The Aquarium

Did you watch Warner Bros. cartoons when you were a child? Remember Sylvester and Tweety? I hated Tweety bird and I always wished that he would die a horrible death at the hands of my favourite 'villain' Sylvester the Cat. Tweety is probably the most annoying character ever, with his stupid whiny voice and he orbicular parakeet head. If he were human and I knew him personally I would actively search out reasons to punch him in the face as much as possible.

OK, so maybe my hatred for that vile little bird is teetering on the line of insanity, but when I found an exhibition with paintings devoted to all of the possible scenes of savage slayings of Tweety I felt vindicated. The Aquarium L-13 was the venue for this awesome exhibition. They sell fantastic and controversial works of art from a range of contemporary artists. Unfortunately this haven for controversy is going out of business due to the recession. It seems that all of the investors have gone bankrupt and the gallery can no longer remain open. It's tragic. It will stay open for the next couple of months though, so be sure to run down to have a look at all of the expensive art work that you will never be able to afford (stuff selling for hundreds and thousands of pounds) before it shuts down forever.

I was attracted to this shop instantly by the quirky and controversial posters and pamphlets in the shop window. There was a piece that used the WW1 poster depicting the slogan 'Your country needs YOU', but altered to say 'Shop damn you, SHOP'. There were also lots of other spoof political pamphlets and a manequin with a bill board on his back with the words 'I Am The Son Of Art'. Intrigued, I crossed the road to look closer and explore what was inside.

I found it was a gallery and shop that exhibited and sold the work of a small group of artists, all apparently chosen to work with The Aquarium L-13 for their particular political and creative persuasion (which generally appeared to be subversive to the way we commonly view and consume art).

The gallery/ shop was spread across 2 floors (and downstairs was a sale). It felt raw and real.. more like walking into someones house or personal work space, as there are desks and plan chests as well as a sofa behind a screen, all of which have art work and published pieces on top of and in. It was almost more like a jumble sale downstairs, work heaped in piles to flick through. You could also see the workshop in the basement where the artists create a lot of the work for the gallery (although this is not open for the public to walk into). The work shown includes paintings, prints, published works, 3d pieces, jewellary and more.

The Aquarium really stands out from the majority of art gallery shops around, and sells work at affordable prices (ranging from items that are less than £5 to several hundred. It is defintly worth visiting to see some contemporary, innovative and politically charged work.

It's 4:31AM this place is just terrible.. I asked God a refund and everything! Bad bartenders, no ones dancing, terrible house music, just a disappointment.

I pass by this place all the time and am generally very impressed with their exhibitions. The last one, Splatter, was especially awesome. Here's my write up about it:
http://london.blog.qype.com/?p=120

Our final port of call on 'The Party Bus', The Aquarium is a club with an unusual twist: a swimming pool. Which seems like a pretty bad idea considering the amount of wasted customers.


The floor was so sticky that I lost my shoe a couple of times, and staff were seriously rude. We didn't stay too long, so I can't say much for prices, but I don't think I'd make the journey there again. The only upside was the decent music at Carwash, and the dress code.

When they used to have Carwash here on a Saturday night it was a pretty good club but a recent visit left me disappointed. The whole club is crawling with guys on the prowl and by midnight the men so far outnumbered the women that it was a little bit scary. After 10pm you have to trek through the back of the club to a filthy fire escape to have a cigarette. The music has gone from cheesy 70's fare to some quite heavy dance music so if that's your thing, great but it's definitely not mine. It was hot, sticky and smoky and a lot of the punters seemed rather out of it.
Maybe other days of the week are better but I wouldn't go on a Saturday again.

The Aquarium is actually 2 venues one being a small pub the other the club which is great, huge open dance floors play a range of mad 80's music, there is also a swimming pool within one of the rooms which is quite a novelty to be used on a night out.


Fun, wacky crowd usually dressed up in 80's gear and in character make this a fun place for a night out with a twist, be sure to get in the mood at their pub just opposite before giving in to the madness!

I went there once and it was a rubbish night!

Music was awful and the place was half empty! Boring!

I came a long way to this club. For starters we booked our tickets on-line £12.00 each plus for the priveledge of booking on-line had to pay a further £1.50. Never the less went there with good intentions. There was no real queue just a hussle around the door waiting to get in.
Well that's when it hits you. The club is so hot it is unreal there is no air con only one or two little units in each room which weren't on full at all, the heat was so bad it ruined our 70s outfits from the wet, also we could not drink and as we were out for a birthday this was not good. It made 2 of my friends sick where it was sooo hot. Then you have to PAY £1 TO GO FOR A CIGARETTE OR LEAVE THE BUILDING, this is disgusting as most clubs you just get a stamp.
One of my friends was hot and decided to come out for a cigarette too cool down, as she was coming up the stairs some of the staff were sitting at the reception desk drinking champagne and as they popped the bottle open the cork hit my friend in the face and all the staff did was laugh and look at her - no apology.
We decided then that we wanted to leave so we asked on of the bouncers inside if we could quickly go into the pool area just to tell our friends we were going back to the bar next door he said 'don't care now move' and shoved us out of the way into the next room.
Since going to this club I have written to the management about it, but have not had any replies. The music was good the club was so hot with condesation people kept slipping over. A lot of people were leaving early because the heat ruined their night

aquarium is an amazing place. they open all the weekend long with different parties, but i will narrow it down to my favourite:
Insomnia, first and third saturday night-sunday morning of every month.
every insomnia, a good bunch of clubbers keep coming from 4 to 10, either straight from a few drinks at home, after the first hour pubs in shoreditch or after a whole night about in Fabric, The end, Minitry.everything does, because Insomnia has the delightful capability of picking you up at this late hours or even outperforming what you thought was your great night out.
yes, jacuzzi, great lighting, decor, vjing, roomy space, enjoyable atmosphere, and, the best of it all, high quality techno.
despite being an after party, top-notch dj's such as Mauro picotto have been dragged down to the decks, and messed the place up.
On other occasions, residents and local djs have been enough to make me go mental in there.
tickets are 7 pounds if you have the flyer, 10 if not, which really, is such a bargain.
aquarium has got three rooms, although one is sometimes closed. the first is the hall with very low recorded music, which is great to have a chat with someone or finish off that catching-eye foreplay you started in the main room with that hot bloke or chick.
the main room is big, sounds good, not too dark but enough. just great.
then the terrace, to enjoy the sun (if any), have a smoke, charge the batteries before coming in again, catch up with a group of friends.
in short a great place with loads of possibilities. you may end up tired or energetic, wet or dry, but never dissapointed
keep this name in mind: Insomnia