June Culture Report
GLASTO GLIMMERS
Out of 58,000 people who took part in full-scale events, including the Brits, an FA cup semi-final and a Liverpool warehouse party, only 15 tested positive for covid. So even with uncertainty over that precious June 21st date, as the sunshine hits, we’re still channelling all our hope into an outdoor summer of love. After their Live At Worthy Farm stream, Glastonbury has secured a license for a one-off concert this September with up to 50,000 attendees. Emily Eavis told NME the event will be called Equinox, and though no date has been confirmed just yet, planning is well underway. But it seems likely to be a one-dayer as one of the council’s conditions is… no camping! The rest of the UK festival scene seems divided between events facing up to the difficulty of securing insurance – Boomtown just cancelled – and others with plans for fully covid-tested events. Spain’s Primavera bypassed the whole thing by announcing its 2022 line-up. Meanwhile, online used car marketplace Cinch has emerged as an unlikely hero, signing a deal with Live Nation to headline sponsor five British festivals including; The Isle of Wight, Creamfields, Latitude, TRNSMT and Edinburgh Summer Sessions. ALICE CROSSLEY
CULTURE CAMPAIGNS
Showing us there’s nothing as timeless as human urges
PORNHUB – REMASTURED
Supporting the trades and crew who make live music possible
JAGERMIESTER – #WEMAKEEVENTS
Celebrating the return of IRL football fans
TIK-TOK – #WHEREFANSPLAY
KODO TOGETHER
As the first teams make their cautious way to Japan for the delayed 2020 Games, our KODO TOGETHER project continues to gain pace, bringing all manner of musicians and producers together with Kodo’s epic taiko drums. Finished tracks from Vox, Tokio Myers, Andrea Belfi, Kevin Saunderson and many more are coming in as we speak. You can hear sneak previews of Skream’s monster “Shinogi” and Elkka’s “Pawa”.
SPACE MAN
“I think we will come out of this with a completely new sense of what we want and need from social spaces and public spaces – and performance and exhibition spaces.” In between running his creative consultancy, Bureau BCM, and working on the development of the Design District in Greenwich Peninsula, Nick Compton is Contributing Editor at Wallpaper* magazine. We asked him for his thoughts on how covid has changed our relationship with the spaces we live, work and play in. “I think all that has been fundamentally altered. That idea of when we need to share space and be in private space has really shifted, and that’s true of social life, cultural life and professional life. And the edges of all those things have blurred.” READ THE FULL INTERVIEW
JOY ANONYMOUS
“We want to be the sound of the opening of the world.” With a sunny disposition, an everyone’s welcome attitude and a name to match, Joy Anonymous embodies post-lockdown optimism. “Everyone who has seen Joy Anonymous is part of Joy Anonymous”, say co-founders Hen and Lou, explaining that the concept was born after helping friends through Alcoholics Anonymous. “We thought joy is the thing that people sometimes struggle to find in their life and if you show it to them, maybe they can find it.” The collective turns established London busking sites into spontaneous open-mic mini raves, filled with rising rappers and vocalists, most notably on the Bankside spot in front of Tate Modern. We’re hoping they’ve set a template for others to follow nationwide. CARIS DOLLARD
READY PLAYER TWO
Together with Sony’s AI development lab, PlayStation aims to throw a grenade into gaming with the concept of “Game AI Agents.” Taking in-game enemies to the next level, the plan is to create artificial bot gamers you can play against – or team up with – that are indistinguishable from your mate down the street (although no doubt with less Twitch banter). Sony will use “reinforcement learning” to pull this off and hasn’t yet given a release date. KAESHELLE RIANNE
