In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats
"In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats" is a one-hour interactive VR experience that drops you into the acid house rave scene of 1989. You're chasing down an illegal all-night warehouse party, caught between promoters, pirate radio, the police and the crowd, as the music and the moment build around you. Directed by Darren Emerson, produced by East City Films.
It has won awards at IDFA, the VR Awards and Adelaide Fringe, and toured to festivals and venues across the world.
Beats is coming back
We’re planning its next chapter – a new venue, a new crowd, the same night in 1989. There are no dates yet, but sign up below and you’ll be first to know the moment we announce.
“It’s hard to comprehend you haven’t traveled in time.”
The Guardian
You don’t watch Beats, you’re in it. Room-scale VR puts you on your feet and inside the night: the car, the motorway service station, the rave. It moves through the people who made the era, promoters, police, pirate radio stations and rave-goers, and the relationships that drove a cultural shift.
The soundtrack carries it. Orbital’s “Chime” and Joey Beltram’s “Energy Flash” play through a meticulously built world, with haptics you feel as much as hear. One hour, fully interactive, designed to land somewhere between a memory and the real thing.
Good to know: runs about an hour, with flashing lights and loud music throughout. Standing and seated versions available.
© LEV Festival 2024
© LEV Festival 2024
© Sasha Ljubojevic at Tempo Documentary Festival 2024
© Sasha Ljubojevic at Tempo Documentary Festival 2024
© Adil Boukind at Phi Centre
"One person left moved to tears. Others came out buzzing ready to pick up the phone and get some old mates back together."
- NME
Accessibility
Accessibility was built in from the start, not bolted on. The experience offers a seated version for wheelchair users, subtitles, haptics, access packs, VR explainers, scene descriptions and touch tours for d/Deaf audiences. Working with Woojer, haptic vests bring the sound and the rhythm into the body, opening the piece up to deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors.
Background
Beats was originally funded by the BFI and Coventry City of Culture Trust, and premiered at Coventry UK City of Culture to sold-out audiences. Since then it has toured internationally, including the BFI London Film Festival, SXSW, IDFA in Amsterdam and the Phi Centre in Montreal. Its UK tour was supported by Arts Council England and the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund.
Join us on this unforgettable journey into the heart of rave culture.
Awards
DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction, IDFA, 2022
Location-Based VR Entertainment of the Year, VR Awards, 2023
Anidox: VR Award, Viborg Animation Festival, 2023
Best Film & Digital: Interactive, Adelaide Fringe, 2024
Where Beats has played
Since 2021, Beats has toured to more than 25 venues across four continents. A selection:
Coventry UK City of Culture
BFI London Film Festival
The Barbican, London
Brighton Dome
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
FACT, Liverpool
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Belfast XR Festival
IDFA, Amsterdam
SXSW, Austin
Melbourne International Film Festival
Kaohsiung Film Festival, Taiwan
Phi Centre, Montreal
Tempo Documentary Festival, Stockholm
New Images Festival, Paris
L.E.V. Festival, Gijón
Geneva International Film Festival
Adelaide Fringe, Australia
© Lais Festival 2022
Press
Behind The Scenes
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