Robodock Festival 2005 and 2007

Couple of video interviews about the installations at Robodock Festivals in Amsterdam in 2005 (Waterbaby II) and 2007 (Jostling Businessmen). The Biog & Show History page also shows there were installations exhibited at Robodock in 2006 (Tapeworm) and 2004 (Wobbly Tower). Haven’t found videos and photos of the shows yet:

Bimbo Town: World Of Mischief

This article was original published on the Club Culture of Switzerland site and was written by Tara Hill with photographs by Andy Pal. It provides an interesting historical account but also a flavour of Bimbotown’s other worldliness from some of those involved. It was written about 4 years after the final Bimtown venue closed. Maybe one day, Jim’s various work that was incorporated into his variété venue that are currently stored in containers will be rediscovered like his Mechanical Theatre from the original Luna Luna has been (see more here). Hopefully, this account and some of the photos I have selected from it above, will give an idea of the kind of magical reality Jim helped create with his various incarnations of Bimbtown:

Interview with Jim Whiting by Petra Mattheis July 2015

Jim ran his variété venue Bimbotown for twenty-five years. Originally launched in 1993 in Basel, Bimbotown moved to Leipzig in 1996 where Whiting continued to host parties and incorpoate his work into the venue, which The Guardian newspaper described in a round up of the best of Germany as “a mix of music, theatre and lots of crazy stuff by artists from all over Europe (see here). Bimbotown was closed in 2016. This interview by Petra Mattheis in July 2015 captures an end of era. It has been translated from German to English, but you can read the original article here that includes a collection photos of Jim and the Bimbotown venue by Regentaucher (see a selected a few above and below):

Hayward Gallery 1979

The late Helen Chadwick curated a ‘new contempories’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1979, which featured Jim’s Business Machine intsallation as well as work from Bruce Mclean, Genesis P-Orridge and Tony Sinden. I have uploaded a PDF of the Hayward Annual from 1979 (ISBN 0-7287-0207-X), which includes an overview of the exhibition including Chadwick’s explaination of her curation and interviews with the artists by William Furlong (see the one with Jim below). The photo above and below is of Jim’s Purgatory installation in the courtyard of Architectural Association, in London where he worked as a workshop tutor. You can download the PDF here.

Heavenly Bodies Film by Sam Scoggins

Film shot in 16mm directed by Sam Scoggins then at Royal College Art of Jim’s Heavenly Bodies installation on the roof top of the National Theatre in London (1981), featuring music by “Moon Nail” a band he formed together with Angus Hutcheson [BFI Database 22961]. The Heavenly Bodies installation was inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera painting from the late 1470s or early 1480s. Sam’s film includes interviews with Jim, the making of the Heavenly Bodies using the “The Sarcophagus” moulding machine and clips of earlier work including Naughty Dollies (1974), Purgatory (1978), Poo Boys (1979), Rendezvous (1979) and Business Machine (1979). Some of this footage was also used in the South of Watford documentary in 1986 (see here).

South of Watford Documentary (1986)

The now defunct UK TV channel LWT had a Friday night arts and culture documentary series called “South Of Watford” that ran from 1983-1987. In 1986 they aired a 24 minute episode on Jim with interview by a young Hugh Lawrie featuring clips from Herbie Hancock Rockit video; early shows, such as Pooboys at the Architectural Association, Business Machine at the Hayward Gallery and Heavenly Bodies on roof of the National Theatre in London; as well as the building of his Avenue of Aspiration installation at his temporary workshop on York Way, Kings Cross (later exhibited in Lime Light night clubs in New York and Chicago, and also in galleries in Newcastle and Manchester); and also his brief appearance with props he had made in Franc Roddam‘s The Bride (1985). Due to some adult content the documentary can only be seen on YouTube here [BFI Database 483642].