Photo: FM Einheit (by T. Botzi), S. Eismann (by K. Ruge), P. Williams, S. Swezey
In 1983, a few bands and fans headed for the Mojave Desert. So much for »Zurück zum Beton« [»Back to the Concrete«]—the urban wasteland was instead traded in for an oasis of resistance. With their documentary »Desolation Center«, director Stuart Swezey and producer Paul Williams revisit on a one-off event that took place a quarter of a century ago, but they also raise pressing questions for our time. What for the punks and industrial fans of back then was Reagan-era neoliberalism today only looks worse globally and manifests itself locally, among other things in housing shortages and in the disappearance of free space. Is escaping from the city still an option? Swezey and Williams will discuss these and other questions of then and now, together with »Desolation Center« protagonist FM Einheit and moderator Sonja Eismann, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of MISSY Magazine.