We started making work in 1991.
We were a group of creative people who worked in the Renoir Cinema in London and went clubbing a lot and saw a lot of art, dance, music cinema and theatre. We liked the excitement of going to events at unusual locations, the thrill of waiting for something unknown to unfold, of being with our friends and with strangers in environments which were a heady mix of music, sweaty dancing bodies and projected visuals. These experiences felt vital and the combination of elements intoxicating and alive. At the same time we liked the production values of theatre and dance, the possibilities of high quality work produced where every inch and moment was considered and crafted for maximum audience engagement and impact. But we didn’t feel these forms were talking to us about what was going on for us and our peer group, in a wider context.
We had no intention of some kind of long running career as artists. We got together because we felt an urgency, an deep desire to make something that sat in the middle of what mattered to us in life. And we felt that other people wanted this too.
We found an article in The Guardian about a killing at a mobile shop in Northern Ireland. It was described in such a way that we could imagine it immediately as a reconstruction, the 2 girls, the 3 gunmen, what was said.
We invited 10 people to our house which included a DJ, a writer, a film maker, a performer and an installation artist. We talked to them about the article and said we wanted to make something about this and were they interested to be involved in it with us. This led to Gunmen Kill Three at the Union Chapel in Islington in London. There were 8 of us in the work and 8 people operating the work. It was a club, that changed into a promenade performance and then back into a club at the end.