Pohoda on the Ground: a meeting full of freedom at Trenčín
“We have experienced five extraordinary days. Since we started setting up the structures, there has been an unprecedented cordial atmosphere at the Trenčín airport. It was accentuated by the entry of the first visitor at noon on Wednesday, and has remained here until now. The joy of meeting each other was endless, as was the desire to create something and present or perceive art. I am happy that we were able to meet our visitors again, who confirmed that they are the most valuable asset we have”, said Michal Kaščák after the festival.
13. July 2021
Despite the measures and limited capacity, the festival brought the same level of varied program that we are used to during the “big” Pohoda and, in many respects, this paradoxically brought on even more freedom: in this smaller version, the organisers could allow what is otherwise forbidden at a festival of 30,000 visitors for security reasons. As result, visitors rushed along the runway on skateboards and rollerskates, and some even had a race with folks from vozickar.info (news portal for wheelchair users). Many visitors recorded their experiences and concerts on video cameras, cameras, and mobile phones, which was part of the challenge of the director of our documentaries, Lucia Kašová. Visitors were also able to enter areas that are not normally accessible, such as the decommissioned military radar, where night parties took place. This was the stage for the symbolic set that featured Jewish DJ Ramzy Al Spinoza and Palestinian rapper MC Safaa Hathot. In combination with non-functional military equipment, this was not just a great fun: it was also a strong artistic gesture.
The distinction between the stage and the audience got blurred as several visitors became part of the musical performances. Band Shht solved the singer’s absence by involving friends, other performers and visitors, which triggered a wave of further collaborations. The members of the band Wooze invited their friend Florence Shaw from Dry Cleaning on stage and together they played a cover of the song “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. Also band Fulu Miziki, which create their instruments from waste, invited on the stage the Jobus brothers who have a very similar artistic approach to everyday objects. The novelty at Pohoda was the presence of the new circus formation called 12 Birds & 1 Stone, whose members were unmissable during all festival days. The way they spread positive energy everywhere around returned to them during their performance “No one’s land”, where they always attracted a lot of people.
However, the essence of the festival was not only great installations, debates, workshops or unexpected collaborations: it was the long-awaited meetings of people, our visitors, with the production crew and performers, who, on Saturday, connected online with those who could not attend. The 16-hour live stream was seen more than 3,000 times on the festival’s website, watched on YouTube more than 2,000 times, and Facebook videos were watched more than 18,000 times. The festival venue had an exceptional concept: the three main stages in a unique circular design on the aircraft stand area were complemented by the Tram – the T3 cultural vehicle and the discussion space of Café Kušnierik. Furthermore, visual artists realized their installations and performances on the grounds, so that later the area would become completely empty. The festival also came up with exceptional solutions in the field of ecology. A pilot project of returnable dishes was implemented and all equipment was connected to the fixed electricity network.
The organisers were also very pleased with the fact that almost three quarters of the visitors were vaccinated, which is twice as much as the national average. All the others were tested (production crew as well as several vaccinated visitors were also preventively tested), while during the five days, not a single positive COVID-19 result was recorded in more than 2,200 tests. The Pohoda on the Ground festival series has shown that well-established cultural events can be even safer from the epidemiological point of view than the streets of our cities.
“The Pohoda on the Ground Festival started as a concept full of uncertainty, and all obstacles are negligible in terms of its outcome. The measures were worth it; I feel that we have managed to create a space full of freedom, a celebration of art, tolerance, and the joy of meeting. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to its implementation—the commitment of many was huge and admirable, and visitors made sense of all our efforts. Also this Pohoda has shown the importance of live art. We keep our fingers crossed for the other organisers of live culture events; we wish them to experience similar feelings of joy as we are experiencing now, so that they can realise their events in the freest possible format. We cannot wait for the festival in its full version and we are looking forward to Pohoda 2022 on the 7th to 9th July at the magical space of Trenčín Airport”, added the head of the festival Michal Kaščák.
Confirmed names of Pohoda 2022
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Libertines, Richie Hawtin, Black Pumas, Metronomy, Wolf Alice, slowthai, Shame, Hatari, The Comet is Coming, Pengshui, Injury Reserve, Bazzookas, Emel Mathlouthi, Space Lady, shht, Malox, Asmâa Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou.