Issue 106 / Dec 2019/Jan 2020

PREVIEWS
CLUB
SOLOMUN/
GROOVE ARMADA
Various venues – 21/12 and 31/12
Circus Christmas Special
Circus and Chibuku have your festive party season covered with two heavyweight shows that will give you every
reason to get off the couch and escape the TV repeats.
YOUSEF presents a special Circus Christmas party at Bramley-Moore Dock on 21st December, with house
music superstar SOLOMUN helming what will be a huge show down on the docks. The Bosnian-born DJ has been
a titan of house and techno music for almost a decade, regularly scooping industry awards while running successful labels
(Diynamic, 2DIY4), clubs (Ego) and multiple Ibiza residencies (Pacha, Ushuaïa). Solomun’s emotional take on European house
music is characterised by ultra funky basslines and euphoric melodies, reflective of his love of hip hop, soul and funk.
Circus have re-tooled the vast warehouse space at Bramley-Moore as an ideal venue for raving and partying, and the
location will add a new dimension to their famed Christmas party blowout. Leeds’ globetrotting deep house technician HOT
SINCE 82 brings an element of energy and dram to proceedings. “King Of Space” DJ STEVE LAWLER also joins the party,
hosted by Circus maestro Yousef and also featuring ENZO SIRAGUSA.
And if that wasn’t enough for you, Chibuku come up trumps with a New Year’s Eve party to cap off the year in fine style.
Chart-topping big beat duo GROOVE ARMADA return to Liverpool for the first time in a decade, with a DJ set at Invisible
Wind Factory that dwarfs that 2009 set at Barfly for a Circus Easter special. The global stars have since played Creamfields
on numerous occasions, but their mix of electronic, house and trip hop is equally suited to more intimate clubs.
Having picked up a Grammy nomination (Superstylin’), soundtracked entire advert breaks, worked with artists as diverse
as Neneh Cherry and Richie Havens, and set up the popular Lovebox festival, the duo have very little still to achieve in the
game. Through decks and FX shows and a series of dancefloor EPs, Groove Armada have marked a return to the DIY spirit of
the warehouse turntables where the project first began. Go on, sign off the year in style.
EXHIBITION
THEASTER GATES:
AMALGAM
Tate Liverpool – 13/12/19-03/05/2020
Chicago-based artist THEASTER GATES is one of the world’s most influential living artists,
working across social and urban issues that speak to the same ethos of community
fracturing that has been highlighted by the work around Granby in Liverpool. Having studied
urban planning – alongside a joint masters in religion, ceramics and city design – Gates’ work
shows how art can transform places and improve the lives of the people who live there. He is best
known for his projects in the South Side of Chicago, where he has redeveloped abandoned buildings
for community use.
Gates also worked as a potter for 15 years, which taught him the power of making something from
only bare materials. “I feel like as a potter you also start to learn how to shape the world,” he commented
in a TED talk he gave, titled How To Revive A Neighbourhood: With Imagination, Beauty and Art.
In Amalgam, Gates explores the complex and interweaving issues of race, territory and inequality in
the United States, from the slightly curious starting point of Malaga. Not that Malaga, however. During the
19th Century, this small island off the coast of Maine, USA, was home to an ethnically mixed community.
In 1912, on the orders of the state governor, Malaga’s inhabitants were forcibly removed to the mainland.
They were offered no housing, jobs or support.
The exhibition uses sculpture, installation, film and dance to highlight this history. A new film, Dance
Of Malaga 2019, features the choreography of acclaimed American dancer, Kyle Abraham, while Gates’
musical collective, The Black Monks, provide the score. Their blues and gospel-inspired sound can be
heard throughout the exhibition, continuing into an immersive ‘forest’ installation.
Launching at the same time in Tate’s neighbouring Wolfson Gallery, a new exhibition of work by
VIVIAN SUTER provides an immersive installation of tropical landscapes of Guatemala. A maze of Suter’s
large-scale hanging paintings brings to life the organic elements – such as volcanic and botanical matter –
that the Argentinian artist is surrounded by during her everyday life.
Theaster Gates
ticketquarter.co.uk
EVENT DISCOVERY PARTNER
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