Scene
‘Outdoor – indoor ambient bonanza’ – a quite straight to the point syntagm that sums up the event that will take place this Saturday, May 30th, at the Philosophical house Xantipa, locally known as Krematorij house. Nina Maštruko, freelance producer, DJ, curator and founder of onkraj, teamed up with SNOP collective by visual artist Monika Milas and DJs and producers Kornet and Varboska with a vision to transform the ‘hidden woods’ house exterior and the living room interior into a micro-festival that combines educational workshops, visual and audio experience.
Barely a ten-minute car ride from the city center, the house is invisible from the main road and protected by the treetops. The whole set will be coloured with lights and projections, textile and plastic sculptures stretched out among the bushes and branches. The soundscape that matches the visual, including textural crunches, spilled drones, whispers, chants, and electronic drifts that echo through the grove. By sunset, the crowd moves to the colorful wooden house with a stone terrace and painted walls. In the late evening, the event finishes in the living room of the house, from which comes a darker, noisier, rougher sound.
In anticipation of the event that holds a festival lineup, we had a chat with the initiators of the gathering – Nina Maštruko explained the whole concept, while the SNOP crew led us through the audiovisual idea of the day.
The Concept
In the past year, we spoke with Nina about the position of an independent artist in Croatia, as well as her initiative for the Onkraj series of events. However, the upcoming onkraj event seems as a homage to her entire career on stage, while the setup and location represent a different concept that is closer to an educational and audiovisual experience. We talked about the idea for this project to be held at a location that is known for a different concept of events.
“The onkraj program is the culmination of everything I’ve been doing so far, among other things, because it constantly mutates and allows me to do what I want to do at that moment and to collaborate with different collectives and artists. It was incredibly important to me that one of my first collaborations be with SNOP because their work inspires me endlessly, and, in fact, with their appearance, they showed me the potential of an intimate listening audiovisual experience and revealed the thirst that the local audience has for a different collective experience of music”, Nina explained, adding that she has been longing to create an event at the house since she first stepped there.
“SNOP are masters of building immersive audiovisual bubbles, and this is an opportunity to try out their practice in a natural setting, where the essence of the challenge is to create just enough to visually and sonically intervene and shift the meaning of the space, while still allowing nature to shine in its full glory – whether it’s the green of the leaves or the chirping of birds”, Nina furtherly explained the collaboration.
As for the educational component, each onkraj program is accompanied by a thematic workshop, and this was a great opportunity to learn a little about the nature of listening with Slovenian artist Oka (Eva Mulej), on Friday, May 29, the day before the performance, to learn about both our environment, ourselves, and the people around us with whom we form a community. “That is actually the guiding principle of the entire onkraj program“, Nina concluded.
The Visual Segment
The head behind the visuals is Monika Milas, an artist whose installations and visuals have been found in various setups, from theaters, festivals, clubs, courtyards, museums, and more. She has already made installations at the location of the upcoming event, but for a different clubbing underground concept. For this occasion, her installations move into the forest and adapt for the day of education, workshops, listening rooms, and clubbing. Speaking of the concept, which is very adaptive to each part of the house interior and exterior, while the music and program change accordingly, we were wondering how she connected the whole story into a visual and what guided her when creating them.
“I have always been interested in how the same elements can change their meaning depending on the space they are in. This time, the biggest challenge, but also the greatest inspiration, was the forest.
I am not trying to cover nature with scenery or create an artificial world that dominates the space. I am more interested in the dialogue between the existing landscape and the contemporary materials I use – sheet metal, foil, lights, reflections and interventions that act almost as traces of human presence within the natural environment”, Monika shared.
As visitors pass through different zones that have their own identity, the idea is to create a single experience. The event moves from simpler and more subtle interventions to more complex visual and spatial situations. “The feeling of discovery is important to me, as if the audience is going through some kind of temporary map or journey. The special thing about this event is the combination of seemingly incompatible elements,“, she pointed out.
During the day, the space functions as a place for listening, and as the atmosphere changes, the same elements take on a new function through light, sound and the presence of people. Nature, art, music and socializing are not separate segments, but parts of the same experience.
“In addition to the location and concept itself, I find it particularly important to collaborate with young people from the lighting scene who participate in shaping the visual identity of the event. With Sven and Paki (Sven Trbojević and Matteo Cernogoraz) from Studio Elektrika, I share a similar background – we grew up in a club environment, through music, experimentation, and various forms of alternative culture. Although we developed our own practices and interests, through our work we recognized a common language in relation to the space, atmosphere and experience of the audience”, Monika explained, adding that they do not view lighting only as a technical tool, but as an artistic medium.
“I believe that Studio Elektrika brings a fresh and interesting approach to the domestic scene because they combine technical knowledge, manual labor, and artistic reflection on space“, she added, explaining their presence is not just a support for the visual concept, but an equal part of it.
“The visual identity of this event is created through a dialogue of space, people, light and time spent on location. We do not build a scenography that is only observed, but an environment through which the audience moves, lingers, listens, explores and becomes its active participant“, Monika concluded, explaining the idea behind the visual concept of the whole event.
The Sound Dimensions
In the same way as the visuals and installations through the spaces and parts of the day, the musical part of the program follows the same pattern. Starting with education, experimental, ambient, acoustic and electronic, to clubbing, the DJs and producers Kornet and Varboska from SNOP further explained how they shaped the sound of the day and night.
“As SNOP, we want to provide people with an emotional and immersive introspective experience similar to a journey through a film set without actors or an aimless exploration of a video game outside the main content, when small, thoughtful artistic details come to light and draw us deeper into the moment, provoke the imagination and make us create our own adventure”, the guys stated. The way they arranged the flow of the performances and the set design reflects such a narrative and progression – a journey from a light acoustic swing in the early evening with the breeze, building the intensity of the ambience into dusk with the emergence of electronic sound, artificial light, and abstract visuals, culminating in the most intense form of musical and visual experience late at night.
Kornet and Varboska also said that they have been looking forward to and have wanted to do a program in nature for a long time and let their imagination run wild when devising a visual game with the already magical note given by the late spring, evening ambiance of the forest, and complement the whole experience with a powerful sound system that they plan to use in its entirety for their own set. “The cold, romantic, and melancholic note of previous performances now transitions into wonder, colossalness, levitation, the warmth of nature, the complexity of organic structures, and the abyss into underground, tectonic boiling”, they described the journey.
The microfestival program will start with an a cappella invocation of traditional songs performed by the quintet PJEV, followed by the audiovisual performances and electronic live sets in a forest clearing. Oka (Eva Mulej Vrabič) will perform the electroacoustic album Larv, which is visually brought to life by animations of surreal microorganisms by Kaja Horvat (Sun for Roses). The musical part of the SNOP collective, varboska and Kornet will cross the medium of live, DJ and VJ sets. HV$VH (Hugo Baranger) will harness their own mobile application as a digital instrument for the purpose of sensory and spiritual experiences. Dimitrijević & Cole will delve into the exploration of the sonic interweaving of computer music and cymbals.
The noisier part of the evening in the living room of the house will be filled with industrial electronics and the shouts of Ferrari Blonde, and the experimental DJ set of Belgrade’s UBICA will exude layered textures, tension and emo sensibility. The final dance block is the responsibility of an audiovisual collective inspired by the underground internet culture – Lovačka srca. The playful sets of DJs šeretkrzmal, šakon_cute and Hantaro will be in synergy with the audio-reactive visuals of VJs Živina and purikulo.
As previously said, visual artist Monika Milas from SNOP Collective is responsible for the visual atmosphere and set design, while studio Elektrika is responsible for the lighting design. The sound is provided by the D&A Innovations team from Slovenia. Tickets for the upcoming onkraj + SNOP event are available for pre-sale via tootoot.fm
