Subcultures vs. Mainstream | Discussion results

SUBCULTURES vs. MAINSTREAM Results of a Panel Discussion on Subcultures in Germany and Romania

Published by: Goethe-Zentrum Klausenburg All photos by Robert Puțeanu Copyright © October 2016

Partners of the Film Series Us & Them:

Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................5 Panel Speakers ....................................................................... 7

Discussion Results ................................................................ 11 Introduction ................................................................11 Definition ....................................................................11 Initiation ..................................................................... 13 Identity ....................................................................... 15

The Eastern Scene .................................................... 17 Recent Developments ................................................ 18 Closing Remarks ........................................................ 19 Further Reading .................................................................... 21

Based on its musical origins, the heavy metal scene has spawned many subcultures.

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Berlin based DJ and music producer Mark Reeder during a live performance as part of Us & Them on June 17, 2016 in Cluj-Napoca.

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Foreword In June 2016, the German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca organized a series of events titled Us & Them. Series of German Films on Subculture. The program consisted of film screenings, concerts and a panel discussion of which this paper is an account. The general aim was to inform the interested public about subcultural scenes and raise a discussion on the influence of subcultures on German and Romanian civil society.

The German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca is at the core of the cultural dialogue between Germany and the city of ClujNapoca in the heart of Transylvania, Romania. Offering cutting-edge language courses and examinations, a multifaceted cultural program and a comprehensive library, we promote the German language at the highest level and present an authentic image of modern-day Germany. Thus, the German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca is situated at the interface between the cultural sector, the economy and the society.

The hippies were a subcultural movement in the Western world that started in the 1960s.

It is in the nature of subcultures to be somewhat outside of the focus of mainstream society. Nonetheless, subcultural groups are an inherent part of German history. From the regime-defying Swingjugend and Leipzig Meuten during the Third Reich over the 1960s counterculture to Berlin’s vibrant underground of the 1980s – subcultures were discussed in mainstream media and sometimes helped shape the political landscape. Our question was: how was – and is – the situation in Romania? What are the differences and similarities regarding subcultures compared to Germany and Western Europe? To spark a debate, we intended to show German movies about various subcultural topics. However, the amount of questions and discussion we came up with made us quickly realize that a panel discussion would be a valuable addition to the program. Finally, we also 5

incorporated a DJ set and a concert, acknowledging the fact that many subcultures have a specific type of music at the core of their identity.

The German Cultural Center’s program Us & Them was held from June 16 to June 18 at different locations in ClujNapoca. On Thursday, June 16, a screening of the SwissGerman documentary film Skinhead Attitude and the panel discussion Subculture vs. Mainstream took place at the Paintbrush Factory in Mărăști. The next day saw the screening of B-Movie. Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 19791989, a DJ set by the film’s main protagonist Mark Reeder and a concert by Bucharest based band Crowd Control at Urania Palace. On the final day, the episodic hip-hop movie Status Yo! and the award-winning documentary Full Metal Village were screened at the recently re-opened Cinema Dacia.

This paper gives an account of the results of the panel discussion titled Subculture vs. Mainstream. The panel was moderated by Corina Bucea, a cultural manager who has served in management positions with the Paintbrush Factory since its opening in 2009. As speakers, the panel brought together five experts from different fields such as members of subcultural scenes, academics and cultural managers.

The German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca wishes to thank all those involved in the Us & Them series of events. Special thanks go to the panel participants and moderator, to the venues who offered their space and all our supporters and partners.

We hope that this account of the panel discussion proves useful as a basis for future research.

Cluj-Napoca, August 2016

Cosplay, short for costume play, is a modern subculture that originates in Japan.

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Panel Speakers Mark Reeder

Mark Reeder

Mark Reeder is a respected musician, record producer and DJ and a veteran of West Berlin’s 1980s underground scene.

Reeder was born in 1958 in Manchester and – working in a record shop – soon discovered his passion for music.

Following the trail of German Krautrock, he relocated to West-Berlin in 1978 where he worked as a record producer and manager for bands from the post punk and avant-garde scene. Through his label MfS, he was later involved in the emerging techno scene and helped, among others, Paul van Dyk to achieve international fame. He is also the protagonist of the documentary B-Movie. Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 which focuses on Berlin’s subcultural scene in the 1980s.

Reeder was a member of the punk movement from an early age in 1970s Britain. He is an expert on both, West-Berlin’s underground, especially punk, post-punk and techno, as well as the subcultures of Eastern Europe. He came into contact with punks and other nonconformists in Eastern Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc countries during his travels in the 1980s which brought him as far as the Black Sea.

Ştefan Tiron Ştefan Tiron is an artist, writer and curator. He was born in Romania in 1976 and lives mostly in Bucharest these days.

He holds a degree in History and Theory of Arts from Bucharest’s Art University and studied in Romania, Germany and the United States. He has been involved in various festivals and art projects in public space – as an artist in 7

residence, curator or co-organizer – like the Moving Patterns 04 festival in Vienna or the On Difference project in Stuttgart. He regularly writes for blogs and magazines like Berliner Gazette, Arhitext Design and Sunete Mag. Mr. Tiron has always been an advocate of street-, youthand subculture. He is deeply involved in the nerd culture and especially its Japanese extreme variant, Otaku. He is one of the co-founders of the Otaku Festival Bucharest and frequently writes on Japanese horror manga for the Sunete Mag. In Berlin, he came in contact with groups related to Eastern European subcultures like the Club der polnischen Versager and also curated an interactive exhibition on contemporary subcultures.

Ştefan Tiron

Dr. Laura Lala Panait Dr. Panait is an urban anthropologist and a cultural manager.

Born and raised in Bucharest, she has been living and working in Cluj-Napoca since the time of her university years. She holds a PhD in Philology and Urban Anthropology from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and graduated from Bauhaus Kolleg in Dessau, Germany, where she studied urbanism and the effects of the European Union’s Capital of Culture program. She is frequently organizing artistic interventions in public space, most notably in the La Terenuri area in Cluj-Napoca and is a communication coordinator for the Colectiv A association and the Temps d’Images festival.

Coming in contact with subcultures already at a young age, Dr. Panait was an active member of both the electronic music scene and the hip-hop subculture. For her Bachelor’s Degree, she examined the rave music and club scenes in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest in the early 2000s. Her work in La Terenuri, which is located in the Mănăștur neighborhood of Cluj-Napoca, puts her in direct contact with contemporary youth culture and the remains of the once flourishing hiphop movement in this area.

Dr. Panait 8

Padre Alexandru Ciorba

Padre Alexandru

Ciorba

Transylvanian-born Alexandru Ciorba took a rather unusual career path. After studying Catholic Theology in ClujNapoca, he worked for several years as a priest for the Roman Catholic Church before reconsidering his life choices and taking up a double career as a tailor and a goth DJ. Currently, he regularly organizes a goth and metal party as well as alternative concerts at Cluj-Napoca’s Flying Circus club. He is also active in the local scene of classic car collectors. Several independently produced videos about his life and philosophical background have been published on YouTube.

Padre, how he is known in the scene, is one of the central figures in Cluj-Napoca’s goth movement. Through his tailoring abilities, he provides goth fashion for other scene members and is also one of the most active organizers of parties and concerts. After the closure of the local Umbra de Noapte café, his Classic Goth Night at the Flying Circus has become one of the most important meeting points for members of Cluj-Napoca’s goth community.

Andreea-Cristine Palaga Ms. Palaga is currently a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca and refers to herself as a medical anthropologist. Born in Reșița in 1990, she holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Anthropology. The medical dimension of her studies is reflecting her own extensive experience working as a medical nurse and has recently culminated in a study on the Romanian healthcare system. She is also one of the founding members of Sociolink, a web platform for sociologists and social anthropologists. She was also involved in the work of Fundația Noi Orizonturi, an NGO promoting practical education for youths.

Ms. Palaga

Many of her works focus on groups and individuals on the periphery of society, including virtual sex workers and neopagans. She also did a comprehensive study on the goth and extreme metal movements in Romania for which she was commended at the 2011 Social Echoes session.

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Moderator Cristina Bucea, Padre Alexandru Ciorba and Lala Panait (left to right) at the panel discussion.

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Discussion Results Introduction The panel discussion Subculture vs. Mainstream was held in Cluj-Napoca on June 16, 2016 in the Paintbrush Factory as part of the Us & Them series of events. These were organized by the German Cultural Center Cluj-Napoca.

The aim of the event was to bring the topic of subcultures to the attention of the public and to discuss the importance and influence of subcultures on the mainstream. A focus of the discussion was also to be put on the similarities and differences of the development of subcultural scenes in Eastern and Western Europe in general and Romania and Germany in particular.

The techno subculture was especially active during the heyday of Berlin’s Love Parade.

Content wise, questions about the definition of sub-, micro-, youth- and countercultures were the first items on the agenda. This seemed like an important subject to clarify in the beginning so as to have a defined vocabulary for the remainder of the discussion. Then, the question how people become members of subcultures was to be raised.

Culminating in assessments of subcultural influence on society and the portrayal of different scenes in mass media.

Of course, a two-hour panel discussion comes with a few limitations. The results of this debate cannot be seen as factual conclusions in accordance with scientific standards.

Much more, they represent a series of spotlights, influenced by the opinions and experiences of the panel speakers present. As these, however, they can serve as a first foundation for further research.

Definition For a fruitful discussion on a topic as vast as Subcultures vs.

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Mainstream it is paramount to agree on a definition of the terminology. Since there is no coherent, standing definition for the term subculture, an attempt was made at the beginning of the discussion to clarify it and to differentiate it from related terms such as youth culture or counterculture.

Both anthropologists at the panel voiced criticism against the term subculture. Dr. Panait argued that the term is strongly power related. Cristine Palaga agreed with this interpretation and advocated the use of either micro-culture or co-culture to avoid the subversive undertone, subculture entails. According to her, her alternatives would be less hierarchical. She also stressed that mainstream and subcultures are not polar opposites: “Micro-cultures tend to incorporate parts or traits of the macro-culture”, she said.

The hierarchical undertone in the terminology surrounding subcultures was furthermore acknowledged by Padre Alexandru Ciorba, who emphasized the mental link between subculture and underground. Also, terms for individual subcultures can be derogatory, he said, and cited the German term Grufti for a member of the goth scene. Grufti roughly translates to tomb dweller or tomb-related person and is almost exclusively used from persons outside of the scene itself.

Defining one’s own subcultural group from within seems to be no easy task as well. Padre Alexandru Ciorba stated that, despite being a long-term member and one of the most visible spokespersons of Cluj-Napoca’s goth movement, it is difficult for him to define his own scene. He actually preferred a negative definition, trying to negate common prejudices about goth people. As such he defines his subculture as “goths are not Satanists”. Ştefan Tiron added another facet to the definition of the term subculture by noting that members of subcultures can typically also be seen as obsessive fans of their subculture’s valued items (music, publications, individuals etc.).

To conclude, the predominant term subculture is difficult and laden with hierarchical assumptions. This may get in conflict with objective discussions. A comprehensive definition of subculture, or even individual subcultures is difficult, 12

Part of the audience during the panel.

The various biker gangs can also be considered subcultures with distinct behavioral codes.

and laden with hierarchical assumptions. This may get in conflict with objective discussions. A comprehensive definition of subculture, or even individual subcultures is difficult, however, in some cases even for members of these scenes. For the sake of easy readability, this document will continue to refer to these social groups as subcultures.

Initiation Why do people join subcultural groups? And how does this joining process actually take place? Is it an almost instant or a gradual, step by step, development? Since several of the panel speakers were part of one or more subcultures at different points in their lives, they were able to give some first-hand accounts about their experiences.

Dr. Panait was the first person to share her background story with the audience. She mentioned that her interest in electronic music started during her high school period, when she began to listen to rave music. This culminated in a distinct clothing style and an interest in the club music scene which also led to her Bachelor’s thesis focusing on electronic music in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest. Later, she was also involved in the hip-hop scene.

Then, Mark Reeder gave an extensive and insightful account of his involvement with the punk, post-punk and techno music scenes. At a very young age, he began focusing on music, progressive rock at first and then the early incarnations of punk. In the difficult job market of 1970s Manchester, he was lucky to get a job at a record store.

Here, he was subjected to all the new developments in underground music and got more and more involved in the punk scene. Later in Berlin, he found a completely different subculture, which was much more avant-garde than the punks of Manchester with their no future attitude. He talked about the nationalistic mood, many of the ordinary citizens of Manchester felt during the 1970s and recited one instance where he was fined by the police for putting up a Sex Pistols poster in his bedroom window. This was one of the defining moments when he decided not to be a part of mainstream culture. In Manchester, everybody wanted to escape, he said, while the people in Berlin already had escaped ‌ to 13

Berlin. Those musicians and bohemians were much more focused on expressing themselves. Finally, his enthusiasm for electronic music let him become a member of the new techno movement by the end of the 1980s.

Also Padre Alexandru Ciorba recalled his beginnings in the goth scene. Already during his time as a priest, he said, he tended towards the alternative side and listened to music that his superiors regarded as satanic. His transition into goth culture was not an imminent one but rather a gradual process. Starting to wear the distinctly black goth clothing style was the least problematic, he said, because it actually does not differ too much from Catholic priest outfits. Before becoming a goth, he tried to inform himself extensively about the movement. This he did mostly online and in ClujNapoca’s now closed goth café called Umbra de Noapte (English: shadow of the night), where he met active goths.

Very important on his way to become a goth was also his visit to the Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT) in Leipzig, Germany – a festival and the largest gathering of goths in the world.

He said that the WGT taught him a lot about the movement – much more than the internet could have ever offered.

Mark Reeder appeared convinced that subcultures will continue to have new recruits – or will at least rise in importance again after a period of stagnation. He called this an inevitable development. According to him, it will be boredom that will push young people into joining subcultures again.

In summary, it can be said that there seem to be a few factors that can be starting points for joining a subculture: frequenting the locations where the subculture is dominant and meeting members of the scene among others. The most important catalyst – as it was mentioned by most speakers at the panel – seems to be a heightened interest in a musical genre that is linked to subcultures, like for example rave music in the case of Dr. Panait or punk rock in Mark Reeder’s case.

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Hip-hop is a subculture consisting of DJing, MCing, graffiti art and breakdance.

Identity In many cases it is very easy to impose an identity on subcultures from the position of mainstream society. Punks, goths or skinheads, for example, are easily visually identifiable due to their distinct clothing styles, which may even be considered uniformed. Also, they are loaded with stereotypes condensed from an – often fragmented and incomplete – understanding of the respective subculture’s values and behavioral code. But how do subcultures construct identity from within? How important is the mainstream as a definite other in this process? During the panel, questions of identity were discussed extensively.

Panel members acknowledged the identity building qualities of outfits and their importance for various subcultures. Padre Alexandru Ciorba, who as a tailor creates goth outfits for scene members in Cluj-Napoca, stressed the devotion, goth scene members feel for their attire. “… it’s like a religion to have a nice outfit”, he said. Mark Reeder recalled the beginning of the punk scene in Britain as being not very political. According to him, early punk was more often than not just a fashion statement. He himself developed a fetish with military uniforms which he also displays in B-Movie.

How important are the others, those who are not members of a subculture, as a fixed point from which the subculture can distance itself as part of the identity building process?

Different opinions on this were discussed in the panel. Mark Reeder stressed the strongly felt individualism, typical for many alternative subcultures. He said that he never saw himself as a part of the society and added an expression typical for members of alternative cultures: “You have to accept me as I am because I am not gonna change for you”, he said. Padre Alexandru Ciorba said that he has no clue as to what other people think about his appearance but that he tries to be polite to everybody he encounters, especially his neighbors.

Mark Reeder presenting B-Movie on June 17, 2016.

Both, Mark Reeder and Padre Alexandru Ciorba seem to feel the desire to spread knowledge about their respective subcultures to those who are willing to listen. Mr. Ciorba mentioned that as a DJ he deliberately plays a mixture of bands that are enjoyable for a larger alternative crowd and 15

by including goth songs now and then in the mix, he tries to educate the non-goths about these musical styles as well.

He also said that he feels a sense of duty to stay in Romania as a visible member of the goth subculture – despite possibilities to move to Germany or France where life as a goth would be easier. He stressed that he always tries to answer openly the questions from outsiders about his subculture. Mark Reeder seems to be very outgoing and open about his subcultural experiences, too – the film BMovie is a visible evidence for this. And even during the 1980s, he tried to involve friends in what he was doing and produced TV and radio programs on the Berlin underground.

Both, Mr. Reeder and Mr. Ciorba appear to feel the strong need to inspire people.

The openness of subcultures appears to have an end, however, where a hostile takeover of fashion or symbols through the mainstream is a perceived threat. Cristine Palaga elaborated on the threat that arises for subcultures if they are perceived as cool or edgy by the mainstream and corporations try to cash in on the new style. Padre Ciorba strongly stressed that real goths will always stick with the underground, citing fashion as an example. However, attempts to sell out the subculture exist, he admitted and mentioned a store for commercialized goth fashion that emerged around Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig.

Recently, new facets to the self-conception of many subcultures are emerging. Like most subcultures traditionally seen as outsiders, groups like the nerd culture suddenly find themselves in a position of power, Ştefan Tiron added. With gaming and comic books becoming ever more popular and the rise of expensive, highly successful TV series, nerd culture has reached the mainstream.

All in all, the question of identity is too complex to be comprehensively discussed in a short panel discussion.

However, some of the more important aspects where brought to attention. Especially the significance of visual otherness, as achieved through fashion, and the delimitation towards the mainstream were mentioned. Also interesting is the sense of duty with which individuals like Mark Reeder and Mr. Ciorba try to inform the public about their subcultures.

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Punk with its no future attitude was one of the visually more noticeable subcultures.

The Eastern Scene How did subcultures evolve in Eastern Europe? Are there mainly similarities or differences compared to the situation in the West? Two important historical eras were discussed during the panel: subcultures during the time of the Warsaw Pact and the time after the collapse of communism starting in 1989.

Being the oldest panel member, Mark Reeder could give quite a lot of input on Eastern European subcultural scenes.

This is especially due to the fact that during the 1980s, he traveled extensively in countries like Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. He organized several illegal concerts in East Berlin for Western German punk bands like Die Toten Hosen and got into contact with underground scenes in Prague and other cities. Usually followed narrowly by the local intelligence services, he often risked banishment or even imprisonment for smuggling music and fostering contacts with members of the counterculture.

He met lots of people involved in subcultural and underground scenes all over Eastern Europe. In Romania, however, he experience a particularly harsh and repressive communist regime and did not get in contact with any form of counterculture. “People were scared to talk to you because you were from the West”, he said. And added that he is still convinced that there was a subculture in Romania, though, but it was extremely secretive and impossible to track down for outsiders. Romania was “unlike any other Eastern European country”, he said.

Part of the panel during the discussion.

A lot has changed since the fall of communism and many of the panel members remarked that the East is nowadays in many ways freer than the West. Were Romania’s subcultural scenes in the beginning heavily influenced by Berlin’s underground – Dr. Panait for example brought over ideas from her Berlin trips to Bucharest – seems the East now to be in the lead. Ştefan Tiron mentioned that Berlin’s scene already became strongly Easternized during the last few decades when Polish and Russian immigrants came to Berlin in large numbers. The Club der polnischen Versager (English: club of the Polish losers) is one of the more influential of the resulting initiatives in Berlin with strong ties to subcultures. In a humorous juxtaposition with Mark 17

Reeder’s adventures in Eastern Europe in the 1980s, Mr. Tiron stated that he regularly smuggles Eastern European subcultural products and ideas into the West.

In conclusion, the subcultural scene in 1980’s Eastern Europe was – due to political oppression – much more secretive than its counterparts in the West. Nonetheless, it was alive and had quite different manifestations in different countries. Beginning with the 1990s, subcultures in the East and in the West started to influence each other. Here, a shift of the situation can be asserted, with Western manifestations of subcultures influencing the East in the beginning and a somewhat reversed situation nowadays.

Recent Developments Finally, also the current state of subcultures was investigated. Panel members discussed if there had been noticeable changes occurring in their respective field of expertise. Also, upcoming trends and general shifts in the concepts of subcultures – for example due to the ease of gathering information and communicating via digital means – were discussed.

Dr. Laura Panait remarked about her experiences in the Mănăștur area of Cluj-Napoca, where she works extensively with young people, that she experienced a lot of changes. In 2005, when she was still an active member of the subcultural scene, Mănăștur was one of the centers of local hip-hop culture. Nowadays, hip-hop in all its forms practically vanished from the neighborhood and the youth is predominantly interested in pop culture. Dr. Panait said that this also goes along with a lessened interest in political activism. Padre Alexandru Ciorba saw the reason behind these developments mostly in the disconnecting effects of modern digitalized life. Mark Reeder noticed similar changes and shared his believe that people tend to listen to music differently than how they did in the past. “In the 21st century, the way people consume music and fashion has changed completely”, he said. According to him, youth cultures in the 20th century had a clear musical genre and fashion code attached to them – something that is not the case anymore.

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Small talk just before the event.

Ştefan Tiron addressed one of the possible reasons for these changes in subcultures when he introduced the concept of fanification to the panel. He explained this current theory: the internet and social media put fans closer to the objects of their interests than they historically ever were. Also, more and more shares of the mainstream public become fans as in strong followers and unquestioning advocates of their cultural icons. A good example for this are television series and their viewers. He also gave a short summary of the book The Caped Crusade by Glen Weldon (Simon & Schuster, 2016), which examines the rise of nerd culture through the past decades using the example of DC Comic’s character Batman. Recently, the nature of fans and nerds changed dramatically – “they became inquisitors”, Mr. Tiron said.

It seems obvious that big changes are happening in the subcultural scenes throughout the world. Despite the still strong presence of classical subcultures like hip-hop, metal and punk, internet and the social media have orchestrated a change in how members of subcultures communicate and initiate themselves into the scenes. Bigger social changes are behind this and the arrival of fandom in the mainstream will likely usher in a completely new era of subcultures.

Closing Remarks As mentioned in the introduction, the results of the panel discussion Subcultures vs. Mainstream cannot claim to give a comprehensive overview over the topic. Much more, they give a few spotlights and ideas for those interested in further research.

Also junkies, with their own behavioral code and customs, can be considered a subculture.

Due to the time limitations, a few topics were left out of the discussion. Especially a discussion on the political dimensions of Romanian subcultures could provide an interesting topic for a follow-up discussion. Also, it would be very interesting to discuss typical Romanian music phenomena like local pop music style manele and find out if it could be considered a subculture as well. The same goes for dance groups of the Hungarian minority in Romania.

Finally, a discussion of the role of women in subcultures would be an interesting topic for future research.

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Members of Cluj-Napoca’s gothic scene as part of the audience during the panel discussion on June 16, 2016.

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Further Reading Ashton-Smith, A. (2013). Gypsy Punk: Towards a New Immigrant Music. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Bucureci, Andrei (2016): In the Right Place at the Right Time. A Small Adventure with Mark Reeder. Online at http://blog.eclecticfm.ro (as of Aug 11, 2016).

De Groen, E. (2014). Is Roma Culture a Subculture, Damaging Mainstream Culture? Online at http://artistsfor-roma-net.ning.com (as of Aug 11, 2016).

Doboş, D. (2011). Descriptions of the Body: Violence in the Subcultures of Contemporary Romanian Youth.

Linguaculture 2, 125-133.

Iacob, I. (2009). Goth Subculture in Contemporary Romania.

3rd International Workshop on Post-Communist Urban Geographies: Actors Shaping Urban Change, conference, Tartu, Sep. 17-19, 2009.

Munteanu, A., Costea, I., Paloş, R., Jinaru, A. & Dragomir, G. M. (2011). Emo Phenomenon: An Actual Problem in Adolescence. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15, 1611-1615.

Praisler, M., Şorcaru, D. & Merilă, I. (2010). Hip-Hop in Romania (1992-2008). Grupės ir aplinkos 2, 149-155.

All scientific articles mentioned here are freely available online.

Stan, I. (2009). Youth Culture in 1980s Romania: Students‘ Comedy Brigades. MA thesis, Budapest, Central European University.

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