We are proud to announce the next lecture in our POP TALKS series, with Giacomo Bottà as our special guest:
Learning from the Underground: Crisis, Sustainability and Techno in the Summer of 2020.
December 8th, 2022. 17-18:00 CET
Online (Google Meet). The event is for free, but registration is necessary!
Abstract: In the pandemic summer of 2020 in Helsinki, techno outdoor parties were able to disengage electronic live music practices from profit making and the logics of cultural extractivism, offering a sustainable practice by and for the local techno music scene.
Thanks to qualitative content analysis of interviews with organisers, participants, and DJs, I identify the pedagogical and practical means able to build sustainable and safe nocturnal spaces, where marginal cultural practices could rise. Free techno parties are understood as a learning experience, in which sustainability gave access to a different way to produce and consume culture, in particular thanks to: (1) safe space and pedagogy, (2) ecological awareness, (3) non-profit and community building, (4) music curating, and (5) randomness and exploration.
Giacomo Bottà
Giacomo researches and lectures about urban cultural studies in a comparative European dimension, with a particular interest in urban culture, the night-time economy, (post)industrial cities, and music ecosystems. He holds the title of docent from the University of Helsinki and is the author of Deindustrialisation and Popular Music: Punk and ‘Post-Punk’ in Manchester, Düsseldorf, Torino and Tampere (Rowman 2020). He currently lives in Brussels.