Underground music, underground cinema, underground hip hop culture, underground scene … the idea of “underground” originally connected to clandestine resistance networks under oppressive regimes, has frequently been linked to different activities of cultural production. Often claimed by practitioners themselves as a badge of honour, or a sign that they have managed to partially break free from market forces, it contrasts with the label “mainstream” usually attributed from the outside, or left unsaid. Mainstream cinema, mainstream contemporary art, and so on.

Our day conference aims at looking at these two concepts and some of the ways they have played out in Britain and Ireland in recent decades. We take 1979 as a starting point given its reputation as the beginning of a long period of domination of neoliberal ideology little associated with “underground values”. The explorations during this day conference might include some of the following questions, but other angles are welcome. Areas examined will include popular music, public cultural policy, visual arts, theatre, cinema, journalism and sport.