Moving the Scene: Meet the People Behind Berlin’s Nightlife

Moving the Scene: Meet the People Behind Berlin’s Nightlife

iHeartBerlin lifted the curtain of some of Berlin’s most mysterious nights—to meet the people who stand behind it.

Dance floors are a place of liberation. A space that enables us to forget about the limitations of our everyday lives, to be whoever we want to be—if only for one night. But the liberation, we experience, also needs our understanding of the work behind it; behind the lights, beats and sweat that move our weekends.

Meet seven Berliners who have dedicated their lives to creating a space for others—for liberation, community, and creativity.

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Going In Deep & Hard: This Queer Artist Designs Porcelain Sex Toys

Going In Deep & Hard: This Queer Artist Designs Porcelain Sex Toys

photos: Vismante Ruzgaite. 

We got a chance to meet Jessie Keane who makes ceramic fine arts – for your kitchen, plants and… private parts.

Jessie is laying on the floor of our photo studio. Coming in for a normal interview, spotlights and cameras were probably not what the 27-year-old expected from this otherwise ordinary Thursday night. But we couldn’t resist photographing the charming artist with her kinky creations.

“Oh god, I’m dressed way too casually for this,” she replies when we ask her to step into the spotlight. Keeping things casual, yet a little unusual is exactly what we were looking for. In the end, Jessie is not selling your usual ceramics.

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UY: The Label That’s Making Waves on the Streets of Berlin

UY: The Label That’s Making Waves on the Streets of Berlin

The Berlin-based all-black-everything design collective number one takes on the city in their new photo series.

Staying true to their drapey and genderfluid aesthetic the Neukölln collective UY sends an array of diverse personalities from the studio into the urban jungle, creating visual disruptions and unexpected synergies in front of the lens.

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Whole United Queer Festival: Creating Inclusivity through Community and Sound

Whole United Queer Festival: Creating Inclusivity through Community and Sound

Berlin’s queer nightlife joins forces once again. The electronic music festival fighting for a space for inclusivity and self-expression for the WHOLE queer spectrum returns for its third edition this June bringing you a killer lineup of local and international artists and party crews to kick off your festival season with a BANG.

The festival’s third year is still a first-time in many ways, not only for the individual festival-goers and organizers but for the global queer electronic underground. More international acts and crews than ever join forces for the three-day gathering to electronic beats. 27 queer nightlife collectives from 12 different countries come together for the function in Ferropolis (“the city of steel”), a former coal mining site turned breathtaking festival location, just two hours out of Berlin. The stunning area – imagine gigantic metal cranes growing into the sky like it’s a dystopian fiction flic – is also home to strongholds of the festival summer circuit such as MELT and SPLASH Festival. read more…

I Just Don’t Want to Give a Fuck! An Interview with Sam Morris

I Just Don’t Want to Give a Fuck! An Interview with Sam Morris

He is Berlin’s most desired bachelor on social media – We wanted to get to know the man behind the Insta-fame.

iHeartBerlin named the 30-year-old Brit one of Berlin’s most fearless Sexfluencers fighting for sex-positivity online. Don’t mistake his overtly sexual images for empty thirst traps, this man is more than just bum and bulge. The Instagram-famous artist wants to create something meaningful where others remain shallow.

145,000 follow the New Berliners account on Instagram, almost 50,000 more since the last time we featured him last year. What is it that makes JustSamMorris so undeniably fascinating? Is it the former dancer’s tight body, the 1970’ s-daddy-mustache or his angel-like singing voice while topless playing the Ukulele? Or is it the possibility to get even closer to this exclusive fantasy if you are willing to pay the price of his members-only website?

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Make Some Noise and Save Your City

Make Some Noise and Save Your City

Our city is changing. As long as we’re loud enough, it can change for the better.

My body is still sobering up from excessive new years celebrations when I leave my apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee on this frosty Thursday morning. I might feel like trash, but stepping through the elegant row of columns guarding the gates to the monumental ‘Stalin-palaces’, I live in, just gives me something grand each time.

I’m on my – semi-thought-through – mission to keep it that way: I’m buying my apartment! – I’m 25, I just finished my studies, and my savings got me as far as a new MacBook… Turning around the corner to Ostbahnhof, nervously fiddling with the pile of signed documents in my right hand, I ask myself: Have I gone mad?

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Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert: About Conquering Berlin & Leaving It

Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert: About Conquering Berlin & Leaving It

You just know, when Joseph’s in the room. The soon-to-be 28-year-old’s personality is as immersive as his imagery. The Berlin Wunderkind has left his mark on the big city – now, after almost a decade, he’s ready to leave her behind…

His cheeky charm and exceptional talent led Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert into the forefront of a new generation of Berlin creatives. The last eight years have seen him working as a portrait photographer for established publications such as Intro, Siegessaeule and Gay Times capturing the rare place where beauty, intimacy, and refined aesthetic meet like no other. His first, much-acclaimed photobook ‘Gender as a Spectrum’ – a collaboration with Kaey – was released in 2016, and hit the bull’s eye of a zeitgeist of sexual liberation and social acceptance for LGBTQIA+ people. At the time, Joseph was studying at the renowned University of the Arts Berlin, after already graduating from Ostkreuz School for Photography, and, on top, he opened up his own gallery ‘P7’ in 2017.

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Let’s Take a Day Off and Celebrate Women

Let’s Take a Day Off and Celebrate Women

The Berlin Senate has declared ‘Women’s Day’ at the 8th of March a public holiday. This is groundbreaking and about time!

“Today is a very big sign that we are making progress on the road to equality between men and women,” said Derya Caglar, spokeswoman on equality policy for the SPD, in a press statement. Once a year, on March 8th, all people will be reminded that women are still not equal in our society. read more…

A New Era for Music Made in Berlin: Watch these 12 Great Music Videos

A New Era for Music Made in Berlin: Watch these 12 Great Music Videos

Berlin in 2018 represents Europe’s creative metropolis number one. “Berlin reminds me of what New York was like in the early ‘80s,” Honey Dijon, iconic DJ, and cultural encyclopedia, told Clash in an interview in 2017, “It hasn’t been tainted as bad. It retains its rawness and roughness, it’s really young and still somewhat affordable. So there’s a lot of young artists.” – The European city that attracts musical talent ain’t London no more. Take a look at the following list of exceptionally talented and unique artists, and you’ll see: We have entered a new era of music made in Berlin. Whether short momentum or the start of bigger things to come. Don’t miss these 12 amazing, new music videos from Berlin-based artists!

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Uncensored Berlin: iHeartBerlin’s New Exhibition Challenging Social Media Censorship

Uncensored Berlin: iHeartBerlin’s New Exhibition Challenging Social Media Censorship

photo: Majdi Laktinah. 

Censorship in digital spaces is pushing against a zeitgeist of sexual diversity and sex-positivity. It establishes a dangerous moral code, especially among younger users. iHeartBerlin’s latest exhibition #UncensoredBerlin centers on those representations of the human body that are affected by digital censorship and offers the participating artists a unique platform to express themselves freely.

“Your post has been removed as it doesn’t follow our community guidelines.” – For many users of social media platforms, but especially for many artists, this phrase has become a familiar foe. What kind of community restricts your right for self-expression?

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