Revisiting Zurichs 90s Techno Scene In Pictures
Zurich quickly embraced techno, and when the music reached its peak in the 1990s, the city became the genre's main home in Europe. Techno parties began as one-off events in basements and warehouses, and then grew into an established club scene with a regular program of events.
The Swiss city's techno scene took shape in 1992 during a street parade described as "a demonstration of freedom, love, generosity and tolerance." They started with fewer than 1,000 visitors and gradually grew to attract 1 million visitors each year, more than three times the city's population.
Photographer Jules Spinach photographed individuals and small groups during parades in the mid-1990s, often at the edge of fast-moving crowds.
Spinach says, “In the image, people had to assert their individuality by blending into the crowd. Because many black people are gray as a crowd, even from afar. It stops time in isolation, eliminates some of the traffic flow and creates air and distance from traffic.”
The current installation, a multi-channel presentation of the photographer's work, is intended to resemble a parade of images and personalities.
“These images come from a period when a lot changed, not just in Zurich. The Cold War is over, boring Zurich has become a fun city: more colorful, noisy, international and densely populated. The street parade became an expression of this. and it had a political dimension.
“[The parades] called for peace and tolerance and, unlike today, promoted them in a fun, hedonistic, relaxed and non-ideological way. But how much protest and how much celebration; How much activity or running?
“I had a strong feeling that I was part of something new. But at the same time, I was no longer interested in photographing demonstrations, nor in the crowd as a backdrop for dancing, nor in the power of a political movement in the image. It was the people on the sidelines of the event who embodied these ideas with their presence and style.
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“I often photograph the moment when a person sees the camera but their facial expression has not yet reacted, to get an unexpected look that is sure to surprise me and the people I photograph.
“Now, almost 30 years later, it seems that people are looking at us, visitors to the exhibition, at what we know and what we don’t know, from images of the past to the future with questioning eyes. we look at the faces right now as if we could connect to answer their questions. Thus we remain attached to our past. Reconnect with your ex.
“The first year I took photos, everyone seemed to be dancing on or next to their favorite cars. From 1996 to 1997, when the number of visitors increased from 150,000 to 475,000, I noticed significant changes. The street parade became a spectacle in which spectators watched love cars drive by, dividing participants into spectators and activists.
“This shift from politics to entertainment could be a prerequisite for the inclusion of Street Parade and the techno culture of Zurich in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. And in 2017, the Federal Office of Culture included them in the list of living traditions of Switzerland.
“One might ask: to which Swiss tradition does all this belong: the tradition of the neutral spectator or the tradition of the participating activist?
