In 1979, UK jazz-funk outfit Atmosfear released their seminal club track, 'Dancing in Outer Space'. Set against seismic shifts within British politics, and amidst the dust of punk and Soundsystem culture settling onto the dawn of jungle and rave, the release of Dancing in Outer Space captured a pivotal moment in UK’s sonic underground. Expansive, thundering, and riding on a groove with enough force to carry you far out from your moment on the dancefloor of an inner-city community hall, the record solidified a turn to worldbuilding and collectivism that sought to transcend – if just momentarily – the continual...
In 1979, UK jazz-funk outfit Atmosfear released their seminal club track, 'Dancing in Outer Space'. Set against seismic shifts within British politics, and amidst the dust of punk and Soundsystem culture settling onto the dawn of jungle and rave, the release of Dancing in Outer Space captured a pivotal moment in UK’s sonic underground. Expansive, thundering, and riding on a groove with enough force to carry you far out from your moment on the dancefloor of an inner-city community hall, the record solidified a turn to worldbuilding and collectivism that sought to transcend – if just momentarily – the continual oppressive turbulence surrounding race, class and politics in the UK.
Taking its name from Atmosfear’s lauded record, this exhibition seeks to examine how a distinct mode of cultural production, and its transgressive performativity, has acted as a subversive political force through acts of sonic worldbuilding on the dancefloor. This is not to be defined simply as escapism; rather, an advanced mode of critical intervention that undermines the institutional desire to divide, segregate and compartmentalise society. Taking the dancefloor as its launchpad, these sonic spheres of heterotopian joy form a collective resistance that is inherently political – not least if you take Jacques Rancière’s characterisation of political as 'disruption of the dominant social order'.
The exhibiting artists in 'Dancing in Outer Space' are united in their ability to intercept and magnify the ritual of this split-second moment - of community, of collective joy; one that rests on a pulsating wave from a subwoofer, continually redefining the unrivalled influence of these parallel sonic worlds that thrive beneath and beyond the surface.
