On July 9 the official opening of the ARSENAL XXII club will take place in the territory of the former factory “Arsenal” where the Kyiv Food Market project is now being implemented. The German duo FJAAK, Ukrainian DJ and producer and Berghain resident Etapp Kyle, and Ukrainian DJ and NECHTO resident Daria Kolosova are invited to participate in the party. The club team tells about the peculiarities of the project, music and location in the blitz-interview with DTF Magazine
— Tell us briefly about the concept of ARSENAL XXII. What is your main difference from other clubs?
— ARSENAL XXII is a meta-cultural space for creative collaborations.
We have created a space that is open to any kind of creative experimentation in music as well as in any other art form. We took into account the historical context of the building as an armory forge in which ARSENAL XXII opens and we came up with a definition of forge as cultural, which reflects our vision of the project, as music is the strongest weapon of our time.
— How did you find the location and why did you choose it?
— We focused our search on the city center at first, because there are almost no nightlife projects here. The choice became obvious, when we found premises in the renovated building of the Arsenal plant.
This building was built in 1764 and it is a monument of architecture, but at the same time it is located in the heart of one of the best areas of the city, which has undergone a global reconstruction. There is a huge flow of tourists and residents of the capital. There are also a large number of evening projects and no night projects. We decided that this project should be us.
The factory building is unique: its brick vaults have survived more than one historical event and have been preserved in their original form. The building is historic and that was a challenge for us. We had to develop a project that would give us the technical capability we needed without changing the integrity of the building.
— What kind of music do you focus on?
— We focus on several directions in terms of music: house, techno, acid, electro and others. But the main emphasis is still on artists.
We want to bring famous musicians as well as to discover new names for our guests, including Ukrainian ones.
We want ARSENAL XXII to be a place of unconditional attendance without being limited to big names. That’s why we want to work with artists who are just starting their careers (both foreign and Ukrainian) and we also want to do scouting. Our task is to make sure that under the ARSENAL XXII brand there are a priori people whose music one would like to dance to, whom one would like to listen to, even if their name is not booming from all the soundclouds.
— Can you be considered a techno club?
— It’s too narrow concept, which can’t be attached to any of the Kiev clubs, as none of them works exclusively with techno direction.
Nowadays there is a tendency of hybrid sets among djs and electronic musicians, where artists mix different styles, such as techno, electro, house, breakbeat and trance. And the output is a complete story, which the guest party is not just listening to the background, but lives these emotions and transforms them into movement on the dance floor. If we narrow the format only to techno, we will miss this magic during the party, and the DJ will lose the opportunity to reveal his music audience.
— Who is your audience?
— We bring our guests together with music and a few simple rules that will allow everyone who wants to come down to ARSENAL XXII to enjoy our parties. Respect for the individuality of each guest, the anonymity of what is going on and the work of the staff inside the club will allow us to unite several audiences. All guests are welcome, but we demand compliance with our rules from everyone without exception.
— What frequency of parties are you planning?
— We start with parties on Fridays at the moment. We plan to expand the timing in the future.
— Are you planning a daytime party format?
— We are not planning this yet, but we want to launch an evening format in the near future and we’ll tell you about it a little later.
— Will there be anything other than parties at ARSENAL XXII?
— Yes. We plan to develop the direction of concerts, lectures, performances, exhibitions, shows in addition to parties. Our project has the potential to implement almost any format of events that fit into our concept.
Instagram ARSENAL XXII | Telegram | RA
