Between euphoria and exhaustion. Bratislava clubbing scene of the 1990s
Old Town Hall
Duration of tour: 60min
What were Bratislava nights like in the 1990s? This exhibition by Bratislava City Museum traces the emergence of the city’s first clubs, new musical genres and subcultures after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Step into a world of neon lights, Walkmans, zines and flared trousers.
Do you remember New Model Club, Účko, Duna or Propeler? Discover the stories of places that became laboratories of freedom and creativity, as well as meeting points for different communities. Where did punks and metalheads gather? How did new subcultures such as goth and rave take root in Bratislava? And what role did drugs play in the club scene?
The exhibition also explores the social and political context in which the club scene developed. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the rise of nationalism, the authoritarian tendencies of Vladimír Mečiar’s governments and organised crime practices extending into politics and business shaped the atmosphere of the decade alongside the newly gained freedom.
Clubs became places where new musical genres, fashion and subcultures were tested and developed. Above all, they were spaces where values associated with democracy, such as freedom, creativity and acceptance of diversity, were put into practice.
Today, we are witnessing the gradual disappearance of clubs in the form we knew them in the 1990s and 2000s. The exhibition therefore also asks: What remains of their energy and values in Bratislava today?
The exhibition is located in the Exhibition Hall of the Old Town Hall, under the arcades in the Old Town Hall courtyard, opposite the museum’s main entrance. Tickets are available at the Old Town Hall ticket desk.
Old Town Hall
