Movement Torino, the techno festival that has been taking over one of Turin’s coolest venues for the last decade, celebrates its landmark anniversary this year with a lineup that includes Chris Liebing, Nina Kraviz and Tale of Us.
To mark the occasion, I sat down with founder Maurizio Vitale to look back over the last ten years, discuss the state of the techno scene today, and where’s best to cure those hangovers come Sunday.
There was only one place to start, and that was with congratulations. It’s not often an event passes ten years, and it undoubtedly shows the consistency of Movement to shape and move with the trends. Looking back then, I began by asking Maurizio his personal highlights, and it turns out there were quite a few: “I remember fondly our first edition with the two Detroit DJs, Derrick May and Kevin Sanderson, with Derrick May coming back several times: especially in 2009 doing a memorable B2B with Luciano. 2010’s highlight was definitely having The Chemical Brothers play, and 2manydjs. In 2013 another B2B by Agoria and Laurent Garnier lit up the place, already hot by hosting 13 Visionquest. Then of course many other international names marked special moments in our history: Underworld, Richie Hawtin, Ricardo Villalobos, Loco Dice.”
As Maurizio alluded to in reminiscing about their first Turin event, Movement’s roots are stateside in Detroit, having moved over in 2006. But why to the Italian city in the shadows of the Alps? “The legendary Detroit event is what inspired us to start Movement in Turin,” he begins, “and I believe Turin now has all the right cards to flourish in the entertainment industry: the locations are extraordinary both architecturally and historically, and the warmth and support of Italian techno fans is undeniable.”
Just like Detroit, Turin has a flourishing techno scene, with Kappa FuturFestival, its forefront alongside Movement, bringing to the city the shapers and pioneers of the genre. This year’s lineup for Movement contains a certain few that Maurizio is keen to point out: “We have to name Robert Hood, one of the founders of global techno, and who put his own spin on the minimal sound, keeping it modern and contemporary without surrendering to the trends. Berghain [in Berlin] is clearly the ‘temple’ of international techno, and is producing the world’s best techno DJs; among them we selected Marcel Fengler, who together with Ben Klock & Marcel Dettmann were the protagonists of Kappa FuturFestival’s past edition.
“Talking about pushing boundaries, we have to mention Chris Liebing, one of the first DJs to sense the potential of new technologies applied to music. Thanks to this, he made it to the top, constantly evolving his style. This brings us to new acts that exploded during the past two years: DJs such as Ilario Alicante and Alan Fitzpatrick, leading figures of the Italian and English school, are techno’s most requested names.”
Movement works closely with these artists, giving its platform over to those who are shaping the future of techno. Much more than a club night, it has evolved into, just as it name portrays, a movement. I ask Maurizio what we can expect on top of the main event this October: “This year will be even better: on October 27th, Elektro Guzzi will light up the Conservatory, which is such a unique location. October 30th marks the Superga Opening Party and then the Closing Party on Nov 1st will be the cherry on top of a very full week. Plus, the main event will have five different stages. Last, but not least, ‘CasaMovement’, a social-interactive venue is where we’ll be staging the ‘Movement 10 Years Experience’ exhibition.”
On that note, I’m already thinking about the aftermath, but luckily Maurizio has a tonic for that too: “You can’t miss trying a ‘tramezzino’ sandwich from Caffè Mulassano, which is where they invented it and have been creating delicious combinations since 1907, while facing the lovely Piazza Castello. Or just grab a slice of pizza at Taglio – Pizza per Fetta- it’ll be the best you’ve ever had.”
Tickets and packages are available for Movement Torino 2015 here.
