Toruń – city full of clubs

Od Nowa Students’ Club is one of the largest and most vibrant students’ clubs in Poland holding over 200 artistic events every year. The club organizes festivals; some of them have already reached international renown, to mention only a few: the Jazz Od Nowa Festival inviting such stars as Michał Urbaniak, Victor Levis, David Friesen and Hiram Bullock, among other great musicians; Toruń Blues Meeting, Toruń Film Festival TOFFI (among the special guests of the festival have been Katarzyna Figura, Krystyna Janda, Małgorzata Foremniak, Waldemar Dziki and other actors and film directors); the “Klamra” (Clinch) Academic Theatre Meetings, in which have participated such famous theatre companies as the Gardzienice, the Theatre of the Eighth Day, the Wierszalin, the Kana, the Travel Agency Theatre, the Cogitatur, the Cinema, the Węgajty and the Suka OFF. Among the special guests of the festival have been Grzegorz Jarzyna, Roman Pawłowski and other well-known theatre makers. Every year Od Nowa organizes a big charity concert “Africa”, at which a whole constellation of Polish stars plays the reggae and the ska. Among most popular cultural events held in Od Nowa Club is the May Poetic BOOM (a festival promoting the most recent literary phenomena). The club also runs a regular event for film lovers called the “Blue Rug Students’ Cinema” showing both ambitious films made by young creators and world cinema classics. Club Gallery 011 exhibits paintings, works of graphic arts, photographs, and installations made by promising young artists. Every Wednesday Od Nowa fills up with jazz music made by debuting artists and renowned jazz musicians.

Angel Cellar is among the oldest and most popular clubs of Toruń. According to its regulars it is a cult club, “a place with a special climate”. For many years now it has remained a centre for independent urban culture. The Cellar offers concerts, film shows, a variety of artistic activities and meetings with artists. Every year the club organizes the New Art Fair, at which one can buy works of art and posters and meet the exhibition curators and authors of the works displayed. Angel Cellar is a popular meeting place and a place for experiments and artistic explorations; it is also a “base” for such new projects and initiatives as the Slide Projector Film Festival, urban open-air workshops, performing art shows and many other similar events. Angel Cellar also organizes very popular knees-ups.

The NRD (DDR) club has already become a permanent feature in the cultural landscape of Toruń. It has already secured is position of one of the most avant-garde clubs in Toruń. Here happen things that are “strange”, interesting, inspiring, unusual, alternative and innovative. The club organizes concerts, performances, performing art shows, exhibitions, book promotions, discussions, workshops, film shows, and music and art festivals. Many organizations and informal groups have been invited here to use the club as a venue for their activities, including the Greens 2004, Toruń Campaign against Homophobia, the Alternative Sports Association of Toruń, the Linux Users’ Group of Toruń, the Plateaux Foundation and the YouHaveIt Foundation, among other organizations. The best Toruń DJs and guests from other towns in Poland and from abroad have played here. The same building houses Dla Gallery which displays works mainly by promising young artists.

Toruń Kluczyki is another club well worth a visit. Besides popular students’ knees-up parties, the club often holds concerts; the best musicians representing Polish alternative scene like performing there. So far in the club have played such musicians and groups as the Sing Sing, Penelope, Dubska, Ścianka, Paraliż Band, Jacek Lachowicz, Von Zeit, Stworywodne, Young Power, Old Time Radio and Etna, to mention only a few. The club often fills up with live jazz.

Toruń Art Cellar is an alternative place for those who look for an original way to have fun. It is a club for those seeking new artistic and creative experiences. Interesting people, an out-of-the ordinary and a bit decadent atmosphere in the club as well as a rich artistic programme are no doubt the main assets to TPArt. The cellar draws from the rich tradition and the unique atmosphere of students’ clubs of the past decades where the importance of beer consumption was marginal to the importance of communing with good music, culture and art in a broad sense of the word. The repertory is paramount in TPArt. The artistic programme is bound to satisfy most discriminating guests. On Mondays one can expect cabaret shows and small-scale theatre performances; Tuesdays are reserved for jazz and blues music; on Wednesdays karaoke lovers are most welcome; on Thursdays rhythm&blues, soul, funky and reggae rule and on Fridays you can come and revel to the tunes of Polish rock. Toruń Art Cellar is also a place of literary soirées, political discussions and painting and photo exhibitions. TPArt offers entertainment to people cultivating all kinds of tastes.

Clubbing in Toruń

Toruń is a city where clubbing does not look at all bad. The music clubs of Toruń burst at the seams, especially at weekends. Lovers of ‘vinyl’ parties are offered a chance to revel all night (or for many nights) to the rhythm of house, trance, electro, drum’n' bass, dancehall, break beat, down tempo and other kinds of music. Parties usually last till the crack of dawn. The seasoned DJs of Toruń do their best to keep the party goers more than satisfied. The clubs quite often offer collective sound systems. Art Cafe, Absinthe, Hipnoza, Kredens, Moskwa, Barani Łeb – be sure to check them out!