Moscow Club Culture as a Way to my True Self
 - Hoàng Đặng.jpg "Moscow Club Culture as a Way to my True Self")
Well first, I would like to introduce myself a little bit. The name is Hoang, I am currently a 3rd year student from Vietnam, who is pursuing bachelor’s degree in World Economy. And of course, I can now say that I have chosen the wrong major – things that a lot of people have done wrongly and without a second thought. To me, when I reached the age of 18, I did not have any doubt in choosing Economies as a degree. I thought I would get a great job in economic-related field with a graduation certificate after 4 years of hard-working. Turned out that I was wrong the whole time.
There always used to be a thought walking around my head, that I have picked the wrong area of expertise. Before becoming a 18-year-old teenager, I had never ever have any thoughts on exploring myself, to seek out my truly passion. Moreover, being raised and educated by Asian parents, the only thing I knew while growing up was to get good marks, become an economist and make them proud. And only until I got the chance to be free from my parents, when I came to Russia, I could finally discover my inner self.
My first year in Russia went through amazingly. I found new friends and people from all over the world, but none of them are Russian. I took a Russian course in my preparatory year, things were smooth. After that, I enrolled in the faculty of International Relations and World Economy, this is exactly when it all began. The first year was hard for me, but, I managed to make new Russian friends. We were all the same age. But the thing is, being in a circle of Russians have offered me a new experience and feeling that I have never received before. Some of the reasons behind it was that my Russian friends introduced me to clubbing culture.
The first time stepping into a club provided me with a whole new experience. The first club I went to in Moscow was Радуга, means “Rainbow”. Everything about this culture was completely new to me. I got the chance to listen to music with such a louder-than-usual volume and strange but compelling music. I had the opportunity to experience a new kind of art. The visual art decorated near the stage of the club was indeed attention-catching and provoked in me a keen interest toward graphic and communication design. Every weekend the club holds a different event, only devoted to techno and house music, and each night has its own poster. Each art of the poster is weird, compelling and holds a lot of details in it. That night had sparked inside me a new interest, it was so amazing that I could not sleep and had to so long to fall asleep, because I kept thinking about the time during the club.
People inside the club contradicted to what I expected and give a fresh vibe.
To me, when I arrived at Moscow for the first time, I have been told sometimes that Russian people were not that friendly, and they rarely put smile on their faces. But young people here are friendly, they have a welcoming personality and are always ready to make friends. Most people I became acquainted with while in the club were students pursuing degrees in art, design, fashion and even architecture. Each of them had a different background and they did not hesitate to share with me. Not only that, but also people gave out a totally different vibe, their clothes were unique and unusual, their personalities were charming and nice. Among them was Anna, an architecture student who was studying at another university. We became close friends quick, at that time she was the person who helped me to know more about art and clubbing culture.
After the first time hanging out in the club, I started diving deep into club culture to know more about it. Each day I tried a different type of music, tried to listen to techno, house music and even hardcore. Besides, I even went to other clubs in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg as well, I have been to RNDM, Mutabor and others. The more I try to experience nightlife, the more I get excited about it. My taste in fashion since then has grown and I kept buying old second-hand clothes that looked weird and filled with uncasual texture. Vkontakte pages that offer thrift store service were everywhere on my laptop. I get to use my Russian language skills to communicate with seller, to talk with them about fashion.
And in terms of visual art, the nightclub culture have enhanced my taste in visual art. I began to browse more for graphic designs on the internet. Websites such as Pinterest and Behance personally to me is one of the best resources for generating ideas. I tried to create poster designs that fit club culture the most. And to create such a thing like that, I find the need to self-study more about graphic design, from making myself get familiar to creative tools like Adobe Illustrator to typography, aspect ratio, etc. It was the process of throwing myself into club music that prompted me to explore the massive world of art and design. After trying design for a while, I showed my works to my friends and people from creative communities, I even received a lot of appreciation and compliments for what I have done. That was exactly the moment I knew I was more compatible with the creative industry.
At the same time, I figured that World Economy is not really for me. I found myself a creative person, and I cannot be the person who everyday just sits in front computer to solve economic-related tasks. What I need is to be more creative, to do a job that requires me to provide an innovative solution, such as being a brand manager, a creative director. I spent a lot of time considering dropping out of the current program, but I had to refuse that decision. Despite I am not a homo economicus and I lack interest in economy, I would still say studying World Economy have granted me a wide range of skills and knowledge. From data science, solving economic tasks to learning Chinese. I would never regret studying them. The opportunities provided by this program are various, but I would eventually decide to refuse and follow my true passion.
In conclusion, nightclub culture in Moscow is exactly what creative people need to experience at least once in their lives. If you are a student pursuing communication design, art, sound design or anything that has to do with the creative industry, do not hesitate to give it a try!
Shared by
