»Music involves a mix of noise, of existing or fabricated instruments, of alternative worlds that the sounds and voices assemble. Some are gentle, some less so. We shift gears with music, it shifts intensity, we shift with it. I listen when I can.«

Jussi Parikka is a Finnish cultural historian and writer who works at Aarhus University as professor of Digital Aesthetics and Culture. After some 15 years in the UK, he continues in Denmark his work on how ecology, digital culture, art and design, and philosophy intersect. He has written on visual culture and history and archaeology of media, including the recent books Operational Images (2023) and Living Surfaces: Images, Plants, and Environments of Media (2024) which is co-authored with the Madrid-based artist Abelardo Gil-Fournier. Besides his writing and work as educator, he has been active as a curator including the recent show Climate Engines at Laboral, in Gijon (Spain) that was co-curated with Daphne Dragona as well as his involvement in the curatorial team of Helsinki Biennial 2023.

»Musik er en flygtig og eksklusiv kunstart, som i visse af sine udtryk og afskygninger afskærer mange fra at opleve den, men også en kilde, der kan tappes fra i det uendelige. Kilden har mange forgreninger, som til sammen breder sig over hele verden til nytte og gavn for alskens kulturer og befolkninger, og den tørrer – i modsætning til almindelige vandholdige kilder – ikke sådan lige ud.«

Jonas Frølund er klarinettist, iværksætter, kammermusiker, formand for Danmarks Underholdningsorkester og medlem af ensemblerne V Coloris (blæserkvintet), Trio Spell (med Jonathan Jakshøj, slagtøj, og Lea Han, klaver) og Duo Omni (med Bjarke Mogensen, akkordeon), uddannet fra DKDM og Pariserkonservatoriet (CNSMDP). Han er flittig fortolker og bestiller af ny musik, genreomfavnende, udfordringssøgende, glad og ivrig formidler, Musical America New Artist of the Month i november 2023 og Grammophone Music Magazine One to Watch i forbindelse med albummet Solo Alone and More.

»I never considered my job to be about music. My prime responsibility is to produce raw energy where people feel 'it’s happening right now'. Of course music and artists with talent are key ingredients but I think location and party philosophy are just as important to create an electric atmosphere. Try to go to a festival in Sweden or Norway – it’s a snooze-fest. Roskilde and Distortion are the two festivals in Scandinavia with this special touch. I never calculated how to get there, but I can see now 26 years later: My technique has been to be in a constant disequilibrium and to give away more than I could manage. I started with Distortion as my platform in 1998 and it started to go viral as an energy force in 2009 that is 11 years as a volunteer where almost everything was for free. When it exploded we became famous for out-of-control street parties with an unsophisticated music profile – but at its very heart, Distortion was a hard core rave, since 1998. And it is this rave energy that motivated us to turn the city upside down as a social experiment, more than it was music. It was both loving but also a little destructive. Then in 2014 and 2018 came Karrusel and Hangaren – two 'professional spinoffs' – I mean 'music products' based on electronic music. But Distortion is not a product – it is a raw uncontrollable energy, going in a hundred directions.« 

Thomas Fleurquin calls himself a Party Maker & Chief Architect of festivals, happenings, off-location events, mobile installations. Specialised in public space, social architecture and rave culture. Moved to Copenhagen and active in arts & culture since 1998. Raised in Paris, Danish mother French father. Founder of Distortion (festival), Karrusel (festival), Hangaren (venue), Human Office (newsletter), Animal (consulting agency), and the NusNus Secretariat.