In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats

Photo: Adil Boukind

A hit immersive virtual reality experience that premiered as part of Coventry City of Culture is returning to the city in a new multiplayer format.

Visiting Warwick Arts Centre from Monday 29 September to Monday 13 October 2025, In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats explores the early days of the revolutionary acid house movement.

Built around repetitive electronic beats that grew out of US Chicago House, Acid House exploded in the late-1980s, with unlicensed (and therefore illegal) parties popping up in warehouses and fields across the UK. Prompting media outrage and police action, the movement had a huge influence on UK culture. It's legacy can still be felt today in EDM, club nights, dance music-based festivals, and superstar DJs.

Created using cutting edge technology, In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats combines elements from gaming, documentary film and live events to drop visitors into an evening circa 1989, where they head out to find the latest rave event.

As this was a time before the internet and the popularity of mobile phones, news of raves were communicated using a network of pirate radio stations, flyers, pagers, and public phone boxes, with events often attracting hundreds (and thousands) of revellers.

Produced by East City Films and written/directed by Darren Emerson, In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats uses VR headsets, haptic vests and spatial sound to allow visitors an opportunity to relive some of the mystery, excitement, adventure and euphoria of the time.

Set in Coventry, Repetitive Beats has been inspired by Emerson's own experiences as a young clubber in early-90s London, and the innovations of such local pioneers as Nev Fivey and MC Man Parris, with the new multiplayer format allowing for groups of up to four people to step into the same experience.

Since it debuted in the city in 2022, at The Box, Repetitive Beats has gone on to sell out stays in London and around the UK, as well as tour to such countries as Netherlands, Czech Republic, USA, Lithuania, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia - all to great acclaim.

"This experience celebrates the acid house pioneers Amnesia House that came out of the West Midlands and help shape a youth culture revolution," reports Emerson. "We are immensely proud of this experience, which has grown and developed since it first premiered in 2022. Now it is bigger and better than ever, allowing audiences to navigate this VR adventure as collective experience: together they can explore, interact, dance and feel the euphoria that was Acid House. It's a trip!"

• In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats visits Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, from Monday 29 September to Monday 13 October 2025. For more information and to book a slot, visit: warwickartscentre.co.uk