You’re at a house in Coventry in 1989 placing the needle on a vinyl record. The grooves of the record suddenly swell up around you to become the lanes of a motorway, and you’re barrelling along in a red Peugeot on the hunt for a secret warehouse rave.
This is the premise of In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, an immersive VR experience embarking on an eight-city national tour this week with the aim of taking audiences back in time to the beginning of the acid house movement.
Starting in Birmingham, in the heart of the West Midlands where it is set, the experience features first-hand accounts from promoters, ravers, police officers and pirate radio presenters who experienced the illegal rave scene in the 80s and 90s.
“It’s a documentary that’s all around you, you are moving through it,” said film-maker Darren Emerson. “I want people to learn about acid house music and how culturally important it is, and all the different communities who came together and created a youth culture revolution.
“And I want people to realise the West Midlands created a pivotal role in that – you often hear about the history of London and Manchester when it comes to rave, but you rarely hear about Coventry and the West Midlands.”
For the experience, viewers don a headset, headphones, controllers and a haptic vest, which create a full sensory immersion. The vest vibrates in time to the music to simulate a thumping bassline, while the controllers allow viewers to pick up rave flyers, turn up the radio and use a public phone box.
This was a pivotal part of the rave scene at the time – to evade police crackdowns, locations would be kept secret until the last minute, and ravers would congregate at motorway service stations and call dedicated hotlines to get directions to meeting points.
“It’s a dreamlike, surreal experience, but when you’re driving along in the car, or when you’re walking through the rave, it does feel very authentic, it feels very real,” said Lee Fisher, a Birmingham-based acid house DJ who features in the film.
“These stories do need to be told. There’s an element of nostalgia for people reliving it, but it also provides other generations a portal into that period.”
After the VR experience, people can share their own stories of memorable nights via a repurposed public phone box with a built-in recorder. “At the end of the tour we’ll have collected some really great stories of people’s amazing nights out, those nights who shape who you are. That’s important for the spiritual part of this project,” said Emerson, from East City Films.
Originally produced for the Coventry City of Culture festival in 2022, In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats has travelled to film festivals around the world and won numerous accolades.
“It has resonated internationally,” Emerson said. “Everyone can relate to the idea of being young, going out on an adventure, whether they were around for acid house or not. The nostalgia for that period of time, not having a mobile phone.”
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But bringing it to a wider audience in the UK has proved a challenge, with a lack of venues designed to host such an installation.
“We really wanted to bring it back to the UK, but we struggled to find venues that can show this kind of VR work, because behind the scenes it is complex. And we need a big space to install it because every participant gets 6×4 metres,” said Emerson.
Also on display during this tour, supported by the Arts Council and BFI, are flyers and posters from Birmingham’s rave scene at the time – a Rag Market rave in 1991, and Starlight at Handsworth leisure centre, a regular venue for all-night raves that decade.
The level of detail throughout the experience can prompt some strong emotion, said Emerson.
“Normally, the reaction is one of wonder and delight, and we get a lot of emotional people. We’ve given out a lot of hugs, especially if they’ve lived it – they come out welled up, because they connect with the details,” he said.
“I’m approaching 50 now, and I ache for that 19-year-old excitement of getting lost somewhere.”
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In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 19 July to 1 September, before heading to the Brighton Dome in November, the Belfast XR festival in February 2025 and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in April 2025