Last Saturday night, a very special party took place to celebrate the launch of Absolut’s new limited edition called Absolut Facet. The new bottle with its mesmerizing polygon surface and its piercing cobalt blue color that was positioned right at the entrance cleverly foreshadowed what this event would be about: The diverse and unexpected facets of the night. The venue for the spectacle was the dark corridor of the basement of the Alte Münze which was built almost a century ago and used to be Berlin’s State Mint. Abandoned and forgotten for a long time the place has been used for all sorts of happenings for the past couple of years, more recently also for those kind of club nights that celebrate the liberal and free-spirited side of Berlin’s nightlife.
Being at the the Absolut Facet launch now, it was pretty astonishing to see the location under totally different circumstances. The atmosphere was filled with curiosity and excitement about the various art installations that were so diligently constructed and perfectly integrated into the raw, industrial corners of the former coin factory, that would leave me wondering if they had been there all along.
On entering the location I was instantly lured into the basement to explore the dark complex that had a strong resemblance to a bunker with drops of mystery oozing from its naked walls. It was impossible to ignore the awe-inspiring thick metal doors, behind which the coin safes were kept.
After trying out the “Face It” drink, which was Absolut’s signature cocktail of the night, a mix of lime juice, grapefruit soda, vodka and blueberries, I started following the crowd deeper into the basement, discovering new, surprising sensations behind every door.
The night was not simply a party, but also an exhibition that played with the darkness of the place by illuminating it with multiple light-based artworks.
Clemens Behr’s skewed and complex Art Bar construction flickered in the first room, while Fred Eerdekens’ worm-like sculptures threw shadows in the shape of beautifully hand-written words against the walls of the second. In the third room light artist Moritz Wermelskirch transformed the pipes, turncocks, concrete surfaces and boilers into colorful objects by illumination and projection. In multiple nooks along the corridor the tape artist collective Tape Over created a series of reflective abstract works that you could see through small slits. In the final room the electronic art and design lab LNLO absolutely stunned us with their glowing staircases leading into heavenly clouds or hellish lava fields. Even though the installations were very diverse, they all shared the quality of showcasing different facets of light-based art.
Art Bar by Clemens Behr
artworks by Fred Eerdekens
light installation by Moritz Wermelskirch
artworks by Tape Over
artworks by LNLO
The mere work and passion invested into the event combined with the sheer joy on everybody’s faces turned the night into a celebration and appreciation of art that totally took me by surprise. But in the end, that’s what Berlin’s nightlife is known for, isn’t it?
Thanks for the support by Absolut
