Beyond the Forbidden Gate is a body of work by Joey Simons made in response to the latest phase of urban regeneration in North Glasgow. The Mitchell Library’s Old Glasgow Room was a central gathering point for this project, with the space used by Joey and his collaborators to present archival materials and artworks that investigate the class forces shaping competing visions for North Glasgow. A series of talks, workshops, poetry readings and text-based works will also unfold across public libraries in Springburn, Woodside and Possilpark. These civic spaces, forever under threat, remain a vital space for culture to persist and flower amidst the developers’ plans.
Produced by Joey Simons for Glasgow Sculpture Studios in collaboration with designer Andrew Brash, the book series 'Beyond the Forbidden Gate' presents a suite of publications that tell previously unpublished and newly commissioned working-class histories, stories, and scripts that centre on North Glasgow.
Drawing from personal effects, materials, and research donated by
members of the public to Glasgow Libraries, the publications underscore the vitality of public libraries, forever under threat, as the place where personal and public, informal and formal, anecdotal and historical archives meet.
Countering the narrative of North Glasgow as ‘a blank page’, Beyond the Forbidden Gate favours dialogue over monologue, and assembles a chorus of voices, perspectives, and artworks that assert visions of North Glasgow and the communities who live there that are absent from development frameworks — a counter plan.
The books explore aesthetics of luxury, science fiction, zines, affordability and radical Glasgow histories through a hybridising collection of relevant icons on a die cut golden cover and a more lo-fi style for the interiors.
The 3 books that were realised are
'Fever' – a play written and directed by Gemma Muir, Senior Community Coordinator at SISCO. a new collection of writing that brings together the script for Fever with prose and poetry written by members of SISCO’s creative writing group facilitated by Joey over the course of his In-Residence project. Developed through a series of prompts and writing exercises drawing from the legacy of The Special Unit at HMP Barlinnie, alternative histories of the city, and the role of community and solidarity, these new works respond to and expand upon the central themes put forward in Fever.
'The Spy Who Went Back to Bricklaying' – a new publication which brings together writing by Ned Donaldson and excerpts from a previously unpublished interview between Ned and writer, activist, and 1994 Booker Prize winner James Kelman. A selection of original artefacts relating to Ned’s work and life from Dr. Anni’s Donaldson personal archive can also be found in the vitrines.
'A History of Possilpark' – a previously unpublished work written by Willy in 1993 and discovered by Joey in the local history box at Possilpark Library in the course of researching this project.
