The visual identity for Druga Godba’s 42nd edition explores modern music-making, its distribution and the experience of listening. Kaja Kisilak (Monoform) uses design to probe the future of live performance, the notion of authorship and the value of original creative work in an era increasingly dominated by algorithms and AI.
The visual identity for this year’s festival has been produced from a reflection on contemporary ways of creating, distributing and experiencing music, and on the position of the creator within these processes.
It takes a critical stance towards the pronounced market logic of digital platforms, and raises questions about the future of live performance and authorship in an era of accelerated technological change. Particular attention is given to the effects of streaming services, where algorithms that favour AI-generated music gradually displace original works, and performers are reduced to commercial products of the platform. The identity offers no definitive answers: rather, it opens up space for reflection on the conditions in which music is created, circulated and experienced today.
At the same time, the concept engages with the broader role of music in life’s transitional moments. It highlights instances of farewell, remembrance and reflection – moments in which music has historically played a pivotal role across cultures – and invites reflection on its continuing function in contemporary collective and personal experience.
The multi-layered slogan ‘Live Music’ emerges from this visual concept, wittily referencing the central motif while clearly conveying the festival’s ethos: Druga Godba remains committed to original and independent music, presented through a live, immediate and unrepeatable concert experience.
The festival will also engage with these questions through a dedicated roundtable that offers a space for critical reflection on the intersections of artistic creation, technology and market forces, as well as the shifting role of music today. The discussion will be moderated by Nikola Sekulović and will bring together leading voices from contemporary music and cultural production whose work actively shapes the current landscape.
Open to the public, the event is conceived as a platform for both professional and wider audiences to engage with these issues. The date will be announced in April, alongside the presentation of the festival’s accompanying programme.