Introduction

Abstract

It is one of my last days in the field, and I am at a punk festival in a middle-sized Swedish town. Together with a few dozen participants, I am standing in the courtyard in front of the entrance to an old industrial building in the outskirts of the city. By now, I am familiar with most of those who are present, some of whom I have followed for years, others I have just talked to once or twice. I move across the yard and into what was once probably an old workshop and is now turned into a subcultural venue. This subcultural redecoration has been accomplished by ingeniously making use of scrap metal, pallets, barrels, and leftover building material and transforming these into a stage, furniture, and a bar area. It has been a pragmatic change; that which was deemed as an obstruction has been removed; that which was lacking has been erected so as to, for example, separate the bar and lounge from the concert area; and that which has been left is decorated by slogans, stickers, and graffiti. A variety of chairs, tables, and couches has been amassed from second-hand shops, dumpsters, and participants’ homes and have been placed in a proper mishmash of epochs, materials, conditions, and colors.