Enter The Space: Celebrating 20 Years Of Queer Techno Utopia Kaos
Music envelops and suffocates, smoke and chatter circle around the body. I felt energy, movement, panic and calmness. Paint-splattered white headphones, a kaleidoscope of frothy objects, ordinary figures in chaos: Moon in a lampshade and floor-length limbs (on a living statue stage), Artemis running in a miniskirt bolder than ever, Alex striding and bending from And Thunder, himself through the stream, becomes the Mother of Flowers, our beloved Duck Dermore, a source of intelligence and wisdom born of perseverance and kindness. Alejandro and Alexandra create unimaginable forms. And many others, a group of strangers, my beauty walked ahead, past them. Lee played his final set. It is a laxative.
I discovered KAOS shortly after moving to London in 2014. I come from an industrial and goth background, drawn to the wealth of musical offerings to be found from the north. Grateful for my steel city and Cabaret Voltaire, DVA Jam, Arterie, deep musical dives and obsessions fueled by sparks flying from Forgemasters tall windows at night. But it is isolated. It wasn't until I moved to D.C. that I discovered a nightlife and a community where the art I loved seemed to be truly represented. I quickly realized that the chaos was an event that encompassed the totality and complexity of my cultural dreams.
Esplendur Geometrico, Group A, Drew McDowell, Orphex, polar inertia, the old way, in Eternum Valley, an underground cinema that casts shadows on the walls of the club, an evening procession of flowers and kisses, families of strangers, warmth and comfort. I wonder what place can be called home. I felt valued, my differences celebrated and encouraged. I played my first show there [Judith DJ under Proteus] in 2016 and discovered a whole new world. It's a rich and glorious event, and for many it's more than just a club: it's the perfect place for a night out where creative connections are made and lasting friendships are formed.
For Kaos, it's been a 20-year journey that continues to move and evolve. Founder Lee Adams remains at the helm, traveling from Madame Jojo to the Palace of Speakers, to glory days and nights at Stunners, an underground trance club that matches the rebellious nature of Kaos, to Elektrowerkz and now Fold. He was looking for a place that could be home to clubs that really care about their community. Buoyed by Mayuan Mack's reign as head of Electrowerkz, Kaos has provided a safe haven for the anti-establishment crowd with an increasingly gothic vibe and now the surprising kindness and warmth of Fold founder Lasha Giargaliani. Mayhem remains at the forefront of London's weird and dark underground culture. It has become a world-renowned institution that represents original compositions and truly uncompromising creative integrity.
Its line-up draws on a heritage of body music, industrial, experimental electronica and techno, but I think one of its defining aspects is the social and artistic goals that define the party. Everything is wrong, everything is allowed. Black humor and rustling of grapes among very serious industrial music is a unique streak of simple, with a challenge of wit, not showmanship, but simply the brightest, sincere artistic honesty, with all its joy and all its inevitable completeness. dark Chaos engulfs his heart and I am eternally grateful for that.
20 year old t-shirt. It's rare for a club to reach this milestone and I want to ask how has the team evolved over time?
Lee Adams: Peripheries develop in response to the spaces they occupy and the ecosystems that already exist within those spaces. It has also changed in scale and budget, allowing us to work with some of the best artists in the world: but throughout this time we have remained consistent in our aesthetic, both in terms of sound and image.
Kingdoms come and go, but Kaos remains the center of a beautiful and unique underground dance scene. Is there a yearly rhythm or changing cycle in the music scene that you see?
LA: There were times in the early years when our sound was very marginalized, the electro-frock years and the lack of techno music in the early 2000s, when it was hard to even get vinyl. I've spent days in record shops and come away empty-handed, often more rewarding to take sets from retired DJs and discover little-known gems from the late 90s, when London had a real techno scene.
By the time we moved to Electrowerkz in 2014, they had taken the hard industrial sound we were used to, and thanks to digital production and distribution, they became popular and spread all over the world. Post-Covid, there was a shift towards doom-techno, super-fast beats-per-minute and empty sound. Of course, we are responding to this phenomenon, but we are not giving up. This is another dying trend for me.
KAOS has always felt like a family, and I've seen a lot of musical and artistic connections come from conversations on the dance floor. What was it like creating a creative night incubator?
LA: I think the ripple effect is our legacy. With the growth of an amazing techno scene in London and beyond, many of the creative connections and collaborations that have been forged over the past 20 years are like a seed that has taken root and is now beginning to bear fruit.
Can you tell us about some of the collaborations you've had the pleasure of seeing that have resulted from this sense of connection?
LA: When I was a kid, I invited Katsura Kan, a Japanese butoh dancer, to perform in my first chaos show, Madame Jojo, and we became friends after that. I studied with him and we performed together in the basement under London Bridge station (which is now the foundation of the Shard). Atoni was subsequently introduced to Ernesto Tomasini, leading to a long international collaboration with numerous performances and numerous publications. I've collaborated with Chad Curry (Dahc Dermur VIII) for the past 10 years on events, photoshoots and nightclubs and we've been at Exist Festival, Howl and Body Movements together. Courtroom, a series of events and festivals founded by Sandeep Ayala, was inspired and born from his experience in Chaos and the doors of realization that opened for him. Barcassino and Jerome met after years of rejection in Kaos and then started a project that is now returning to Kaos to celebrate our 20th anniversary on Friday November 3rd. Kaos recently saw the birth of Sob Story, a collaboration between Wilhelm and Oliver which is now out on our label Khemia, appears on FOLD, To Hell and Back and of course my SUTURE collaboration with Pedro Mercian. . When he first came to Kaos he was studying at the Royal College of Music and has now fully focused on electronic music, DJing, organizing his own shows, composing for TV and producing techno music solo and with me.
He organized a number of international events dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the CPC. Can you tell us some details?
LA: Some details are still under wraps, but we will start with KAOS Dermur VIII, Parma Ham and I, we were in Tbilisi on November 24th and will continue our 21st anniversary celebration next year with a presentation in Berlin on May Day.
What are your creative ideas and goals for the future? What drives you forward?
Los Angeles: Keeping pockets of resistance open in the face of a new, complex world. We bring people together, create stories, weave spells and open portals.
It's all in the name, it sounds so succinct, but what does chaos mean to you?
LA: When I work as an artist and curator, I am always interested in creating magical spaces: transformative experiences, authenticity, centrifugal force, imbalance, vertigo, play, dreams, catharsis, rituals. Now I have found a way to channel that energy into chaos.
Find a list of Kaos events and tickets on their RA page.
