GLASGOW’S STATISTICS
Population 584,240
Average house price £149,000 2009. Source: upmystreet.com Average life expectancy Male: 70.7; Female: 77.2 2007. Source: www.statistics.gov.uk
Average pint of Lager £2.50 Source: www.pintprice.com Number of pubs 715 Source: www.scotland.gov.uk
University student population c. 64,000 Source: www.hesa.ac.uk Tourists per year 2.39million 2008. Source: www.visitscotland.org
Cinemas 13
Theatre spaces 11 Number of takeaways 846 Source: www.yell.com
T here’s a shared understanding between creative Glaswegians that in order to make exciting art you’ve got to take risks, and you’ve got to be able to fail, occasionally. Perhaps, in part, because of the aspects of the city that might make it seem dangerous to outsiders, Glasgow has embraced a sense of itself as pioneering, slightly subversive and a touch irresponsible, leading it to breed, attract and encourage risk-taking artists.
Glasgow is the sort of fertile and exciting place where something like Franz Ferdinand’s near-legendary Chateau can bubble out of a disused warehouse in the Gorbals, as it did in 2003. Rumour has it that the police spent a month trying to find the illegally operated gig venue and creative hub and shut it down, during which time it nurtured several significant bands and artists, and even the Che Camille fashion house; now an internationally recognised design hub.
More recently Glasgow has become the birthplace of an independent magazine dedicated to deliberately risky and experimental literature (the extremely successful Gutter magazine, edited by Adrian Searle and Colin Begg), and one of the most innovative artist/fashion/DJ collectives in the UK, LuckyMe. These are just some of the biggest names. The upcoming Glasgow International festival will showcase a city whose well-supported grassroots artists have colonised every available space. The people making this risk-taking work often rise more quickly to
Risky business In a city full of strong cultural scenes, Kirstin Innes argues that Glasgow’s greatest strength is its willingness to take risks
T o p t o b o t t s F e
v i o u r B e h a l ; G o M A ; H u d s o n t o m : a i v M o h a w k e prominence than their Edinburgh equivalents because they’re aided and assisted by venues and producers willing to take chances on unknowns. The Arches – whose long-running Arches Live festival, and new Behaviour festival, are dedicated to homegrown performance work and who actively search out new DJing talent to play alongside their bigger names – was specifically founded as a basement arts space for ambitious, no-budget work. The huge range of big name clubs and gigs it supports today have sprung up almost incidentally, and were all made possible because Andy Arnold, who created the space, wrote the right to fail into the venue’s constitution. The result today is a venue absolutely unafraid to take risks, either in its own productions, or on new work. Those risks might not always pay off, but when they do the results are spectacular. While Edinburgh’s Traverse has begun utilising its bar space recently, all nights are run as part of the official programme. It’s difficult to imagine them turning the whole area over to a cabaret night by completely untested performers, as the Tron does regularly with nights like To Be Confirmed and License Pending. We have our grand, Greek-pillared temple of art, just as Edinburgh does, but you’re more likely to find GoMA filled with exciting, young locally-based artists like Torsten Lauschmann or Jim Lambie than a Titian that costs a large part of Scotland’s GDP. Ultimately it’s a strain of fearlessness running through Glasgow’s artists and art programmers that distinguishes its cultural output from the capital’s. A realistic acceptance of the potential for failure actually ensures that Glasgow regularly produces stunning work.
WEEGIE WORDSMITHS The best of the banter from Glasgow
Hunners o’ sprinkles = Lots of salt and vinegar.
Fanny struck = Romantic term for being in love.
Gingies = Bleached/blootered/
Empty glass bottles of fizzy boggin’/steamboats/pished/
soft drink that can be returned hammered/blazin’ =
Mary Doll = A silly or annoying person.
The girl you are fanny struck by.
for cash. Bampot =
States of extreme drunkeness.
Pat Lally = Swally. An alcoholic drink. Also the former Lord Provost of Glasgow.
Ginger = Fizzy soft drink.
Boatle a soup =
A bottle of the intoxicating monk- brewed tonic, Buckfast.
A roll and bacon = A bacon roll.
22 THE LIST 1–15 Apr 2010