E-Mail This Article to a Friend PERFORMANCE SPACES Oni Gallery just fine, thanks; Berwick on hiatus BY CAMILLE DODERO

Was it an art-gallery sting? Or just a coincidence that the Boston Police Department paid visits to both Boston’s Oni Gallery and Roxbury’s Berwick Research Institute this past weekend? Either way, there were lots of rumors flying. "All these people have been calling me and being like, ‘I heard you guys are being shut down,’" says Oni Gallery publicist Heidi Derven. "I was like, ‘Really?’"

Derven’s talking about last Saturday night, when Boston police overheard a member of the band Laughing Light howling into the microphone at the Oni and came in to find out what was happening. "It turns out the cops were outside arresting two other people, and they heard the singer screaming," says Derven. "They thought someone was being murdered. And then they came upstairs and were like, ‘Okay, it’s just a bunch of dorky kids.’" No police report was filed. "They didn’t make us leave or anything, they simply quieted us down."

But what happened the night before at the Berwick Research Institute — an abandoned bakery warehouse used as a performance space for experimental-art installations, way-below-the-radar musicians, and other fringe events like, say, a drag-king-themed weekend — wasn’t so insignificant. Sometime after midnight, during a performance-art piece by a Providence-based art activist named Pippi, Boston Inspectional Services Department (ISD) representatives and two Boston police officers showed up, entered the Berwick, cited the place for being in violation of a litany of building codes, and demanded that everyone vacate the premises. The show ended and people went home. Although the Berwick has been mentioned in the press for more than a year — and there’s a big sign outside marking the structure — the ISD says it just caught wind of the warehouse last weekend during a routine "spot check."

But then, to make matters worse, the ISD sent out a mistake-riddled press release the following Monday, stating that it had shut down "an illegal nightclub" called "Burwick Bakery." Not only did the account misspell the name of Berwick programming director Katya Gorker, but the item was so convoluted that the night’s event (Pippi’s performance-art piece) could easily have been misunderstood as the name of the site — which the Boston Globe did in its City & Region section, stating that officials had closed down a club called "Pippies Tour." (Also worth noting: on the same day, the Globe printed a slightly extended version of the ISD’s release with some actual reporting in the Living Arts section.)

Either way, it’s clear that the ISD hoped to demonstrate that it had prevented a potential future tragedy like last February’s fire at the Station in Rhode Island. "The dangers of unlicensed nightclubs is obvious and really doesn’t need to be highlighted in light of recent tragedies," says John Dorsey, the ISD’s assistant commissioner of policy and communication. "It’s not about stomping on anyone’s fun." Nevertheless, the Berwick is temporarily on hiatus while it makes changes to acquire the proper permits; early Tuesday morning, reps from the ISD and the Berwick met with the building’s landlord to discuss what will be needed to comply with state and local laws. In the meantime, Gorker will be rescheduling and relocating the shows affected by the Berwick’s temporary closing. For now, no one’s exactly sure how long it will take to satisfy the ISD’s demands. With any luck, it won’t be long.

Visit the Berwick Research Institute online at www.berwickinstitute.org