Scene
“Colorful club night explosion” is how Nina Maštruko aka Babilonska announced onkraj, her new club night whose first edition will take place this Friday, September 26, at AKC Attack!, featuring Bolivian artist and vocalist Maque and Brazilian DJ and producer auto_timer.
Organizer and versatile artist Nina presents her project as a format not defined by genre, program or location, but as a fusion of arts and creativity. “I want to explore different event formats, moods and concepts. It will also not be defined by genre, I want to use this chance to make an agile program which can be a creative outlet for all of my musical inclinations, be it leftfield club nights, ambient immersions, noisey concert moshpits or intimate listening sessions and workshops.” She hopes to build bridges between cultural areas, genres and audiences through constant change and collaboration. “I think there are several amazing and inspiring programs on the scene that curate events like these and feature different musical and sound experiments. Through partnerships and this credo of constant change and adaptibility, I hope to create bridges between different cultural areas, genres, and audiences. This approach allows for a more continuous program throughout the year – and hopefully, stops me from quickly becoming bored of doing it.”
Onkraj announces as a series, continuously organizing smaller or medium events at least every couple of months. Nina says she is open to what the future of the program will bring, and as the current goal she emphasizes „the goal for now is to find the presence in the moment.“ She adds, „Presence is at the core of the concept for onkraj. The name onkraj, meaning ‘beyond’ speaks about the skill of (truly) noticing the world around us.“
As one of the motives behind this project, she also points out today’s habits of experiencing music and the importance of sometimes pausing for a moment to truly absorb the art around us in order to better understand the people who surround us, „I’ve thought a lot about the nature of listening and existing in the moment, especially in the context of the way we often „consume“ music today, governed by algorithmic selection and fast-paced trends. I’ve come to realize that gathering with like-minded people in a physical space to focus together on a playful, adventurous, or challenging form of sound/music is one of the things that makes me feel the most alive. It also helps me see, accept, and understand other people better. So I just wanted to be a part of building moments like this that connect people and a wider community beyond national borders.“
The first edition will take place at AKC Attack!, one of the cultural hubs in Zagreb, „It is one of the places where I found community and creative support throughout the years so it made sense to start this journey there.“, said the organizer, also announcing that other locations for Onkraj can be expected, „I want to be able to try out different spaces, hopefully even many non-club spaces, and try to transform them in some way each time. I am sure that requires a lot of energy, but so far I am motivated enough. We’ll see what happens along the way.“
What definitely makes the first Onkraj special are the guests, with their unusual approach to art and music.
auto_timer is a Brazilian DJ, producer and composer based in Berlin. Their intense and dynamic DJ sets span the spectrum of Latin American bass music, finding surprising connections between different styles of Latin bass and club with deconstructed elements of baile funk, mandelão, bruxaria and fractured percussion.
Nina also shared how she first connected with the guest: „I met Ricardo (auto_timer) last year when their amazing contemporary classical composition was being performed by Ascolta ensemble in Pauk in Zagreb, an interesting event organized by Davor Vincze and Tomislav Oliver with the support of the Croatian Composer Society. I did a DJ set after that concert, and then Ricardo got on the decks – and I was instantly blown away. It was such a firey, uncompromising, dynamic approach to mixing, dripping with experimental yet distinctly Brazilian and Latin American dancefloor energy. And the fact that this set was being performed after a contemporary classical concert aligned perfectly with my dreams of a post-genre scene. We instantly clicked and decided we have to do something together. We talked about their Berlin-based collective CHOKA they co-founded with Maque, who is such an electrifying performer in her own right. So it made sense to bring them both to Zagreb for a celebration of club culture as it should be – joyful, adventurous and inherently queer.“
Alongside auto_timer, on Friday you will be able to experience a performance by the interdisciplinary artist from Bolivia, Maque. She believes in the transformative power of sensual pleasure and movement. Her music brings together various Latin American genres with an emphasis on the perreo style – it is intended for close dancing, bodily intimacy, and transforming anger into sweat, joy and sensuality. Maque began by mixing cumbia, reggaeton and traditional Bolivian sounds for her dance performances, and then shifted her focus to singing, DJ-ing and music production.
If you want to dive a little deeper into Maque’s artistic practice, the philosophy behind perreo, her cultural background and how she expresses activism through her art, check out the interview she gave for INSITE ahead of her performance in Zagreb this Friday.
Get your tickets for the first edition of onkraj – here.
