Matt Stokes, Real Arcadia, 2003 (ongoing) Installation View, LuttgenMeijer Gallery, Berlin 2008 Image � Matt Stokes, Courtesy LuttgenMeijer Gallery, Berlin
Nervous, purely nervous. A dodgy Victorian street in the Lace Market district of Nottingham. Fear and anticipation. One of us is holding a couple of bottles of cheap supermarket champagne, another one a small bag of white pills. A siren wails in the distance: we hold still for a second or two, then hurry across the road to the photographic studio in a disused textile factory where we�re about to hold our first illegal party. The summer of 1990, only a few days after the government adopted new legislation to clamp down on outlaw raves. Good timing... Inside, a sweet surge of electronic noise as the needle falls on the first record � �LFO� by LFO � and when the bass line drops hard, shuddering through the white room, a feeling of relief and rising joy: it�s going to be all right. This is how it started, how it would always start.
Already during the time of the Wars of the Roses, the Egremonts ruled over a vast, beautiful region in Northern England in which stories grew and painters looking for inspiration roam. One Lord Egremont defended his holdings in the 15th century in the battle of Heworth Moor; a descendant became an important promoter of William Turner. Today, the scenery of the Lake District is still seen as the embodiment of romantic England.
It is possible that the party scene only moved in to the grottos because there were not empty warehouses, abandoned factory floors and industrial ruins in this idyll. Instead, there were these caves. Because of their perfect size, they had a unique sound and a special atmosphere that suited these parties. But it is also not difficult to see the choice of the caves as a contemporary, romantic gesture.
The cave parties were organised by a group called �Out House� and started off small. But after a short while, they attracted a lot of people. This had a big impact on the surrounding villages. The subject really began to interest the media no later than 1991. There was a search for the people responsible, but nobody could prevent the parties. The locations were passed on covertly via telephone and flyers.
The police were initially caught unprepared by the strange stirrings in the countryside, but eventually they set up specially-equipped units to combat what they prosaically referred to as �pay parties�. The experience of the Cave Crew in the Lake District was not unusual: concerned reports in local newspapers and on regional television about the threat to young people�s safety were followed by the erection of police roadblocks.
�We are not killjoys, we are trying to preserve life�, the words of the local police chief were typical of the time � also, the suggestion that the caves should be dynamited to put a stop to the madness. But it was not that easy. Lord Egremont did not get the council�s authorisation and the pressure on him grew.
Percy�So far, it was part of �Real Arcadia� to find a place that connects to times past. We tried out one or two rooms here. Both fell flat. One because of the neighbours. The other one was already too institutionalised. We are looking for a location that has not yet been touched by the club culture or events like the Fashion Week. This is not so easy in Berlin.
Matt Stokes Real Arcadia 26/01/08 - 08/03/08 LUTTGENMEIJER, BERLIN
