Hidden Door 2025 Night 3 - Friday 13 June

Information

Friday Highlights:
Music from Erland Cooper, Tinderbox Orchestra, Alice Faye and PVC. Dance from Dorine Mugisha. Spoken Word from JD Henshaw and Julia Sorensen. Plus over 30 visual artsits, immersive collaborations, pop-up performances and much more.

From 11-15 June, Hidden Door will transform The Paper Factory - a huge abandoned paper- and cardboard-manufacturing facility in the Maybury Quarter - into an ambitious and unique multi artform experience.

Responding to the vast complex of forgotten warehouses, factory floors, offices and outbuildings, this year’s Hidden Door festival programme is built around the theme of ‘Building as a Myth’, with every rusted pipe, defunct machine and weathered surface becoming part of an artistic reclamation.

Music
The five nights will host a diverse roster of musical acts. Friday night sees Alice Faye's lyrical Cabaret-come-Queen stylings programmed alongside Hidden Door favourites Tinderbox Orchestra and the dreamlike compositions of Erland Cooper... plus more to be announced. Edinburgh institutions Samedia Shebeen and Paradise Palms Records are on board to bring the weekend club vibes alive.

Visual Art
The visual art programme will invite audiences to explore and discover every nook and cranny of The Paper Factory - from the cavernous Crane Shed and the labyrinthine Factory Floor, to transforming the mundanity of The Office Block. Over 30 visual artists will show a range of work including large sculptural installations, wall-based work, projection and textiles, curated amongst the defunct machinery and spaces.

Poetry and Spoken Word
Thought provoking, personal, funny and moving – this year’s programme brings the power of spoken word performance into a building that has fallen silent. Expect stand out shows every night from 10 poets and performers including award winning Theresa Muñoz, Glasgow poet Charles Lang and post-punk-music-spoken word-comedy duo FEVER PEACH.

Dance
Dance highlights include Yuxi Jiang’s ‘The Circle Unbound’, an immersive dance theatre inspired by Tibetan Buddhist circular culture, reimagining rhythmic machinery as a meditative force. Participatory and playful performance ‘Dance Makes The Floor’ by Mark Bleakley centres around the creation of a collectively made dance floor, conjuring past dance floors, both loved and lost. The dance programme will also feature works by ELELEI, Jessie Roberts-Smith, Katie Armstrong, Dorine Mugisha with even more to be announced.

Creative Collaborations
Threading throughout the 2025 programme are four newly commissioned interdisciplinary collaborations - Ghost In The Machine; Time And Memory; A Production Line; and SPECTRAL - waiting to be encountered by visitors as they explore The Paper Factory’s labyrinths.

Subject to licence. Strictly over 18s only. Doors open at 1pm and ticketed event starts at 6pm until late. Full Terms and Conditions apply.