photos: Fruit Salat Films and Weisse Maus.
Step into a time machine of the senses and transport yourself back a century to the “Goldener Zwanziger” or the Golden Twenties, of Weimar Berlin. Let yourself be intoxicated by the decadence of the smoky and sweet Berliner Luft, and pay homage to the legendary Weisse Maus. From the creative minds behind The House of Red Doors and some of Berlin’s finest performance artists, chefs, musicians, and sommeliers, comes Die Weisse Maus 2022.
The final days of summer are upon us, and soon Berlin will descend into its dark and dismal winter. Soak up the final rays of sun in some of our favorite “Biergarten” (beer gardens), open-air clubs, and rooftop bars. Peruse this list, pick your favorite, and make the trip. Make sure to check Resident Advisor, Facebook, or our events page for all the latest news about events. Cheers!
performer: Bishop Black.
Tucked away in the depths of the Salon Zur Wilden Renate beer garden lies the Peepshow, a glimpse into a ruby fantasy.
Between the currently closed club and the self-service bar stands the peepshow box, so unassuming, from afar that you could even miss it on any casual evening downing beers and having a smoke. Luckily, tonight you’re a bit more curious, and on a second glance, you notice little cutouts looking into the box, each with a small vagina plastered underneath and a sign that says “tip the slit.” Just before 20:30, a voice announces to the crowd over a megaphone that there are 2 tickets left for the 20:30 peepshow. Buy one. Buy the other for your friend if you have a spare five euros.
photo: Tjard Asseng
I’m not usually one for sports, but there’s something truly magical about Berlin when Germany plays. The excitement and tension that fills the city is not only palpable but also infectious. Every waiter and waitress pause what they’re doing to check the score, every moan from the crowd is felt whole-heartedly as communal suffering, but when Germany (or whatever team you support) scores, a glorious wave of serotonin washes over the city. Whether you’re routing on your favorite team, admiring the sexy players (and commenting on how homoerotic the whole ordeal is), or just in it for the atmosphere and big beers, we’ve compiled this list of five of our favorite spots to watch the Euros.
In Berlin leftist graffiti dominates the streets. Unless you venture far enough into Pankow, which I cannot recommend, you’ll likely only find posters, street art, stickers, and graffiti that match Berlin’s politics: left-wing, queer, and pro-reproductive rights. Less than a two-hour drive away in Poland, it’s an entirely different story. There’s a Polish joke that goes: “if you’re standing on the street and there’s an anti-abortion poster behind your back and you don’t see one in front of you, it means you’ve reached the border.”
Since 1993, abortion has been illegal in Poland except in cases of fetal abnormalities, a serious risk to the life or health of the pregnant person, or rape or incest. In October 2020, the country’s Constitutional Tribunal struck the first of those–fetal abnormalities–from the list of permitted cases. And although this law only came into effect in January 2021, hospitals began refusing people last fall. Contraception is available in Poland but can be refused on the grounds of a “consciousness clause,” meaning medical staff can deny access based on their beliefs.
With lockdown being extended every few weeks and more intense measures implemented in seemingly fruitless attempts to minimize COVID infections, we’re all looking for a way to unwind. I’m sure everyone would enjoy a normal party right now; being able to listen to music, dance, and drink with friends without constant fear of the virus. We may all crave it, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair considering our current circumstances. And it definitely doesn’t mean a party full of famous people will go unnoticed in this climate.
Italian luxury fashion house, Bottega Veneta, is facing intense criticism after hosting a fashion show presenting their Salon 02 collection in the concrete halls of Berghain, followed by an afterparty at the Soho House in Mitte on Friday. Local celebrities like Oumi Janta, Honey Dijon, and Sven Marquart were in attendance, as well as more internationally known names such as rappers Skepta, Slowthai, and Burna Boy, American designer, Virgil Abloh, and Daniel Lee, creative director of Bottega Veneta. Photos and videos of the Soho House afterparty were shared on social media, showing no social distancing, masks, or compliance with the increasingly strict lockdown measures.
photos: Megan Auer.
Berlin is undoubtedly a hedonistic city. It’s known for its wild sex clubs, indulgent late-night food culture, excessive drinking, and the legalization of sex work. Despite this sinful reputation, sex workers in Berlin still face much of the same stigma they encounter elsewhere. Berlin Strippers Collective (BSC) is an organization of strippers living in Berlin, working to tell their stories through art and events, while always advocating and fighting for their ultimate goal: decriminalization. read more…
Last year, Berlin became the first German state to make Women’s Day a public holiday. Having been originally proposed by German women’s rights activist and Marxist theorist Clara Zetkin at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, women have celebrated the holiday in March for over a century. In 2019, the Berlin Senate voted 87 to 60 in favor of the bill to make Women’s Day a city-wide holiday. Instead of simply enjoying the day off this year, check out some of these projects and events celebrating womxnhood and the feminine experience in Berlin.
I love the U1. I don’t live on the U1, and I’ve never lived on the U1, but I love the U1.
When I was 14, I moved to Berlin. I didn’t speak a word of German. I had never had a sip of alcohol. I didn’t know what techno was or even what weed smelled like, much less the intricate distinctions between der, die and das. Let’s just say I had a lot to learn. I learned a lot of it on the U1.
A few months into my first year here, I went to a concert at Bi Nuu, the bar located in Schlesisches Tor station. My friend Lisa and I took the U1 over, asked older kids to buy us tequila shots (they can’t have been older than 18) and stood in the front row, prepubescent heads bopping and bodies swaying as San Cisco serenaded us. I felt alive for the first time in a long time. I’d come from suburban New York where I needed parents to drive me wherever I wanted to go. And the year before moving to Berlin, I had lost one of mine to cancer, making my social options severely limited purely by the lack of a driver’s license holding adult in my immediate vicinity. My dad worked 9-5 in New York City and I sat at home and stared at Tumblr. I thought that was the epitome of existence.
A year later, Lisa and I sat on the platform above Bi Nuu waiting for the train home, no later than our midnight curfew and slightly tipsy on two-euro tequila. Lisa taught me how to say Schlesisches Tor (Schlaaay, zeeee, schess, TOR), and we took the U1 back towards Schöneberg, our haven of safe and familiar in West Berlin. I watched the city flash by and felt happy to be there, looking down on the world from above. Now this was the epitome of existence.
The U1 is the oldest section of the Berlin U-bahn. The first train ran on the line in 1902, 110 years before I rode it for the first time. It currently stretches from Warschauer Straße in the east to Uhlandstraße in the west, cutting a straight line across the BVG map. 8.8 kilometers, 13 stations, approximately 20 minutes end to end.
My favorite station is Schlesisches Tor. When I was 17, I got my first ever job at White Trash Fast Food, the legendary American restaurant that had recently moved to Am Flutgraben. I was hired as a “bar runner,” which basically meant I washed glasses and was everyone’s bitch. Every Friday night I took the U7 to Möckernbrucke and changed to the U1 where I would cruise along the stations to Schlesi. I’d walk down Schlesische Straße, past the dealers offering me dirty drugs, headphones blasting whatever garbage I thought was worth listening to at the time. At work I ran around and made mistakes and even kissed a boy in the walk-in refrigerator from time to time. When he told me his girlfriend wasn’t home one night and asked if I wanted to come back to his place I pretended not to hear and ran across the street to Club der Visionäre, which would offer us free entrance after work. I danced would until my feet hurt and the sun rose and the U1 whisked me back West.
But sometimes it didn’t. There were months at a time when the U1 was consumed by “Ersatzverkehr.” A replacement bus would drag me from Möckernbrücke over to Schlesi and I’d make my trek to work. After I finished high school, I went on a five-month backpacking trip around South East Asia. When I left, White Trash still stood resolute and the U1 ran every day and every night, like clockwork. When I returned, White Trash was gone and the U1 wasn’t running. I got a new job at another restaurant on Schlesische Straße and waited for my skytrain to run again. I spent countless nights watching Skalitzer Straße for approaching replacement busses after six hour shifts and eight-hour dance sessions at Chalet or Ipse or Arena.
When I moved to Amsterdam for university there was no U1. No way to view the city from above and travel across the best parts of it, like clockwork. Amsterdam’s public transportation left much to be desired when compared to the magic of the BVG.
Upon my return to Berlin last summer, I was dismayed to find my beloved U1 under construction once again. Just one more thing that I love about Berlin had been taken away, this time not necessarily by the pandemic, but I took it as a personal blow, nonetheless. But by the end of March the line will begin once again, day and night, like clockwork. I won’t be using it to every day to bring me back and forth to my grimy bar jobs anymore, but my love for the U1 will never falter. It showed me what it meant to be young in a city full of possibilities. And therefore, I will always love the U1.
photos: Arata Mori.
There are so many wonderful creatives making art in Berlin, and it’s always a joy to see two of our favorites collaborating. This week, two of them, artist Chiharu Shiota and the dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests, are collaborating in an online event that you definitely don’t want to miss. A stunning installation and a dance performance will be fused together at the iconic König Galerie and you can join in online.