[Dancecult-l] Change of PhD direction- refs for party logistics info

[tobias c. van Veen]

hey Charles,

Not sure if this is what you mean, but if you trawl the night (as in the
net) you should be able to find a number of documents written by various
soundsystem crews (usually dating back to the '90s), such as Spiral Tribe,
etc., that go into detail on all aspects of soundsystem set-up including
everything from how to jack the power from a broken-into warehouse (& how to
pick the lock), to jamming police frequencies, using flocking strategies to
overwhelm local policing (the tactics of Tony Colston-Hayter), to how to
programme an evening of styles (arcs, trajectories, ruptures, continuities),
porta-potty rental, how to hot refuel a generator w/out it exploding,
bribing people, internal security -- all the usual things involved with DiY
rave culture. I've got a doc or few from the <ST> days & a few later
articles on this kind of thing that might be of use to you here (email me),
also check:
    [ http://shrumtribe.com/text/ ]

Come to think of it, most of this used to circulate on BBS boards so the
source docs date to the '80s (& punk & industrial & in the UK, Traveller
culture & Happenings, the 24-Hour Technicolour Dream.. anyway you get the
point), though with the Teknival scene of the mid-90s in NA and Europe there
was something of a revival and I'm guessing Australia with its bush/doof
parties has something similar [perhaps check http://snarl.org ? -- also --
http://www.freetekno.org/ & http://network23.clearerchannel.org/ ].

Not to flog this text anymoe than it needs to be, but the touch-point here
is Hakim Bey's Temporary Autonomous Zone, which was influential everywhere
as a sort of guidebook, inspiration & in some ways pragmatic toolbox of
concepts & occult strategies to get the party going (though in interviews
and in correspondence Bey doesn't see the TAZ-rave connection as what he
desired: it's too "technologically mediated" for him). Bey is significant
though in derouting the desire for utopia toward INSURRECTION NOW, which I
think just about encapsulates the best moments of rave culture and sustains
it from collapsing into hedonism in a pejorative sense. This would be a
fascinating point of argument, bringing the negative view of insurrection as
argued by Toni Negri (not revolution: thus only temporary -- see his 2 books
on Spinoza) into contact with Bey's positive view (not revolution means no
reinstallment of the State: thus temporary means Permanent -- PAZ). On the
pragmatic, sociological level, Negri's got the Red Brigade connection
through his viewpoint while Bey legitimately stretches to rave & acieed
house culture, free tekno, punk, DiY, industrial & occult interventions...

best,

    tobias


> Hi everyone, my PhD focus has changed from a more general overview of the pys
> trance phenomenom to a tigher anatomy of a party situation. To this end I'm
> now looking at theoretical stuff  like Latour's 'Action-Network-Theory',
> virtual communities, network society, Hetherington's development of the
> heterotopia, occcasionalism and utopia concepts,and the like.
>   
>  
>   
> But, has anyone seem study/papers on the logistics of party-making or even
> better, any theory on the 'party-process'? I like the idea of looking at this
> process (abstract or in situ) as a 'collection of technologies' building the
> scene for the arrival of the communitas-laden moment ...any leads??Of course,
> this doesn't need to be just from the land of psy trance....
>   
>  
>   
> Graham - what was that book on Burning Man you showed me one steaming
> afternoon in Portugal?
>   
>  
>   
> Regards, Charlie in London.
>   
>  
>   
>  
>  
> 
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tobias c. van Veen -----------++++
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org --
http://www.thisistheonlyart.com --
McGill Communication + Philosophy
ICQ: 18766209 | AIM: thesaibot +++