［report］ Report 1: What Resides in a Party?
For this first report, I’ll discuss the background and approach to the research.
If you’ll forgive the abrupt question, but do you like club events (called “parties” in Japan)? What was the last one you went to? Have you ever held one yourself?
In the first place, how do we define a club event (party)? There isn’t a general definition, but according to the mammoth work of club culture history Black Machine Music by Tsutomu Noda(*1) , a “party” is a space in which a DJ plays music using at least two turntables (or CDJs or PCDJs). There are no restrictions on musical genre.
Why am I focusing on such events? In this research project, I am exploring poetic technologies, a term coined by the late David Graeber and which I have interpreted in my own way as something akin to the power that drives the things that arise when attempting to pull off a party. A party can be held on a whim, but implement it requires the temporary mobilization of knowledge, from acquiring a venue to making the arrangements and reconfiguring the space. This is the same even for a house party. Put simply, are humans losing this power? And, I think, a society in which that is lost is dangerous. That might sound a little grandiose, but I am quite serious. This power is indispensable for the sustainable workings of an area or city. I have written in detail about this in a column for AMeeT (*2) , so please read that if you would like to know more.
In terms of why I am looking at club events, simply put, it’s because I believe that a certain aesthetic resides inside any club. Of course, that’s the same for a house party, but a club is an aggregate of discrete entities, furnished with an aesthetic that resides in a community or city. (The sociologist Michel Maffesoli describes this kind of aggregate as a neo-tribe, though I am not fond of the term.)
In my previous research, my fieldwork has taken me to parties where I have interviewed DJs and event organizers, but I have taken a more informal approach this time, giving a camera to organizers and asking them to take photos of the aesthetic of their party. I am also interested in their occupation itself. What is the character of their profession? It is one that leaves nothing tangible behind. In that sense, my research subject this time is the party organizer.
I ultimately intend to put everything together in a kind of zine, but I would like to present some of the research here. This research would not have been possible without the help of students and the information provided by partygoers at clubs and venues. Social media is also another form of aesthetic. Being fresh is perhaps one of the definitions of a club event. Of course, I am conducting research separately on the value of long-running parties, but I would like to capture a sense of Kansai in 2024 with this study. From the next edition, I will share some highlights from events and interviews.
https://gyazo.com/4400a377c7f2e6e4f7bca30251e3f0d4
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