This year was quite different, wasn’t it? There was a lot of crazy stuff happening, but we can all agree on what the most significant thing was: the pandemic. If you would have told me a year ago that this would happen, I probably would not have believed you. But here we are, 9 months into a global outbreak of an airborne viral disease that has turned the world upside down.
Of course, this pandemic brought us a lot of negative things, but I don’t want to focus on those – you can simply turn on the news for that. I want to focus on the things that were good, specifically on how people responded to the crisis in positive ways. While a lot of us were struggling with our lives, our work, and our mental health, some people gathered their creative energies to come up with great things to brighten the days of everyone else and show some optimistic spirit.
One of the first responses to the initial lockdown in March came from the nightlife scene. I was very impressed with how quickly the United We Stream project emerged from the Berlin club scene and how it spilled over to Germany and the rest of the world. It gave the party people something to hold on to while the clubs were closed and it generated a lot of money for those nightlife makers that were suffering.
The next group of people from the cultural scene that was affected by the lockdown that came out with something amazing was the dancers, led by the Staatsballet Berlin and followed by many other companies and independent dancers. They came out with wonderful performance videos shot at their homes or in nature.
We also received a lot of submissions by visual artists that created photo series dealing with the lockdown or other aspects of this new reality, one of the most beloved the one from Lovis Ostenrik who shot people stuck in their houses during the first lockdown in their windows.
Last but not least there were your own stories that you shared with us and that we compiled into a mini-series of articles we called Quarantine Diaries. We loved to read about how you dealt with the situation and we hope it also made a couple of other people not feel so alone in isolation.
Below you’ll find our collection of articles about these amazing creative pandemic responses from Berlin that gave us a lot of hope and inspiration this year.

No Culture. No Future. – A Film About the Importance of Arts & Culture
A few months ago I published a story about how the lockdown has seemed to have created a new dogma of system relevance that discriminates against arts and culture workers. This was a story very close to my heart and close to what matters to all of us at iHeartBerlin....
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Dreaming in Quarantine: Wilden Renate’s Overmorrow Installation
Wilden Renate’s Overmorrow is an immersive walkthrough art experience created by over 40 artists, from well-known collectives like Bad Bruises and TrashEra to newcomers. The installations, performances, and exhibitions occupy most of the indoor spaces of Wilde Renate,...
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The Staatsballett Berlin is Dancing Outside
photo: Jubal Battisti. At the end of August, the operas and theaters of Berlin will be able to reopen again after the lockdown. We are really happy about this but it's not going to be the same with a lot of restrictions on stage and behind the scenes, as well as way...
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Together A Part: Extending The Physical Through Virtual Interaction
photos: Red Rubber Road. Today we want to share a photo series with you, that is a bit of the opposite of our Finally Together Again series from yesterday that celebrated a physical togetherness and how meaningful it can be in these trying times. What was possible...
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At a Distance: A Stripped-Down Look at Social Distancing
photos: Aja Jacques. While the pandemic and the lockdown have been pretty devastating for artists and creative professionals economically, they certainly have not been lacking in being an inspiration. In the last weeks, we received quite wonderful submissions from...
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Face Masks for Queer Visibility
With literally every single queer bar, club and venue closed until further notice and all Pride parades and other queer festivals canceled this year, it looks pretty dim on the queer visibility front right now. But all clubs and bars are closed and festival canceled -...
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Isolation Porn: Erotic Art & Sexual Expression During the Lockdown
photo: SCANROULETTE @herpeslabial_ The lockdown has really put a damper on the sexual expression of Berliners in a major way. Unless you are lucky to live with your partner or with a flatmate with benefits your sex life most likely had to take a back seat in the last...
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Someone Turned Daniel-Ryan Spaulding’s Viral Mauerpark Orgy into a Techno Song and it’s a Banger!
Sassy Berlin stand-up comedian Daniel-Ryan Spaulding has really lifted our spirits during the last weeks of the quarantine as he has been coming up with new hilarious videos on a daily basis about all things corona. You would think this would quickly grow old but in...
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Stay at Home: Portraying Berliners through their Windows
photos: Lovis Ostenrik. These last couple of weeks it became almost a mantra: Stay at home! Angela Merkel said it, viral expert Drosten said it, your mom said it, we said it. It's in everyone's ears, and in everyone's mouths. But what does "staying at home" mean for...
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These Contemporary Dancers from Berlin Perform in Isolation
photo: Sasha Waltz & Guests. It's been just two weeks since we showed you the cute video of the Staatsballett Berlin dancing from their home. You guys really loved this video, so we thought we could give you a bit of an encore today. In the past couple of weeks, the...
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Stuck at Schönefeld with an Airport Fly
And here I am, locked in the humiliation and ostentatious luxury of purchasing a beer for €3.25 whilst the overlords of the aviation inferno smirk on for my predictable avarice and sloppy living. “Yes, go towards the pilsner, you wretched tart, go and bathe yourself...
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These Satirical Comics Respond to the Corona Madness in the Best Way
We've already showcased some of Guen Douglas's tattoo designs in a blog post last year. But recently, this prolific Berlin-based artist has gone public with another form of creative expression: an Instagram account filled with unique comics. Guen Douglas told us more...
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The Dancers from the Staatsballett Berlin Dancing From Home
As you probably know we're big fans of the Staatsballett Berlin here at iHeartBerlin. So naturally, this new video really warmed our hearts when we first saw it: Initiated and edited by Principal Dancer Ksenia Ovsyanick, 45 of the dancers recorded themself at their...
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The Quarantine Diaries: Gardener of the House
Normally, he is the gardener of the house. I watched him year after year, half paying attention. Seeds, coconut-husk soil; add water and in a few months boom... Chilis. Too many to consume. Habaneros, Thai, Jalapenos, Scotch Bonnets. The heat lamp has been set for a...
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The Quarantine Diaries: My Pet Slug in CoronaVirus Times
There I was, in my Berlin kitchen, minding my own business. Preparing a salad at a leisurely pace when I noticed a round, gooey, grey, slimy, blob on one of the bio salad leaves (has anyone else noticed bio supermarkets are less hit by the panic shoppers?). On closer...
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Keeping Berlin’s Club Culture & Art Scene Alive in Times of Quarantine
In the last couple of days, things have been moving really fast. Every day the situation concerning the virus outbreak seems to get more serious. But the more time we spend at home in self-quarantine, the more time we have to think about the repercussions, not only on...
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