Through the unmarked door, Slowdeath awaits

You veer off a busy street and walk through an empty parking lot littered with debris. The noise of traffic disappears as you step deeper into a dark alleyway. You knock on a nondescript metal door and a doorman emerges to check for your name on a list. Behind him, music thumps from within. He lets you enter, and turning the corner, you’re immediately hit with aggressive barrages of electronic dance music. In the dead center of one room, a ceiling is partially caved in and the cascade of rainwater falling through almost looks like an art installation. Projections flutter on walls in glitchy black, white, and red, while lasers plaster intricate patterns on the walls full of gaping holes; and Egyptian-themed artwork leftover from the space’s former life as a commercial nightclub can still be found throughout. This is No Man’s Land, a rave organized by Jakarta’s Slowdeath Mobile crew.

从喧闹的街道转身步入满是杂物的荒废停车场，穿过一条昏暗的小巷，汽车噪音在耳边渐渐消失。一扇不起眼的金属门立在面前，听到敲门声的守卫打开大门，在他身后，传来了砰砰作响的低音。进门前需要在名单上确认你的名字，转眼间，你会被气势汹涌的电子舞曲所包围。在房间的正中位置，部分天花板稍稍塌陷，滴落的雨水让整个空间看上去像是一个大型的装置艺术。投影仪的光束拍打在坑洼不平的墙面上，用黑、白、红投放着近乎故障的复杂视觉效果。四处看看，你还会看到埃及主题艺术品，它们是曾经商业俱乐部遗留下来摆设。这里是 “No Man’s Land”，是由雅加达 Slowdeath Mobile 团队组织的一场电子音乐派对。

Ofri at No Man's Land

“When we were finished setting up in the space, it reminded me of a zombie; technically still dead, but risen to serve a greater purpose,” laughs the founder of Slowdeath Mobile, a mysterious individual who prefers to go by Monkey Man. There were about 100 people of all types in attendance, ranging from punks dressed in leather, to prep kids in smart-casual wear, to more daring, fashion-conscious types. Any type of electronic music is welcome, but they tend to stick to sounds shunned by mainstream clubs such as experimental, breakcore, gabber, and techno. For the past year and a half, Slowdeath has hosted half a dozen of these illicit raves, popping up in spaces like shuttered clubs and empty restaurants. The team, which consists of six people, finely curates music, art, visuals, and the crowd for a holistic experience. They also frequently partner with Convert Textured and Blanco Benz Atelier, two art collectives who handle event visuals and art exhibitions.

“布置完整个空间后，这个地方让我想人死而复生的传说；其实原本已经荒废，现在却又重新站了起来，有了新的用途。” Slowdeath Mobile 创始人笑着说道，一个自称为 Monkey Man 的神秘人。来参加派对有上百人，他们形形色色，有身穿皮革套装的朋克仔、有一身醒目休闲服的年轻人、也有造型大胆的新新人类。这里欢迎任何类型的电子音乐，但更倾向于不同于主流俱乐部的地下音乐，比如实验（Experimental）、碎拍核（Breakcore）、超速舞曲（Gabber）和铁克诺（Techno）音乐。在过去的一年半中，Slowdeath 曾举办过六场这样的地下电子音乐派对，每次活动会在一些废弃俱乐部或餐馆里举办。该团队由六人组成，他们为舞客们精心策划音乐、艺术以及视觉效果，可谓一套全方位的派对体验。

Xin Lie at No Man's Land

The illegal rave scene can be traced back to the 1980s and have been central to the development of several electronic music scenes. Detroit techno was born in the abandoned warehouses left behind by fleeing industry; German techno blossomed in the empty East Berlin homes newly accessible by the collapse of the Berlin Wall; and in England, acid-house parties marked the Second Summer of Love, which then developed into raves that sprawled across the rural hinterlands—many even practiced Anarchist ideas of social organization like the temporary autonomous zone.

Slowdeath is directly inspired by this rich history and applies it to the unique circumstances of their country. “In a place like Indonesia, you’ve got religious fundamentalism at one extreme and the fatigue of paralyzing work hours in the name of vast consumerism at another,” says the founder. “Established venues are capitalist ventures whose sole purpose is to make as much profit as possible, commodifying artists and exploiting newness in pursuit of a fat income stream. They’re relentlessly targeting youth with various new products in the rampant pursuit of profit.”

地下电子音乐派对最早可以追溯到 1980 年代的芝加哥浩室（Chicago House）和底特律铁科诺（Detroit Techno）音乐，那段时期对电子音乐的发展至今都仍有非常重要影响。而底特律铁科诺（Detroit Techno）本身就诞生于当地工业撤走后留下的废弃仓库中。当酸性浩室（Acid House）漂洋过海来到英国，焕发了当地 “爱的第二个夏天（Second Summer of Love）”，引发了数场对抗政府、爱与和平的 “锐舞”（Rave）派对；而柏林墙倒塌后，人们得以进入那些闲置的东柏林房屋尽情摇摆，德国铁科诺、出神（Trance）由此蓬勃发展。这些历史成为了 Slowdeath 的灵感启发，并被他们应用于本地的电音发展。Monkey Man 说：“在印度尼西亚这样的地方，一方面是激进的宗教原教旨主义，另一方面是普遍的消费主义导致的无休止的营业。好的商业场所都是资本主义企业，他们的唯一目标就是获取尽可能多的利润，将艺术家商品化，为了赚钱，一味追求新奇，不断向年轻人推出各种新产品，只为了疯狂赚取利润。”

Rully Shabara at No Man's Land

In the face of all this, Slowdeath asked themselves this: why not underground raves? Why not a liberated zone? Why not a free party? Slowdeath is meant to harbor outcasts and nurture alternative ideas. “We’re creating a different reality where the possibility of a pure and new idea could be born in the not so distant future,” says Monkey Man. “We want to discover what’s possible in the absence of a transactional environment.” In the rave, anything they imagine is brought to life, if only for a night. “It’s a participatory act between the performer and the audience where they craft their own reality.”

面对这一切，Monkey Man 心想为什么自己不能举办地下的电音派对呢？为什么不能开设一个完全开放的空间，供大家免费跳舞？Slowdeath 的宗旨是接纳社会上的各类人群，为独特的想法提供平台。他说：“我们提供了现实的另一种可能，为那些蓄势待发的创意提供一个孵化的场地。想看看，没有商业交易的环境会带来怎样的可能性。”在派对中，他们想尽办法将想法变为现实，即便只有一个晚上的时间来发挥。“这是表演者和观众的共同参与的活动，由他们打造属于自己的时空。”

Kuntari at No Man's Land

The physical realities of hyper-dense Southeast Asian cities pose their own challenges that are distinct from the West where the illegal rave was born. “In Indonesia, especially big cities like Jakarta, there’s no place that’s really abandoned,” Monkey Man says. “There’s always someone keeping an eye on the place. But they’re not formal security guards, they’re often more like territorial thugs. We call them preman, and an organized group of them are called ormas.”

To throw their events, the Slowdeath team needs to earn the trust of whichever premans are guarding the space they’re eyeing. they actually relish this part of the process, saying that it forces them to interact with people beyond the art world. “As artists, we tend to be so focused on ourselves that we slowly grow detached from real people. We’re so good at crafting art but so dull when it comes to dealing with real people. We’ve become elitist, placing art above people.”

不同于欧美那些地下派对的起源地，高人口密度的东南亚城市面临着截然不同的挑战。Monkey Man 说：“在印尼，尤其是像雅加达这样的大城市，很难找到完全荒废的场所，每个地方都会有人看守。很多时间，这些人并不是什么保安人员，而是一些抢占地盘的黑帮混混，我们称他们为 ‘preman’，有组织者的黑帮团体叫做 ‘ormas’。”

要举办活动，Slowdeath 团队就要获得这些看守地盘的黑帮的信任。Monkey Man 实际上很喜欢这个过程，因为这迫使他们与艺术圈以外的人互动。“艺术家常常过于专注于自我，以至于逐渐脱离现实世界中的其他人。我们擅长艺术创作，但与其他人打交道时却很笨拙。这样的艺术家已经变成社会的精英人士，将艺术置于人们之上。”

The ability to sidestep commercial and social restraints to independently curate ideas, aesthetics, and values is one of the most liberating aspects about these types of scenes and events. But there are real risks in the pursuit of this freedom, and it’s impossible to sidestep reality entirely. The police pose a very serious risk. And if organizers are not careful, lives are at risk as well. In California, dozens died in the Ghost Ship fire, and in Brooklyn, it turned out a warehouse was contaminated by toxic waste. It’s not to be taken lightly.

“People risk themselves to be a part of this because it’s profound, there’s a reward beyond profit,” says the founder. “There’s a deeper personal meaning here and a growing sense of community”

对于这些地下派对和活动来说，最自由的地方在于规避商业和社会的限制，独立策划各种创意、美学和价值观。但是追求这种自由也伴随着一定的风险，且不可能完全脱离现实。譬如一个很大的威胁就是警察。另外，如果组织者不够谨慎，也可能导致人身安全的问题。在加利福尼亚， “幽灵船”（Ghost Ship）活动现场曾有数十人在大火中丧生；在布鲁克林，有一个仓库曾被有毒废物污染，不少人为此付出代价。所以绝对不能掉以轻心。

Ayudhia 说：“人们之所以冒着危险来参加我们的派对，是因为这些派对他们来说具有非凡的意义，他们可以获得金钱以外的收获。有更多人在这里找到属于他们的意义，同时一股愈发强烈的社区感正在进一步蔓延。”