This year, Le Guess Who? and U? team up to present totally wired. Built on shared knowledge and collective energy, this program celebrates DIY culture, the communities that shape it, and the connections forged across borders through local scenes, diasporas and intersections.
Taking place on Saturday, 7 November, at dB's in Utrecht, the program will also serve as a collective launch for a zine—designed by Doğa Sultan & Zahira Attou—which dives into the worlds of the DIY collectives that curated the program, as they share articles, music, literature and films recommendations, and insights into their communities. The zine also features interviews with punk band Taqbir, and Sanne (from the legendary band Oust), as well as a guide to improve accessibility at gigs.
As a project that documents underground punk and DIY culture from SWANA and beyond, Antipode brings scenes through interviews, writing, visual material, compilation albums and shows. They see publishing as a way to share knowledge, connect people across borders, and make existing networks of solidarity more visible. Rather than speaking on behalf of these scenes, Antipode gives the people involved a space to document and share their own experiences.
Utrecht based initiative Girls to the Front focuses on the Dutch based FLINTA representation within the punk music industry, which is still largely male-dominated. Noticing that many professionals are often not taken seriously and many audience member don't feel welcome, they want to actively encourage FLINTA people to move to the front, take up space, scream, mosh and celebrate their identities together.
Amsterdam independent cultural center OCCII celebrates underground music in all its forms. For the zine, venue coordinator Sjoerd Stolk guides us through the history of the space, and its mission to keep Amsterdam weird in a rapidly changing environment.
DIY collective ZALZALA celebrates underground hardcore and punk music from SWANA, engaging with those who were told to remain silent, to hide part of their identity, to feel shame for the bodies they were born in.
totally wired takes place on Saturday, 7 November, at dB's in Utrecht and is freely accessible. The program features a collective zine launch, a workshop, an exhibition, screenings, a market of local artists and distros, and a line-up connecting different shades of punk and bringing together exciting and loud voices.
