Gabber Eleganza – Hardcore Soul

Artifact & SPRINT presenta il libro fotografico Hardcore Soul

Comunicato stampa

Artifact & SPRINT
present

HARDCORE SOUL

Book Launch and Exhibition
by Gabber Eleganza and Ewen Spencer

Opening talk with Ewen Spencer, Aaron Coultate and
Alberto Guerrini hosted by Resident Advisor (RA) Live Exchange, introduction by Dafne Boggeri

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The HARDCORE SOUL book is the confluence of UK photographer Ewen Spencer, the dynamic project conceived by the artist/dj Alberto Guerrini (aka Gabber Eleganza) and the contribution of the Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Leckey. The book is assembled and composed of two volumes, including a special edition of cardboards and Gabber Eleganza’s Hardcore Soul Mixtape, to create a seamless flow with what was the Happy Hardcore Rave scene and the British Northern Soul weekenders. A tool to read existing aesthetics and socio-cultural realities, subtracted by their rhetorics and nostalgia and elevated through their fusion instead. This publication makes you want to turn up the volume and dance, no matter how old you are or where you are from.

Artifact, the new permanent display for ideas, located onto the sidewalk of Spazio Maiocchi, a cross-disciplinary aggregator co-founded by Carhartt WIP and Slam Jam, will be activated through a selection of Spencer’s photographs, Gabber Eleganza’s videos/ephemeral and a mixtape’s sonic limbo for a “never-ending euphoria”, in order to dialogue with Artifact's modular steel grids designed by Berlin-based architecture firm Gonzalez—Haase, and the peculiar space zinc coated.

The opening RA Live Exchange will amplify stories and legacy in a conversation between Ewen Spencer and Alberto Guerrini, moderated by RA Editor-In-Chief Aaron Coultate and introduced by Dafne Boggeri. The RA Exchange is a long-running series of conversations with artists, labels and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape.

Established in 2001, Resident Advisor (RA) is the world's leading discovery platform for electronic music and events. RA combines high-quality writing and film features with listings, directories and industry tools, creating an ecosystem of content and services for over four million readers a month. With an audience spanning music fans, club goers, DJs, producers, venue owners, promoters and record labels, RA plays an indispensable role in supporting electronic music around the world.

A special A5 flyer edition, curated by SPRINT and printed in Risograph technique, will be realized in 400 exemplaries as a trace of this series of convergence. One side of the flyer will contain a work by Gabber Eleganza, the other Artifact’s modular visual identity designed by art direction studio Bureau Mirko Borsche.

The event is signed, as a warm-up series, by SPRINT—Independent Publishers and Artists' Books Salon, an artist-led platform devoted - in a sustainable environment - to investigate the multiple forms in which content, support and languages are articulated in publishing. The three-days salon, since 2013, features a non-profit book fair and extensive side program. SPRINT 7th edition, will take place in Milan on 22-23-24 November 2019, in partnership with Spazio Maiocchi.

Photographer Ewen Spencer is a leading chronicler of British youth culture. After gaining notoriety in the late 1990s for his groundbreaking editorial work at The Face and Sleazenation magazines, he has spoken to an audience interested in subcultures, multiculturalism, music and fashion for the past 20 years.

Gabber Eleganza by Alberto Guerrini, since 2011, initially started as a blog which quickly flourished into a multifold research forms. One of the key-figures into the hardcore revival renewed interest, the aim of the project it to building up a bridge between the sonic landscape and aesthetic side of Hardcore and post-rave cultures, and the contemporary culture of music and art.