25 photos capturing the intimate energy of The Air House's forest rave

A swaggering show of collective efforts saw most of Seoul's electronic scene converge two hours outside of the city in Chuncheon for a forest rave, under the framework of The Air House.

Curated and spearheaded by Doogie aka Radio Revolution, a DJ and promoter who’s earned his merits as a resident at Livin’, three stages — Ground, Chill and Forest — were taken over by “local heroes” and no big name DJs.

The energy across the weekend was varied — the novice were given a chance to bask in new-found moments of rave-revelation whilst in much-needed fashion, seasoned punters revelled in returning to their promised land. Speaking to Mixmag Asia, Doogie commented, "In the past, we ran one stage for 24 hours, and this year, we did two stages (plus the Chill zone) for 48 hours, which is a big change."

Coming out of two years of stringent rules and regulations that saw nightlife culture pretty much deplete from the city’s bustle, upon announcement of the dates and Chuncheon location, The Air House became a symbolic bastion for the clubbing community at large.

Commenting about the future of the festival, he added, "We're moving to a new place and plan to do something twice a year; the exact date has not yet confirmed, but it will be around fall, before it gets too cold!"

On his visit to The Air House festival, freelance journalist for Mixmag Asia, Arian Khameneh, reported, “As cliche as it may sound, there was rarely a phone seen around the stages of Air House, which is a major deal in Korea.” This serves as a testament to Doogie's visionary success in mitigating Korea’s “convenience culture” towards a rave he intends on becoming less commercialised each year.

Ideas were conjured, new connections and relationships were formed, and some deep-in-the-scene sentiments were triggered that seem to have awakened Seoul from it’s pandemic slumber. Many will owe the new wafts of change to The Air House festival that took place in the post-pandemic summer of ‘22.

Arun Ramanathan is Mixmag Asia’s Director. Follow him on Instagram.