Frank | iHeartBerlin.de

Halloween And A Trip Down Party Memory Lane

You know we love a good party, and you can imagine being locked up for the last 1,5 years has been a challenge. It has been itching under our fingernails now for a while, so when our former iHeartBerlin party writer Suz asked us if we wanted to do a Halloween party with her at Backyard it was pretty much a given we would jump at the opportunity.

Backyard has a place in our hearts because we celebrated so many parties here, most famously the iconic Last Days parties. Those of you who have been around here for a while might even remember the various party photo sets we published in those days. It was certainly something that shaped iHeartBerlin and its place in the Berlin blog and magazine world.

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Creating Space for Equality and Diversity in the World of Gaming

by Frank | Events

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Last weekend, the Equal Esports Festival took place in Berlin at the Telekom Hauptstadtrepräsentanz and shook up the international gaming scene. It was the first festival of its kind to take place in Germany – and it was about time.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the world of Esports and gaming is pretty male-dominated – like so much tech-related stuff. But it’s not that girls and women don’t play games, in fact, there are a lot of female gamers out there. And there are also a lot of non-binary gamers and other members of the LGBTQ+ community. But it’s not easy for them to get recognition or space in the scene.

Equal eSports Festival in Berlin: Pushing Equality & Diversity in the eSports & Gaming World

by Frank | Events

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Today we have the pleasure to introduce you to an exciting festival of Deutsche Telekom, our longtime partner. It’s about fun, about community, about equality and about female empowerment – and these are all topics that are of course also very close to our hearts.

The Equal eSports Festival, which takes place this coming weekend from October 29-31 at the Telekom Hauptstadtrepräsentanz, is dedicated to equality and diversity in the eSports and gaming scene. “eSports is a mass sport in which there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of equality and diversity,” reports Antje Hundhausen, initiator of the festival from Deutsche Telekom.

But supporting women in this otherwise male-dominated scene is just the beginning. It is also important to the festival to include non-binary players, for example, as well as people who otherwise have no access to the gaming experience due to their origin or social status. Everyone should be able to play and be part of the community.

Corona Culture: 120 Artists in an Underground Labyrinth

by Frank | Art

Berlin is really overperforming on the immersive group exhibition front these days, and we’re totally here for it. There was and is so much going on this fall, such as the i8i show Infinite Scroll, the Metabolic Rift show at Kraftwerk or the Sun Machine is Going Down art festival at ICC, to name only a few.

With the Corona Culture exhibition at Alte Münze another big one just opened last week and this might actually be the biggest one featuring over 120 artists and creatives involved. And it was a long way coming for this one. The initial exhibition concept was already conceived during the first lockdown in 2020 and there were several openings planned since then with several delays due to new lockdowns happening. But over time the exhibition just kept growing, until it finally was able to open last week. And I would say the wait and extra time that went into it was worth it.

An Otherworldly Club Experience – The i8i Collective at Traumabar

by Frank | Art, Party

photo: Camille Blake.

Having lived in Berlin for so long and having seen so many things at the intersections of nightlife, culture, and art, you can trust me when I tell you this was quite something else. And I mean that in the best, most stimulating way.

I’ve been a big fan of Trauma Bar und Kino now since their early days and really love and trust their progressive and multi-disciplinary programming. To me, they have accomplished, what many have tried bringing together the most innovative talents into one space and creating immersive and inspiring experiences that go far beyond a regular club night, concert, or exhibition opening. Check out this event for instance that brought together avant-garde fashion and contemporary dance.

Inviting the newly formed i8i collective of interdisciplinary artists to take over their space was a great choice because they created something so next level – even for Trauma’s standards. And this is the part where it gets hard to continue this article because describing what happened at the opening event of their show Infinite Scroll is almost impossible.

Staatsoper Für Alle 2021: Bringing Us All Back Together Again with Opera Music

by Frank | Events, Music

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One the past weekend Berlin once again saw its big annual free open-air opera event Staatsoper für Alle hosted at Bebelplatz by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Due to the pandemic, last year’s edition was held rather small offering the medical personal of the city a chance to view the live screening of the season’s premiere. This year, the event was still not back to its usual capacity of 40.000 people, but at least a few thousand citizens were able to join the two-day event.

Those of you who follow us, know we have been working with the Staatsoper now for several years, hosting the picnics at the Staatsoper für Alle events and creating video content for their social media channels. We were happy that we could join again in the festivities this year, but of course with one sad eye because it wasn’t in the shape of our famous picnic.

PLATTE Brings Voguing & Ballroom to the Runway of Berlin Fashion Week

by Frank | Fashion, Party

Berlin has a new space and platform for emerging local designers and what better to put yourself onto the map with the most exciting fashion show during this week’s Berlin Fashion Week. PLATTE is a project dedicated to supporting the fashion scene of Berlin in a sustainable way by offering space, structure, and expertise to upcoming local designers and brands. The makers of PLATTE are dear of colleagues of iHeartBerlin that have over a decade of experience in the field. Sevil Uguz is the founder of LNFA which is a network and fashion store for local brands at Bikini Berlin, and Arne Eberle is a Berlin Fashion Week veteran and co-founder of OE Magazine.

In their amazing space at Memhardstraße, they will host pop-up stores, workshops, showrooms, exhibitions, events and so much more. With their first event that happened on Tuesday, they gave a preview of what’s to come and their focus on working in an interdisciplinary way. They invited members of the Berlin ballroom scene to curate a runway show of a different kind. Housemother Ambrosia from the Kiki House of Angels brought together a cast of diverse performers who proofed that models can have any size, shape, and identity and look fabulous on the runway. And European housefather David from the house of Milan put together the choreography for the show that would have spectators gagging later on.

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Berlin’s Indoor Clubs to Reopen without Mask and Distancing Rules

by Frank | Clubs, Party

We can’t believe that we are writing this, but after 1,5 years of lockdown, Berlin’s indoor clubs will finally be allowed to re-open without mask requirements and distancing rules. The Berlin Clubcommission announced the news yesterday after the Senat of Berlin lost a court case about it and decided to not challenge it any further. From Friday, September 3rd onwards, clubs will be allowed to re-open their indoor dance floors. Of course, there is a catch because we are still in the middle of a pandemic: Entry will only be allowed to vaccinated and recovered people. Especially since the enforcing of mask rules at outdoor parties has been reportedly causing some friction in the nightlife scene lately, that last bit seems to be a relief for many.

The news is of course welcome, not only for the struggling nightlife makers but also for hungry party-goers that have been starved of their favorite activity. We feel you. But they don’t come without some concerns.

Get Lost in Dark Rooms full of Art: The LOST ART Festival

by Frank | Art, Music, Party

photo: Tadeo Cern.

One of the major qualities of Berlin is that it never stops coming up with disused old breweries, factories, or power stations that all of a sudden get a new lease on life as event and exhibition spaces. These places are usually massive and thanks to that the things that can happen here can go so far beyond what’s possible in a small gallery in Mitte.

That’s why we are so excited to see what the LOST ART Festival will come up with at their latest edition that will happen on September 24-26, 2021. They are using 6000 square meters of industrial halls of the old powerhouse in Reinickendorf to present the work of 80 artists in a 48h long art happening. A 1km long route through 24 dark rooms will create an ambiance of mystery and surprise. And you know we love a good surprise in the dark 😉

Bringing Community Spirit & Live Music Back On The Map with Soundboks

by Frank | Events, Music, Party

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With our recent Hangout event with Soundboks, we already got a taste of what it means to bring our own community back together this summer. And let me tell you, it was about time – because it felt damn good! We really missed just being together without a worry in the world and just enjoying ourselves with some laughs, good drinks, and dancing.

With their new event series On The Map, Soundboks wants to continue to make this happen for all the different communities around the artists and makers of the city. And by city I’m not only talking about Berlin, this year they are also expanding their activities to Hamburg and Stuttgart. And being a speaker brand what is most important to them is of course the music. So they invited some of the most talented rising talents to perform and invite their fan communities to come together for a good time. These events are made for those artists that couldn’t perform and those locations that couldn’t open during the pandemic – it’s time to bring them back on the map.

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