PETE HOROBIN - ACROBAT - 1982

[The Acrobat walked a tightrope between reality and non-reality - he worked/did not work – had money/no money - dressed in red on grey – red for anarchy/grey for bureaucracy. The life of Acrobat was brief – months rather than years – and is marked by his passport which acts as a record of his performances which he called Modi – Modus Peregrinus, Modus Bureaucraticus, Modus Anniversarius. He was born in Dundee and died in Kassel in Germany where his final Modus took place.
Modus Bureaucraticus was installed as part of The Nuclear Issue – an exhibition in McManus Galleries, Dundee from September to October 1982. Acrobat’s contribution to the theme was in two parts – the first being a wall-mounted A4 poster – Conversations With A Bear – beside a small black & white tv monitor which either broadcast what was happening in The Bureau or a static image of a teddy bear. There was no soundtrack – a sense of secrecy prevailed. The only way to know what went on in The Bureau was to fill in an appointment card to attend a video recorded interview on the Nuclear Issue. The second part, therefore, occurred behind closed doors. The parallel with the type of state bureaucracies that perpetuated the Cold War was obvious.
The entire documentation of Acrobat - including his passport, briefcase, clothes and Doc Martens - is now archived in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.]

3 of the items referred to in the Acrobat lowdown are displayed above.

In the case of the passport - Pete did go through the proper legal process to successfully (and fraudulently) get his Acrobat passport.

His occupation was artist, of course, but somehow he managed to somersault his way through "the system"!

And those of you who can read semaphore will be able to read what he's spelling out.

You can hear the man himself on this recording below, which he made during his Acrobat period in 1982. A wicked piece of sinister post punk circus music that is as unsettling as it is wondrous!

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

DATA FROM THE ATTIC ARCHIVE

A combination of packaging & politics from Pete Horobin's collection of work.

1st sachet contains a poster, ticket & badge from The Clash gig at the Caird Hall which took place on 18th January 1980.

There is also an additional sachet within!

2nd sachet has supermarket items with some literature at the back on the subject of trainee employment. Dated 7th March 1980.

3rd sachet has a Betty White bag, sums calculus and Conoco logo. Dated 8th March 1980.

4th item reveals a visit to the dentist on 25th August 1980 with C. Rimmer in the Nethergate.

Or does it expose a con man?!

5th item is a photo of the Bell Street car park which was built on top of a graveyard. Dated 31st August 1980.

6th item is an arty postcard stamped "Without the financial assistance of the Scottish Arts Council".

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

NHS MARCH - PART 2 - MID 80'S

Stretching the full length of Lochee Road, the protesters march past Peter Flynn's fence down to the Marketgait and eventually arrive in the city square.

It was the Thatcher government who was in power at the time so needless to say they were the ones who brought upon the privatisation of the NHS, kick-starting these rallies in the first place - and still the battle rages today.

They'll be putting parking meters in ambulance depots next!

Photos by The Bear.

NHS MARCH - PART 1 - MID 80'S

Yes I know, there are a lot of photos to scroll through and I could have just plucked out a selected few to display instead, but I decided to post the whole caboodle because I reckon the people who crop up in them will not have seen them before, so thought I'd use this opportunity to include all the images I have for the participants and their families to see.

This NHS march was an "anti privatisation" protest that took place around 1986ish.

It starts off with the great gathering up at Dudhope Park (the DRI was still on the go back then) then from the Pleasance Bar on the corner of Gardeners Lane it snakes its way down Lochee Road heading for the city centre.

It was a good natured march with nurses leading the way, followed by fellow workers, unionists and family members. Even the police are smiling!

Some of the placards and banners are from the like of COHSE - NALGO - NUPE - TGWU etc...with a few home-maders too.

I will be putting a similar quantity up again tomorrow, so if you don't spot anyone you know in this bundle, perhaps you may have better luck with the second set.

To view the large versions, just give the pictures a click.

Photos by The Bear.

DUNDEE ANTI POLL TAX #3 - THE DEMO

Things are literally starting to heat up now with this demo against the Poll Tax that took place in the City Square in 1989.

Here we have a bunch of activists doing what they said they were gonna do, and that was to burn their Poll Tax books.

"Don't Pay - Don't Collect - We Will Win" was the slogan, with one of the biggest banners in the crowd belonging to the Ardler/St Mary posse.

Our photographer with the mob - The Bear.

DUNDEE ANTI POLL TAX #2 - THE ADVERT

If militant activist combat wasn't your thing, then an alternative way to express your outrage at the introduction of the Poll Tax was to follow the advice of local camp rockers, The Beaver Sisters, and that was - to "Eat Your Poll Tax Form!".

This ad is from June 1988.

DUNDEE ANTI POLL TAX #1 - THE MEETING

This was the moment in the late 80's when the Caird Hall was used to announce the setting up of the Tayside Anti Poll Tax Federation.

On stage, L to R - Unknown lass, Philip Stott, Alan Manley, unknown chap, Tommy Sheridan.

The group went on to organise protests and use urban guerrilla type tactics throughout the campaign.

Photo by The Bear.

UB40 - MM82

I was amused by this little snippet in an old Melody Maker I have, dated January 1982.

A piece about UB40 playing in Dundee.

It says they were banned from playing in a few cities around Britain because of their political stance on the previous years riots. However, Dundee Council, considered to be the most left-wing in the country at the time, welcomed the reggae rebels to the extent that Lord Provost Gowans laid on a civic reception for them!

It mentions Liverpool as being one of the cities they were banned from, so that must have been just before Derek Hatton's Militant Tendency took control!

Anyway, what I'd like to know is, did any of you get an invite to the Dundee do?

By the way, I only put this photo of the band up because it was the one that accompanied the article in MM. Not sure if it was taken in Dundee. They are standing in front of some Space Invaders machines, so maybe they nipped along to the arcade beside the Caird Hall before they went on stage!

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS FANZINE - 1980'S

Don't know much about this Christmas Crackers publication, the issue here which cropped up in the early 80's, being the only example I have.

The content isn't the usual youth fanzine subject matter - no music, no theatre, no fashion, no cinema, instead it takes a dip into local politics using a mixture of satirical humour and seedy tabloid style tittle tattle. Dundee Council type personalities get the boot put into them, eg Gowans, Fagan, Bowman, Wilson, just some of the charming characters who get a mention.

They touch on topics like Nablus and Thatcher, the topical talk at the time.

Not very Christmassy come to think of it!

The team who put it together were - Archie Smibert, Tommy Dees, Dan Dare and Nick Duncan.

One of the quirkier items in this particular issue was a parody episode of Oor Wullie.

The wee man runs out of dosh and so decides to open a sex shop to try get a bit of cash for himself. Not all goes to plan however- but it is quite funny!

You'll need to click onto the image to read the large version.

Perhaps Oor Poly, Craig, may be able to give us the lowdown on the rag, he being who supplied this one.

RAG WEEK POLITICS - EARLY 60'S

A bit of politics crept into this Rag Week procession in the early 60's.
The "Ban The Bomb" symbol was a regular sight in 60's youth culture, and accompanying this particular parade were additional messages pinned to the car making sure their point was getting across to the public. One says "YOU CAN'T VACCINATE CHILDREN AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTS". Another has "JOIN US ON THE ALDERMASTON MARCH".
The location looks like the bottom of King Street to me.