Posts Tagged ‘archaos’

The first uber client Borkowski PR ever had was Archaos, the punk circus which scandalized the UK between 1988 and 1991 with dangerous chainsaw-juggling, a raunchy Gallic attitude and explosive, two-fingers-in-the-face-of Health & Safety performances. The UK circus scene was shaken to its very core and would never be the same again. And I’m proud to have been the impropergandist that crafted their media profile, and equally proud to be celebrating them with an exhibition this September.

The groundbreaking campaign for Archaos we conducted for Archaos was the foundation for the Borkowski ethos. One of the immutable things about the company is our attachment to a good yarn, a great tale, a strange story, a bit of salacious gossip, a secret confidence, an odd anecdote or an outlandish rumour. We work with the stuff of conversation – the sort that fuels all social interactions. Barnum knew it, and he knew how to get conversations going to his commercial advantage. Read the rest of this entry »

The obituary I wrote for the Guardian, celebrating the life of Pierrot Bidon, was published in this morning’s edition. Here’s an excerpt:

“‘The welding torch, when it is used at night,’ said Bidon, ‘is a very beautiful thing, is it not? Why not use it in a circus?’ Instead of sawdust, the Archaos circus ring had the air of a factory floor. The troupe cast their spell with a show that broke every rule. Traditional circus was all sequins, ivory juggling clubs, velvet and spandex. Bidon’s big departure, which resonates to this day in everything from Cirque du Soleil to the Trash City and Shangri-La fields at the Glastonbury festival, was to arm his performers with oxy-acetylene torches, motorbikes and semtex, and clad his performers in boiler suits and corrugated iron. Read the rest of this entry »

Influenced by Archaos, Cirque du Soliel is the most recognizable global Circus brand, a Disneyesque juggernaut that, like MacDonalds, weaves its lavish commercial magic across the seven continents. Cirque’s creator Guy Laliberte is one of the richest entertainment figures in the world. Pierrot would never be his commercial equal, but for those that met Pierrot or saw his shows, that peculiar magic that allowed Cirque to come into being will remain tattooed on their heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Edinburgh for many years was Archaos’s second home, pitching the party on the less fashionable side of the City at Leith Links. Leith served as the stage for many of Scottish history’s significant events. With splendid irony, the circus village was pitched on the remains of the battlefield of Scottish insurgency.

It was the perfect place – the company breathed life in to this downtrodden ghetto and created their own citadel. On the edge of the encampment stood the Port O’Leith. It was an old pub that needed a scrub, habituated by the underbelly of the city. The streets outside were adorned by ladies of the night. Read the rest of this entry »

Pierrot was reminiscent of the circus folk that dispatch pragmatic wisdom learnt from the experiences of the road. Subversive and intellectually acute, Pierrot looked the part; a philosopher with a touch of gypsy, plus all the coolness of a leather-jacketed rocker. His gobbets of perception were delivered with an abundance of warmth and a laconic impish smirk, illuminated by a twinkle in his eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

Composing this Requiem for a dear friend is made more difficult, knowing that I am missing his funeral as I write it. Any number of emotions envelop reasoning. Pierrot Bidon is dead. Long live Pierrot Bidon. It was impossible able to thank Pierrot. He gave me the opportunity to experiment in a genre of maverick hype that forged my early career in entertainment publicity. And now it’s too late.

Pierrot will always be the first name on my fantasy dinner party guest list. He would have a dual role: as a mischievous sprite to help create a unique ambience; and to help provide the food. Here’s the reason – on one memorable occasion, we discussed staging a party I wanted to throw for a long-forgotten reason. Pierrot enthused about creating a Bacchanalian feast. He envisaged a gigantic spit roast complete with a huge cow rotating under a vast fire, adjacent to the dining table. It would approximate a medieval banquet. Attendees would carve their own portions. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s Independent features a story about stunts at the Edinburgh Festival, mentioning me and a number of other Edinburgh stuntsters, notably Malcolm Hardee. The article uses a number of the stunts that made it into my online and on the streets #Twithibition, as well as a number of more recent stunts and is a good, brief guide to the great stunts of Edinburgh past and present.

Sheep in Edinburgh

“PR expert Mark Borkowski , who is a veteran of the Fringe, has a record as colourful as Hardee’s, having been responsible for launching the extreme, chainsaw-juggling, circus group Archaos on an unsuspecting Edinburgh public in 1991. In order to promote their show, the troupe were pictured sawing a car in half on the Royal Mile and leaping over parked cars on motorbikes on the mound.

“Later in the Nineties, Borkowski took on the Jim Rose Circus, which provided the PR another opportunity to wind up the press and the authorities. Among numerous well-documented occurrences, Rose discovered a forgotten by-law that allowed sheep herding up the Royal Mile before 6am and duly obliged. Some of his flock entered the council offices before being herded out again, a not-so-sheepish gesture of anti-authoritarianism.

“This year, [the publicity stunt is] a craft that will be celebrated by a new award called the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award. Already being considered for this award is Shed Simove, the Ideas Man, whose publicity material will over the next three weeks be printed on lavatory paper and put in toilets all around Edinburgh. ‘Pooblicity’, as he calls it.”

To read the full story, click here. To follow my #Twithibition, click here and search the site for #twithibition. For more information on the stunts recorded in the #Twithibition, click here.