A Short History of the Zeitgeist

Alan Nidle and Karen Boutet founded Zeitgeist in 1994 with the modest intention of running a traditional neighborhood gallery to showcase local artists, but their mission took a rapid swerve when the art space was immediately adopted as an autonomous zone for creative collaboration by eclectic musicians, artists, performers and filmmakers on the fringe who couldn?t fit into mainstream venues. Boston and Cambridge were so oriented toward straight rock 'n roll and jazz, according to Alan, that there was no room for disconcerting and disorienting experimental noise/music, so electronic musicians and free improvisors made Zeitgeist their home, making it a locus for non-mainstream community culture.

As did Radio-Free Cambridge pirate radio, which operated out of Zeitgeist from 1995 until it was busted by the FCC in 1998, by which time the station had thirty DJ's and was live on the air from 10:00 am till midnight daily. There was also lots of film. Boston Underground Film Festival did a monthly series at Zeitgeist before moving on to the The Milky Way, and Alan even convinced Carberry?s on Prospect Street to let him program an outdoor summer film series in the parking lot on Friday nights, with live bands playing soundtracks for silent movies.

The Gallery changed exhibitions every three weeks, for 18 shows a year, mixing it up, but specializing in creating a total environment. S.N.A.F.U.?s memorable show was a cross between performance art, installation and theatre. Zeitgeist also hosted Cambridge?s Stone Soup Poets, dance troupes, wildish fashion shows, and theatrical events including a series of Brecht plays, The Know-Nothing Circus (sexual freaks), and "Dionysus in Cambridge" by Cambridge playwrite Ian MacKinnon's Artezani Theatre.

MacKinnon's nearly-winning electoral run for Cambridge City Council as the Art and Performance Party Candidate operated from the back rooms of the Zeitgeist. Alan himself ran as the Kingfish, a satirical cartoon charecter co-authored with Hans Rickheit. When the city dredged up the names of citizens who had literally died- to beef up the "official" voting population numbers in order to keep a non-binding referndum about rent control off the ballots- Zeitgeist folks dressed up as corpses and sat out in front of city hall in a goofy, ghastly tableau to demand their voting rights, too. Organizers at the Zeitgeist have agitated in their dadaistic way for affordable housing and more liberal permitting regulations in Cambridge, going so far as to provide emergency housing for displaced Cambridge artists and eccentrics. Through public hearings, the Zeitgeist has established a valuable precedent in Cambridge by winning the right to request donations for events without an entertainment liscence, thus helpng to ensure the survival of underground, experimental, and non-commercial performing arts spaces throughout the area.

In May of 2002, the Gallery's first space met with the forces of entropy and went up in flames. However, the organizers were able to find temporary homes for almost all of the nightly events that had been scheduled to take place that summer, thus- temporarily of course- taking over Cambridge. By August the gallery had found a new space in Inman Square.

Alan says his method is to take in as many ideas as possible, and use the best ones. "You know Mr. Wizard? I?ve often felt like the tortoise. . .He would always get himself in a lot of trouble." We have twice won a Boston Phoenix reader's poll for best gallery in the Boston area. Our continued shoe-string survival is gernerally considered to be nothing short of miraculous.