Facts
PRESENTATION
In 2011 and 2012, Distortion became an international flagship event for Copenhagen, with Police estimates of 80.000-120.000 visitors per day. Of those, 14% are non-Danes. Of our 55.000 Facebook fans, 19% live outside Denmark.
In 2012, Distortion Street Parties developed a rare financing model: some of the public chose to buy a "street bracelet" (the "Gadearmbånd") for dkk 100,-(€ 13,5) to help finance the free street events. The first year, almost 11.000 people bought the donation wristband.
The "Street" programme is a high-energy carnival-type event with an anything-goes attitude. The three main street events (aka "Block Parties") take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, each day with an estimated 80-120.000 people, each day in a different neighbourhood (!). Street events are free.
At "Night", Distortion orchestrates an upfront dance-music festival, each night in new unconventional locations, with influences coming from the arty-party scene of Paris, Berlin, Norway, New York and of course: Copenhagen.
The "Final Party" is the annual Distortion highlight: a grand spectacular of techno, disco, indie, hiphop and anything entrancing.
NUMBERS
DISTORTION 2012 - we're not counting anymore.
DISTORTION 2011 - 157+ dancefloors - 285.000 visits (approx. 120.000+ humans)
DISTORTION 2010 - 88+ dancefloors - 93.850 visits (approx. 40.000+ humans)
DISTORTION 2009 - 66+ dancefloors - 39.950 visits (approx. 16.000+ humans)
DISTORTION 2008 - 56 dancefloors - 31.600 visits (approx. 13.500+ humans)
DISTORTION 2007 - 37 dancefloors - 14.800 visits (approx. 6.500+ humans)
DISTORTION 2006 - 28 dancefloors - 8.900 visits (approx. 4.000+ humans)
DISTORTION 01>05 - 16>21 dancefloors - 4.500>6.500 visits / approx. 3.000+ humans
DISTORTION 2000 - 13 dancefloors - 3.700 visits / approx. 1.800+ humans
HISTORY
"Distortion - a Celebration of Copenhagen Nightlife", was founded in 1998 as a one-day celebration of anything fun and new in Copenhagen's rising club life.
In 2000, Distortion became a five-day mobile party, rolling through one Copenhagen neighbourhood each day.
The Distortion dates are set by the Final Party, which always takes place on the first Saturday of June.
In 2003-2007, the small free pre-parties in the streets (which then had 50-200 guests) became increasingly popular, but Distortion was still mainly a "nightlife" festival.
Until 2007, Distortion was a just-for-fun no-budget party, (dis)organized by Thomas Fleurquin (tak lars) while he was Guide Editor for The Copenhagen Post.
In 2008, we established a professional organisation (Nus/Nus ApS) and Distortion quickly became a gigantic fest.
In 2012, we established "Fonden Distortion København", a non-profit, public service-type foundation. The foundation has overtaken all operations in Denmark.
ARTISTIC MISSION
"Celebrating Copenhagen Street Life and Modern Party Culture" is the official motto.
The greatest art of it all would be to create a healthy business model based on values like "randomness, generosity and fun".
Distortion is also about the beauty of chaos (in French: "le gros bordel"), about breaking personal and social boundaries, and about getting people to lose control in an orgasmic blend of animal instincts and human conscience.
*Remember that Distortion is just a party: The only real goal is for our guests to feel touched by the magic finger of Freedom.
WEATHER
We had great weather in 2000, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011. Since 2000, that's roughly 40% probability for a week full of sunshine & heat.
We had really shit weather in 2001, 2005 and 2012. That roughly 20% chance for a windy & rainy week.
Other years (there's 40% left): we've had average Scandinavian June weather = 15-21 deg.(Celsius), some clouds, very little rain.
These are our own statistics based on 2000-2012. You might get a more serious forecast from Yr or DMI.
ORGANISATION
The Distortion Secretariat, Nus/Nus ApS (est.2008) runs all Copenhagen Distortion operations.
Copenhagen Distortion was established in 1998 by the Human Office ved Thomas Dalvang Fleurquin.
The Copenhagen Distortion name, logo and all associated copyrights, as well as the Distortion Secretariat, Nus/Nus ApS, are owned by a not-for-profit Foundation: Fonden Distortion København (est.2012)
