Olof Olsson
Wednesday 27 January 2010
7pm

“I lost my heart to disco a few weeks after I’d become a teenager. It was a very cold night in January, 1979. I lived in a small town in Sweden, where there wasn’t much entertainment. I had a transistor radio, but there was a state monopoly on broadcasting, with only two hours of pop every week. That winter night, a bit past midnight, I discovered a local pirate station. And for the first time in my life I heard songs like ‘Le Freak’ and ‘In the Bush’. It was a completely overwhelming cultural experience.” Olof Olsson

Olof Olsson, artist based in Copenhagen, is on a European tour with his performance/lecture on the history of disco. Disco’s message of love was a politically charged one, demanding equality, freedom and fun for everyone. The next stop is Malmö and Signal – Center for Contemporary Art where Olof Olsson will play musical examples, and reflect on their role and relevance to the development and decline of the sound and social experience of disco.

Olsson lives in a one-room apartment in Copenhagen together with 6000 vinyl records – most of them disco. He has studied philosophy, languages and translation theory at Lund University, and art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In the 1980s he worked extensively as a pirate and community radio DJ.

The evening will be held in English.

With support from The Danish Arts Council.