It’s not immediately obvious, but the fantastic show that’s been running 24 hours a day inside the ruins of Temple Church, is an inspired part of Bristol’s European Green Capital celebrations.  Described in July as ‘one of the most ambitious arts events likely to happen this year’ by the Guardian, this continuous performance takes place in an amazing temporary building made entirely of materials from derelict sites all over the city.

The sounds within are all provided by poets, bands and performers who are based in and around Bristol. There’s no published programme, so it’s a lucky dip whenever you go, and your experience will never be the same twice.

The project is called Sanctum and the man behind it all is Theaster Gates, who describes his work as Social Practice installation art.  There’s a great interview about the project on the Bristol 2015 website here.  Although from Chicago, Gates is clear he’s not coming from the outside to tell Bristol what it needs to be, but aims to ‘create the opportunity for the city to demonstrate for itself how great it is’ – which makes it a very Happy City kind of idea.

Happy City does a lot of ‘invisible’ work to inspire and enable people to do things they might not have considered, and to feel at the end ‘we did this ourselves’. So we’d just like to offer our thanks to Bristol 2015, who clearly aren’t looking for credit (there’s no branding anywhere to be seen), but without whom, this marvellous project would not have come into being.  Hoorah for Theaster Gates (and his VERY cool Rebuild Foundation), Hoorah for Sanctum, Hoorah for Bristol’s performers, and Hoorah for Bristol 2105!

The show began on 29th October, and runs until 21st November. We heartily recommend you see it before it closes.