Hidden Door: Unlocking the Vaults

Four years ago, in the all too brief lifespan of The Roxy Art House, an intriguing event took place over the course of one January weekend. In the grand hall a team of artists built a giant maze, a structure of tiny rooms filled with art installations, and in its heart a stage. The Hidden Door festival was born, and over the two days it was open attracted over 2000 visitors to see more than 20 bands and a legion of artists.

Later that year, in October 2010, the second Hidden Door weekend popped up, only this time the festival was significantly bigger. Expanding across the whole Roxburgh building, they built five stages in the main hall to host 40 bands, playing off, with and against each other in an interactive, collaborative process as around them and in the floors above and below, the work of more than 120 visual artists, poets and filmmakers was displayed.

After this success, expectations were high for more Hidden Door DIY pop-ups. But then the Roxy was brutally, unexpectedly closed down, and in the absence of a clear venue successor, all was quiet for three years. Then, this January, a launch event in Edinburgh’s Caves announced the return of the festival, once again scaled up and, following many months of negotiations, ready to occupy the 24 disused vaults on Market St.

Hidden Door’s director, David Martin, says the hiatus was caused primarily by wrangling over a venue."We decided as a committee that we wanted to stage an event in a derelict building or site. Edinburgh doesn’t really have much of a pop up scene, so we thought we’d go for it, and do something in a really unlikely venue that we could completely transform. We pored over the Buildings At Risk Register, contacting neglectful landlords and the council numerous times. Finally we found our perfect venue – 24 forgotten vaults right in the heart of the city. It was worth the wait."

Martin is, naturally, very pleased with the programme, which includes over 50 musical acts over the course of nine days and nights. “We have a fantastic band up from London called United Vibrations for the opening party, but the penultimate party on the following Friday with LAW, Conquering Animal Sound, Miaoux Miaoux and Meursault is definitely the night I don’t want to have any stewarding duties.” But the festival is about much more than just the music. “It’s the less obvious stuff that makes Hidden Door really special. If you’ve never tried a poetry night before, come to Caesura in the Project Space, our pop-up hidden theatre in the vaults, or if you come to the first Saturday, you’ll not only hear some fantastic music, but you’ll get a chance to view some spectacular outdoor physical theatre directed by Oceansallover, and join in with some lively poetry tours taking you through the vaults.”

It’s free during the day until 6pm, when the public can visit the artworks in the vault spaces. “This is perhaps the most original part of the whole event, because the art projects – from architectural constructions that feature falling snow inside, through beautiful video projections to things as strange as a vault occupied by tiny light-responsive robots (we provide the torch) – really make use of the character of the site. At the end of the day, it’s probably the site itself, and how it has been brought to life that will be the really memorable highlight of Hidden Door.”

With visual art, theatre, cinema, live music and the essential craft beer bars all in play, the nine days in the vaults look to be worth the wait. So what does Martin want the festival to bring to the city? “Hidden Door is all about the D.I.Y approach to enjoying the arts. I hope that the Hidden Door Festival will bring a sense to Edinburgh that if we want to do it, we can do it. If we want to celebrate our creative culture, we can celebrate it, without waiting for some institution to approve it or fund it.”