Arts Lab
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK and continental Europe, including the expanded I.C.A. in London, the Milky Way/Melkweg in Amsterdam (where Jack Moore was one of the founders) and the Entrepôt in Paris.
The Lab contained a cinema in the basement designed by Jack Moore and run by David Curtis. In the entrance there was a large gallery space directed by Biddy Peppin (David's girlfriend) and Pamela Zoline. In a separate (but connected) warehouse was the theatre also designed by Jack Moore who, initially co-directed the activities there. Upstairs, the space in front housed a restaurant run by Susan Miles. Haynes lived in the back above the storage and dressing rooms. A number of other people lived in various corners of the building, and the all-night cinema was often seen as a cheap crash-pad. Such amenities made it perfect for live events and 'happenings' and helped establish it as the quintessential drop-in/drop-out centre of the London counterculture.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon's first joint artwork 'Build Around' was exhibited at the Arts Lab in May 1968.
One of the most significant features of the Arts Lab was that it encouraged similar establishments to create other independent centres, many of which outlived Haynes' original, which closed in the autumn of 1969. On 18 December 1968 the Alchemical Wedding benefit for the Arts Lab and BIT took place at the Albert Hall, and following it, on 25–26 January 1969, the Arts Lab Conference in Cambridge emphasized the strength of the Arts Lab movement, listing 50 such centres across the whole country, including the Birmingham Arts Lab, Brighton Combination and centres in Exeter, Farnham, Guildford, Huddersfield, Loughborough, Manchester, Southampton and Swindon. David Bowie, who used to rehearse (and perform mime) at the Drury Lane Arts Lab, co-founded a Beckenham Arts Lab, which organised a one-day free festival, but was disillusioned by the lack of interest of other performers/artists taking an active role in the continuation of the centre. Dave Cousins of The Strawbs organized the Hounslow Arts Lab.
An Arts Lab Newsletter was produced by Nicholas Albery of BIT in 1968 and updated in various editions of Bitman in later years.
In London, a New Arts Lab was founded by a breakaway group of original members, including the London Film-Makers' Co-op, subsequently becoming the Institute for Research in Art and Technology.
