Article
Background
This Action Project explores electronic (dance) music as an often-overlooked driver of both small-scale personal and larger-scale societal change. The project specifically examines the dancefloor as a site of ‘potential being,’ where bodies can exist, move, breathe, and transform outside of societal norms that shape daily lived realities. The project was inspired by personal experiences of the transformative potential of a safe, welcoming dancefloor and the collective emotional force of music. The politics inherent in dancefloors as complex social spaces reflecting intersecting personal and political values are central to this exploration. This project was initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic and aligns with similar initiatives that have critically reflected on the changing processes within the global club/dance music industries.
Approach & Methodology
The project culminates in a zine, a small-scale, self-produced publication that archives thoughts and reflections on contemporary dancefloor experiences. Using a methodology of curation, the zine merges visual, written, and audio material to present a narrative that takes the transformative nature of dancefloors as a starting point, exploring broader concepts such as ‘freedom,’ ‘(un)becoming,’ and ‘autonomy.’ The physical zine was created using an organic self-production process, relying on resources available at hand—simple materials like pen, paint, glue, and paper, as well as rescued, donated, recycled, or gifted materials. The creation of the zine involved the collective effort of friends, music lovers, bookshop owners, and open squat libraries.
Impact
The first issue of the zine represents a piece of ‘slow activism,’ focusing on the intimacies of sharing personal expressions and the potential of radical vulnerability to bring sidelined conversations to the forefront. Circulated among friends, social circles, and local music shops, copies of the zine have traveled from Amsterdam to Munich, Milan, and Brooklyn. Almost 9 months after its release, the zine continues to be read, felt, and shared, demonstrating its lasting impact. Despite challenges in maintaining motivation and belief in the project’s importance, collective support has been invaluable in keeping the ideas alive and meaningful.
Next Steps
Moving forward, the zine remains a platform with the potential to connect various perspectives on contemporary issues, with a particular interest in expanding upon the central theme of creative bodily autonomy, especially from contemporary, young voices often marginalized in mainstream discussions.
I personally come from a geography/cartography background, and think of other ways it may be possible to present such stories; on how to center aspects of place and space, the ‘backgrounds’ of our narratives. Ideas or thoughts on this are not only welcome, but needed!
I personally come from a geography/cartography background, and think of other ways it may be possible to present such stories; on how to center aspects of place and space, the ‘backgrounds’ of our narratives. Ideas or thoughts on this are not only welcome, but needed!
The project’s Instagram page is rather quiet, but don’t let this fool you – they are very much there. A few prints of the first issue are also still available on a free/donation basis; they would surely be happy to find a new home! See the Bandcamp page for this.