Trying to get into Berghain (research)
After brainstorming some ideas for the initial 505 task, I decided I wanted to focus on the issue of getting into Berghian; probably one of the most famous techno clubs known worldwide, that is notoriously hard to get into. I'm personally interested in this issue, as there is a lot of history surrounding the exclusivity of Beghain; there are lots of stories about the community within the techno scene in Berlin, especially under the Soviet Union in the late 20th century. I also thought researching into this issue would be full of really weird and interesting facts, as due to the secrecy surrounding Bergain, there are lots of stories from inside the club. Initially, the main issue I wanted to focus on was actually getting into the club (as it is famous for being hard to get into), however as I research into the topic and the Berlin techno scene, there might be other issues I could explore such as the stigma surrounding the Berlin techno scene.
As mentioned before, Begrhain is at the forefront of the techno scene, being described as the 'world capital of techno'. This is mainly down to the clubs' exclusivity and community, as well as the buildings' architecture. There is something super mysterious about the club, as people that go inside aren't allowed to take any images, and people that get into the club often are reluctant to talk about it.
The history of Berghain
The Berlin techno scene
Berghain has become associated with decadence and hedonism, and it open continuously from Saturday nights to Monday mornings. Due to its' origins with the Snax club, Berghian is notorious for the engagement with sexual activity within the club, as well as separate rooms dedicated to different fetishes. In a way, the club has a massive relevance to the gay community in Berlin, offering a space for people to express themselves and explore their sexuality. Despite this, the club is open to the public and any sexual preference, as it has gained popularity worldwide.
In terms of the mystery surrounding Berghian, people who go inside have to put a sticker over their phones in order to prevent people taking photos, etc. Also, due to the use of drugs within the building, there are no mirrors so that guests are spared the 'buzzkilling indignity of seeing their own faces'.
The most notable fact of Berghain is how strict their door policy is, which has both created speculation on how to get into the club, as well as scrutiny for the club being racist and discriminatory. The head bouncer of the club, Sven Marquadt, has become a bit of a celebrity within the techno scene.
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/berlin/articles/the-history-of-techno-in-berlin/
Following the collapse of the Berlin wall, the electronic music scene emerged and unified both East and West Berlin. Abandoned buildings left from the collapse of the Soviet Union were transformed into spaces for temporary nightclubs.
The origins of techno come from the mid to late 1980s in Detroit, and the genre didn't reach West Germany until the late 1980s. Following the collapse of the wall a new kind of club was born into unregulated venues with no legal restrictions. Power plants, bunkers and underground stations became clubs, giving the Berlin techno scene a undisputed industrial atmosphere. This new form of club embodied freedom and unity, and the techno culture flourished through the strong gay, art and underground scenes. The kids from East Germany in particular brought a much harder, electronic sound that is at the forefront of Begrhain.
Three particular clubs - Tresor, Der Bunker and E-Werk - near the former Berlin wall played a massive role in establishing the techno scene.
Today, many people that started these illegal parties following the fall of the wall are running successful techno venues and clubs. This comes from an experience of knowing what people want and how to satisfy the needs of the Berlin electronic scene; from the early days, they build establishments where people were encouraged to be themselves and being able to feel at home and who they are.
The Love Parade was also a milestone in the Berlin techno scene, first taking place in July 1989. The parade consisted of massive crowds and trucks with sound systems. It became a famous event where people travelled from over the world to listen to electronic music where people showed off their extravagant outfits, celebrating equality for the gays in particular.
The main difference with the electronic scene in Berlin is that places such as Berghain don't have a closing time; what happens in the morning hours is called 'after hour' where people can do whatever they want and wear whatever they want.
https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/fall-of-the-wall-techno/
Berlin's nightclubs are famously phone phobic spaces. With the advent of smartphone technology, any tourist coming into places like Berghain can take any photos they want and upload it online; Berlin's strict phone policies protect these clubs, as these spaces are sacred, intimate spaces. This helps maintain their integrity as a place where everyone can feel free; especially the LGBTQ community.
Berlin's clubs and venues aren't just places to play electronic music; they are also massive cultural institutions. In 2016, Berghain was officially recognised by city authorities as a cultural space, so was given tax relief alongside other music venues and museums. The preservation of Berlin's techno scene comes from a recognition of viewing them as high art, the same way exhibitions run in museums.
In many ways, the emergence of the Berlin techno scene is arguably the last major youth culture movement in Europe, with techno intersecting with other cultural movements in other art forms, video and live performances. A main threat to this integrity in the modern day is increasing gentrification of the inner city, threatening clubs and venues through 'techno tourists', turning places like Berghain into historical curiosities rather than evolving spaces.
Articles on Berghain
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/berghain-the-secretive-sex-fueled-world-of-technos-coolest-club-111396/
According to a study by a Berlin tourist organisation, VisitBerlin, one third of tourists are drawn to the city for the electronic scene and nightlife. The world famous Berghain has been described as the 'best club in the world' has transformed from a local phenomenon to one of the citys most high profile attractions. The venue now stands amidst the threat of gentrification; but what does this mean for an underground club to now be infamous?
To many visitors of the club, Berghain is recognisably a 'religious experience'; Sunday trips to the club are referred to as 'Sunday mass', which regulars calling Berghain 'chruch'. The buildings architecture is infamous; the club consists 60 foot ceilings supported by concrete pillars. Thomas Karsten, one of the architects responsible for the buildings' 2004 renovation, described Berghain as 'similar to that of a cathedral from the middle ages'. The foundations of the building were constructed in 1953 as part of East Germanys' post war reconstruction process. Most of the building has retained its original architecture; the decor is sparse, and the slightly less 'Dantes inferno' esque upstairs called Panorama bar consists of cages that formally held shipping equipment. As well as this, a large metallic swing hangs of the side of the dance floor, with warm lights illuminating parts of the facade behind the main bar. The building is so notably large that you can apparently spend hours discovering new stairways and rooms. The club was also built to not have any dead ends, so the visitors of Berghain can move freely through the building.
The building has three floors; the main Berghain dance floor with a 1,500 capacity, the panorama bar and the Lab.Oratory gay club that is located downstairs.
In the early years, the club attracted the eccentric Berlin crowd; diehard techno fans, leather fetishists, bearded young professionalists on drugs. Shamblu Leroux, a bartender at the club for eight years discussing how the crowds at Berghain welcomed non conformists, including transgender people like herself; 'There were a lot of freaks there. And that is a word I would apply to myself'.
Lab.Oratory, the club on the buildings ground floor, is known as Berlin's most extreme sex club; the all-male Snax parties still take place twice a year, one on Easter weekend and one in November. To understand the extreme nature of Berlin's techno scene, it important to take a look at the decades before the unification, where the city was poor, isolated, with little to offer economically. The city had a very militant character, which expressed itself in the form of very raw, militant techno. In the past 2 decades, the city's tradition of sexual permissiveness, lax drug policing, left wing and anarchist politics blend together to create the most sexually adventurous and unconventional party in Europe. The historical poverty of Berlin meant high unemployment and no reason to wake up early on a Monday, which fuelled the appetite for 3 day long marathon length parties.
In contrast to other electronic capitals of the world, such as Las Vegas, Berlin still remains scrappy, grim and chaotic. Unlike many state side venues, Berlin's clubs and parties are never over run by corporate brands.
Berghain's door policy is one of the things it is most famous for, with bouncer Sven Marquadt being known as the 'lord of the night'. There are so many tips and tricks on how to get into the venue online, such as 'don't go in a group', 'don't speak English' and 'act gay, but not too gay'. Even Britney Spears has said to have been denied entry. This strict door policy is partly meant to protect Berghain's alternative identity from tourists and normal people. The recent popularity of EDM in the US has accelerated the scenes tourist attraction, bringing in a less bohemian crowd. The life cycle of a techno club is similar to an island ecosystem; for a scene to be lively and coherent, it requires turnover but also a certain amount of stability. If a scene becomes too insular, it tends to stagnate, but if it's suddenly overwhelmed by newcomers, the elements that created it begin to dissolve. This is the case so much so that around the location of Berghain, there is endless anti-tourist graffiti with phrases such as 'eat the tourists' and 'fuck the tourists'. Tobias Rapp, the writer of Lost and Sound, a book about tourism within Berlin's club culture, argues that the rise in visitors has actually invigorated the city's clubbing scene. Despite this, many locals see the threat as existential; the increase in globalised mass capitalism threatens Berlin's anarcho-bohemian bubble. Berghain regulars have even stopped going to the venue on Friday and Saturday nights due to the domination of tourists, even the Snax sex parties are becoming more tame. A new term 'clubsterben' has even been coined to refer to the closure of clubs in Berlin.
https://madisonicole.medium.com/berghain-how-i-got-into-berlins-most-exclusive-club-981fa76fe0d0
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/germany/berlin/articles/Berghain-how-to-get-into-Berlins-most-exclusive-nightclub/
https://www.gq.com/story/berghain-bouncer-sven-marquardt-interview
Sven Mardquardt, now 52, has been the head bouncer at Berghain since it opened in 2004. No longer working at the club anymore, he's spoken about his experiences with the techno scene in Berlin. He grew up in East Berlin, discussing how Berlin in the eighties was a 'weird time. A couple of times a year there would be these parades where tanks would roll down the street. And of course we weren't allowed to leave the country'. 'After the wall fell, East Berlin was almost anarchist. Nothing was very permanent. A club would be in one place then relocate'.
'I feel like I have a responsibility to make Berghain a safe place for people. The club evolved from a gay club in Berlin in the nineties. It's important to me that we preserve more of that heritage'.
https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-berghain-backstory-building-berlins-most-legendary-nightclub-87ad2d901ee9
One of Ostgut frequent guests was DJ Daniel Wang, who described it as 'a world of its own'. Ostgut was build on the ethos of prioritising local DJs over big names; but in 2003, Ostgut was closed as the building was planned to be demolished and renovated. The last song to ever play at Ostgut was Frankie Goes To Hollywoods' 'Ferry Cross The Mersey'.
The new location for the club and what is now Berghain was an old power plant previously owned by Swedish energy giant Vattenfall. The plant had been taken out of service and cleared of turbines, generators and other equipment. Daniel Wang was there on the opening night, noting how 'you could sense this was a special place. The space was amazing and the atmosphere unpretentious, yet energised'. 'There were people of all shapes and sizes. Mostly whites, but also Asians, Latinos and Blacks'.
https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/gyzzzm/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-berghain
https://offramp.sciarc.edu/articles/the-myth-of-berghain-the-berlin-underground
The name of Berghain also originates from its location in between East and West Berlin; straddling Kruez(BERG) and Friedrichs(HAIN). The name inherently refers to the divisions in the city. The building was erected in a socialist neo-classicist style as a combined heat and power station.
https://www.technostation.tv/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-berghain/
https://djmag.com/news/10-iconic-berghain-moments
Berlin techno design
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/vanja-golubovic-techno-club-posters
Vanja Gulobovic is a designer that has shaped the visual communication of the Berlin techno club, working with the club Tresor since 2014. Her work is often very dynamic and ordered, using strict grids and clean typographic approaches. The thing that distinguishes this minimal and ordered approach is how her poster designs stray away from the hedonism that clubs like Tresor promote.
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/tilman-brembs-zeitmaschine-photography-251119
Photographer Tilman Bremb's exhibition features an massive archive capturing the early Berlin techno years, consisting of 20,000 pictures from 1991-7. Tilman got a job working in Tresor, one of the city's most famous nightclubs. This meant that he could capture as many pictures as he wanted on shift, exploring the subculture of the Berlin techno scene. 'The images represent an era, just like Woodstock stands for a certain time' Tilman adds, 'we would do things differently like there was no tomorrow'. Tilman's archive serves as a fundamental reminder of a bygone era; 'only now do I really realise what an important era we experienced'.
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/studio-airport-graphic-design-260520
Studio Airport are a duo who created the visual branding for Slapfunk Records; meeting at the illegal parties they used to throw in the city. Slapfunk represents a versatile genre, functioning as an outpost for those into Berlin techno, New York techno, or any old school garage influences. The studio had to capture this diversity within the design of the record company; referencing old school house aesthetics and glitching motifs.
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/09/three-decades-of-berlin-club-flyers
At the turn of the 90's, Germany's strong punk community provided the tools and know-how of DIY distribution. This hand made, DIY approach to design built the foundations of aesthetic creativity that grew alongside the growth in popularity of techno. One of these punks, Mike Riemel happened to be a massive hoarder of these flyers and posters, consisting of 3,000 original pieces published in Berlin's FLYER handbook.
This one was from the very early 90's, from the resident DJ at UFO, DJ Tanith, who was pretty much the first one to blend acid house with EBM, making UFO one of the oldest venues that broke techno into Berlin.
Low Spirit was a very special label that contested the growth in popularity of grunge; it was a generational change with an explosion of styles, with the Cold War over and Berlin no longer being a money-driven society.
By the end of '91, everything was developing; when you came to Berlin, you would go to a record store and see about 200 flyers lying around. Random people would come in and drop little pieces of potential information towards illegal spaces that maybe exist for a month. Rather than a mere intention to get someplace at a certain time, the real 'flyer as art' movement was enabled by two forces; the explosion of techno and electronic music and the availability of copy machines, home computers and graphic design machines.
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/visual-journey-club-culture-berlin-dj-fiedel/
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