20th Anniversary Gallery
Take a trip down memory lane in the 20th Anniversary Gallery.
Past Lineups
Get an almost full overview of past lineups.
History
Distortion started as an experimental party project in 1998. In 2000 it became a 5-day-long party-crawl going through one Copenhagen district per day. The magic started with plenty of intimate backyard grill parties, receptions, happenings, party bus and champagne boats, all over Copenhagen, with 30-200 people at each get-together. Each event was cute, but it was the combination and the fact that Distortion was a travel through the city, full of genuine love for Copenhagen, that created the special atmosphere. Many of these events were not totally legal, but we were always semi-responsible: we cleaned after ourselves and respected the neighbours. The Police was nice when we met them – and since we were mobile and happy, we just moved around and no problemo.
For the first time in 2007, we got 1,500 guests at one single street party on Enghave Plads and almost 3,000 guests at Final Party. Until then, we had never had a strategy or a budget: Distortion was just for fun. In 2008, we opened a semi-professional entrepreneurship (the Distortion secretariat, Nus/Nus) made a contract with the Copenhagen City Council and bought a trashy black 1982-Mercedes stretch limousine – and somehow relaunched the festival. Things have gone fast since then. In 2011 we broke into the mainstream with 100.000+ guests at Vesterbro’s block party. In 2012 we became a not-for-profit Foundation and in 2013, we were finally ready to soon be known around the world as the craziest party on the planet.
Ownership
Distortion is owned by the foundation Fonden Distortion København.
Since 1998, Distortion explores the limits of street life and new dance music. We are an independent festival and our not-for-profit foundation supports arts and culture and social projects in the public space.
The foundation has hired the production company Nus Nus – also called the festival secretariat – to produce the festival.
Dates
Distortion is taking placering around the first Saturday in June. 2024 dates are: 29 May – 2 June 2024.
