Softcore – a hardcore encounter

Softcore – a hardcore encounter is a dance and a physical lecture on the hardcore techno dance Gabber. "Born" in the early 1990ies and still cultivated and transmitted today via youtube and in the club, Gabber is known for its extremely high speed and its specific distorted hardcore sound. 

In SOFTCORE Belgian artist Lisa Vereertbrugghen introduces us to the dance while simultaneously questioning both the hard and the core in hardcore techno. She proposes hardcore techno as softcore dance through moments of vulnerability and transformation disguised behind hard-hitting, high speed spasms and ticks.

At 200 beats per minute hardcore is techno on amphetamines, rave gone crazy. It is the sound of the underdog, the one who is not "fitting in". It is the high speed body that is as much a part of capitalist society as its resistance. What if dancing so fast can be a way to appropriate speed not for being more productive, but for the opposite: Speed becoming a vehicle for sensations, for eluding control.