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CHANGE OF VENUE
Fire at the Zeitgeist
BY CARLY CARIOLI

A short circuit in a water cooler is being blamed for an electrical fire that gutted Cambridge’s Zeitgeist Gallery last Friday evening. The one-alarm blaze left the plucky Central Square venue — a refuge for performance art, obscurantist film, avant-garde music, and lefty-activist political theater — without a home. The fire came just a day before the Zeitgeist-sponsored "Sound and Vision Festival" at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, which had been envisioned as a celebration of the gallery’s eclectic programming. Instead, the Saturday-night festival served as a final hurrah — at least for now.

"We’re kaput for the near future," says Zeitgeist director Alan Nidle. "There’s a lot of smoke damage, quite a bit of water damage. We’re looking at [relocating] a few shows at Mama Gaia’s Café, and we’re gonna be looking around in the area for other venues for the shows that are coming right up. We want to find another space."

At press time, the only performance to be rescheduled was that of the And So No Sin performance-art troupe, whose "If You Close Your Eyes It’s Sound Art," scheduled for the Zeitgeist this Sunday, has been moved around the corner to the Dance Complex (see "Editor's Picks" for more information).

There were no injuries in the fire, but the first-floor storefront at 312 Broadway is expected to be a total loss. "There was some artwork [on the walls], some photos at the time," said Nidle, who declined to name the artist. "We’d like to have a benefit, we’d like to keep going. People are in shock right now, so it’s tough to know what to do. Hopefully we’ll emerge with a plan of action [soon]."

For updates on Zeitgeist benefits and reschedulings, check www.zeitgeist-gallery.org.

Issue Date: May 2 - 9, 2002
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