Archaos: Circus From Hell, Bargehouse

Mad Max-style punk circus in retrospective exhibition

by Peter CulshawFriday, 10 September 2010

Archaos: Fun with motorbikes and chainsaws

Archaos were the mad, bad and dangerous troupe who revolutionised circus back in the Eighties and early Nineties – their antics with juggling chainsaws, raunchy Galllic attitude and mayhem with motorbikes is celebrated with a pop-up exhibition at the Bargehouse in the Oxo Tower Wharf on the South Bank for just three days ending on Sunday. It’s also a tribute to the genial genius behind the troupe, Pierre Bidon, who died earlier this year, at the age of 56.

Assorted alarming stunts with fire and motorbikes to a soundtrack that mixed cheesy cabaret tunes and punk

Buy

Find The Fame Formula on Amazon

Explore topics

Share this article

The future of Arts Journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

more New music

Album: Sam Fender - People Watching The North Shields indie star's third album is a solid, sincere evolution

Album: Basia Bulat - Basia's Palace Canadian singer's seventh album musters dreamy pop that simultaneously arrives and floats away

Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings Place review - celebrating Sandy Denny The contemporary singer-songwriter holds a torch for the late, great Sandy Denny

Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred music for the soul A dilapidated Bristol church brought back to vibrant life

Album: Tim Hecker - Shards Finessed expressiveness as a compilation of soundtrack work coheres

Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup The early Seventies blues rockers admired by prime movers in British punk

Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic techno-rock juggernaut The rising London outfit deliver a sweaty Cossack-rave hoedown

Album: Park Jiha - All Living Things Music and nature in synergy

Album: Rizzle Kicks - Competition Is For Losers Brass, beats, and pure fun: the UK has missed this

Album: Fantastic Twins - Suite of Rooms Dramas within dramas and rooms within rooms in this elegant little puzzle box

Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

Album: Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking Lots of words but not so many catchy songs

Follow @theartsdesk