The Orange Feeling. Mood and Atmosphere at Roskilde Festival

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between instant architecture, art installations and the audience at Roskilde Festival, and it raises the question of how instant architecture, art installations and modes of social interaction can enhance the design of a genuine experience. It is based on analyses of a specific case, Roskilde Festival 2008 - 2012. The festival brands itself as an instant city with a specific atmosphere, ‘The Orange Feeling’, which is a very abstract term that encompasses the whole festival. The paper focuses on this term, and on important elements which constitute the environment and the conditions for the constructed situation in which this special atmosphere actually occurs. The main approach to the analysis of the atmosphere is an investigation of how the audience engages with the instant architecture and the art installations. The article provides general conclusions on the specific atmosphere and on how the designs support this. It concludes that the culture of laughter is the atmospheric glue that keeps Roskilde Festival together, and it is the performative and relational designs together with the culture of laughter that create the basis for ‘The Orange Feeling’.