Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses the increase in online interaction between scenes of queer electronic music parties in São Paulo and Berlin, which was one of the adaptation strategies in pandemic times. Its virtual and translocal character gains more relevance, helping them to survive in the midst of tragedy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses the increase in online interaction between participants of scenes of queer electronic music parties in the cities of São Paulo and Berlin, being them artists, party producers and ravers. The transposition of the events from physical to digital was one of the adaptation strategies for the scenes to maintain some kind of continuity and connection between their participants. On one hand, losing the material energy of the dancefloor was undeniably hard. On the other hand, the digital sphere enables bigger translocal exchanges, freed from constraints of geographical distance. The scenes have always been marked by its tripartite character (local, translocal, virtual). In the pandemic context, the virtual gains prominence, enabling new experiences of translocality and reinforcement of previous bonds. Therefore, the proliferating virtual parties, spaces where ravers interact with each other and with digitized music and visual arts, represent a relevant environment in the integrated structure of polymedia (MADIANOU & MILLER, 2013). This virtualization adds to the effort in build a physical transnational community of queer ravers that can be seen in initiatives such as the Whole - United Queer Festival, created by queer collectives from Berlin in 2017, currently reuniting twenty-nine collectives from different cities around the world, including São Paulo.

Reference: Madianou M. & Miller, D. Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication. International Journal of Cultural Studies 16 (2), 169-187, 2013.