/ˌriː.kəˈnekt/
Festival
Four floors – an old coal mine
one Camp – ∞ stories
/ˌriː.kəˈnekt / Festival is an upcoming three days festival for electronic music, digital arts and performance. The festival does not aim for profits in any way. All revenues directly run into our program and the contribution of infrastructure.
Our concept aims at high-level interaction with our guests, arousing their Spieltrieb and thereby achieving a positive feedback-loop amongst festival visitors, installations and other art objects, performers and DJs.
OUR GAMECONCEPT
/ˌriː.kəˈnekt / is all about variety and synergy effects.
Young and old, people trained in craft skills, academics, nerds and raver, music enthusiasts and visually oriented, hedonists and philosophers. In our opinion those confinements are fluid, the isolation in segments and subcultures is an artificial one. Let’s encounter one another.
Let’s play & fabricate new stories together. Be[come] part of /ˌriː.kəˈnekt /.
We try to be sensitive for structural discrimination and follow an approach against disadvantages and discriminating behaviour against individuals or groups. Therefore, we plan to install an own awareness team and deal with topics such as dynamics of power dynamics, violence, intersectionality and transformative justice intensively.
As we are all part of society, we can’t really be outside. We reproduce mechanisms and partly construct conditions. Hence, there is no safe space and even less so a safe space for all kinds of different positions when people come together. Braver/safer spaces: we can try to create and establish temporarily safer spaces for different positions, in which we all learn how to act more brave. So to speak, a room where we can all unlearn social patterns that might be toxic and empower one another in our diversity.
We are currently working on our awareness concept and a code of conduct for our festival. Both will be available on our webpage and social media channels.
The awareness team is approachable and available for all guests, staff and artists during the
entire festival. In particular, their task is to support people who have had transgressive or
discriminatory experiences and/or feel insecure, to support them in a spirit of solidarity
(regardless of who is responsible for these assaultive or violent acts). The aim is to stand by
those affected and support them in finding a way to deal with the situation, to restore selfconfidence
and the ability to act and, if possible, to feel safe and comfortable with us (again).
Also, to accompany and support people who feel uncomfortable or who are not well for other
reasons (e.g. excessive consumption of alcohol/drugs). Likewise to get a good feeling/overview
of the atmosphere at the festival, to be in good contact with guests/staff/artists and to inform
about the awareness offer (e.g. at the awareness stand) as well as to bundle and document
complaints or feedback.
Ideally we’d like to encounter one another as different and complex human beings with similar
interests, dreams and fears. Not as deputies of hostile ideologies, nations, subcultural groups or
other markers of distinction. As people who try to understand and enrich one another by
exchanging different experiences.
Yes, we are a festival for digital arts and would not dare to forbid phones in general, sometimes you might even need it! If you’d like to take a selfie with your besties to sustain your memory for the upcoming years or take a picture of something that excites you, that’s fine.
Nevertheless, we want to encourage you to keep your phone in your pocket as often as possible and to tell others not to take pictures/films into the crowd or towards the dance floor. In an age where smartphones are everywhere and an integral part of everyday life, the use of cameras in clubs has become a much debated issue. With almost every* one of us carrying around a high-resolution camera in our pocket, questions quickly arise regarding privacy and disturbance of the same.
On top of that is the notion that a dance floor is ought to be a safer space for liberated selfexpression. For this reason, many queer clubs around the world operate a no camera policy. and it’s commonplace in many Berlin clubs as well.
Filming without consent is intrusive behaviour and not tolerated! This is an issue largely faced by women* and people from the LBGTQIA+ community and perhaps some men: people disrespecting the privacy of others to film creepy or voyeuristic clips for their own entertainment, or to share in sleazy online groups. We would like to tackle this issue with a community based No photo/No video concept. Please help us to create the safest and craziest dance-floor experience possible.
The most enjoyable rave experiences occur when you let loose and get totally immersed in the party. Rather than instinctively trying to record every moment with your phone, it might be far better to actually experience that moment in real-time. Watching it back on the ‘gram just isn’t the same as a pure visceral memory anyway.
Some of the key components of raving are escape, freedom, self-expression and safety. Bringing cameras into that space and using them excessively can lead to people feeling restrained, the total opposite of what this culture is about. [Shout out to @happy.tuesdays for their great text about cameras on dancefloor which we used freely as a blueprint for this concept]
Should you notice assaulting or discriminatory behaviour, please get someone from the awareness team involved or let a crew-member call them in order to get support in line with requirements.
It’s going to be a great expedition and we’d like to wave farewell with sparkling eyes and shimmering memories & experiences. That requires a mindful & respectful way of dealing with our (social) environment and surroundings. If we all feel responsible, aware and a pinch of gratefulness, our extravagant weekend-utopia is possible.
We don’t want to restrict the consumption of alcohol at a festival. We’re even convinced that inebriating experiences are written deeply in human evolution and can lead to relevant insights. Nevertheless, companionship, music, dance and arts should be in our focus. If you should need any kind of help/support, please turn to the paramedics or awareness team at any given moment.
Our location might be an old coal mine, but it is NOT a “lost place” in the sense of “you can take stuff from there as a keepsake” or “leave your mark”. To do so would mean very dire financial consequences for us and the festival AND the end of our little expedition at this location. So pretty please, watch out for one another and all the buildings. So we can host our festival at this fantastic place in the coming years, too. Therefore, we’ll try to set up an open space for inclined street-artists.
We would love for our security to be nearly invisible. This only works if we as a community are respectful of the location and all the people on site. This means: no vandalism & no fights.
We are convinced that you are able to remove your own waste without leaving the location like a landfill. Sure, sometimes one is inattentive, but if we try to be aware with our surroundings and each other we should be able to leave this place as clean as we found it. By the way, cigarettes go in the ashtray, not on the ground!
In extreme cases of misconduct, we reserve the right to remove you from the festival premises by our security team.
Honestly, it would be hypocritical to call our festival a sustainable event. PA’s, beamer, refrigerators, … a festival for electronic music and digital arts demands lots of electricity. We can only try our best in reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible.
Use of re- and up-cycling material for decoration, stage building and art objects in order to reduce the application of new supplies and disposable products.
To prevent further waste, we don’t use disposable tableware and want to call on you to bring your own beverage containers, reusable straws and mess kits. Naturally alternatives will be given in pledge, but it would be a lot easier if you just came selfequipped
Throughout the next editions of our expedition we’ll try to experiment with different types of electricity generation and are constantly looking for consultation, partnerships and cooperation in this field. Sustainably produced electricity is really pricey in the dimension needed (in outdoor areas we can not always use line current, but unfortunately depend on the use of generators). For long-term purposes, we’re working on a cooperation with a company producing powergenerating floor tiles (generating electricity while dancing, anyone?).
We’d like for all guests and artist to leave our festival with new productions, small gadgets, many fresh ideas & contacts. An opportunity for exchange or interchange between artists and guests shall be stimulated.
Installations and on-site production projects will be documented and (digitally) stored for further editions and other projects, to which the /ˌri:.kə’nekt / network always gains access. Throughout several years and iterations of the festival a network of local and international artists at the interface of electronic music, digital arts/performance, room design/scenography & analogue performance shall emerge.
If you have any comments or recommendations regarding possible cooperation partners or resources as well as ideas on how to be(come) more sustainable, feel free to contact us via info@rknkt.net
TEAM
The RKNKT Team is made up of creative artists, associations/societies and crews from the Ruhr-area and its surroundings, who are involved with lots of volunteering, blood, sweat and tears and a great thrill of anticipation in the project.
Nocturne Ruhr e.V.
The Association
The society Nocturne Ruhr is a non-commercial and publicly beneficial project promoting arts & culture as well as tolerance and anti-discrimination at various levels, based in Bochum. Through interconnecting local talents among each other and with artists worldwide, the /creators of a night scene/ want to influence the cultural landscape of the Ruhr-area long term. All members of Nocturne Ruhr are devoted to a self conception of mutual awareness, tolerance & respect for one another
Through interconnecting local talents among each other and with artists worldwide, the /creators of a night scene/ want to influence the cultural landscape of the Ruhr-area long term. All members of Nocturne Ruhr are devoted to a self conception of mutual awareness, tolerance & respect for one another.
FAQ
Visitors less than 18 years old may only visit the event accompanied by an adult in charge.
In both cases we can’t recommend our adult playground, where sound constantly will be
blasting. We even advise you not to. If you are convinced that your pet or child under your
supervision feels comfortable being at our event, you may bring them while taking full on
responsibility. Be aware though that our event has no special care offers or a camp for families
and pet owners
Yes, different day tickets are available in our ticketshop.
We will try to set up a system of solidarity within our first year. The more people get a (bit more costly) benefactor-ticket, the more reduced soli-tickets we can offer. [for details, go to the ticket shop]
Of course there will be water taps to pour some water at several spots on site. Please bring your own bottle or even a canister for the camp.
