It's a Gothenburg Thing!

As we transform our towns and cities, planners and developers are being encouraged to employ sustainable practices through re-use, recycling and repairing within building projects at all scales. However, what crucially gets ignored is how memories and stories are maintained, mediated and utilised in urban planning and development processes. How do we think about the much used concepts of re-use, recycling, repair and circularity in relation to memories and stories of people that have inhabited and socialized in spaces destined for development and renewal? Gothenburg has a long history of developing and welcoming underground music by creating spaces and grassroots venues for different audiences and musical genres. Communities have made temporary spaces, re-used buildings, occupied basement spaces and other in-between venues. From the Afroswede venue, Funkhouse first established in a solarium on Stigbergsliden to our very own HDK building on Kristinelundgatan, where in the nineties students and teachers organised semi-legal parties for partygoers inside and outside the academy. Within these spaces, organisers not only played new music but re-used, modified and designed temporary spaces, made ad-hoc furniture, screen-printed posters and flyers, and through slöjd and pyssel decorated interior spaces. It’s a Gothenburg Thing! was a day-long programme of events exploring Gothenburg's historic underground venues, club nights and sound systems. The programme began with an Aural History Walk through a number of seminal music venues and club nights since the 90’s. Beginning at HDK and accompanied by a sound system, the walk visited eight historic club and party locations. At each location DJ’s, organisers and special guests recalled memories of the spaces, played tracks and highlighted why the venues were significant to the development of Gothenburg’s music scene. Following the walk, Club Stories was an opportunity to further share music venues and club night stories at an informal gathering hosted at Göteborgs Litteraturhus. Through an open mic session, walk participants were invited to share personal experiences of attending and organising underground music events in Gothenburg. The programme closed at the grassroots venue Bubblan with a tribute to the legendary Lucky People Center, and Gothenburg as a city of punk-funk and rave pioneers. There was a live performance by Dungeon Acid aka Jean-Louis Huhta and DJ sets by Gavana & Aimnbreak, DJ Struck, Eric Magassa and Locus Sound System playing tracks from the walk and connected to Gothenburg’s rich sonic spatial history. The programme was convened by Onkar Kular, Anna Gavanas, Olav Fumarola Unsgaard and dedicated to the memory of Casper Melville and his inspirational research and book It’s a London Thing. Photo credit: Tina Umer