Starting from next month, the original 0093 on Lingling Lu will be closed for refurbishment - that means all the practice rooms and the 03 Space performance area. It'll reopen with its brand spanking new look early next year. In the meantime, 0093's new premises on Caoyang Lu will be hoping to host the bands who were using the original spot before (their planned rehearsal rooms at Mao Shanghai will take a bit of time to sort out).I quite like the, err, rugged feel of 0093 but, given that it'll be closed for two months, it could be a fairly substantial refit. Who knows, maybe they were inspired by the fact that every square inch of Shanghai is being dug up/covered in scaffolding at the moment in preparation for Expo next year. Then again, maybe not.
Of course, I don't actually play an instrument so I don't rehearse there and I'm not suggesting that they keep it as is - that's none of my business - just that I like it how it is at the moment, in a musty, dank sort of a way. That's easy to say as an infrequent tourist there. Anyway, with that in mind, I snuck down yesterday to take a few snaps for posterity - you can find them after the jump.
You probably know this already, but 0093 is much more than just a rehearsal space. Here's a neat little round up of its importance and, linked in the comments, an interview with Jiang Shaoqing from last year from a certain deceased Shanghai magazine. Nevertheless, in terms of purely rehearsal space business, it faces increasing competition in Shanghai now. In addition to the other mainstay practice spaces around town and 0093's own plans to extend their empire at Caoyang Lu and Mao, a whole bunch of new places have opened in recent months. I suppose that's a slightly more plausible reason for the refit than the looming Expo.
I'll head down for a similar photo gallery once they reopen, but here's 0093 in all its truly underground glory:
These are mostly of the corridors because it was a Sunday afternoon and no-one was around. I've got some older photos of the place as well somewhere (including ones of the rooms themselves) so I'll link those up if I can find them. There's a shot from the 03 Space with Coverpeople performing here and another one here in case you're interested too.
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