Part III: Magic Happens: 'the Triumph of Community'

ConFest's vast constituency is comprised of lifestyle clusters and cliques whose differences seem, in some cases, overwhelmingly irreconcilable. Like the Kuranda Market - this is a 'hot spot' of competing discourses (Henry 1994:295). Of course, much on-site squabbling is a direct reflection of differences and faction formation in DTE itself. Within the Co-operative there is a paucity of commitment to shared ideals - the kind of commitment observable, for instance, in many utopian communities (Kanter 1972; Metcalf 1986:Ch.8). While ConFest itself represents the 'common denominator' to which members are committed, as there is little consensus on its meaning - reflecting the panorama of values, backgrounds and motivations of members - it variously unifies disparate elements while at the same time reproducing Society-wide differences. The enduring expression of intra-ConFestian difference has generated fission. While some expatriates may go to Earth Haven at New Year, this example of centrifugence is not isolated. New Year events at Peacehaven and the Blue Mountains in recent times can be read as further fragments of a growing diaspora.

Yet the commitment to achieve a successful ConFest remains. In the face of perceived threats to community cohesion, and despite ongoing disputes between authenticity claimants, as the saying goes, 'magic happens' - 'the ConFest Spirit' endures. Given the adversities and conflicts encountered by DTE and festival attendees, ConFest's survival is, as many have it, 'a miracle'. 'Miracles' can be seen to be a product of grassroots organicism effecting proto-cultural solutions, including temporary mergers or alliances, to immediate problems. Here I will draw attention to two such 'miracles' - one averting a site-specific logistical nightmare, the other an example of localised adaptation.

'The Bridge'

One adversity worth recalling arose in the form of a long and wide irrigation channel at Birdlands. This site-specific contingency possessed the potential to provoke community disharmony. Separating the Market, Gypsy village and car park from the rest of the festival, the channel was eventually spanned by two one-way foot bridges (see Birdlands Map). The main bridge, a long tragic structure fashioned from plywood crates and 44 gallon drums, was an 11th hour effort (the smaller 'feral bridge', consisting of fallen logs thrown across the water, was situated at the end of the site). 'The bridge' was heavily overburdened - an anxiety provoking circumstance not relieved when the intended hand-operated punts failed to materialise. As a consequence, 'the bridge' came apart several times during the event. Frustrating bottlenecks and long detours ensued.

However, though 'the bridge' was maligned by many, this 'anti-structure' became a focal point of solidarity. It was fabricated and repaired by participants taking responsibility and applying their skills in situ. A potential disaster was averted. 'The ConFest Spirit' rose to the challenge posed by 'the bridge' - and was strengthened. The banner - 'strangers are friends you have not yet met' - draped along its length provided an acute commentary on the way 'the bridge' was built and maintained, and on the way ConFesters complied to the difficult circumstance of standing in long winding queues in the burning sun waiting to cross - fifty one way then fifty the other. In fact, the queues were contexts for random meetings, immediate contact, puissance. As Sage commented '[m]any times I've said "it could only happen at ConFest"'.

The Compromise

In response to the ongoing disputation over the presence of techno-trance, and motivated by a desire to achieve an integral community, various ConFest Committee members have deemed it necessary to promote the benefits of compromise. Michael is an advocate of this approach. For him, ConFest is:
where people come to express themselves no matter what their background or tastes are. And I believe we should cater as much as possible to any new ideas ... and help young people to get out there and be creative ... I don't think we should fight it. But we should also encourage the techno people to come and have a look at the sort of thing you can do with drums and didj, and bits of wood banging together, and bits of metal banged together. Because I believe they can incorporate more live art into the techno performances, take it down a notch on electric power, and put some human power in there ... I think we can educate them - they can run on lower power, more efficiently. And be co-operative. Let us help them, 'cause this is what we're about. DTE is about helping people establish their village, or helping them get their message out. We're sort of a hub of a network.
Indeed, conflict generated by the presence of techno-trance has dissipated to some degree in recent times, as adversaries have moved to resolve issues, to 'settle their differences', to 'band together'. Amplified electronica remains a feature of the festive community, but in rhizomatic adaptations. On the one hand, it is widely perceived that techno-trance should be accommodated on site, a view supported by a DTE survey conducted in 1997 where 2/3 of the respondents supported the presence of techno - albeit with noise and time restrictions. DTE has acknowledged that sites where amplified music can be acoustically separated from 'quiet areas' are preferable. On the other hand, by applying for lower budgets, adopting 'appropriate technology', and through processes of fusion and amalgamation, dance music facilitators have evolved a more agreeable quality of tact and diplomacy.

The recent conversion to wise energy use through the employment of a solar powered, soft tech assemblage (CIDA, Gum Lodge I), the concomitant decrease in db output, as well as the provision of interactive 'hands on' workshops and the encouragement of amateur DJs and combined techno-acoustic performances incorporating drummers (Hybrid, Gum Lodge II) - a collaboration which, rather than just 'having automated rhythms ... [bears] a human feel' (from Hybrid 98/99 budget proposal)39 - has actualised a music-dance experience that, not without its detractors, is widely held to be more 'appropriate', 'live', folky and thereby authentic.

The 'deterritorialised' acculturation in musical performativity and boundary ambiguity exemplified by Hybrid, evokes the 'triumph of community' of which Anthony Cohen (1985) speaks. It is apparent that, although advocates of disparate musics and 'communities' give expression to their differences, 'they also suppose themselves to be more like each other than like the members of other communities' (Cohen 1985:21). And despite the diaspora, the persisting desire to 'raise the Spirit' means that ConFest, like the cultic pilgrimage destination of the shrine, retains an unusual capacity to 'absorb and reflect a multiplicity of religious discourses ... offer[ing] a variety of [pilgrims] what each of them desires' (Eade and Sallnow 1991:15).

It is apparent, then, that ConFest is an 'elective centre' engineering 'miracles'. A vast social organic laboratory, its co-operative ethos effects a mystical experience, the kind of ineffability participants unite around and return to. And, in the interests of harnessing and replicating this experience, Les envisions a national circuit with, perhaps, fifty sites set up around the country. With each staged for a week, '250,000 people' could spend 'a year in the ConFest circuit before returning to mainstream life with extraordinary skills'.



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Footnotes
Maps
Chronology
Appendices
Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations
References: A-L
References: M-Z
Chapter Eight Contents
Thesis Contents