Music genre, identity determinant or cultural and social phenomenon? Music sub-genre that formed generations of young people will be presented within the lecture ‘A Guide through the Grindcore Subculture’ by historian Žarko Gladić.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday, 5 August, at 7 p.m. in the Egyég Cultural Station, and interested will have a chance to follow via Facebook page of Cultural Stations.

According to Žarko Gladić, this subculture depicts a bit wild, but more natural and honest micro world, freed from all recognisable forms and standards. For someone, the grindcore presents a hobby, and for many, a way of life without any profit, isolated from all other forms of mainstream culture.

‘In the beginning, it was only a music genre within which a system of values based on a pure energy, emotions, critical perspective on the world, uncompromising attitude, freedom of expression, encouragement, and initiative, was developed. Sometimes it owns specifically strong political components that were used by some bands as the basis of their creative work. From a musical perspective, grindcore is a collective improvisation with elements of coincidence and arbitrariness, with the attempt to express thoughts and emotions to the extent equipment can record them. From the philosophical – ideological perspective, grindcore is something beyond the context of a standard tradition, something that was being developed, evolved, and lived on beyond all processes, either social or artistic ones’, explains Gladić.

Within the lecture, audience will have a chance to see videos from the concerts, as well as photographs of bands, scanned flyers, and posters, covers of some vinyls, CDs and cassette tapes. The playlists of local, regional, and international bands will be presented. The exhibition part presents vinyls, CDs, cassette tapes, printed T-shirts, fanzines, and independent ‘DIY’ publications… Žarko Gladić will speak about the importance of sub-cultural movements in the creation of an identity, especially when comparing it to the prevailing mainstream culture.

‘The presence of subcultural movements is one of the inevitable factors of any society, no matter the time period. Being part of particular subcultures, the identity that is different from the one imposed by the dominant mainstream culture, has been formed. The ways in which we can express allegiance are numerous, including everyday activities, consumption of particular food, behaviour, expressing opinion, and specific omnipresent taste in music, etc.’, says the author of the project and adds:

‘There is no grindcore scene in Serbia and Novi Sad. Everything comes down to a couple of individuals, and there are several active bands at the moment, and they are veterans present on the scene since the beginning of 1990s. The grindcore itself goes beyond all borders and it can be said that is has the international character. Since it belongs to the deepest underground genres, forming of a grindcore band, fanzine or some other creative aspect is a coincidence we can compare to the comet struck.

Therefore, we are all very well connected across the world, since there is no many of us, and believe it or not, we all personally know each other, since we visit each other, organise different types of events at the international level. This is the proof how strong our cooperation is’.

‘The whole movement is based on solidarity, and there is almost no profit from it. It is not someone’s career, but love, hobby, a way of life. Music albums, recordings, organisation costs, fanzine printing are self-financed, without any sponsors. Mostly everything functions based on donations, which is the proof how the world is compact, connected and how it expresses solidarity. The world in which everybody is equal, no matter where he/she comes from’, stresses Žarko Gladić and says that the projects such as the ‘Artists. Now!’ can contribute to the visibility of subcultural movements:

‘Every type of cooperation is welcomed, either individually or within a collective. Especially since the most of spaces and clubs are sustainable and almost independent of city institutions, everything is based on self-financing and volunteering and they are often on the edge of existence. The visibility is very important since all these associations, collectives and individuals have rich contents and can offer something completely different.’

‘A Guide through the Grindcore Subculture’ is one of the 22 projects that received funds within the ‘Artists. Now!’ public call of the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’, aimed at strengthening local cultural scene, raising its capacities through a network of cultural stations, decentralisation of culture and audience development.

Partner in the project ‘Artists. Now!’ is the Merkator S company.