Blank Stare into Bratislava’s new underground scene
Published March, 2014
by Easterndaze
A documentation of a scene that is fluid, happening, developing into various directions and styles. Blank Stare is a new audiovisual project that aims to document the fledgling Bratislava underground scene (you can read more about the city’s electronic scene in our features here, and here and here). We talked to the creators of the project to find out their motivations. You can check the first part of the series below.
Can you introduce your project and the concept?
The concept of the project is to start an art journal focused on the Slovak experimental and electronic scene. We would like to map it through short documentary films, mixes, podcasts, interviews and etc. The main idea of the project is to grow, so after the premiere of the video we plan to start releasing mixes. Since this is a DIY project we are in no hurry to release everything at once. Also we don’t intend to restrict ourselves to Bratislava only, we would very much like to map the entire country and if its within our powers to expand behind borders. We’re just starting local because of the possibilities we have in Bratislava.
What motivated you to start it right now?
In the beginning I just wanted to film some live material from the studio for Triple Sun, but then we thought of inviting some people to watch us perform this concert. And then we made a full concert in our living room. Once we had the webpage I started browsing similar concepts and began to think of ways to expand the project. The others were very supportive of my thoughts and so we shaped the core concept of the page together.
Is there anything specific about the Bratislava scene?
In my opinion the scene in Bratislava is very progressive, driven, forward thinking and has a very unique sound. The people I’ve met so far are constantly thinking of new ways how to produce sounds and compose music. Also the musical taste of the DJs based in Bratislava is very specific and I hope to capture it in the mixes we will release, because its very hard for me to describe it in words.
What kind of producers will you present, what are the criteria for selecting?
The criteria are very simple. The focus is on independent non-commercially released projects. For the films we will always try to choose projects that are diverse, so we have a nice variety of sounds and atmosphere. The friends we have asked to participate also recommend other projects so we’re just trying to make a universally interesting selection.
How often will you do it?
There will be 4 films per year, one for every season. The mixes are to go out once a month. This is our timetable so far.