A couple of facts.
Balcans Magazine is the first and the only magazine about graffiti, street art and urban culture from all Balkan countries.
It is a gallery of recognizable pieces. And your work is probably there.
Founder of Balcans magazine is Metin Golesh a.k.a. Shione. A writer, how else!
It’s just enough for me to wish to find out more.

How did you come up with the idea to start a graffiti magazine?

First of all, as an artist I think that published media is always special and priceless. When I started to paint there was no internet at all, so I was trying to find everything published about graffiti and street art.
There were always many graffiti magazines in Europe, but in smaller countries they just couldn’t have a big success. So I thought it’s better to focus on a bigger scene, than just on one country, and the Balkans idea came with it. I was born in a part of Balkans and lived there many years. The atmosphere here is great and people is more intimate than others. I was also travelling around the Balkans and saw that the artists haven’t much contacts between them, and they/we needed a support like this.

How difficult is it to publish a graffiti magazine in this region and what are the main obstacles you have faced along the way?

I think if you give enough time and energy and have motivation to do something, it’s not so difficult. It is different from other parts of Europe, e.g. for finding sponsors or advertising. It’s not an easy game at all, but I just worked hard and it happened.

Is there a specified pattern on how the magazine should look like? In particular, what kind of content should be included in each edition?

Yes, but sometimes we try new things. Generally we have a couple of interviews in each issue, walls around the Balkans and few around the world. We have less pages about trains because there are so many magazines specialized in it. Also we try to find and support some other arts like tattoo, photography etc.

Is there an article that was published in your magazine that you are particularly proud of? 

All of them are special for me. I think it’s not so important how proud I am, but the others. If they love it, then I’m happy too.

Can you say something about parallel projects?

The biggest project is Balcans graffiti jam. We made it two times until now with support of Amorpha Youth Group from Varna, Bulgaria. And we hope it will continue more many times in different cities or even countries.
Often we organize sketch or tag battles to keep up the energy on the scene.

How do you choose which artists will feature in the magazine?

We always have a list of artists, but we also care about what people want to see in the magazine.

What kind of collaboration do you have with artists from Serbia?

Serbia has really big, good and also old scene in Balkans. We got great friends there. They are very talented artists and they always send us a lot of photos of their work. We made interview with Leon from Serbia who is very talented and already has a name and style in graffiti scene. And in the next issue we have a surprise for you!

Where in Belgrade can we find Balcans magazine?

You can find all issues of Balcans magazine (and many more good toys for big boys) in Beowallz shop in Belgrade (Bulevard Despota Stefana 121b).

Do you have any plans for further development in the future?

Yes, we got many plans for the future and for sure we have bigger ideas. Just stay in touch.

Nekoliko činjenica.
Balcans Magazine je prvi i jedini grafiti magazin na Balkanu.
Zato je i jedinstven. Zato što ga oblikuju granice našeg podneblja. Zato što je galerija prepoznatljivih radova.
Časopis je osnovao Metin Golesh a.k.a. Shione. Crtač, kako drugačije!
Eto toliko! Dovoljno da poželim da saznam nešto više.

Kako si došao na ideju da pokreneš grafiti magazin?

Budući da sam crtač štampani mediji su mi uvek bili posebni i važni. Kada sam počinjao da crtam nije bilo interneta, pa sam se oslanjao na štampani izvor o grafitima i uličnoj umetnosti.
U Evropi je uvek bilo dosta garfiti magazina, ali u malim zemljama nikako nisu mogli duže da opstanu. Zato sam pomislio da je bolje fokusirati se na širi region nego samo na jednu zemlju. Tako je nastao Balcans. Ja sam se rodio na Balkanu i živim tu mnogo godina. Atmosfera je ovde odlična i ljudi su prisniji nego bilo gde drugde. Takođe putujući po Balkanu shvatio sam da umetnici nisu mnogo povezani, pa sam odlučio da ih/nas podržim na taj način.

Koliko je teško ovde objavljivati grafiti magazin i šta su glavne prepreke na tom putu?

Smatram da ako imaš dovoljna vremena, energije i volje da nešto uradiš, ništa nije teško. Naravno teže je naći sponzore nego u ostatku Evrope. Pa iako nije nimalo laka igra, vredno radim, pa i uspevam.

Postoji li neki šablon po kome se pravi magazin? Recimo, koji sadržaj mora biti uključen u svaki broj?

Postoji, ali uvek pokušavamo da ubacimo i nove stvari. Svaki broj sadrži nekoliko intervjua, radove sa Balkana i nekoliko iz ostatka sveta. Manje stranica posvećujemo vozovima, jer već postoji mnogo časopisa koji su specijalizovani baš za to. Pokušavamo da podržimo i druge srodne umetnosti, kao što su tetovaža, fotografija i sl.

Da li postoji neki članak na koji si posebno ponosan?

Svi su posebni i mislim da nije važno da ja budem ponosan na njih, već da se svide čitaocima, pa sam tada i ja srećan.

Možeš li reći nešto i o pratećim projektima?

Najveći projekat je Balcans graffiti jam koji smo oragnizovali dva puta do sada uz pomoć udruženja Amorpha Youth Group iz Varne u Bugraskoj. Nadamo se da će se to ponavljati još mnogo puta i u različitim zemljama.
Često organizujemo nadmetanja u skiciranju ili tagiranju da bismo održali budnost na sceni.

Kako birate koji će se umetnici pojaviti u magazinu?

Uvek postoji lista i razmišljamo o tome koga bi čitaoci najviše voleli da vide u magazinu.

Kakvu saradnju imate sa umetnicima iz Srbije?

Srbija ima veliku i dobru scenu, koja dugo postoji. Sprijateljili smo se sa veoma talentovanim umetnicima i stalno nam stižu fotografije od njih. Uradili smo intervju sa Leonom, koji već ima formirano ime i stil na grafiti sceni. A u sledećem broju imamo i iznenađenje za vas.

Gde u Beogradu može da se kupi Balcans?

Svi brojevi Balcansa (kao i druge igračke za velike dečake) mogu da se nađu u šopu Beowallz (Bulevard Despota Stefana 121b).

Imate li neke velike planove za budućnost?

Da, imamo dosta planova i velikih ideja. Tako da, nastavite da pratite!