Tag Archives: cultural freehaven

Conceptualising the “Interspace”

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Within my art, I have realised the importance of “creating alternative spaces” to me. I am very passionate about questioning the way in which we behave in and treat art spaces, whether that is the rave, the gallery or community clubs centred around the arts. I am also interested in merging these differing spaces together, allowing for norms of each “scene” to exist in others where they usually wouldn’t. Conceptualising this idea of the interspace has felt difficult, as my need for it stems from my own personal aversions to certain traits of both the underground music scenes and the art worlds which I traverse in.

My work for Gallery 46 was a short film entitled Circular Intersections, which was my first exploration of this idea of the interspace. Visuals of rave / dance spaces were paired in sequences with visuals of gallery spaces. These were also constrasted with visuals of nature, music making in the private sphere, and dances from South African tribal traditions. I was attempting to contextualise how interwined these differing visuals were, forging connections between my hobbies, education, and heritage.

still from Circular Intersections
Still from Circular Intersections
Still from Circular Intersections
Still from Circular Intersections
Still from Circular Intersections
Still from Circular Intersections

The soundtrack that accompanied Circular Intersections used techniques such as musique concrete, dubbing techniques, live instrumentation and original synthesis to create music that spanned between ambient, minimal / glitch house, and industrial breaks. I believe it is important that, like Circular Intersections demonstrated, we are able to emjoy a multitude of sounds together in the same space, and across the different spaces that we traverse. I therefore want to create spaces that can fascilitate this idea, and art that acts as so- and that is what I will design the interspace to be.

Based on my experience of cultural freehaven spaces such as Het Groene Veld in Amsterdam, I have seen that spaces such as these do exist, and can exist in perfect coexistence with our everyday lives. This will be an important feature of the interspace, as I have found that a lot of art spaces are only accessible at certain times, which may not coincide with the schedules of people wanting to immerse themselves in the environment. This is most clearly seen in the fact that the majority of (London) raves occur in the late hours of the night into the early hours of the morning. People with dayjobs, children, or even those wanting to optimise their sleep health therefore cannot particpate in raves, regardless of wanting to. Many gallery spaces, on the other hand, may only be opened from the hours on 10am to 5pm, again becoming inaccessible to those with dayjobs, amongst a host of other groups. Perhaps this points to why the UK has a large pub culture, as it is the most accessible social hub for most people.

Continuing to define the interspace will be a research process I work alongside my exploration of cultural freehavens. I will immerse myself in such environments, documenting them through photo, video, and most importantly, audio interview. Whilst this will be a basis for my research in documenting the cultural freehaven, it will also be utilised as material to repurpose within my art.

Building a Cultural Freehaven: Happiness Starts with Dancing

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After my time in Amsterdam, my involvement in the UK dance music scene (where I have a difficult relationship with the typical environment- I love the music and connectivity but the spaces aren’t built to stimulate that fully) and Kiera Coward Deyell’s lecture, I have decided that it is important for me as an artist to build an environment which celebrates the marriage of art with knowledge, community and comfortability.

Happiness Starts with Dancing is a community centred around the love of the dance, in and out of the rave setting. Whilst many and most people enjoy dance music, they may not necessarily feel comfortable engaging with the typical dance music setting, which is usually situated in the nighttime, in a club setting. Whilst these environments provide pure forms of connection and intimacy with the music, self, and surrounding community, they can also limit comfortability wherein they are spaces (arguably) designed to enhance or support an intoxicated experience. Clubs and venues where dance music is typically enjoyed usually require organisers using their spaces to reach a bar spend, which encourages dance attendees to buy drinks. Whilst drugs (including alcohol) can enhance the dance music experience, they are proven to induce anxieties and ill health in some individuals, so Happiness believes in curating environments where this pressure to drink or use substances is alleviated, and at the same time, is comfortable enough to partake in intoxication if one wishes. Clubs and licensed events spaces are also unfortunately prolific for forms of unwanted attention to all peoples, making the typical dance music environment an uncomfortable space, a “no-go” zone for many peoples. Whilst Happiness does not aim to criticise or disparage the club and nightlife space, as we believe in their value of spaces of connection and art as stands, we aim to provide an alternative environment where people who are not comfortable in aforementioned spaces can still enjoy dance music, and connect with those who are accustomed to said spaces. These existing spaces also arguably have a narrow definition of what dance music is: Happiness aims to platform sound that is not restricted to just UK Bass or Western dance music. We believe that if sound brings you joy, and moves you to express yourself through movement, it should be considered as a form of dance music.

Providing this alternative space may look.. odd, from certain perspectives. These alternative spaces, whilst connecting those with a love of music, dance and art, will not be completely wrapped up in themes of dance music. To have a love of dance music is to have a love of the culture that surrounds it. Happiness’ first initiative in creating an alternative space whilst living up to the previous statement is the organisation of a book club, Happiness Starts with Knowledge. This book club will give individuals the opportunity to read articles, books and other written material in a communal setting, alleviating some of the struggles some may have with reading (neurodivergence, time constraints ,etc; any reasoning is valid), and be able to discuss these texts together in order to gain insights and perspectives about the texts one may be unsure of, or hadn’t considered. These texts will include, but will not be limited to, writings around music and the cultures that surround it. 

The book club relates to sound art as it will be a practicing of aural cultures: historically, humans have gained knowledge and skill through aural teaching, which is why so much “common scensical” knowledge is unwritten, undocumented. We as humans process information differently when intaken verbally than visually.

The book club is a premise for what is to come from the Happiness community- eventually I want to build a cultural freehaven similar the the commune in Amsterdam, but obviously on a much smaller scale. Essentially, I want to build an environment where people with a love of the arts can come together and connect at any time, and with any activity.

Amsterdam: Exploring the Cultural Freehaven

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A group of musical friends and I took a trip to Amsterdam to play a gig consitsing of UK underground dance music, namely, Jungle. We stayed at a commune in the North of Amsterdam named Het Groene Veld. This was our second stay, six months after our initial stay in May.

The second day, the Saturday, was one of my rainiest days I’d experienced. Our stay coincided with ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) Festival, and also a pivotal moment in Global Political Awareness, with many protests happening across the world for Palestinian liberation. Therefore, Saturday saw our day parading throught he streets of central Amsterdam, following a number of vans and vehicles with rigs attached to them, playing out sounds of trance, fast techno, jungle and dub. Some of the people hosting sets on the vehicles would occasionally mention the reason for the prosession, and call for those of us following to think about the situation happening in the Gaza strip.

The weather combined with the seclection of music gave the setting the atmosphere and aesthetics of an illegal free party, excpet this was a planned and approved public event. When spaces are open to cultural activity legally, it lessens the need for people to attend illegal gatherings, aswell as opens the setting to those who wouldn’t usually attempt to be in that setting.

We returned to the commune, where the venue for our gig was also located. This rave was the second installment of N4 x Percy Mingle x Singularity in the city. The rave was one of the most beautiful nights of electronic dance music I’d witnessed. Perhaps it was because I was travelling and playing alongside a crew that has come to be a community and dancefloor family to me. Or perhaps it was because of the free nature of the city, and better yet, the commune we were staying at. The open attitude towards drug usuage in Amsterdam allows for people to enjoy the rave as they please, free of judgment, as well as allowing for more forms of connectivity within the audience to take place. This open attitude also allows for people to abstain from any substances; I felt there was zero pressure to even drink in Amsterdam compared to the UK. The people of Amsterdam enjoy the music more deeply than we do in the UK- you can tell from the way they engage with the dance and the DJs. Only in Amsterdam have people I’d never met before in the crows come up to me after my set to really speak about the music I played, and compliment my set genuinely. More people are dancing, and in freeing, non restrictive ways, something that is apparently seen across continental Europe.

The commune, Het Groene Veld is a place I fell deeply in love with since I visited the first time back in May. It is a breakaway from society, its own mini society. When leaving, I collected some resources about the commune, including newspaper articles and booklets, from the people we were hosted by, Kiara and Chin. Whilst the commune may seem like a place of pure joy and freeness, it has had to go throigh tribulations to create that safe space. The nature of the cultural freehaven is that its future is never guaranteed- growth in urbanisation of land will be and has been a threat to squatter communites cross Europe. However, regardless of the worries members of those communities may have to go through, and the tensions it may create within the environments, art is always available for the community to turn to collectively, and has been a key tool in keeping these communites alive.

Before Het Groene Veld, there was ADM, a squat that housed 130 people. It lasted from 1997 until late 2018 / early 2019. Throughout its period of existence, there were many threats to its longevity, with many eviction attempts, and even members of the commune being attacked or killed. Regardless of these issues, ADM was known as a “cultural freehaven”, with the many festivals its members put on providing a a centrepoint of music and art for themselves as well as the wider community.

Although ADM doesn’t exist anymore, Het Groene Veld houses around 40 of the old occupants. Sadly, all the others were displaced. ADMs story is one that can be seen across Europe, with the KOPI Wagenplalt eviction in Berlin, and even closer to home, the REPO centre in Norbury, London, which housed some freinds of mine.

ADM- and Het Groene Veld- proves the viability of a society away from mainstream norms, and proves for the importance of sound, music and art in upholding such a community. It is a desirable environment to live in- the cultural freehaven allows for one to live at their own pace. The “jobs” would the use of personal skills and trades to uphold the upkeep of the comune, with everyone’s skills sustaining the basic needs of each individual. The cultural freehaven allows for one to connect with nature, an important asset to our human experience- something we lack in cities that affects us more than we can even comprehend.

Whilst I think every human would benefit from this type of living, I think it would be impossible to build an environment of such in a widescale manner. We, as modern Western beings, are adapted to a technological way of living; we rely on the systems built by mass industrialisation. However, I believe that an open space available for everyone to access as they please, and return to “normal” society when needed would be more feasible. i envision a centrepoint of sound and art, a communal space for people to connect, and simultaneously disconnect from modern society.

I envision an everlasting, open access, cultural freehaven.