photo: Berliner Stage Company e.V.
I think one of the most peculiar symptoms of this digital era of self-representation are flash mobs. It does not matter how talented in acting, dancing, and singing the performers are. From the moment on they are willing to sacrifice their last bit of integrity to perform to an involuntary audience we can not stop watching. It’s like being the spectator of an incredible stunt that could turn every moment into a horrible (and by horrible I mean horribly embarrassing) accident.
A favorite place for those public flash mobs (or flash tortures) is the Berlin subway or train stations. I guess the idea is to turn an everyday boring situation like a subway ride into a magical eye opening experience. Sometimes the results are close to that description. But it can also happen to be a deadly trap for the poor innocent Berlin souls who just wanted to have a chill ride to their workplace.
After the jump I collected some of the funniest and some of the weirdest U-Bahn flash mobs that you can find on Youtube for your amusement.
Laugh Flashmob… or better “Subway Hysteria”
Laughing brings people together? Well, at least this bunch of crazy women of Lachen Verbindet tried to get the other Berliners to laugh with them. A bit esoteric but kind of cute.
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No Pants Subway Ride… or better “Shock Me Harder Next Time”
This flashmob is repeated annually around January and is based on a 15-year-old performance of Improv Everywhere – a New York flash mob agency. The idea is nice, but has become a bit repetitive over the years. Berliners are not even shocked seeing genitals in the subway, that I guess this flash mob is desperate for a reboot.
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Dancers in the Main Station… or better “Quality and Quantity”
The Berlin Staatsballett did once a quite impressive flash mob inside the whole terminal building of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof as marketing for their current piece. I hoped for more flash mobs of this quality when I was researching for this article. But I guess state-funded institutions would rather invest in doing something in their real theaters than entertain for free uncultured audience on the street. We are in Germany in the end.
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Musical Gang or better “Passion is my Obsession”
To advertise their upcoming musical performance the kids of the Berlin Stage Company organized a singing flash mob inside the S-Bahn. But I really like watching them perform so passionately in front of the Berlin-typically unimpressed audience. If you want to see those kids on stage I recommend you to get some tickets for their show this weekend.
Did you spot any other flashmob we missed on this (very intensely researched) list?
