British Textile Biennial

Uncultured Creatives Producer and Curator Alex Zawadzki asked several people to choose a favourite interview from the recently launched Flashback site –https://www.acidhouseflashback.co.uk/ – a new archive that has captured the oral histories of the individuals who attended the Acid House parties in Blackburn between 1988 and 1991. Here is what graphic designer Chris Mason from Made by Mason had to say:

Working as the designer on the Flashback project, I spent a lot of time with the transcripts, listening to the stories and using snippets of them to soundboard ideas and animation styles. As somebody who grew up living in the digital age, it is hard to imagine how a sound from Chicago found its way across the Atlantic Ocean and led a cultural revolution in a small industrial town in the north of England, without the World Wide Web. The concept of an idea, a trend or a culture going viral is taken for granted in the modern era and indeed is often the sole purpose of any new concept. The Flashback interviews remind us of a time before the dawn of the internet; they are littered with stories and anecdotes of the industry required just to spread word – let alone the graft it took to organise a party. The interviews are like a Facebook wall that never existed for the illegal raves of Blackburn and convey just how awesome and influential they were to everybody involved.

Simon’s interviews, in particular, show how the world used to work; a new friendship from a family holiday in Greece stayed in touch when they returned from their jollies, and then that friend invited him to a rave – the rest is history. That is the clip I listened to the most. Just shows how controlled our world is now.

Listen to Simon’s interview here: https://www.acidhouseflashback.co.uk/testimonies/simon-getting-involved

Project delivered by Uncultured Creatives Alex Zawadzki and Jamie Holman and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Blackburn Museum.  

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