DECA: A Celebration of the past 10 Years of Underground Culture

You can’t know where you’re going until you understand where you have been; DECA sheds new light on today’s street culture through this retrospective look at the evolution of British underground music over the last 10 years. Although UK music is now an international movement, by taking it right back to its roots of East London, we aim to contextualise the journey of the last ten years into an art and music experience.

Documented through interactive exhibition and performance events, we give an exclusive insight into the ever-changing genres, sub-genres, movements and sounds that have successfully morphed their way through the UK’s alternative channels before finding themselves surfacing in the spotlight.

DECA illustrates the diversity, conditions and rise of a movement that has overcome marginalisation. However, no story is complete without conflict and in giving an honest reflection of the last decade, we evaluate the obstacles faced by this scene in reaching their current position.

No look at the underground-to-mainstream movement would be complete without delving into pirate radio culture and considering the impact this platform has made upon UK music. By propelling otherwise unheard sounds into the face of popular culture, pirate radio is credited as the original platform for grime music, spawning a genre that served as a catalyst for a surge of innovation. Through our investigation of the influences and struggles of grime in its early years, we will be best placed to look this movement’s more recent successes and what’s yet to come.