"Interground" - The 3rd Festival of Urban Culture

Culture in Your Face

The story about Interground began three years ago, when Nina Halilović, Minja Leko, Vanja Ćerimagić and Edin Miraščić decided that Sarajevo needed a festival which would support the unknown and unestablished artists


By MASHA DURKALIĆ
from Sarajevo, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA


SARAJEVO, October 2006 - The 3rd festival of urban culture Interground (www.igsfest.info) took place in Sarajevo from 20th till 28th of October 2006. Under the leadership of four young people, Interground offered nine (9) days of cultural events for everyone's taste, varying from punk and hardcore concerts to nights of slam poetry.

The story about Interground began three years ago, when Halilović Nina, Leko Minja, Ćerimagić Vanja and Miraščić Edin decided that Sarajevo needed a festival which would support the unknown and unestablished artists. The first Interground in 2004 was created because of the dissatisfaction with the alternative music scene of Sarajevo , and consisted only out of a single punk/hardcore concert. During the second Interground in 2005 there were two punk/hardcore concerts and exhibitions of students of the Academy of Arts in Sarajevo and of young amateur photographers of Fotoklub Sarajevo. After two years, the situation has substantially changed, primarily because there were a lot of young people who didn't have the space or the money to present their talents. These four young organizers still function as an informal group, but in spite of that they decided to keep the festival running because of the young artists that needed support and promotion, and did everything in their power to accomplish that goal.

The first event of the 3rd Interground was the punk/hardcore concert in SaClub, which featured Atheist Rap from Novi Sad, Motus from Zagreb, Ofsajd from Sarajevo and Justin's Johnson from Split. It was followed by an evening of poetry in club Bock, which featured seven young poets. From 21st till 27th of October the audience had a chance to watch various short, documentary and NGO films in club Bock, which also hosted the exhibition of photographs by young amateur photographers of Fotoklub Sarajevo. An evening of slam poetry entitled Zbogom Bruce Lee (Goodbye Bruce Lee) finalized the 3rd Interground.

The Goal - To Promote Young Artists

The coordinator of the project Vanja Ćerimagić says: 'As a part of the 3rd Interground, evenings of poetry and slam poetry, the photo exhibition and the film screenings are all based on the fact that we wanted to promote young people engaged in any kind of artistic production. Those artists don't have a chance to present their talents, and we think that they deserve to be presented to the audience. As for the punk/hardcore concert, Interground offers these bands an opportunity to have a proper concert, primarily because they always have to rent the space from a club they want to play in, and that costs a lot of money, not to mention microphones, equipment, etc. We try as hard as we can to give those people what they need to present themselves.'

Vanja also points out that the group of enthusiasts that organize the Interground is not registered yet, but the legal support has been provided by Kampanja za prigovor savjesti, so the organizers could apply for money for their projects. Interground is a very nice example of the support of local authorities - this year, Municipality Centar is the main sponsor of Interground, after the support it provided for the second edition. Nevertheless, the financial means provided by this municipality are small, because this festival falls in the category of mini projects carried out by young people, so Interground got 1500 KM (around 750 euros). 'I think this is the only festival in the city, perhaps even in the country, which is organized with a budget up to 2000 KM (around 1000 euros)', says Vanja. Municipality Novo Sarajevo helped the first Interground and returned with its support for the third edition, and the other sponsors are mainly NGOs like Kampanja za prigovor savjesti, Asocijacija za seksualno i reproduktivno zdravlje XY, Omladinska informativna agencija, South East European Youth Network, campaign Izaberi život, ne drogu! (Choose life, not drugs!) and others.

But, the thing that is the biggest problem when it comes to festivals of alternative culture is the audience that doesn't pay much attention to culture. 'Something always disturbs our plans. Either it's the elections or it's Bayram, or it's the elections AND Bayram, which was the case this year.', says Vanja, but thinks that this is not the real reason. In his opinion, people are not really interested in anything concerning art and culture, and it is not the case just with Interground, but with many other events that are organized by other people. He still thinks that there are people who truly care about alternative culture such as punk/hardcore concerts, photo exhibitions and poetry, and they are the reason Interground exists.

Kultura u lice (Culture in Your Face & Culture of the Street)

Vanja points out that Interground is not a festival with a big budget, or a strong marketing campaign with 20 different billboards which would attract more audience. But he does say this: 'Interground is a festival that promotes underground artists, so this year we have a motto: kultura u.lice - which has an ambiguous meaning: at the same time it means culture in your face and culture of the street.' The young artists that presented themselves during the festival do the things they love and they are ready to show it to the world. Still, they are aware that no one else will promote them without a certain interest.

Having invested much energy in trying to provide the audience with something which would liberate them from everyday boredom caused by the lack of adequate and interesting cultural events, the organizers of Interground say that there will be a 4th Interground next year, primarily thanks to the good cooperation with Municipality Centar. And, what is more important, these young people invite everyone who deals with any kind of artistic expression to present their work in public and for free. Such an initiative should not be missed, and that is exactly what the 3rd Interground has demonstrated.