What made Red Gate so special, what were some of the memorable things that would happen there?
It saw the birthplace of new movements in visual arts, dance culture and experimental music. Most notable to me was The Bug playing there back in '06, thanks to Michael Red and Lighta! Sound. There were so many incredible shows I've lost track of some. We had kids; birthday parties, film nights, art shows, rehearsals, shows, dance parties. What made it special was that it was a place for anyone who wanted to make something happen, they could. There was no limit put on creativity and expression. Furthermore it was a second home to many artists, a haven for folks to let their minds be free.
What's the proposed new space like, and how will it continue Red Gate's legacy?
The new space we have applied to use alongside Vancouver Co-Lab and The Vancouver Hacker Society is at Station St and Industrial Ave, and has 15,000 square feet of warehouse space and another 2,500 of office space. We want to create a space that fosters the widest possible range of collaborative, creative activity. We see culture in the broadest sense as the apex of human expressions and aspirations, the root from which all branches of human activity grow; the sum of all the stories we tell ourselves and each other about who we are and what we're doing. Culture is often considered narrowly as a somewhat marginal and impractical activity, somewhere down the "hierarchy of needs" to be enjoyed only after our real, practical tasks are accomplished. We think that culture is the reason we do all the other stuff. There's nothing more practical than having a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Culture in this broader sense is always an organic synthesis of technical, aesthetic, and social elements. Therefore we see any functioning cultural space as requiring zones for these three overlapping spheres of activity. Accordingly, we intend to partition the building into areas set aside for the advancement of these three elements of culture, with the social element providing the crucial role in integrating the technical and the aesthetic. Some areas will be reserved for workshops devoted to a wide range of technologies, from wood and metal working to electronics, 3D printing and fabrication, and software/interface design and development, to be managed and operated by the VHS and VCL collectives. ?
How will the Fortune show contribute to "raising the Red Gate" exactly?
Our intention with a show was, as a collective we had not produced a show in over a year, and we wished to maintain the momentum built by our
Indiegogo fundraiser campaign. We want to remind people we are still here and we are not going to give up.