A new print by the Liverpool design studio Dorothy maps out the rave scene in Blackburn, England from 1988-1990.
Titled Blackburn Love Blueprint, the print depicts the industrial town’s party movement along an imagined footprint of Ewood Mill, a popular illegal venue from the time. It tells the story of how small house parties eventually expanded into warehouse and factory raves. These gatherings grew to such a size that U.K. police launched Operation Alkkali in an attempt to shut them down.
Content for the map was created using archival posts from the website Acid House Flashback. The site aims to archive and collate the history of the Blackburn rave scene. “We have invited DJs, the organizers, the police, and politicians to tell us their story,” they write. “The intention of these interviews is to create a future archive of unedited, unobstructed memories from the era, without a biased contact or narrative imposed by the interviewers.”
The blueprint named individuals, DJs, and collectives from the movement including Tommy Smith and the Hardcore Uproar collective. It also includes the names of well-known tracks from the time.
The Blackburn Love Blueprin was designed to complement the release of Flashback: Parties for the People by the People, a book that explores the Blackburn rave scene in depth. For more information about the print, visit the Dorothy website.
