In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, the award-winning interactive VR experience exploring the heart of the Acid House movement, is coming to Belfast from February 24 to March 26 at the Carlisle Memorial Church venue.

Beats uses Virtual Reality (VR) technology to fully immerse audiences in a one-hour multi-sensory interactive experience, and takes audiences back in time to the beginning of the Acid House movement, as well as the creation of UK rave culture telling a “multicultural story of collaboration and unity that celebrates music, friendship, and the joy of youth,” according to the official logline.

Produced by East City Films and created by Darren Emerson, the experience had its world premiere as well as a sold-out run in 2022 as part of the Coventry UK City of Culture. It then travelled on the international festival circuit, with stops in the BFI London Film Festival, South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Melbourne International Film Festival, IDFA Amsterdam and Geneva International Film Festival.

Check out In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats trailer below:

It has since won four high-profile VR awards, including the Location-Based VR Entertainment of the Year at the VR Awards 2023, the DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction at IDFA 2022, the VR Award at the Viborg Animation Festival 2023, followed by the Best Film & Digital: Interactive Award at Adelaide Fringe in 2024.

For its stop in Belfast, Beats will follow its VR experience with a dedicated display containing archive, flyers, posters, photography, and objects exploring the local rave scene connected to the venue’s city.

Commenting on the experience, Darren Emerson, director of East City Films explained that while planning to take Beats around the UK, having a stop in Belfast felt like a must: “What other city could connect to the unifying nature of dance music culture more than Belfast?” he explained. “Because take away the technology of VR, and this is what Beats is really all about; it’s about DIY culture, bourgeoning friendships, and disparate communities coming together to connect and dance till dawn.

“I see Acid House as a vital moment of revolution at the end of a fractious decade; a non-violent protest in the face of the things that would seek to separate us. A quiet revolution, apart from the thumping bass. There is a reason that Belfast is the UNESCO City of Music, and that is because of its rich and varied expressions in music culture: one of which being its vital, and dynamic role in shaping the underground electronic dance music scene.”

Tickets for In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats VR Experience in Belfast are available here for £25.00.