"EMF 2024"

Posted: 08 June, 2024

I’ve never made it to EMF Camp, despite it being on my radar for years. House moves, covid, and not being able to convince my SO to go, all got in the way. But this was my year. I’d already bought a roof tent for the car and H0ffman was able to reserve some tickets, so the long wait was over.

EMF describes itself as ”a non-profit camping festival for those with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things: hackers, artists, geeks, crafters, scientists, and engineers” and that’s very much underselling it. Phone-phreaks, network-nerds, linux-beards, hackers, crackers, sceners, game devs, brewers, blacksmiths, mathematicians, and the hard-core crochet crew, milling about in glorious surroundings, for three-and-a-bit days of talks, films and music. Every colour of the sexuality and gender spectrum, open, relaxed, and accepted. 3000 of my people.

We took it fairly easy on the first day – h0ff was doing the opening set at Null Sector, and then a PT-1210 Amiga performance, a couple of hours later – but the rest of the weekend was a blur: Big pipes, techno pigs, lost potatoes, GPS acid, postcards over sneaker net, watching demos, Tesla coil 303, too much detail, knitting, earnest spectrum owners, Deathchase, dialling 1337, remote controlled Henry Hoovers, magic shows when the AV’s gone wrong, laser beams through the clouds, enjoying the sun, and meeting cool, new people.

I joked that when the world burns, it was the people in the EMF field that would be putting it back together and the more I think about it, the more I’m coming to believe it. The fact that such a big event was put together by volunteers, is mind-blowing. The level of crazy skill on display – from the maker villages, to the Gameboy DJs – restored my faith in humanity. It was, undoubtedly, the most laid back, accessible, family-friendly “festival” I’ve ever been to. The toilets were still usable on the Monday, ffs.

I’ll be waxing lyrical about this for the next two years. It was glorious, and if you’re reading this, you’ll definitely want to go to EMF 2026.

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