Art grows together

I grew up listening to music, then later a genre I was interested in was eletronic music (rip Avicii). A few years ago I started listening to DJ sets in their entirety, rather than by the individual song or album, finding that the rhythm, pace and duration of electronic music sets were helpful for creating flow state and focus. Last year I went to my first eletronic music festival, and I’ve been to another couple since.

Implicit bias and the sequencing of these events in my life as they were, I believed that the art form of the music and that of the festival were distinct from one another. That festival organizers were aggregators and curators of artists; that festival organizers paid money to DJs to attract attendees to the festival; and that DJs would want to play at festivals motivated by money, by brand cache, and by cultural relevance.

I think my framework was wrong.

As I danced under the electric sky of Vegas, my mind lost in its thoughts, it occured to me that the music and the festival were inexorably tied to one another. That each DJ has their own sound developing over their musical career, pursuing their own path and also existing within a community of other DJs who are also pursuing their own sound. And that DJs present together at music festivals.

That the art of the DJ and that of the festival organizer grows together.

The DJ and the event make their art in collaboration with one another. The stage and the lights and the visual effects evolve year after year, and that as the context and capabilities of the festival change so does the set that the DJ presents on that stage.

That DJs and events are separate from one another but they are intervwined and they grow twisting and twining around one another.

As a contemporary example, drone shows are currently trendy and they are rapidly becoming more capable and elaborate. This was my first time seeing drones using fire as part of the visual. The element of a drone show provides another opportunity to captivate an audience and the DJ alters their set to take advantage of the visual and rhythmic effect of a drone moment coming on and then fading away. That the set then informs the music singles that the DJ incubates and releases and then features in a set. And so the cycle continues.

And the other way around. As new drops and sounds become more popular the lighting and stage designers modify their styles and also devise new visual elements to weave into their material.

In fact the festival’s crowd is itself also collaborating on the art in real time! In one set the DJ decides to screech the music to a stop and rapidly switch tack into a discordant beat. The haptic reaction from the crowd acts as feedback for the DJ’s creative process.

It’s wonderful that my assumptions and frameworks continue to be challenged in unexpected and delightful ways and I can forever learn and grow and see the world anew.