Remember the rave where we were dancing in a sea of strangers? Remember the collective euphoria when that one song came on? The one about love. The trance-y one? Remember that trip to Amsterdam, the one to Warsaw, the one to that festival in Portugal? Remember the cheesy songs played in all of those places, no matter where we were, about unity, love and being taken to the clouds above?

Grown from the seeds of multilateralist idealism of the years following the second world war that sought a reconnected world, Eurodance and Euphoria blossomed in the 1980s and transported masses of entranced dancers at the millennial turn into the 2000s, still making us dance today - despite of Brexit, growing nationalism, social media baiting, increased isolation, planetary destruction, full-blown wars, genocides and the 1% living the life.
Throw your hands in the air, tilt your head back, feel the high NRG; heightened emotions swirling in motion, the collective movement of the bodies all around you. They might be the 1%, but we are the 99% swaying in united ecstasy. Lean back; you are carried.

The UK may have left the EU, but we have not forgotten each other, our shared culture and we have not forgotten the ecstasy still felt on dancefloors, in kitchens and on balconies all throughout Europe today and beyond. We have not forgotten the love parades ensuing after the Berlin wall came down - through years of pain came joy.

We have not forgotten the Italians singing and dancing on their balconies in the face of the deadly Coronavirus; 'L’amour Toujours' reverberating between the buildings that were holding people isolated from each other and in fear and uncertainty. Through pain shall come joy once again.
Despite countries walling up, we will remain euphoric because in times of division, euphoria is radical.
We will continue to come together because everything worthwhile happens with other people. We will continue to gather in ecstatic masses; ecstatic by way of not just standing outside of one's body, but in rich reciprocal exchange with bodies and the world. We will continue to show up and show humanity.
Using the rhetoric of the football scarf, this project celebrates a Europe beyond borders, between British people and their friends, lovers and fellow dancers in the EU countries, the member states of the non-aligned movement and beyond. To plurality over singularity and seclusion.
In response (and visual opposition) to the UK's exit of the EU, EUphoria stands for the EU's freedom of movement, its legacy of eruptive euphoric raves, the exchange of culture and its shared values of unity and peace.

"Music is a model of how people endure time together, [...]
Is it a time of harmony, independence, collaboration All these aspects play out in musical form." (Stan Douglas, 2022)

• The immersive installation, "EUphoria" (2019/20) consists of a visual timeline from the aftermath of World War II to post-Brexit divisions and wars today. The peak of euphoria is marked by the fall of the Berlin wall and the official forming of the EU in 1993, accompanied of course by its own soundtrack: Euphoria or Eurodance, which culminated as a unity cocktail from House in Chicago, Acid House in the UK and New Wave Synth elsewhere.
  Using the rhetoric of the football scarf, the scarves, designed by the artist, can be taken beyond the installation in response (and visual opposition) to countries building walls rather than tackling issues with empathy and openness.

*** G E T Y O U R O W N SCARF ***
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