This new book documents Europe’s free party scene from 1997 to 2005

News

A new book documents Europe’s free party scene.

Taking in 1997 to 2005, Dirty Dancing is Italian photographer Mattia Zoppellaro’s self-described “homage to the iconic faces, makeshift dancefloors, soundsystems and hairstyles that have come to symbolise the legendary movement.”

Released on 5th November via electronic label Klasse Wrecks and Berlin’s print and design studio We Make It, Zoppellaro book takes in free parties in London, Milan, Barcelona, Turin, Graz, Bologna and elsewhere.

In a statement, Milan-based Zoppellaro wrote: “I’m not a writer, the only way to express my feelings about this project is with a snippet, almost like a photograph) of a dialogue from “The Shanghai Gesture” a 1941 movie by Jozef Von Sternberg, when Gene Tierney, describing a sleazy gambling house/brothel says: “It smells so incredibly evil! I didn’t think such a place existed except in my own imagination. It has a ghastly familiarity like a half-remembered dream. *Anything* could happen here… any moment…”

Pre-order Dirty Dancing from £35 here. 

A new documentary exploring the history of the UK’s Free Party Movement is in the works. A recent photo exhibition also captured the euphoria of the ’90s free party movement.