The online hangout escapes club politics to create an inclusive space.
From IRL to URL: How Club Matryoshka on Minecraft Is Changing the Landscape of Virtual Performances
The community now has over 440 members composed of meme lords, gamers, musicians, hackers, producers, artists, luminescent folks of all colors, sexualities and neurotypes, with a typical turnout of 80-100 per show and a high of 200 people in-game, more than 360 people viewing and approximately 3,000 views on their recent Twitch stream.
The club’s required membership also reflects the untraditional curation of its musical lineups. Club Matryoshka’s virtual landscape allows similarobjects and his co-founders to close the physical distance between artists and overcome the rigid structures and systems of orthodox clubs. They always look for events that celebrate the anomalous music we don’t usually hear on the radio or in premade playlists, essentially celebrating the heterogeneity of their audience.
They took this vision to the next level with Infinite Summer, a 24-hour online dystopian Minecraft beach music festival and contemporary art exhibit that raised money for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response fund. The setup — a collaboration between Club Matryoshka, Likido, Spoonin’s Boys and local art collective PARA://SITE Projects — saw a massive three-stage event with over 40 artists from Asia, Europe and North America. With barely any real-world logistics to stop them, Infinite Summer included everything from the underwater Spoonstage to a Spleef arena (Spleef is a competitive minigame played within Minecraft), a parkour obstacle course, a complex brainteaser puzzle-maze rigged with various deathtraps, a hidden pirate's cove and a specially curated art exhibit with scheduled tours.
“It was so memorable that even when the show was done, the festival-goers would keep logging in to revisit the festival grounds to explore, internalize and reminisce. Some people even said, ‘We're staying here till you kick us out.’ It's crazy how it had that effect and that some people were even sad that it was over,” he recalled. “The combination of the curation and lineup flow, married to the immersive experience of a world to explore just really took the cake in terms of how memorable it was. I feel like it was our best work to date.”
Just like every exclusive venue, access to Club Matryoshka is only given to those who apply and pass the screening process. Directions to the entrance are a holy secret amongst its members, but those lucky enough to be in the know are welcomed to an innovative world of music and creativity — all from behind their computer screens.
Club Matryoshka saw the future of virtual shows even before social distancing. Founded in July 2019 by ChodesCraft community members similarobjects, AHJU$$I cavill, dot.jaime, John Pope, Patis Del Mundo and Spoonin’ Boys, the virtual club can only be accessed via a private offline Minecraft server.
The venue is designed as a 32-bit castle and fronted by a set of house rules, including “No Style, No Entry” and a signboard that keeps patrons at bay. Inside, the view from the DJ booth shows an attentive eye to detail, with interior decorations that range from plants creeping up the brick walls to paintings created pixel by pixel. A landscape of mountains and lakes greet patrons on the balcony, complemented by a variation of experimental electronic music, potions and company to provide the club’s accommodating energy.
Unlike most opulent venues, however, Club Matryoshka doesn’t seek the premier label of exclusivity. It serves as a platform and voice for many marginalized communities, offering to direct them to their proper audiences without the limits of their geographical locations. There’s no pressure to follow the trends that are popular in their respective countries and no goal to receive fame for the sake of it — it’s all about having the space to be themselves in front of an audience that resonates with them. Their virtual doors are open to “people of all colors, genders, sexualities, and neurotypes.”
The club takes inspiration from both IRL and URL aspects — Second Life raves, The Palace Avatar Chat, SPF420 and illegal warehouse raves, translating the latter to illegal software house parties as some members attend using cracked launchers. Club Matryoshka is an avenue to escape nasty club politics and to enter a safe, inclusive space that allows patrons to enjoy an environment they might not have in real life. While the membership is as a satirical ode to Berghain’s notoriously strict door policy, the founders are simply curating the energy that makes up the club.
“We wanted the people to be music-heads that don't take themselves too seriously and people who generally could take a joke or a meme, or just generally crazy quirky music nerds like us,” explained producer, Red Bull Music Academy alum and Club Matryoshka co-founder similarobjects. “If people make the effort to submit a form, we take the time to screen it and let them in. It's just a small sign of commitment to our vision too. For those who are ‘too cool’ to answer it, they just don't get in.”
While sky’s the limit for the co-founders’ creativity, their biggest challenge lies in Club Matryoshka’s platform itself. The virtual aspect of Minecraft allows them to test the boundaries of their imagination, however the technicalities of getting it to run on a number of platforms while maintaining that artistic highpoint can be onerous.
Not only that, but Minecraft also still faces the stereotype of being either a meme or a children’s game, and some individuals don’t take the idea of a Minecraft-hosted club seriously. It requires some time to introduce the novel idea to artists, but they eventually warm up to the proposition via the co-founders’ instructional videos, pamphlets and guides.
“There will always be some people who dismiss the idea off the bat on the basis of ideas connected to Minecraft culture in general, but to be honest we try to focus more on the types of people who understand the vision,” similarobjects said. “The project in itself represents hybridism and blurring lines between categories and breaking down walls so most of the people who resonate with the idea are luckily already people who think the same way we do. I guess we break the stigma just by doing what we do, keeping it real and existing.”
Expanding on the digital troublemakers they run into, similarobjects recounts the hectic experience of hosting a show for boy pablo’s label, 777 Music. After having to compromise their usual screening protocols to give way to accessibility, Club Matryoshka was attacked by hackers who gave everyone OP permissions. To make things worse, a number of impatient raiders purposely crashed the server because entrance was supposedly taking too long and they refused to believe that boy pablo was actually playing.
“It’s cool, me and my team were able to shut it down, bounce back and rebuild a new server and map on the spot really quick and still put on a good show,” he recalled. “We learned a lot from that and I guess it proved the purpose of having our screening protocol because prior to that, we had a decent community and very manageable instances of griefing.”
Although there’s a boom in online performances due to quarantine protocols, the club has managed to create shows that will always offer a completely different and immersive experience compared to the previous event. No two shows are ever the same thanks to their use of varying themes and active audience engagement. The club has seen everything from server raiders to a zombie survival night, an Amazon Jungle fundraiser and a 24-hour music and arts festival, and with every show supported by an improvisational aspect, there’s always a surprise waiting for you at Club Matryoshka.
“I think [virtual performances] is a very valid growing platform. I know so many people who have been doing this for years and I can imagine people opening up further to the infinite possibilities that virtual and online venues can provide,” similarobjects enthusiastically predicts.
“As for Club Matryoshka, I just see us slowly growing into the safe space I had envisioned it to be, and I see us doing more crazy stuff that we have fun doing,” he adds. “We're pretty dead set on learning and getting better with each party and event we throw, and I feel like it's been more evident with the progression of each show. I can only see it getting better from here for us and for all the virtual clubs who are forging new paths and scenes. URL clubs give me hope.”
“The project in itself represents hybridism and blurring lines between categories and breaking down walls.”
“I can only see it getting better from here for us and for all the virtual clubs who are forging new paths and scenes. URL clubs give me hope.”
Just like every exclusive venue, access to Club Matryoshka is only given to those who apply and pass the screening process. Directions to the entrance are a holy secret amongst its members, but those lucky enough to be in the know are welcomed to an innovative world of music and creativity — all from behind their computer screens.
Club Matryoshka saw the future of virtual shows even before social distancing. Founded in July 2019 by ChodesCraft community members similarobjects, AHJU$$I cavill, dot.jaime, John Pope, Patis Del Mundo and Spoonin’ Boys, the virtual club can only be accessed via a private offline Minecraft server.
The venue is designed as a 32-bit castle and fronted by a set of house rules, including “No Style, No Entry” and a signboard that keeps patrons at bay. Inside, the view from the DJ booth shows an attentive eye to detail, with interior decorations that range from plants creeping up the brick walls to paintings created pixel by pixel. A landscape of mountains and lakes greet patrons on the balcony, complemented by a variation of experimental electronic music, potions and company to provide the club’s accommodating energy.
Unlike most opulent venues, however, Club Matryoshka doesn’t seek the premier label of exclusivity. It serves as a platform and voice for many marginalized communities, offering to direct them to their proper audiences without the limits of their geographical locations. There’s no pressure to follow the trends that are popular in their respective countries and no goal to receive fame for the sake of it — it’s all about having the space to be themselves in front of an audience that resonates with them. Their virtual doors are open to “people of all colors, genders, sexualities, and neurotypes.”
The club takes inspiration from both IRL and URL aspects — Second Life raves, The Palace Avatar Chat, SPF420 and illegal warehouse raves, translating the latter to illegal software house parties as some members attend using cracked launchers. Club Matryoshka is an avenue to escape nasty club politics and to enter a safe, inclusive space that allows patrons to enjoy an environment they might not have in real life. While the membership is as a satirical ode to Berghain’s notoriously strict door policy, the founders are simply curating the energy that makes up the club.
“We wanted the people to be music-heads that don't take themselves too seriously and people who generally could take a joke or a meme, or just generally crazy quirky music nerds like us,” explained producer, Red Bull Music Academy alum and Club Matryoshka co-founder similarobjects. “If people make the effort to submit a form, we take the time to screen it and let them in. It's just a small sign of commitment to our vision too. For those who are ‘too cool’ to answer it, they just don't get in.”
The community now has over 440 members composed of meme lords, gamers, musicians, hackers, producers, artists, luminescent folks of all colors, sexualities and neurotypes, with a typical turnout of 80-100 per show and a high of 200 people in-game, more than 360 people viewing and approximately 3,000 views on their recent Twitch stream.
The club’s required membership also reflects the untraditional curation of its musical lineups. Club Matryoshka’s virtual landscape allows similarobjects and his co-founders to close the physical distance between artists and overcome the rigid structures and systems of orthodox clubs. They always look for events that celebrate the anomalous music we don’t usually hear on the radio or in premade playlists, essentially celebrating the heterogeneity of their audience.
They took this vision to the next level with Infinite Summer, a 24-hour online dystopian Minecraft beach music festival and contemporary art exhibit that raised money for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response fund. The setup — a collaboration between Club Matryoshka, Likido, Spoonin’s Boys and local art collective PARA://SITE Projects — saw a massive three-stage event with over 40 artists from Asia, Europe and North America. With barely any real-world logistics to stop them, Infinite Summer included everything from the underwater Spoonstage to a Spleef arena (Spleef is a competitive minigame played within Minecraft), a parkour obstacle course, a complex brainteaser puzzle-maze rigged with various deathtraps, a hidden pirate's cove and a specially curated art exhibit with scheduled tours.
“It was so memorable that even when the show was done, the festival-goers would keep logging in to revisit the festival grounds to explore, internalize and reminisce. Some people even said, ‘We're staying here till you kick us out.’ It's crazy how it had that effect and that some people were even sad that it was over,” he recalled. “The combination of the curation and lineup flow, married to the immersive experience of a world to explore just really took the cake in terms of how memorable it was. I feel like it was our best work to date.”
From IRL to URL: How ‘Minecraft’ Hosted Club Matryoshka Is Changing the Landscape of Virtual Performances
While sky’s the limit for the co-founders’ creativity, their biggest challenge lies in Club Matryoshka’s platform itself. The virtual aspect of Minecraft allows them to test the boundaries of their imagination, however the technicalities of getting it to run on a number of platforms while maintaining that artistic highpoint can be onerous.
Not only that, but Minecraft also still faces the stereotype of being either a meme or a children’s game, and some individuals don’t take the idea of a Minecraft-hosted club seriously. It requires some time to introduce the novel idea to artists, but they eventually warm up to the proposition via the co-founders’ instructional videos, pamphlets and guides.
“There will always be some people who dismiss the idea off the bat on the basis of ideas connected to Minecraft culture in general, but to be honest we try to focus more on the types of people who understand the vision,” similarobjects said. “The project in itself represents hybridism and blurring lines between categories and breaking down walls so most of the people who resonate with the idea are luckily already people who think the same way we do. I guess we break the stigma just by doing what we do, keeping it real and existing.”
“The project in itself represents hybridism and blurring lines between categories and breaking down walls so most of the people who resonate with the idea are luckily already people who think the same way we do.”
Expanding on the digital troublemakers they run into, similarobjects recounts the hectic experience of hosting a show for boy pablo’s label, 777 Music. After having to compromise their usual screening protocols to give way to accessibility, Club Matryoshka was attacked by hackers who gave everyone OP permissions. To make things worse, a number of impatient raiders purposely crashed the server because entrance was supposedly taking too long and they refused to believe that boy pablo was actually playing.
“It’s cool, me and my team were able to shut it down, bounce back and rebuild a new server and map on the spot really quick and still put on a good show,” he recalled. “We learned a lot from that and I guess it proved the purpose of having our screening protocol because prior to that, we had a decent community and very manageable instances of griefing.”