“Energy Flash – The Rave Movement” www.muhka.be:
Rave culture from the 1980s and 1990s was Europe’s last big youth movement. During this period of radical social and political change, rave, in its various guises, migrated around the continent from its epicentre of Great Britain, Belgium and Germany. As a movement, it enacted a desire to be autonomous, with a belief in tolerance and experimental living, all built around the latent energy of electronic music. As a music-based culture, it embraced self-practice, invention and unbridled creativity, arguably leading to the densest period in history for the diversification of music. Energy Flash will be the first museum exhibition for considering rave, as well as the social, political, economic and technological conditions that led to the advent of rave as an alternative movement across Europe. It will look at the ideologies as well as the aesthetics of rave, along with its effects on wider culture.
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As a part of the exhibition Energy Flash, I was commissioned (with the kind support of Adidas) to perform a VJ set during the opening night at the M HKA in Antwerp. I worked on three different, ecstasy inspired, typographic designs applied to 3D models of flags to reference the establishment and celebration of a self-proclaimed community.
One sequence referenced Joey Beltram’s legendary track Energy Flash, visualising it’s gloomy, provocative vocal. The other sequence showed another interpretation of the exhibition title, referencing the enticing image of the notorious Rush Liquid Incense, better known as Rush Poppers.
Links:
M HKA. (2016, September). Energy Flash - The Rave Movement
Joey Beltram - Energy Flash (1990), Transmat
Rotterdam
jeissondrenth@gmail.com
design, live performance, media theory