Talk Detroit Techno

BOOK HERE FOR THE LUNCHTIME TALK

From Fordism to Motown, from Kraftwerk to Afro-futurism and mythical Atlantics, Detroit Techno is both a musical genre that behind its simplified format of 4/4 beats and patchwork of digital samples, conceals a complex sense of history, time, and space. Emerging from an American city fragmented and abandoned by the ruinous trends of a protracted, post-industrial withdrawal, comes a new electronic genre that is at once speculative, non-anthropomorphic, hopeful, even.

Amid these contradictions and fulfilments of Detroit techno, Iniva has chosen February to honour this ground-breaking sound first coming out of the 80’s, investigating its initial influences in a German band of electronic music outliers and post-Motown musical factory production lines, to how the sound found eventual form in the bedrooms of black music pioneers, before eventually finding its way to the dancefloors of the enthusiastic Berlin ravers who were just beginning to make sense of a Europe no longer under the shadow of the Soviet Union.

Join Library Manager Jack Mulvaney to explore the sounds, literature and audio-visual material around the genre of Detroit techno and its great beyond, looking at the pioneers of the genre such as Robert Hood, Cybotron, and Jeff Mills. This will be followed a week later by a reading group featuring extracts from Kodwo Eshun and Der Klang Der Familie.

ACCESSIBILITY

It is free to attend this event and everyone is welcome. If you have accessibility requirements or questions please email library@iniva.org

BIOGRAPHY

Jack Mulvaney manages the Stuart Hall Library and oversees the development of the collection. He facilitates library group visits, tours and manages library volunteering programmes.