As part of Saatchi Gallery’s latest series for Sweet Harmony: Rave Today, Centreforce Radio, London’s newest DAB dance and house music station will broadcast live from the exhibition on Friday, 6th September from 12pm to 6pm.
Centreforce DJs, Pasha, Master Pasha, Huck Finn, Roger the Doctor and PhilGood & Ram will bring house music, acid house and old skool to the Rave Room (Gallery 10) that hosted after hours Lates events alongside the exhibition, showcasing musicians and producers Skream, Fabio & Grooverider and collectives like Warm Up and Love Drums.
The exhibition celebrates the birth of dance music by capturing the acid house revolution and shows the club scene from the 80s and 90s. The exhibition, curated by Philly Adams and Kobi Prempeh, revisits the history and portrays the impact of rave culture through photos, installations, video footage and other multi-platform artworks by those who documented the scene as it happened, including a huge cast of photographers, artists, DJs and journalists.
Philly, Director at Saatchi Gallery remarks: “I am delighted to have Centreforce Radio join the Rave Room of Sweet Harmony – especially since the radio station has played a role in the rave culture of the 80s and 90s.The Rave Room has hosted Lates events, bringing together people from all walks of life, and is continuing this outside the space of the gallery inviting listeners to celebrate and rave with us.”
Originally a pioneer in the acid house scene, Centreforce Radio was born in 1989 as a pirate radio and was the biggest and most influential underground radio station during the Acid House and Summer of Love era. It was the birthplace of the most influential DJs and record labels in dance music today. Centreforce holds many high-profile events throughout the year with the biggest names in the business headlining.
Based in Waltham Abbey, Centreforce Radio has hosted a number of musical icons from Louie Vega, Paul Oakenfold, Victor Simonelli, Marshall Jefferson, Graeme Park, Lenny Fontana, K Klass and others since it went live DAB on 14 July 2018.
Andy Swallow, Founder of Centreforce Radio, said: “It will be a privilege to play at Sweet Harmony: Rave Today. We were a pirate radio station back in the day and pioneers of the rave scene and we’ve come full circle. Playing at the exhibition will bring back lots of great memories and we are proud to be involved.”
Danny Swallow, Creative Director at Centreforce Radio, said: “Many of our listeners and social media followers are original listeners from 1989 so were there at the very beginning, so to broadcast live from the gallery will be like going back in time to a very special era. We cannot wait to play tracks from that time that will take everyone on a trip down memory lane.”
Philly, Director at Saatchi Gallery remarks: “I am delighted to have Centreforce Radio join the Rave Room of Sweet Harmony – especially since the radio station has played a role in the rave culture of the 80s and 90s.The Rave Room has hosted Lates events, bringing together people from all walks of life, and is continuing this outside the space of the gallery to invite the listeners to celebrate and rave with us.”
Saatchi Gallery was founded in 1985 with the aim of bringing contemporary art to as wide an audience as possible by providing an innovative platform for emerging artists to show their work. The Gallery has welcomed over 1 million visitors a year and has hosted 15 out of the top 20 most visited exhibitions in London, according to The Art Newspaper’s survey of international museum attendance, and also has more followers on social media than any other museum in the world. Since becoming Saatchi Gallery Director, Philly Adams has become an integral part of the transformation of Britain’s best known and most popular private museum of cutting-edge contemporary art. Saatchi Gallery is now a registered charity, but managed by an independent board of trustees.
