In the mid-1990s, Flavie Guerrand was deeply involved in the French techno scene. Organizing raves gave her an intimate perspective on underground culture and its raw, intense energy. Rave parties were a central place of emancipation for minorities and the party a place of life necessary as much as it is for creation. This perspective is striking and evident in her work today. She only began to film and photograph the lifestyle she led some years later. With only a few archives of her former clandestine nightlife such as numerous flyers and audio recordings, she felt the urge to capture every experience through her camera. After discovering a disused cinema with her accomplices, she salvaged loudspeakers and a cinema screen that were still inside and in perfect working condition, opening up new festive possibilities.
From then on, her early explorations of video and photography documented the parties she organized, first in her living space -an old garage- and later in a basement, in an attempt to preserve the legacy and spirit of free parties. Somewhere between a micro free party and a mini club, these spaces became known as places to hang out and get wasted, and invent a gleefully unfettered subculture, populated by the distinctive characters that she began to capture through her lens.
