photos: 18/7001 Festival
Berliners’ undying affection for techno comes on a par with a fondness for tangible memories of the GDR past. The creators of 18/7001 Festival (happening on 17th, 18th, and 19th August 2018) merged the two into an event that will undoubtedly become the rave highlight of your summer. Read on…
On the 3rd of October Germany will be celebrating the anniversary of its re-unification. Wait, didn’t we do that last year with the balloons and all? No, that was the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall which happened about one year before the actual re-unification of Germany. So as you can imagine this is a pretty special day for us here, especially for those who were born in the time when the country was still separated.
As in previous years the “Tag der Deutschen Einheit” will be celebrated with a big street festival at the Brandenburger Gate that is free for everyone to join.
Since the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall we have been publishing a lot of features about Berlin’s pre- and post-wall history here on the blog. This has been a very educative process for us as we learned so many things about the city that we live in that we didn’t know before. For the anniversary of the re-unification of Germany we want to give you another history lesson by collecting 25 highlights of the united Germany. We picked both big and small happenings, personal and general events that were important to us. Join us on a trip down memory lane after the jump. For more of those moments come to Brandenburger Tor on October the 3rd!
The first weekend of May has been notable not only for Labour Day, but for art in Berlin as well. For the 11th time 47 galleries (this year) opened their doors from the first until the third of May.
Among this year’s highlights were definitely the large scale sprayed paintings by Katharina Grosse, who inaugurated the new exposition domicile in the St. Agnes church of Johann König. Her bright colorful art is characterized by her demolished paper bits spray technique, as you would normally know from collages. One could not have filled the great room on the first floor of the church any better. Along with other art pieces on the ground floor of the concrete church Jeppe Hein’s mirrored chrome balloons with colorful strings on the ceiling were much admired too. More impressions after the jump.
photos: Fabian Frost
Undoubtly one of the strongest qualities of Berlin is its pulsating nightlife with an endless amount of bars, clubs, DJs and musicians. Especially the local techno scene is one of the most progressive and impressive music scenes in the entire world.
The young jewellery label GONEBERLIN has dedicated their first collection to Berlin’s techno clubs creating solid silver necklaces and brass key rings that resemble abstract versions of some of the most famous techno clubs in Berlin. These unique, locally handcrafted pieces become the perfect memonto of all the amazing parties that you will otherwise only remember by a thumping headache on the next day. The label is not commenting on which clubs they have used as inspiration for the pendants, but if you know your favorite club you will surely recognize it. Among them are the Golden Gate, Chalet, Berghain and the Bunker which is home for the Boros art collection now, but used to be a famous techno club in the 80s and 90s.
The jewellery is available in a strongly limited edition on the GONEBERLIN website. Enjoy some photos of the collection after the jump.
Boros Collection
When I went through my city guide archive on iHeartBerlin I noticed that I neglected one of my favorite districts of the city a little bit in recent months. I lived in the North of Mitte for about 4,5 years and I quickly grew very fond of my neighborhood there around Rosenthaler Platz. Even though I live in Prenzlauer Berg now I still go there all the time and I really miss some of the places that I used to frequent on a daily basis. Mitte might have the reputation of being overly commercial, but I think still it is the best place for food, fashion and art as it has the best fashion shops, most important art galleries and the most popular restaurants in town.
For our new guide I decided to create a little art tour through Mitte with some of the most important galleries for contemporary art as well as some of my favorite places that you will come across on the way. This walking tour is my ultimate suggestions on how to spend a day in Berlin-Mitte dedicated to art. Keep your eyes open on the way, as you will come across some nice shops, cafes and restaurants as well. Enjoy and be inspired!
Celebrating non-stop from Friday until Monday, clubs that you enter on a Sunday afternoon and leave on a Monday evening – if you think that this is something special about Berlin’s present, you are mistaken. Berlin’s first after hour club opened almost twenty years ago: At the Walfisch, parties did not start before Sunday morning, and what happened there is just the same what happens today.
There is a great documentary available from 1993 that shows Berlin’s early techno scene. It is really funny to see how some things never change. Check out the whole documentary after the jump – but be aware, the music in it is quite a challenge.