Part of the Spittoon Arts Collective archive. Founded by Matthew Byrne, Beijing, 2015.
The Origin
Spittoon began at Mado Bar on Baochao Hutong in Beijing’s Gulou district in May 2015. Matthew Byrne, a British poet with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University, had been living in Beijing since 2013 and wanted to create a space for people from different continents to share poetry over good company. The first readings happened under dingy lighting in front of a wall with a cannabis leaf painted on it. The space wasn’t big, but the sound was good and the crowds, however drunk, were attentive. One Thursday per month, Spittoon Poetry Night became a guaranteed good time.
Growth
Within four years, that single poetry night had evolved into a comprehensive arts collective with four regular monthly events in Beijing: Spittoon Poetry, Spittoon Fiction, Spittoon Slam, and Spittoon Book Club. Each occupied a specific Thursday. The collective launched a bi-weekly poetry workshop, a storytelling format, and its most innovative creation: Spittunes.
Spittunes pairs poets with musicians or bands to create collaborative performances where music and poetry genuinely intertwine rather than simply coexist. First staged at Dusk Dawn Club on February 23rd, 2017, it grew into one of Spittoon’s flagship formats — with events across multiple cities and a documentary produced about it. Matthew performed at Spittunes as a poet, collaborating with guitarist Nathan Borofka and performing with his band Macondo.
Venues
Over the years, Spittoon found homes across Beijing: Mado Bar, Ballhouse between the Drum and Bell towers, Camera Stylo, Chill Bar, Dusk Dawn Club, the Bookworm Cafe, Aotu Space gallery, Yue Space, and others. Mado’s closure was emblematic of Beijing’s shifting cultural landscape. Spittoon persisted.
Case Studies
Four events defined what Spittoon Beijing was capable of.
The Spittoon Literary Tour — September 2017
A three-city literary tour visiting Beijing, Chengdu, and Suzhou/Shanghai, co-organised with The Bookworm. Two days of readings, panel discussions, and events at each stop. The programme included a panel on the poetic magic of mixing media, poetry in translation workshops, Spittunes performances, a literary quiz, and Books of Beijing — a human library event where people were the books you could loan. Matthew wrote of the Beijing leg: “It felt like the entire area around the Bookworm in Sanlitun had a Spittoony buzz about it.”
3 cities · 2 days per city · 8+ featured poets and writers per stop
The Grand Slam — June 2018
Spittoon × BLK GEN × Beijing Underground: the first ever Beijing Grand Slam competition, held at Yue Space. A slam competition headlined by poets from South Africa, Wyoming, and China, with bilingual workshops run by Zoe Xie and Chinese-language slam poets performing alongside the international lineup. A ticketed event — 50 to 60 RMB — part of Beijing Underground Summer Music Days.
First Beijing Grand Slam · Bilingual English and Chinese · Ticketed event at Yue Space
Bookworm Literary Festival — March 2019
Three events conceived and organised by Spittoon for the Bookworm Literary Festival. Readings by Chinese writers Suo Er and Ye Mei with their translators. A Spittunes showcase. And a sold-out panel — The Art of Creating a Collective — bringing together Beijing arts collectives including Hole In The Wall, Beijing Writers Network, and Loreli to discuss the mechanics of building a creative community from scratch.
3 events · Sold-out panel · Featured published Chinese authors with translators
MEGACITY Beijing — December 2019
The most ambitious programming Spittoon had ever attempted. The Beijing leg of the MEGACITY series ran across December 13 to 15 and included: For Every Ear a Secret — an intimate one-on-one performance installation; an Intercity Poetry Slam live-streamed simultaneously between Beijing and Chengdu; Urban Fragments — a poetry, sound, and visual installation at Aotu Space; the launch of Spittoon Literary Magazine Issue 6; and a full day of poetry, fiction, and Spittunes.
3-day event · 4 distinct formats · Simultaneous intercity livestream · Magazine launch · Installation art
Key Projects Born in Beijing
Six of Spittoon’s most distinctive formats originated in Beijing:
- Spittunes — poetry and music collaboration, first staged February 2017
- Spittoon Connect — intercity and international livestream events
- Beijing Lights — a bilingual interview series profiling ordinary Beijing residents
- VPN (Visual Poetry Network) — mixed media combining poetry, visual art, and music
- CUE (Chinese Urban Expression) — a bilingual comic book series commissioning young Chinese artists
- Spittoon Poetry Workshop — bi-weekly workshop, running from April 2019
Read the Beijing Archive
Event write-ups, interviews, and retrospectives from Spittoon Beijing — republished from the original WeChat archive.
matthew-byrne.com 