ORBIT 94 captures the heady days of legendary techno club, THE ORBIT at the After Dark in Morley, Leeds in 1994. Between 1991 and 2003, THE ORBIT was considered one of the best techno clubs in the world, attracting the world’s greatest DJs including Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills alongside the best UK talent. Clubbers flocked to its weekly Saturday nights from all over the UK and beyond. As a result, it quickly became established as a must-visit techno mecca to rival Berlin’s Tresor or Frankfurt’s Omen.
An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another. The elliptical deleuze emulates the fragmented memories of a club night born in Ossett and made in Morley: spinning wax melted over the turntables from the perspiring ceiling, limbs swung from the curved three story balconies, and rotating fists clung to the ecstatic atmosphere. Magnetised to the spirit of the scene, perihelion punters soaked up their tea in the queue at half past 6, ‘take the biscuit’ flyer in hand waiting eagerly to get into the legendary club night The Orbit.
Run by Sean McInereny, Nick Gundill, Darren Turner, Neil Harston and Sean Kendrick (1991-2003 by Sean & Nick), the club night began in 1991 at Woburn House aka Thirtysomethings in Ossett which fed off the comedown of the rave scene’s golden era. Before long it was operating in tandem with The After Dark in Morley, an old Victorian picturehouse turned club.
“Through The Orbit being there, Morley became a techno town and the culture seeped into the wider community” explained Mike Humphries, ex techno junkie and Orbit residential stalwart alongside DJ partner Jon Nuccle, who were musically involved with the party across ten years. Not only was it a local labour of love, it was seen as the UK’s answer to Tresor, Berlin and often praised amongst artists, ravers and press as the best techno club in the world. But to Nick Gundill, founding member of The Orbit, “it just became what it was”, a club of its time built within the rotating mechanics of the rave wheel. Being pedestalled alongside legendary clubs and techno institutes wasn’t built into The Orbit’s DNA, often shying away from press coverage and maintaining a level of local integrity and international modesty, “we weren’t celebrity promoters, it wasn’t our bag”.
Intro from the Biodegradable Soundsystem series by Eleanor Vickers* from her self-published independent book, 2024 (Originally published online via Threads Radio, 2021)
*Name typo in publication for exhibition