The Wake

The day the Babylon Arts and Cultural Center caught fire, a piece of the Twin Cities’ arts community burned down with it. The center was renowned for its unique art exhibits and for being one of the only all-age, alcohol-free music venues in Minneapolis. Obscure punk bands and artists considered too political by other galleries could count on the Babylon to give them a voice.

Gustavus Adolphus Hall on Lake Street, in which the Babylon was located, abruptly caught fire at 9 a.m. on January 17, causing the entire block to be closed to traffic. A restaurant once visited by President Clinton and a Latin dance club were also lost in the blaze.

Meg Novak, one of the four members of the Babylon collective, spent that day in the restaurant across the street watching her years of hard work go up in flames. The center had just finished showing the “Art Across Borders” exhibit that featured work by Palestinian and Iraqi painters. Lost in the fire were works by both local and international artists. Only half of the paintings were in any way salvageable.

For Novak, and the rest of her collective, the significance of the Babylon was its ability to merge activism with art.

“It provided a place where artists could express themselves freely. We didn’t base our shows on resumes, but simply the quality of the work,” said Novak. “We had a unique mission of trying to merge art with social activism. We placed activists and artists alongside one another.”

The collective had originally intended to make the space a café and gallery, naming it after the Babylon of Hammurabi, one of the first places to merge art with culture. But after September 11, Novak saw the gallery as a forum for artists with a political focus. By October of 2001, the gallery had its first political show and performance piece, “The Art of Resistance.”

Daniel Kinney, a member of the collective and an art teacher at Spring Lake Park High School, had intended to use the gallery as a showcase for his students’ work before the fire. Kinney also used the gallery to present his own work, as he did in his recent “Beyond Good and Evil” exhibit. He saw the gallery’s focus on American policy in the Middle East as their defining characteristic.

Scheduled to play the next day was the Midwest Hardcore Fest, an annual concert showcasing punk bands from around the Midwest. The fire destroyed the music equipment which had been left in anticipation of the show. Felix Von Havoc, owner of Havoc records organizer of the fest, and part of the Independent Music Foundation (IMF), managed to move the show to a suburban Elk lodge with less than a day’s notice.

For Von Havoc and others involved in the local music scene, the Babylon provided the kind of venue not found elsewhere in the Twin Cities. Through the Babylon, the IMF was able to put on shows by unknown bands and play to smaller audiences because of a smaller overhead.

While the Babylon was not a large or well-equipped venue, its lack of age restrictions and alcohol gave the music scene something unique. Von Havoc sees an all-ages atmosphere as a better environment for music to grow.

“The music scene will never grow if kids can’t come out to see bands. We choose to book most of our hall shows in alcohol-free environment, because alcohol always leads to trouble with the police or drunk trouble makers.”

The Babylon’s corporate-free, grassroots atmosphere was also the best fit for the multitude of young punk and independent bands across the cities.

“It wasn’t ideal, the sound there is not that great, and the neighborhood is not the safest either. But it was an affordable place with plenty of room and a DIY atmosphere, and a very non-corporate atmosphere,” Von Havoc said.

Novak also sees the music side of the Babylon as being part of its importance in the community. She says the artists and concerts that it housed could not be found anywhere else in the cities. Unfortunately, she said they were trying to improve the venue’s sound just before the fire, and now they will have to start it all from scratch.

While hip underage kids in the late nineties could frequent the Fox Fire for cheap live acts and an endless supply of coffee, its closure marked a change in the Minneapolis music scene. Eclipse Records in Saint Paul also offered all-age, alcohol-free and often smoke-free shows, but their recent closing further cemented the dire need for a venue like the Babylon. The Speedboat Gallery in Saint Paul, however, does seem to be attempting to fill the need left by the Babylon, but their space is even more limited. Von Havoc, along with the IMF, saw the Babylon as the only workable venue within the cities.

“The Triple Rock is great, but only for larger shows. Clear Channel is an insidious force trying to impose bogus corporate culture on the nation. First Ave was cool in their day, but the times have passed them by. They just don’t cater to the kind of music that I like,” said Van Havoc. “Downtown has changed a lot, too. Not a good place for punk anymore, it’s just frat boys, cops and yuppies. The Whole used to be cool, but I haven’t heard of them doing anything punk for some time now. Everything else is over 21 or owned by Clear Channel.”

With the building’s landlord promising to rebuild, both Kinney and Novak of the collective say they intend to restart the Babylon in the same space. Kinney says it could be possible to have it back by the summer. The new space could also be more ideal now that the Latin dance club above the Babylon has no intention of moving back in since “their presence was disturbing.”

To date, no clear explanation has been given for the fire, and the Gustavus Adolphous hall is still in the process of being torn down.

Kinney says he knows the IMF really valued the space, so he is sure they will return once the center has been rebuilt. Von Havoc, however, says he no longer wishes to deal with the Babylon and they are in search of a better space.

“We, the IMF, would really like to find some space to do shows we could rent out by the night - a theater, gallery, garage whatever. What this town could really use is a nice little café with all-ages shows in the back,” said Von Havoc.