Istanbul,

including one show which

was part of the Istanbul Bi-

enniel. I also showed with

The Black Mariah space

in Cork, Ireland, Anna

Kustera, New York as well

as the Conference of Birds

in Bangkok.

AF: My work often takes the form of performances or

performative videos focusing on marginalised scientific

concepts, esoteric Islamic tenet and ancient Egyptian

religious practices bound together by the populist

formats of MTV and youtube.com

The films have been screened as projections and

on structures made out of defunct televisions and

LCD screens. For the ‘Late at Tate’ event I screened

‘Time Wave Zero’, a film about concepts surrounding

non-linear time. The title is taken from a computer

programme written by theorist Terrence McKenna.

McKenna believes that time is speeding up and

repeating, and that this repetition is also speeding up

exponentially towards a singularity at the end of time,

located in 2012, which also happens to be the end

of the Mayan calendar. I tied his concepts to those

of film maker Maya Deren, who believed that, with

the commercial introduction of the airplane, human

perception of time and space started to change or

fold. Also, I linked in Guy Debord’s situationist ideas

about the Spectacle, saying that high speed travel and

tele-media/communication is the spectacle and that

these have evolved the way that humans perceive and

interact with time and space. We believe that e=mc2

but we don’t understand what that relationship means

on the microcosm of human perceptual apparatus.

I communicated these ideas both in the text on the

video and also in the editing, which speeds up as the

piece plays, until it is nothing more than a violent strobe

of images and rock music.

I also performed ‘I Can Do Impossible Things’ a song

delivered as an echolalic chant in Arabic accompanied

by two drummers (Jack Brennan and Craig Bowers).

I delivered this dressed as a sci-fi character speaking

in one of the oldest living languages on earth. This of

course doesn’t preclude the political aspect of using the

Arabic language. I believe it should be used as much as

possible so as to mainstream it. (For this reason I helped

translate the title list on the debut These New Puritans

album Beat Pyramid.)

07 08

Join the DotsA Reflection On The Small Story

This article begins as a reflection on a recent exhibition at the Student Union’s ‘We are Arts’ gallery at Southampton Row, Central Saint Martins. The exhibition, ‘What once was, along Goodsway’ is a docu-mentation of a canal-boat community who resided on the Goodsway Moorings at Kings Cross until November 2007, when they were eventually forced to move to make way for the redevelopment of the area, which is primarily to become the new Central Saint Martins College site. The lives and the stories of these former inhabitants, and of their plight, are expressed through the work of several artists in differ-ent mediums. Each piece of work reflects an attempt to portray, in an empathetic documentary form, the character of the community and of the individuals that make it, and their closeness to one another. The anecdotes and memorabilia that are conveyed through the presented audio and imagery are aides for identification and understanding. As viewers, we are led into the lives of a community that ‘once was’ and this is effected through a low-key and small-scale intimacy. Yet it is the location of this exhibition that retains its project as being more than merely one of commemoration or nostalgia, as it takes its quiet stance upon the walls of the very institution that is ultimately responsible for the destruc-tion of the community to which it gives a voice.

It is this quiet turn that is a noticeable feature of late,

not only within contemporary fine arts practices, but

also within almost all forms of contemporary discourse.

The quiet turn is a turn away from great movements

and grand narratives, and the possibilities of effect-

ing great change through mass dissent, to one that

favours action on a small scale at grassroots level and

which privileges local and minority forms of identifica-

tion. Gone are the days of bold proclamations against

the injustices within our society; gone also is the posi-

tive belief in the mass psyche and the force of its most

radical gestures. The crumbling architecture and tired

machinery of the great modern epoch has given way

to an ahistorical abyss within which all forms of dissent

are neutralised through the naturalisation of an unjust

economic system. In losing the ability to position and

isolate our advanced-capitalist era within a long histori-

cal narrative, it seems that we have lost the ability to

envisage an alternative. Within this context, we are

compelled to focus our energy and attention on the

small stories, since they are often the closest points of

identification to our lived realities, and always within

reach. The seductive appeal of these comprehensible,

tangible and emotive titbits is understandable given our

fractured, uncentred personal contexts. We voice our

opinions on the multitude of miniaturised issues, as it’s

the closest we can come to expressing our dissatisfac-

tion with modern life.

Nevertheless, it is possible to identify some positive

potential within our contemporary state of affairs, to the

extent that the small story and minor struggle contain

within them the seeds of much larger issues. Much

like the traditional role of folklore and mythology, our

most pressing issues, concerns and values are given

iconographical form through our representations and

their figureheads. Thus, the humanising of complex and

increasingly abstract issues and their transformation

into more identifiable and accessible forms can be

seen to be a valuable factor within our ability to deal

with the issues at hand. This same process can be

PHOTOGRAPHS BY Sylvie Goy

Pg Cert in Photography (alumni 2007)Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

TEXT BYNorman Wilcox-Geissen

ABC Diploma, PhotographyBA Photography (alumni 2006)



09 10

viewed in its potential to traverse cultural and class

boundaries, allowing the alienated individual to

visualise, connect with, and respond to the disparate

issues that they might otherwise be distanced and

disconnected from; it brings them closer to home. In

a most positive outlook, we may envision a multitude

of individual struggles working toward effecting

larger change through a gradual build-up of forces

opposed to particular instances of injustice within our

society. The perpetual flickers of dissent from disparate

directions may work to chip away at the apparently

impenetrable cloak of normalcy that prevents us from

fully acknowledging the sickness that extends to the

very foundations of our society. Guy Debord in pre-

68 Paris envisaged the way that small acts of dissent

could work like ‘detonations’ to instigate mass change.

He encouraged actions that could work to turn the

logic of our society upside down in an attempt to

redefine it, whilst reinstating the place of the individual

subject through drawing attention to the extent to

which our lives are colonised by our habitual everyday

practices - a reclaiming of ‘life’ by the individual

subject, in outright opposition to the spectacular

forces of capitalism that deny its very existence.

Unfortunately, these promises all too often fall flat, as the

barrage of individual stories and campaigns lay waste

to our abilities to form points of connection between

them. It is the specificity of these issues that grants

them our undivided attention. ‘Undivided’, in this sense,

insinuates a form of connection between the story and

the reader that is unbroken by its connections to related

issues and unaffected by causal relations. It seems that

this form of isolation, as if situated within a vacuum, is a

common condition of the small story. Similarly, it often

deceives the reader into allocating a false significance

to relationships with other issues, over and above the

core ones, in order to sustain its sensational appeal.

Such instances work to distract us from forming the

necessary connections with the real issues at hand. An


11 12

example of this could be the majority of coverage of

‘hot’ issues like gang culture and anti-social behaviour.

In such cases, we are fed with a wealth of sensationalist

dialogue that not only stops short of tackling the root

causes (i.e. the social conditions and increasing dispar-

ity that account for growing alienation within working-

class youth culture), but prevents us asking any further

questions. The hysteria surrounding cases like the Rhys

Jones shooting is understandable given its nature,

yet one would hope that these events could open up

dialogue over the root causes of this growing trend.

However, the shock effect of such instances produces a

defensive reaction that is perpetuated through the me-

dia, which represents the causes as something ‘other’

and counter to our ‘normal’ society. This raw reaction

of establishing a model of normalcy in opposition to a

threatening and undefined entity stifles any attempt to

discuss its root causes, when the problems are essen-

tially derived from the thing considered normal. Thus,

representing issues (like those discussed) as foreign or

‘other’ ultimately works to affirm and strengthen their

root causes through a process of normalising our exist-

ing social conditions.

So, it seems that the more that we are encouraged to

connect with the small story and minor struggle at all

levels of discourse, the more complicated it becomes to

clarify our world picture. A babble of disparate voices,

all pursuing their individual agendas across a spectrum

of isolated localities, makes the task of identifying uni-

fied goals an arduous one. Our culture purports to en-

courage individual liberties and diversity, which sadly in

practice perpetuates separation, isolation, alienation,

difference, and fear. Thus, the alienation of the individ-

ual subject is paralleled in the fragmentation of all of his

forms of expression and identification. It is these same

factors that contribute to our sense of helplessness and

which breed apathy, by way of a perverse myth that

the unjust basis of our modern system is innate, absolute

and therefore unalterable. Yet, it would be neither pro-

gressive nor realistic to remain dogmatically distanced

from these contemporary trends and developments, as

a project of negation in the guise of subversive identifi-

cation only reinforces difference and alienation and so

works to affirm rather than challenge the problems with

our status quo. As we become subject more and more

to a common logic of separation, it is far more urgent

and effective to identify points of connection between

disparate forms of resistance; since these relationships

often exist already in essence, it’s basically a process

of their realisation. We must work hard to realise the

place of the small story within the bigger picture - its

wider signification - and to perceive the extent to which

the multitude of minutiae are so closely connected. In

direct equivalence with this, we as individuals urgently

need to recognise our potential power to collectively

shape and determine our greater contexts. Clarity must

overcome distraction.


14


TEXT BYNatalie Wardle

BA Fashion Studies (FMCC Pathway)London College of Fashion

ILLUSTRATION BYTatiana Woolrych

BA Typographic DesignLondon College of Communication

Whilst lurking in the dark gloomy shadows of The End’s

foreboding basement, I cannot help but notice how

many twiglet-like scenesters have arrived in due flock

to see current Rockabilly fave The Guillotines. Arriving

hot off the heels of novelty Goth/Mods The Horrors, they

attract a similar self-conscious crowd.

Adorned in black drainpipes (cut so tight it’s enough

to induce deep vein thrombosis) and brutally

backcombed hair, it feels as though I’ve walked straight

off the set of The Munsters. In reality this is the next

generation of Mod subculture.

Mod is also known as Modernism, and was originally

a lifestyle movement that circulated around fashion

and music developed in Post-War Britain, when social

restrictions were beginning to break down. The origins

can be traced back to the infamous cultural melting pot

of Scotland Road in Liverpool. Suddenly, young working

class people had an accessible income, and began to

take an interest in clothes and music. Thus it became en

vogue for the upper class to mix with the masses.

Adorned in uniform suits and scooters, British pop and

American R ‘n’ B were their music of choice. The first

wave of Mods, however, pursued a completely different

kind of sound from the mainstream society of the early

60s, who were currently obsessed with the Beatles.

Their appreciation of Jazz music originated from Black

America. They appeared to distinguish themselves as

a following, and were attracted to the ‘cool’, stylised

demeanour of jazz musicians such as Miles Davis.

The American jazz records were in short supply in

Liverpool, but that’s just how the Mods liked it, preferring

to turn their backs on commercialism and veer towards

the more obscure. When jazz grew in popularity, the

Mod originators progressed to Blues, Rhythm and

Blues, and then Jamaican Blue beat and Ska. The

Mods sparked a nationwide interest in original R’n’B or

‘Rock’n’Roll’ if you like, championing such bands as The

Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks,

and The Small Faces. The Who, however, are largely

regarded as the most successful Mod band of the time

becoming symbols of rebellion for this new generation.

They embodied the future, sporting Mod attire and

haircuts and singing songs about the Mod way of life,

such as ‘I’m The Face’

and ‘My Generation’.

Teamed with their violent

behaviour on stage, they

personified the aggression

which was omnipresent in

mod culture.

The modern Mods appear

to be aware of the history

of their ‘forefathers’, and,

in many ways, are merely

a continuance of these

traditions.

According to Leah Crust,

a Canadian photography

student and self confessed

Mod, today we are just

‘revisiting the scene

and not really living it’,

explaining that it has

become more of a

decadent party thing

rather than a way of life.

John Stewart, a 22 yr old

Dickensian character

working in the Men’s

Burberry section of

Selfridges, would agree

with this former statement.

His acceptance into the

inner circle of flagship

British mod band The

Rifles, leads him to

decipher that although

certain individuals such

as himself and his peers

favour the elements of

mod living, it is by no

means a resurrected

movement, and in fact

a fickle trend that the

public will soon discard,

despite the fact that

the ‘traditionalists’ (as

he refers to himself) will

continue to uphold this

manner of existence.

The current Western pop

icons of today, including

Lily Allen, Kate Nash,

Alexa Chung, Adele, and

even the long established

indie sex symbol Karen O

(lead singer of the Yeah

Yeah Yeahs, who recently

sported a new Peggy

Moffitt-inspired bowl cut)

all favour the current

‘mod’ look, and stars such

as Amy Winehouse and

Pete Doherty promote

this trend as a desirable

lifestyle. However, once this

‘elegantly wasted’ sense

of decadence had hit the

mainstream, many of the

fashion conscious saw it

as cliché to imitate such

icons and instead hailed

more fashion forward

up-and-coming names

such as Agnes Dean, who

represented something

fresh and untainted. Which

leads to the question:

although these retro stars

are currently at their peak,

will they in a few years

be merely regarded as

comedic caricatures

as many have begun

to claim? Therefore,

considering their close

association with mod

living, will it also be seen

as outdated?

At the moment, however,

the mod flag still seems to


be flying high. Recently

independent run mod

revivalist club nights have

collectively sprung up

across London. Go-Go-A-

La-Mode!, the 60s-themed

action packed club night

founded by all girl dance

group The Actionettes

(http://www.myspace.

com/theactionettes)

and housed in the

infamous founding venue

of anarchism, the 100

Club, features everything

from synchronised go-

go dancing to vintage

stalls; this indicates that

authenticity is the key to

gaining credibility within

the alternative indie

scene. The legendary 90s

Britpop night Popscene


com/popsceneclub) was

also recently resurrected

(due to popular demand)

at the Mean Fiddler,

and is undeniably the

most commercial option,

attracting a varied

clientele and inspiring

other events for Britpop/

Mod lovers such as The

Beat Hotel (at the Buffalo

Bar, 259 Upper Street,

London N1every fourth

Friday, £3, 9pm-2am) and

London Loves (Push, 93

Dean Street, London W1D

3SZ every first Saturday,

£4, 8pm-1am), both

specialising in soul, psych,

motown and indie pop.

Meanwhile, for staunch

mod traditionalists,

there is the long running

Brighton Rocks, which

organises occasional

regional events.

Alternatively, if ‘hardfloor

60s sounds’ are what

your ear craves, head

down to Hard As Nails


com/hardasnailsclub)

upstairs at Clockwork

96-98 Pentonville Rd.

Nevertheless, according

to the Guardian, How

Does It Feel To Be Loved

(Canterbury Arms in

Brixton and The Phoenix,

Cavendish Square, every

first Friday and third

Saturday, £3 members, £5

non members, 9pm-2am)

is the ‘best club night in

the world’, an obscure,

archivist celebration

of the history of sixties

heartbreak, Northern Soul,

Motown and Girl Groups.

Expect to hear gems from

the likes of The Smiths and

The Supremes.

To complicate the matter

further, the connotations

of the word ‘Mod’ are

so varied that it has

began to split into various

sub genres. New peer subculture groups, such as

the ‘Moths’ - a term coined by The Jam’s Paul Weller

to describe his androgynous up-and-coming club

promoter/singer son Sam Weller’s cross breed style;

a combination of Emo/Goth aestheticism with mod

tailoring. This subversive, somewhat fetishist look can

be derived from such stars and burlesque pinups as

Dita Von Teese, Immodesty Blaize, Evan Rachel Wood,

Marilyn Manson and Russell Brand. New wave Goth/

punk posing under the guise of Mod was first brought to

the attention of the mainstream by the aforementioned

Horrors, who have been greeted with both rapturous

applause and ridicule in equal measure since their

appearance on the London indie club scene. Regular

attendees of the original art rocker night White Heat

at Madame Jo Jo’s, their influences encompass post-

punk, theatrical horror and, somewhat confusingly, 60s

girl groups. Their tight creative circle includes all girl

Rockabilly DJ trio The She Set (http://www.myspace.

com/thesheset), and Goth/punk bands Boys of Brazil

(http://www.myspace.com/boysofbrazil), Eighties

Matchbox B-Line Disaster (http://www.myspace.com/

eightiesmatchboxblinedisaster),Soho Dolls (http://www.

myspace.com/sohodolls) and Xerox Teens (http://www.

myspace.com/xxteens) whom all frequent London’s

alternative Goth/Mod scene, including underground

nights such as U.F.O (http://www.myspace.com/

ufo_club) and Blitzkrieg Bop at Sin (144 Charing Cross

Road, London, London, WC2H 0LB). Nearest station is

Tottenham Court Road (tube). Dice Club (http://www.

myspace.com/diceclublondon), The Legion, 348 Old

Street, London EC1V 9NQ. See websites for details.

The relevance of Mod culture today is only significant in

terms of a trend revival. Despite certain elements of the

lifestyle still being seen in a certain sector of the fashion

conscious youth, the original mods are regarded by

many as some sort of outdated signifier of rebellion

formulated by their parents, which has no real bearing

on modern day society. I’ll still be keeping those black

drainpipes in my wardrobe though - just to be safe...


General backgroundThere are 7000 Roma in Slovenia. In a survey in 1993

there were only 2,293 Slovenian nationals who declared

themselves as Roma and 2,847 who proclaimed Roma

language as their mother’s tongue.

Roma live in three main areas of Slovenia: Dolenjska,

Gorenjska, and Prekmurje. Each group slightly differs

from the other two in language (similar to Hindu, both

derive from Sanskrit) and culture.

Although Roma are Slovene nationals according to the

Constitution, they don’t enjoy equal rights to the other

Slovene nationals.

For example, they don’t have a member in the

parliament to defend their rights, although they now

have a representative on the local level.

There is a lot of unemployment amongst the Roma, one

of the reasons for that being low levels of education.

In Slovenia there are no special schools for the Roma.

Children go to school along with other citizens and

are often exposed to different forms of exclusion and

impatience. For a lot of them, the first contact with

Slovene language happens in school. Yet, 70% of Roma

children who have entered the educational system

complete it successfully.

Roma People

My projectI follow four different Roma families in Slovenia.

Strojan family In 2007, the Ambrus affair (taking its name from the

Ambrus village where the Strojan family lived) took

place. The Strojans (an extended family of 31 Gypsies,

14 of them children) fled their property in Ambrus,

Slovenija on October 28 after it was surrounded by a

mob from Ambrus and nearby villages, threatening

to kill them and demanding their eviction. While the

police kept the crowd back, Slovenian government

officials negotiated the family’s removal to a former

army barracks about 30 miles away.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BYEva Sajovic

BA Graphic Design/ AV, PhotographyCentral Saint Martins

The government’s role in the forced removal of the

family makes it one of the most serious such incidents in

Europe in a decade. And now other municipalities are

calling for the removal of Gypsies.

The European Roma Rights Center criticised the

government for setting a dangerous precedent. “Were

this to become a common state of affairs, it would be an

extremely worrying development,” said Claude Cahn, the

group’s program director, who called the move ‘a serious

breach of basic civil rights’.

According to Slovenia’s ombudsman for human rights,

Matjaz Hanzek, the reaction of the government and

of the public illustrates a deep-rooted prejudice that

permeates Slovenian society.

Brajdic familyIn 2005, in the space of a few days there were two

bombs dropped into two Roma houses. In one case, this

cost the lives of a 46 year old mother (who left behind

three sons, absent at the time of the incident) and of

her 21 year old daughter, a school assistant.

In the other instance, a bomb was aimed at the window

of a bedroom but hit the pane and bounced back,

exploding in front of the Brajdic house. There were no

deaths, although Lucija Brajdic suffered cuts in her

stomach from the broken glass.

Rajko Sajnovic, poet and major translator for Roman languageRajko is one of the most important and praised figures

in Roma world, and has done a lot to help to preserve

Roma traditions by telling stories from the past and

writing them down. He has published several poetry

books, children stories, and novels.

Kovacic familyA large family whose lifestyle incorporates Roma

traditions, as well as a more modern outlook.

19 20

Roma People

21 22

Roma People

23 24

Roma People

Samhain 31st October (pronounced

Sow-in): the Wheel of the

Year is seen to begin at

Samhain, which is also known

as Halloween or All Hallows

Eve. This is the Celtic New

Year, when the veil between

the worlds of life and death

stands open. Samhain is a

festival of the dead, when

Pagans remember those

who have gone before and

acknowledge the mystery

of death. Pagans celebrate

death as a part of life.

Yule

21st December (archaic

form Geola, pronounced

Yula): Yule is the time of the

winter solstice, when the sun

child is reborn, an image

of the return of all new life

born through the love of the

Gods. The Norse had a God

Ullr, and within the Northern

Tradition Yule is regarded as

the New Year.

Imbolc

2nd February: Imbolc,

also called Oimelc and

Candlemas, celebrates

the awakening of the land

and the growing power of

the Sun. Often, the Goddess

is venerated in her aspect

as the Virgin of Light and

her altar is decked with

snowdrops, the heralds

of spring.

Spring Equinox

21st March: by Spring

Equinox, the powers of the

gathering year are equal to

the darkness of winter and

death. Others dedicate this

time to Eostre, the Anglo-

Saxon Goddess of fertility.

Beltane 30th April: the powers of light

and new life now dance

and move through all

creation. Summer begins and

Pagans celebrate Beltane

with maypole dances,

symbolising the mystery

of the Sacred Marriage of

Goddess and God.

Midsummer

21st June: the Summer

Solstice is sometimes called

Litha. The God in his light

aspect is at the height of his

power and is crowned Lord

of Light. It is a time of plenty

and celebration.

Lughnasadh

1st August (pronounced

Loo-nassa): Lughnasadh,

otherwise called Lammas,

is the time of the corn

harvest. This was converted

into the ‘Harvest Festival’

as celebrated by the

Christian Church.

Autumn Equinox

21 September: day and night

are in equal length. As the shad-

ows lengthen, Pagans see the

darker faces of the God and

Goddess. For many Pagans, this

rite honours old age and the

approach of winter.

Samhain 31st October: the Wheel

turns and returns to Samhain,

the festival of the dead,

when we face the Gods in

their most awesome forms.

It is not a time of fear, but

to understand that life and

death are part of a whole.


meeting was as elusive

to find as Pagans are to

society at large. After

half an hour of walking

around back alleys, I

finally found The Deveraux

pub and was directed

up some narrow stairs

into a wooden panelled

room that resembled a

15th century tavern. There

was a talk called ‘Capital

Myths’ by Rob Stephenson,

who I discovered does

illustrated talks and walks

at Pagan and Folklore

events throughout

London.

A lot of people at the

Moot had an attitude

of being individual and

creative in their approach

to Paganism, rather than

following one set of rules

or dogma. There is no

set church or rule book,

leaving people to follow

the traditions of folklore

in their own way. Lorna

Cox usually does her

own thing; this was the

first social group she had

come to in years. When

asked how she reconciled

living in a city with

following an earth based

religion she replied: “You

can be a Pagan and still

TEXT BYSarah Vanstone

MA Journalism London College of Communication

THE MOOT WITH NO NAME

live in the city. That is like saying you have to live in the

country in order to be eco-friendly. I recycle. The cities

are here, we can’t knock the buildings down, we don’t

have to move into a tent and rub sticks together. There

are no tie dye t-shirts here tonight. We are probably

the only ones in the room talking about Paganism. We

wouldn’t focus on that anymore more than a room

full of Christians or Muslims would be talking about

themselves”. She quickly dispelled any preconceptions

I had about Paganism being for campers, hippies or

people with large beards, although admittedly there

were a lot of bearded men there.

Bernard Shaws, an events organiser for The South

East London Folklore Society (SELFS), liked Paganism

for being open and accepting of everybody. “We

publicise other organisation’s events at whatever venue

we are at, be they a Christian group or The Red Cross

or whoever. But I went to a Christian group a couple

of months ago, and they wouldn’t take our Paganism

flyers. They won’t advertise for anyone else.

“It took me about 10 minutes to realise what was going

on and leave”. A laid back air of acceptance and

laughter dominated the room; people weren’t afraid

to talk about anything, sex, death, or philosophy. If they

were any more laid back they’d be horizontal.

Later, I got into a conversation with a man on my

right about Edward the Confessor, while someone

on my left was talking about having an operation to

repair his sinuses. A typical night in the pub, really. It

ended with a raffle prize draw and questions about

Rob’s talk, with reflections on London history from

the days when it was a boggy marsh to the Romans,

including ancient Gods from the British Isles that were

romanised and survive into today, such as the national

symbol Britannia. It felt like a scene out of Time Team. I

left feeling welcome and accepted, and that this was

only the tip of the iceberg.

DEFINITION OF PAGANISM

Paganism is a term which,

from a Western perspective,

has come to connote a

broad set of practices or

beliefs of any folk religion,

and of historical and

contemporary polytheistic

religions in particular.

Upcoming events around

London can be found at:

‘The Moot With No Name’

meets on alternate

Wednesdays at 7:30 for

8pm, at the Deveraux pub

near Temple tube station.

Upcoming talks include titles

like ‘The Garden of Nuts’

‘What Heathens Did’ and ‘Of

Heaven, Hell and the Seven-

Headed Serpent’. Details can

be found on The South East

London Folklore Society:

www.selfs.org.uk

The Pagan Federation:

www.paganfed.org

Groups to join on Facebook.

com:

The Moot With No Name, Pagan

London, Alternative events.

The Wheel of the Year All Pagan traditions are founded upon a vision of Deity manifest in nature.

All seasonal rites are based on nature. Here are the explanations of the main festivals:

25


26

SquatTEXT BY

George Webster MA Journalism


PHOTOGRAPHS BYGuillame Mercier BA Photography

London College of CommunicationPublic space is under many kinds of threat; from the brute force of developers devouring property, to the reckless, market-driven agendas of much council policy. At the same time, many feel that contemporary culture assumes a progressively more insipid hue. Squatting is about the reclamation of space, usually accompanied by a change in its status and character. UK law gives squatters rights of tenancy in certain empty buildings without the owner’s approval. In doing so, it opens up a realm of possibility.

27

Our towns and cities are littered with empty buildings of

every sort, often the neglected pages of inflated prop-

erty portfolios. Their owners are mostly disconnected

from the neighbourhoods their oblivion affects. Those

neighbourhoods cater less and less for their residents’

spatial needs. So when squatters make use of wantonly

wasted spaces, there can hardly be anger or surprise.

A large proportion of squatters are homeless folk in des-

perate need of housing, facing harsh circumstances.

This alone provides justification for a statute to legalise

this practice. But besides the weighty social housing

issue, there exists a squatting ‘scene’ acting with a quite

different array of purposes. It is often just a matter of es-

tablishing private living quarters, as dispossessed locals

are squeezed out of an ever more elitist housing market.

Others are artists who lack alternatives, who want to re-

alise fantasies outside of restrictive institutional protocol.

Others still are those seeking to create public, autono-

mous zones offering a most valuable counterpoint of

reflection and critique on society and its mores.

The spaces thus emerging offer exploratory experi-

ences. It is in this sphere that we find an important

alternative (or antidote) to common forms of living

(and playing). Our society and its people are sub-

merged in a narrow strain of life, too busy to question

or delve into other modes of existence and thought.

Squats provide a thrilling springboard for these natu-

ral curiosities.

Exemplary among such outlets are squat parties.

Clandestine affairs in forgotten crevices of urbanity,

these debaucherous playhouses have welcomed the

most liberated ventures into the bizarre and wondrous.

With an unmatched degree of escapism, the squat

party often constitutes an experiment in fringe culture,

unorthodox behaviour, art, architecture, autonomous

political arrangement and more. The buildings most

audaciously used to this end have included enormous

cargo warehouses and abandoned university com-

pounds. Sound systems, cinemas and circuses have

transformed otherwise useless voids into collective

organisms of vitality and imagination. There is noth-

ing comparable to the thoughts and feelings that this

spectacle breeds; a truly inimitable encounter that all

open-minded individuals owe themselves. In fact, it was

the very spirit of squatting that gave birth to free parties

and acid house culture. What has come to be one of

our country’s richest cultural artifacts was borne of the

vision of a determined social movement in favour of

spatial recuperation.

Aside from this, squatting presents other fascinating

building and space usages utterly unique in our society.

The Rampart Social Centre in Whitechapel, East Lon-

don is a most prominent example. Over the course of

almost four years, this bastion of open community has

held host to enchanting poetry and music evenings,

free public food preparation sessions, women’s identity

groups, a wealth of free education workshops, and

much more. Its policy of freely inviting anyone to sug-

gest and carry out uses for the space makes it a public

hub in the highest sense, testament to the power of

creativity and good will against the tide.

Moreover, few other spaces lend themselves to activ-

ist organisation as has the Rampart. Thanks to its sup-

port of protest, it is now a perennial fixture on police

surveillance operations at events such as DSEi, the UK’s

largest arms fair. Squats like Rampart feature as vital

mobilisation points for anti-establishment efforts under-

resourced through disenfranchisement. Though we may

disagree with certain activist objectives, let’s remember

that many of our most cherished rights once lingered at

the political periphery where squats are most needed.

Although currently wading through an involved eviction

process, the Rampart collective looks to the future with

an abundance of plans and spaces in mind.

The UK, and Europe in general, have a bubbling under-

current of activity occurring throughout. In early April,

a global call for action (http://april2008.squat.net/)

hopes to give life to a surge of squat related activity. In

response to hostility by governments, this push hopes

to catalyse an ethos of visibility and solidarity for squats

and their users as a political movement. That, of course,

could mean you.

At a time when apathy runs rife and forces shape the

public domain on our behalf, we must look to potent

forms of creativity and protest to replenish our posi-

tion in the debate. Squatting is a most important social

instrument, bequeathed to you by legal history and

ingrained in the fabric of human conscience. Use it with

care, to create and to question, to live and to dance.

It may be your most poignant escape; a magnificent

entrance to something other.

Squat

30

Battle 2008TEXT BY

Faith MillinBA Photography


STILLS BY Emile Kelly

‘Battle 2008’ is a project that explores contemporary

youth music culture in London. It studies the notion of a

scene, and the boundaries and barriers that a scene

can create. The project observes, not only the stylistic

aspects of youth music culture, but also the specific

lifestyles that this type of culture can create. The project

uses dance to explore these lifestyles and to experiment

with their varied contexts. ‘Battle 2008’ contains three

practical elements; a video, a catalogue, and a series

of live events. The project is structured through large-

scale events directed by myself between October

2007 and June 2008. For these events, individuals from

different music cultures have responded to invitations.

Each individual is asked to select a song and to appear

at a specific location to dance on camera. The

chosen song, and the style or manner of dance by the

individual in question, represents the music subculture

(or ‘scene’) with which they feel a particularly close

affiliation. The old church halls that I have chosen as the

venue for these events create a strange environment

for these individuals to dance in, compared with the

comfortable social contexts that they are used to. This

work uses still photography, video and interactive art

as tools to explore the social phenomenon of youth

music culture and music subculture. Additionally, the

project acts as a social experiment. The ‘live’ aspect

of this project demonstrates that a re-enactment of

lifestyle through dance is a moment not merely to be

viewed but also experienced.

My work will be shown at the BA Photography final show

on 3rd June and also in the Brighton Photo Fringe in

October 2008. To take part in the next event contact

[email protected]

Battle 2008

31 32

UNDERGROUND NEW YORKCROSS CULTURAL CONNECTIONS: THE FUSION BETWEEN DANCE MUSIC, CLUB CULTURE AND ART IN NYC 1975–1985.

The roots of this scene

date back to the early

discos and loft parties

of the 1970s, which led

to a clashing of scenes

and cultures mediated

through art, music and the

nightlife scene of the time

which, in turn, went on

to influence mainstream

music and popular culture

- an influence that still

reverberates today.

The Lower East Side has

always been home to

immigrant communities,

and it could be argued

that the energy of the

area is due, in part, to

these ambitious, hard

working settlers. But LES

has also been the home

to another kind of migrant;

those who where born

in the United States but

wished to escape from a

parochial, conformist and

God-fearing America;

attracted to the ‘bright

lights/big city’ in search of

liberation and excitement.

It was the combustion

caused by mixing those

that came to New York

for economic reasons

with those that came for

diverse cultural reasons

that gave LES its creative

energy.

Political and artistic radi-

calism has always been

present in LES. In the early

20th century Leon Trotsky,

Emma Goldman and

Alexander Berkman were

all residents; in the mid-

1950s a bar called The Five

Spot on Cooper Square

was the haunt of writers

such as Jack Kerouac and

Frank O’Hara, jazz musi-

cians like Charles Mingus

The 1980s New York underground scene was centred around the city’s Lower East Side (LES), the exact boundaries of which are somewhat contentious, but could be said to encompass the East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, the Bowery and Little Italy. A definitive definition is superfluous, LES being more a state of mind than an exact geographic location. Its creative energy came from a multicultural cross pollination of musical genres, sexual politics, ethnic identities and economic classes; an eclectic mix that was reflected in the art and music produced at the time, mixing elements taken from a history of avant-garde experimentalism, street culture and pop culture.

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and Sonny Rollins, and artists such as abstract expres-

sionists William de Kooning and Larry River.

By the 1970s, economic migration had caused a vibrant

Puerto Rican community to flourish alongside a more

established and by now economically comfortable

middle class, formed from previous immigrant

communities. But the oil crises of the 70s created a

spiral of economic hardship followed by increasing

crime, white flight and dis-investment. By 1980, LES had

a reputation for its thriving cocaine and heroin market.

However, this ushered in a fresh period for downtown

as a new wave of artists began to move into the area,

attracted by the low rent, history of radicalism, and

possibly the thriving cocaine and heroin market.

From the early 1970s onwards David Mancuso, a

disciple of acid evangelist Timothy Leary, hosted private

dance parties in his LES loft apartment inspired by

Leary’s psychedelic ‘happenings’. ‘Love Saves (the)

Day’, the title of the very first party, illustrates both

Mancuso’s idealistic hippy roots and the drug of choice

(LSD). The crowd was a diverse mixture of artists, hippies

and others on the fringes of society, including a large

contingent of black and Latino gay men. The end of

the 1960s had witnessed the Stonewall riots, where a

violent response to police harassment kick-started the

gay rights movement. Being a private party and not

a public venue, ‘The Loft’, as it came to be known,

provided a space where gay men could dance and

commune without fear of harassment. Both Leary and

Mancuso were obsessed with detail and what they

called the ‘set and setting’ of the party; a complete

dedication to audio fidelity was complemented by

lights and décor. Most of New York’s leading DJs of the

1980s and 1990s had attended Mancuso’s loft parties

and owed a large part of their musical education to his

eclectic mix of music. The most famous of these being

the Paradise Garage’s Larry Levan who, alongside

his partner in crime and fellow Loft regular Frankie

Knuckles, invented the styles of music we now know as

house and garage. It is interesting to note that, even

though he was one of the most influential DJs of all

time, Mancuso did not describe himself as such but

simply as a ‘musical host’.

The work produced by the new wave of LES artists

avoids neat categorisation. Unlike previous New York art

scenes such as the Abstract Expressionists or Pop Artists

there was no house style or homogenous philosophy

connecting them. Instead, an ethos of post-modern

eclecticism was present, and borrowing from the

language and techniques of modernism, primitive

cultures and the mass media were all prevalent. For

example, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring,

applying their symbolism-laced paintings directly to

public spaces influenced as much by hip-hop graffiti as

Barthe’s and Umberto Eco’s works on semiotics; or Jeff

Koons’ critique/celebration of consumerism and later

the language of pornography.

While the vitality of this scene was down to its fusion of

cultures, its energy was created by the interpersonal

connections of individuals as well as groups. For

instance, the white punk-rock crowd who attended

the legendry CBGBs club on the Bowery may seem a

world away from the young black and Hispanic break-

dancers who danced to DJ Africa Bambaataa at ‘the

Roxy’ roller disco. But the Roxy’s regular break-dance

outfit, The Rock Steady Crew, also performed at venues

such as the Punk/New Wave Mudd Club, home to

downtown scenesters such as David Byrne, Jean-Michel

Baquiat, Vincent Gallo and Debbie Harry.

A few blocks away, the gay Hispanic and black

dancers at the Paradise Garage danced to Larry

Levan’s eclectic disco selection, among them Keith

Haring, Basquiat’s friend and rival who he had exhibited

with at Club 57. Haring’s

trademark dancing figures

have been said to reflect

the tribal spirituality he

found on the Paradise

Garage dance floor. In

the words of Robert Farris

Thompson, professor

of Africa-American

history at Yale University,

the Paradise Garage

‘confirmed Keith’s vision

of blacks on the dance

floor as an “icon of life

and continuity…” he

owed some of his most

expressive dancing

outlines to close

observation of African-

Americans performing

there.’ It was at the

Paradise Garage that

Haring did one of his most

iconic works, painting

Grace Jones - literally.

The record that most

captures the spirit and

energy of the place and

time is ‘Adventures on

the Wheels of Steel’ by

Grandmaster Flash &

The Furious Five, a seven

minute sonic collage that

eclectically appropriated

and re-contextualised a

number of popular hip-

hop, new wave, disco

and rock tracks of the

time. It would not be an

exaggeration to claim it as

one of the most important

artworks of the late 20th century signalling the moment

when post-modernism went from being primarily an

architectural practice and an abstract concept in

critical theory to the defining cultural phenomenon of

its time.

Released the same year as ‘Simulacres et Simulation’,

the track is the embodiment of Baudrillard’s theory.

It uses both the iconic Chic track ‘Good Times’ (which

‘appropriated’ its bassline from Queen’s ‘Another One

Bites the Dust’) and Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ which, in turn,

referenced ‘Good Times’ and features a rap written

by the graffiti artist ‘Fab Five Freddy’, that in turn refers

back to the track it became part of by namechecking

‘Flash’ himself. At the time, this multilayered referencing

completely redefined what a popular piece of music

could be. While both the collage and readymade

had been avant garde staples of artists such as Picasso,

Duchump and Pierre Schaeffer, native New Yorker Steve

Reich claimed it was still a giant leap, being the first

ever piece of commercially released music constructed

entirely out of other peoples ‘original’ material.

In 1981 the first cases of AIDS (originally labelled ‘Gay

Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome’) were reported

in New York. Due to its hedonistic culture of drugs

and sex, those involved in the downtown scene were

tragically susceptible to the illness and by the time

Keith Haring died of an HIV related illness in February

1990, the party was definitely over. A gentrification

programme and later Mayor Giuliani’s “zero tolerance”

policies further dampened down the anarchic spirit

of the LES’s underground scene. But by this time, the

influence of underground 1980s NYC on mainstream

culture was pervasive. LES scenester Madonna (who

was a regular at the major clubs, hanging out with

Haring at the Paradise Garage and sleeping with

Basquiat) was by now the most famous woman on the

planet. Even as a mainstream superstar, her eclectic

appropriation and mixing of multiple styles and genres

reflects her creative LES background. At the same time,

the ecstasy and dance music combination pioneered

by mainly black and Hispanic gay New Yorkers (and

Chicagoans) was now labelled acid house (later rave)

and was now a global lifestyle choice. In the art world

Charles Saatchi, who first earned his reputation as a

serious player in the art world by showing ‘hot’ LES

artists such as Koons, Basquiat and Haring alongside

more established names, was about to become one of

the most powerful men in the art world.

Today we continue to see the influence of

downtown New York’s punk/disco sounds in a host

of contemporary bands such as The Rapture, Franz

Ferdinand, Liars, Interpol, New Young Pony Club and

Prinzhorn Dance School, mining a formula first explored

by underground New York acts such as Liquid Liquid,

Bush Tetris, The Bloods and particularly the legendary

E.S.G. The ‘I Heart NY’ t-shirts have for years been an

art student staple at London’s trendier clubs, but while

this mimicking of LES style might be seen as relatively

superficial, the wider effects on our culture are so

pervasive that they are not always obvious to see. For

instance, the Pink Dollar is now estimated to be worth

an estimated $350bn a year to the U.S. economy alone.

Post-Stonewall, LES was one of the first places gay

men felt the confidence to openly identify themselves

culturally, and the clubs and discos they attended

were the first places that they could be seen as a

homogeneous group to be commercially targeted or

exploited, depending on your views on capitalism.

It is indeed an irony that, before its transformation into

a commercial product, the dance music-based club

scene did in fact provide a live model for an alternative

to a capitalist based society before it was co-opted,

consumed, exploited and ultimately illegitimatised

by a said capitalist system. A loft apartment in NYC

provided a space so

that a diverse group of

people, marginalised and

discriminated against by

mainstream American

culture, could come

together in a spirit of

hedonism and friendship

to take drugs, listen to

music and dance. A

‘free’ culture operated

where the small price

of admission would be

ploughed back into

the party, drugs were

taken to ‘free up’ the

consciousness, and

‘free’ love was the norm,

as networks of friends

replaced the nuclear

family as the primary unit

of social cohesion.

Though widely trivialised,

patronised and ignored

by a mainstream and

(so-called) alternative

music press obsessed with

white male-dominated

rock music; the disco

music spawned by the

downtown scene has had

a profound influence on

today’s society. Everything

from the explosion of what

is referred to as ‘Dance

Music’ (with its numerous

and ever mutating

sub-genres), DJ worship,

remix culture, to the

opening up of the night

time economy in Britain’s

cities and the recognition

of the importance of

the ‘pink pound’.

This can all be traced

directly back to the

actions of a small group

of individuals who came

together in the early 1970s

to dance in a converted

loft apartment in

downtown New York City.

While there are people

running around in leather

corsets without a thought

for the fetishistic roots of

their fashion, there

are fetishists running

around fretting that their

magical objects are losing

their power.

Although common

fetishes include leather,

latex or rubber clothing,

and high-heeled footwear

or boots, fetishes are

often as individual as the

person. False eyelashes,

heavy make up, rubber

mackintoshes, body

rings or tattoos are the

unique visual language

of a one’s liberation.

As a consequence,

designers are finding

inspiration by raiding the

fetishists’ closest, but what

influences the coming

and going of fetishistic

trends? A taste of a

rubber, perhaps!

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The popularity of venues

such as the Torture

Garden, billed as the

world’s largest Body

Art Club, indicates that

this form of dressing

up seems to be more

about fantasy and

transformation than just

latex and pain. Creating

an environment that

accepts and encourages

free self-expression, the

founders claim their

crowd is to be “the most

diverse, from young

fashionable clubber to

alternative arty weirdo

and burlesque cabaret

fan to sophisticated SM

regular”. TG doesn’t want

to stand just for adult

dress-up parties but also

for more significantly

themed events, such as

role-play and car crash

scenarios. Decadence is

clearly back.

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In the 80s and early 90s,

Fetish and S&M were still

considered taboo, and

dressing in rubber and going

to a fetish club seemed a

dangerous idea. However, as

numbers grew at prestigious

venues such as the Ministry of

Sound, and creativity in this

area started to influence the

mainstream, interest in fetish

began to become a trend.

As British society opened up

to sexuality in general during

the late 90s, the media also

changed their attitude.

“…Fetish Evolution has

everything you need for

a pervy Easter Weekend,”

announced Skin Two

magazine to encourage

taking part in fetish parties

this March in Germany. A

glossy issue on fetish fashion

and culture featured BDSM/

fetish photography and art,

introducing names such as

Barbara Nitke and Michael

Manning. Fetish fiction

created by David Aaron

Clarke and expert writers

such as Susan Wright and

Daryl Champion, together

with great illustrations by

Sardax, gave the reader an

insight into the goings on

within this scene.

Who does the best latex cut?

The idea of latex wear being

taken out of the dungeon

and put onto the catwalk

seems to be challenging.

How does one confront the

strong associations between

fetish and the bizarre and

as well as create something

timeless and beautiful out

of a raw material like rubber

or latex? Some made to

measure pieces have sold

for hundreds of pounds and

have found wide public

interest, including the range

made by Atsuko Kudo,

who creates posh and sexy

couture latex. Kudo, who

graduated from London

College of Fashion, has her

rubber emporium Showgirls

on Holloway Road in London.

From sassy party numbers to

more day-to-day ensembles,

the designs prove to be

an essential, whatever the

occasion.

“Latex, when cut and

designed well, can be worn

in any context by anyone

who wishes to look and feel

beautiful, feminine and

strong,” Kudo states simply

and adds, “last year, we

seemed to get the

call from Hollywood”. The

latest collection is just

outstanding, and can’t be

mistaken for any other latex

designer. It brings together

the New Burlesque look with

its mix of 1950’s glamour, and

modern fetish, combining

it with a method of printing

lace on to latex.

Another leader in this genre

is German label Fraulein

Ehrhardt and her High Gloss

Dolls. Photographer and

founder Katja Ehrhardt uses

glossy fashion images to

promote an extremely sexy

line of lingerie together with

party dresses that have

a fetish / BDSM flavour,

which are mostly seen in

publications such as German

Penthouse, Fet-X, or Playboy.

Whereas Atsuko Kudo almost

exclusively designs upmarket

dresses for stage and film, as

opposed to Ehrhardt’s cut

for the bedroom and party

occasions, both designers

have to admit they create

mainly for women, who wish

to look and feel beautiful,

feminine and strong in order

to show their curves.

Evolution or revolution?

Likewise, mainstream

fashion designers tend to

emphasise a woman’s body

and, not for the first time,

are all over fetish fashion

again. Vivienne Westwood

supported the look back

in the 70s in her shop ‘Sex’.

Photos of her pieces were

published in Vogue and

set off a trend for fetish,

which has become mass as

opposed to niche, and found

different interpretations. In

August 2007, fashion journalist

Hadley Freeman stated in the

The Guardian that “there is

something dubious about the

industry’s belief that the only

other option for a woman

is to dress as if she charges

by the hour. A child or a

madam: ladies, those are

your choices”.

One is left wondering if body

parts aren’t more likely to be

objects of a sexual fetish than

clothing itself?

Last year fashion designers

like Dolce & Gabbana

featured metallic cocktail

dresses cinched with wide

belts, Alexander McQueen

offered moulded latex

armour, Burberry decided

to launch heavily stitched

leather gloves, and Mulberry

made a move from girlish

tea dresses to leather shifts

with chunky zips. The fashion

ads are full of ladies wearing

tight and sexy clothing

predatory poses.

This Season, fetish has filtered

through again in a variety of

accessories such as Prada’s

latex knuckle gloves or

hats. Meanwhile, Hussein

Chalayan accessorised his

Autumn/Winter collection

with latex stockings from

Atsuko Kudo in black and

metallic shades. Nicolas

Ghesquière for Balenciaga

had yet more to offer with

more severe shining latex

and plastics. Wet-look rubber

coats and latex biker jackets

formed a kind of elegant

dominatrix uniform.

With this emphasis on

novelty, I see the future

for latex (or similar

future fabrics) in being

employed in unexpected

ways. This was really

how I saw Heather

Meikle’s collection. To

combine latex with

a 50s silhouette was

quite ground breaking.

I wanted to reference

the conservatism of the

silhouette so located

the shoot in a suburban

domestic context. We of

course needed to also

represent the radicalism of

Heather’s work, hence the

mask of light, the feeling

that everything was at

risk of immanent collapse,

slippage, a sense of a

hidden darkness behind

the façade, perhaps

a little like Desperate

Housewives.

So I can see latex

and fetish influences

continuing. Their use

remains a strong signifier

for the avant garde, for

sexual power, alternative

glamour, androygenising

feminity and in making

statements to challenge

the moribund status quo.

Fashion photographer David Richardson, who has shot

collections for young designers from LCF, has been a

close observer of these trends.

A: Tell me about your shoots with students from LCF and how you applied the fetishistic elements…

A: Why then aren’t we seeing more latex clothing taking to the runway rather than just as additional accents?

A: But what about leather? It’s also very dominatrix!

DR: This styling accent was how we used the Atsudo Kudo

latex legs in the Grace Buckland shoot. Following Chalayan

we used them to draw out the edge in Grace’s sharp tailoring

which was influenced by 1930s modernism and a well known

skyscraper in her native Hong Kong.

DR: Whilst black leather continues as a major force for AW

08/9 and there’s undeniably lots of edge to the season

(now in a more gothic way), I think latex acts as a symbol

which leather can’t. In its cling and shine it has more

glamour than leather. It therefore has greater scope for use in,

or to style, edgy eveningwear or even work wear as we did in

these shoots.

DR: With what Viktor and Rolf have been criticising as the

fast pace of change in fashion, I don’t think it’s a surprise to

see the fetish influence pushed back to a styling accent this

season. There’s a cultural thirst for novelty which designers are

rather powerless to resist. It’s difficult not to renew things other-

wise one risks looking behind the curve.

David Richardson: After what, for the moment, looks

like the highpoint of latex use and fetish scene influence on the

catwalks for AW 07/8, Balenciaga is one of the only major de-

signers to employ latex (or a future fabric with similar proper-

ties) for AW 08/9. I don’t see the influence going away though.

It’s become part of the design palette.

Agnieszka: What do you think of the mainstream designers’ take on the rubber and latex?

41 42


TEXT BYCharlie Athill

MA History and Culture of FashionLondon College of Fashion (alumni 2007)

PHOTOGRAPHS BYIndia Roper Evans

BA PhotographyLondon College of Communication

On any Sunday at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern a largely middle-aged crowd of casually dressed men gather to down beers and meet friends. True, the occasional all-nighter, still flying on a cocktail of drugs that has kept him going round the clock, stumbles through the throng but the atmosphere is essentially polite, friendly, even restrained. There is, however, a buzz of antici-pation that begins to take off when legendary drag act ‘The Dame Edna Experience’ hits the stage and a change begins to take place. The transformation of the crowd is prefigured and then mirrored by the show itself as Dame Edna, classically dragged up as a parody of the fa-mous Australian parody, steers a surreal course that becomes more excessive by the minute. This is a nostalgia-fest and the likes of Kate Bush and Minnie Ripperton are interspersed by a mixture of traditional smut, sharp social com-mentary and a barrage of insults that goad the crowd to whoop and bellow their joyful Vaude-ville response. By the end of the show, the crowd has become a collective mass, swaying in anticipation of an encore and chanting ‘her’ name. As ‘she’ departs the lights lower and shirts are removed as the music lifts to a dance beat. The earlier polite dynamic has changed and suddenly the space is an active mass of bodies that will never grace the catwalk of Mr Gay UK, will never decorate the front cover of Boyz or GX and will never advertise a two week all-inclusive in Mikinos or Ibiza. As journalist Ken Powers eloquently puts it:

‘‘The Appolonian… artificial beauty of man began being replaced by a more Dionysian…natural one. Gay men began to look behind the masks, and curiously enough discovered their own naturalised humanity in the form of a great grizzly who came in their dreams and growled to “come along and learn and play”’.

43

In the gallery, at the back, the established ‘lair’ of the

biggest, hairiest and most classically bear bodies has

become a wall of flesh. Drinks are still being consumed

but the drugs are ‘kicking in’ and the dance floor

heaves with various forms of Rabellaisian excess. It is

seven o’clock.

In Vauxhall, Southwark and in a variety of dens across

London, bears are playing as never before, but

what strikes the novice first (in any venue that bears

congregate) is the total lack of self-consciousness. The

scene at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern is repeated on a far

larger scale every Wednesday and Saturday at bear

mecca XXL in London Bridge, but also at Megawoof,

and elsewhere in other Vauxhall gay clubs where

pockets of bears have decided to strut their often

considerable self.

Although first used as a self-identifying term within

the gay media in 1986 in the States, bear historian Les

Wright contends that the phenomenon was just one of

a myriad of polarized gay identities, thrown up by the

1960s. Whereas in the seventies the mainstream be-

came dominated by the disco bunny and later clone

aesthetic, the roots of the bear movement lay on the

fringes of the gay movement, in those excluded by an

increasingly body-conscious community. Partly inher-

ited from the Mirth and Girth clubs of the West Coast

and Florida, where big men felt free to congregate

and presumably, to chuckle together, the entire bear

phenomenon really developed as a survival response

to the early ravages of AIDS. Not only did this time leave

precious little to joke about, it also forced gay men to

confront the multi-layered issue of identity and mould-

ed a variety of new looks that reflected a changed en-

vironment. Like clones before them, bears resisted the

equation of gay with effeminate. Unlike clones, initially

at least, bears also resisted the very notion of physical

perfection and disregarded the vanity that drives the

very desire for it.

Although what constitutes a bear is more than merely

being fat, and there is certainly no one body shape,

size is celebrated rather than censured, as in the gay

mainstream. There are, in fact, a plethora of bear sub-

categories, which reveals as much about the American

obsession with labels as they do about their supposed

membership. While, as mentioned, most self-identify-

ing bears are on the larger side, and chubbs, who are

smooth but decidedly hefty, have often become assimi-

lated into the bear world, perhaps the most identifying

feature is body hair. Cubs are young, plump and play-

ful, muscle bears flex gigantic abs and otters, hairy but

slim, slink here and there with an agile gait. What they

have in common is what they are not, and that is buff.

When French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu coined the term

‘cultural capital’ to explain the intrinsic value that can

be represented by either privileged knowledge or up-

bringing, he initiated a concept that has been amend-

ed by later social commentators to incorporate other

forms of capital, such as the physical, in which the body

becomes the bearer of social value. In the gay commu-

nity there is considerable physical sub-cultural capital to

be found in the buff, the slim, the hairless. What makes

bears so socially significant is how they have managed

to transform the very notion of what is desirable. While

there have always been those who have not conformed

to current orthodoxies, the excluded have not always

been able to fight their corner so convincingly. Amongst

bears, the waist - a buff preoccupation - fails to conflate

automatically with a high level of physical capital, and

loses its position as the necessary determinant, when

placed in relation to the shoulders and chest to form

the prerequisite triangle of sexual capital. Some even

seek to gain weight as, in the words of one reveller,

‘there’s all those really big

guys who get really great

trade…There are all these

big guys who get loads of

skinny guys with big cocks’.

In bear circles the rotund,

Falstaffian body-subject

clearly possesses sexual

capital and, when na-

ked, is even more the

object of desire. It should

be remembered, how-

ever, that not all is one big

party. One of the cruellest

injustices that HIV/AIDS

has brought to the gay

community is the very

public damage it wreaks

on the mainstay of the

gay identity, the body.

When the epidemic be-

gan, ‘bulking’ become a

necessity and for a great

many HIV-positive men this

weight gain has taken the

form of muscularity. Oth-

ers, however, have taken

a different road and have

sought to resist the disease

and the perception of

the disease through fat.

In this way, the fat naked

body - perhaps ironically,

given recent discourse

on the inverse relation-

ship between weight and

health - is thus presented

as a physical testimony of

health, and a very visible

denial of a wasting syn-

drome. Corpulence can

of course be used as a

visual red herring to reas-

sure others of a subject’s

healthy status. Mark Ames


45 46

confirmed by Mark Ames, owner of XXL. In total contrast

to most gay environments, youth is, if not a complete

irrelevance, far less the guarantor of desirability and

passport to unbridled hedonism. Most have entered

what is termed ‘mid-life’, as opposed to the increasingly

resisted notion of ‘middle-age’, and many are over fifty.

The sexualised older body referred to many bears is

one that challenges the power of societal disapproval,

one that labels transgressors as ‘mutton (un)dressed as

lamb’. The ‘sexual’ is thereby added to the list of Bourd-

ian capital, alongside more traditionally recognised

versions that accumulate with age.

The scene of hundreds of bodies, undressed, unshaved

and seemingly unfettered by notions of restraint, cre-

ates an almost transubstantiated aura of testosterone

that fuels the collective libidinal urge. No matter that,

on closer inspection, these bodies are often decorated

with jewellery, that fake tan has been applied, and

beards clipped, that in other contexts they may be

suited – they form, like gay pornography, an approxima-

tion of an idealised mythical masculinity that has been

consciously constructed to perform its own fantasy. As

bear writer Eric Rofes points out, ‘Porn stories focus upon

truckers, gas station attendants, and hick farmers rather

than computer programmers...and biotech librarians’,

while the porn actors bear no relation whatsoever in

either comportment or body type to the men they

is at pains to stress how this is a common misconception,

how being ‘a really big guy’ is absolutely no guarantee

of HIV-negative status, and in fact how some medica-

tion now result in bodies becoming bigger. The issue

here is identity through the embodiment of the percep-

tion of health.

The desire to strip and present one’s body is not just an

expression of hedonism but acts also as a challenge.

Far from hiding what might be considered their imper-

fections, bears seek to flaunt, and this act of self-flaunt-

ing becomes a direct aesthetic challenge to corporeal

normativity. The sense of embodied liberation inherent

in the nakedness creates an opportunity for empower-

ment, and Darren, a Megawoof regular, admits that in

the club, ‘I’m kind of confident, as I can have my love

handles hanging over my jeans but on balance...I’ll

look back and think I enjoyed myself’. Malcolm, who

frequents XXL and is close to 20 stone goes further, and

responds to those who look askance at his nakedness

and by the direct challenge of “oh dear”, you seemed

to have mixed me up with someone who gives a shit

about your bigotry (sic)’.

Although a disparate cacophony of naked body

shapes and sizes swing, gyrate and swirl to the music,

another common denominator is that of age. The ma-

jority of these bodies belong to men over thirty-five, as

purport to portray. Similarly, much of the bear scene is

one of performance with roles and fantasies being both

realized and enacted.

When referring to the variety of types within XXL, Mark

Ames’s refers to the ‘fantasy’ of ‘man drag’. Clearly

there is no single masculinity and the malleable adjec-

tive ‘masculine’, offers a range of connotations. Facial

and body hair are, when taken together as a feature,

a significant component in the maintenance of what

could be termed blokeishness, the English equivalent of

the regular American blue collar guy, which is both the

role model and source of desire for so many self-identi-

fied bears. Eric Rofes lucidly recalls the irony of standing

in a group of wealthy middle-aged professionals in a

San Francisco bear bar dressed in an assemblage of

working class drag, and the same can be witnessed as

half-naked judges and company directors gyrate to the

latest funky house.

But what of this performance? It would be unfair in

reality to dismiss it as some kind of masquerade that

merely sublimates class and gender issues. Despite the

blokeishness on display, these are men that reject any

notion of proposing themselves as straight-acting. There

is no intention to pass as straight, and even though

bears steer clear of the overt vanity of the buff and ad-

hering to camp stereotypes, camp itself, so much a part

of the London scene, is never completely eschewed. As

can be seen in the Bear Beauty Contest, held in Area in

the run-up to Christmas, bears too are quite capable

of transcending tired notions of what ‘makes a man’,

by simply allowing themselves a free rein to self-parody.

Again, the cultural dif-

ferences between the

London scene and that

across the Atlantic are

brought into sharp focus

as, in contrast to the seri-

ously ambitious muscle

bears that take to Ameri-

can catwalk, in Vauxhall

absurdity and homage

(with its tongue strictly in

its cheek) are the name of

the game. Accompany-

ing a frankly weird medley

of acts, the club’s bounc-

ers, adorned as hairy

Tiller Girls with more than

a passing resemblance

to Stockard Channing on

one her wilder nights, ca-

vort on stage. Far from los-

ing their bear credentials,

these boys manage, by

embracing camp, to re-

tain the essential element

of fun that constitutes the

real bear spirit. Flagrantly

disregarding normative

gay body images and,

in so doing, reinforcing

a form of resistance that

allows bears to define

themselves.


47 48

Untitled September 2006 #5& #6Vron Harris

Documents

Less Common More Sense 12 | The Subversive/Subculture Issue