arts charities; spoken word in beer shops; under the counter Korean food available only on Thursdays; free curry in Indian bars on Wednesdays; club nights and raves in former mills; sound systems in pub gardens. The list goes on. Much of this activity has industry. It is what American artist, activist and writer, Gregory Sholette has termed creative or cultural ‘Dark Matter’ – the ‘hidden mass’ of informal and everyday creativity that makes up the bulk of artistic activity in post-industrial societies yet remains invisible or unrecognised by the mainstream. It is fleeting, operated ‘beneath the radar’ of the culture often presented without fanfare to an audience of participants rather than spectators, and generally undocumented; with only memories and a few cardboard boxes and rolls of posters in an attic or garage from those that took part paying testament to multiple magical and transformative moments. This project, then, is a long-needed opportunity to map out, archive and dig deeper into the 1 in 12 club - and by extension Bradford’s - radical histories. It could help us
get to grips with why the city has been such a longstanding hotbed of self-organised, DIY, grassroots and socially engaged cultural activity. Is there something in the water? Is it Buckfast? Or could it be that Bradford, as a fractured post-industrial city that has been failed time and again by capitalism, has been the perfect breeding ground for Sholette’s ‘cultural dark matter’. In the cracks created by uneven neoliberal development, alternative culture has been free to grow wild; always adapting, changing shape and finding new forms. Although cash-poor, Bradford is rich in the resources of spare-time, cheap space and a collective will to be-the- change-we-want-to-see-in- the-world: vital conditions for a place like the 1 in 12. Viewed through this lens Bradford is not the left-behind ‘poor cousin’ to successfully regenerated Northern cities like Leeds and Manchester, but instead a city of the self-organised future; a lab for a fairer and more sustainable postcapitalist world. This poses difficult questions about the consequences of
especially within the frame of UK City of Culture that demands high visibility, polished presentation and ‘scaling up’ of ambition. Can we resist the urge to intervene and over-cultivate and instead appreciate the club (and Bradford) on its own terms and in its own vernacular? Can we celebrate it without cleaning it up beyond recognition? Can we expand the membership without displacing the people that made the place what it is? After all, despite decades of being ‘knee deep in shit’ the 1 in 12 still stands, providing a vital space for the marginalised and disenfranchised to experiment with new forms of art, music, culture, politics and community activism, and thereby preserving and progressing a tradition of doing-it-our- selves against all odds. The 1 in 12 Club proves that mutual aid, self-management and co-operation create resilience and Bradford is the home of Doing-It-Together. Long may it continue!
‘shining a light’ on underground activity,
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