Over the weekend of the 11th and 12th of July in Torino’s Parco Dora, a post-industrial landscape with cisterns that serve as fountains, a giant steel bridge, hangars and steel constructions, as well as a river and water gardens running through the scenery, Kappa FuturFestival will host some of the biggest names the scene has to offer at the moment.
Expect a back to back set by Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, Diynamic label boss Solomun, Pan-Pot, Tuskegee compadres Seth Troxler and The Martinez Brothers, Sven Väth, Hot Creations label head Jamie Jones, German Kompakt contributor Kölsch, Italian techno innovator Joseph Capriati, Ten Walls and many more.
Since launching in 2012, Kappa Futur has firmly established itself on the global festival circuit, with music running from midday through midnight on both Saturday and Sunday. With its varied hangouts, DJs between the trees and lashings of Italian food and drink, this unmissable festival sees 25,000 music lovers party in massive hangars and industrial spaces in the heart of Torino.
Anticipating Kappa FuturFestuval, we got managed to talk with the festival’s founder and promoter Maurizio Vitale. Maurizio is a Turin based entrepreneur, founder of Movement Entertainment, creator of Movement Torino Music Festival, Kappa FuturFestival and IndepenDance Spring Music Event. Here, we speak on a variety of issues related to organising and promoting an event the size of Kappa FuturFestival, as well as the allure of the city of Turin.
“…that’s our aim: create a proper industry and make it strong enough to compete globally.”
Turin has been named as one of the top destinations in the world to visit (Huffington Post), speaking as a citizen, can you explain the appeal of Turin? What are some aspects of the city that make it unique, even as a city in Italy?
As a citizen, and as someone born here, I’m very proud about Turin being recognised internationally. It’s always been a complex city, with a rich history as well as a deep industrial spirit. We created Italian cinema, radio and TV, we launched automotive and fashion industry, we forged Italian best design district, we made chocolate, truffle and red wine globally appreciated, after all we “made Italy” (King Vittorio Emanuele with Cavour and Garibaldi) and we are now contributing in reshaping it.
What was the first aspect of the Kappa FuturFestival concept that came to you before you began organising the event? Was it a specific philosophy, venue, artist, theme…? Essentially, how did it all start?
FuturFestival started in 2008 inspired by Futurism movement’s 100th anniversary whose speed, evolution, dynamism manifesto influenced us. We put it in the Italian way Futur without “E” and then decided to produce a summer version of our already strong winter event, Movement Torino Music Festival, pushed by Marco Boglione (Kappa brand boss) who invited us to visit Parco Dora and asking us to do an event to celebrate Superga’s shoe-maker 100th anniversary
As you are a prominent entrepreneur and nightlife figure, what was your first introduction to electronic music culture? When did you realise you wanted to engage in nightlife and dance music at the professional level?
I distinctly remember the first electronic music event I took part in: I was working in Amsterdam and it was in 1998 and then sponsoring WMC in Miami with my friend GianLuca Brignone as official partner with Kappa, the brand I worked for for 10 year. And you could say that I decided to join this business ten years later, in 2008, when with my historical partner Gigi Mazzoleni we left our official occupation to move on…