Vangardist magazine

texting / editorial

Hintergrund

Kaum ein Club in Europa ist so bekannt, aber auch so umstritten, wie das Berghain. Was früher ein Fernwär-mewerk war, ist längst zu einem verruchten Utopia für viele Berlinbesucher geworden. Harte Drogen, harter Sex und harter Techno – eben alles was das Herz begehrt.

Das Interview

In „Die Clubmaschine“ habe ich die Autoren Kilian Jörg und Jorinde Schulz das Berghain genauer unter die Lupe genommen. Daraus entstand ihr Buch „Die Clubmaschine“, das sich mit den sozialpolitische Aspekten dieses Mikrokosmos auseinandersetzt. Anlässlich unserer Good-Life Issue habe ich mit den beiden Autoren gesprochen…

Ausgabe

#12 – The Good Life Issue

Klient

Vangardist Agency

Jahr

2018

„BERGHAIN IS A PILGRIMAGE DESTINATION OF A GLOBAL KIND OF AUTHENTIC TOURISM THAT SEEKS BERLIN AS A CAPITAL OF THE UNDERGROUND AND AVANT-GARDE.“

To sum up, would you call Berghain more of a utopia or a dystopia? Good life or the exact opposite?

„Having to decide between utopia and dystopia is already the wrong premise, namely that there even is such a thing as purely good or purely bad. Such „totalitarian“ thinking mostly leads to forlornness and cynicism. The dystopia in which we may find ourselves might most easily be solved by learning to perceive its openings and fractures. For that, Berghain is a wonderful place of training to cultivate current per-ceptive practices and rituals. Even if we lived in a dystopia, Berghain would certainly not be its darkest place.“

Internationally, Berghain is often hyped as the best club in the world. What makes this former district heating plant so attractive? How does it differ from other clubs?

At Berghain, synthetic drugs are sold and consumed as if they were tic tacs. It seems as if there were different laws in place, or maybe even none whatsoever. Does our society need places like this as a vessel for over-regulation?

Why does Berghain have such high standing in the middle class, especially? Is the fascination legitimate or can it be traced back to a subconscious need to self-destruct?