Berghain

Infobox Venue
name = Berghain


image_caption = The Berghain nightclub building
nickname =
location = Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
coordinates = coord|52|30|40|N|13|26|35|E
type = Nightclub
built =
opened = 2004
owner =
former_names = Ostgut ( - 2003)
seating_type =
seating_capacity = 1500

Berghain is a Berlin nightclub, named after its location on the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. [http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2006/10/panoramabar-berghain Panoramabar: Berlin's Underworld | XLR8R ] ] Philip Sherburne has described it as "quite possibly the current world capital of techno, much as E-Werk or Tresor were in their respective heydays."cite web|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/42820-the-month-in-techno |title = The Month In: Techno |date=2007-05-09 |last = Sherburne |first = Philip |work = Pitchfork Media |accessdate=2007-07-04]

Overview

The club is located in a former power plant in Friedrichshain, behind the Berlin Ostbahnhof railway station.cite web|url=http://www.residentadvisor.net/club-detail.aspx?id=5031 |title=Berghain/Panorama Bar |work=Resident Advisor |accessdate=2007-07-04] cite news|url = http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10hours.html |title = 36 Hours in Berlin |work = New York Times |last=Lee |first = Denny |date=2006-12-10 |accessdate=2007-07-04 |id=ISSN|0362-4331 ] The building is distinguished by its enormous dimensions, which accommodate an 18 meter high dancefloor and space for 1500 guests, and also its minimalist interior design, dominated by steel and concrete.. The club contains a "cavernous" main room, as well as a smaller upstairs space called the Panorama Bar, which is decorated by enormous Wolfgang Tillmans photographs and tall windows with a view of East Berlin.cite news|url = http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/travel/tmagazine/19ts-berlin.html |title=Life Is a Cabaret?: At Week End, the party never stops. |last = Trebay |first = Guy |work=New York Times |accessdate=2007-07-04 |date=2006-03-19 |id=ISSN|0362-4331 ] http://www.deutsche-bank-art.com/art/2005/4/e/1/341.php] Only half of the building is currently in use.

Berghain has a strong reputation for decadence and hedonism; a New Zealand Herald article describes "people openly indulging in sexual acts"cite news |url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10406424 |first = Shandelle |last = Battersby |coauthors= |title=Ich bin ein NZer |date=2006-10-19 |work = The New Zealand Herald |pages = | ] inside the club, and the basement contains a dark room specifically set aside for that purpose. cite news|url = http://music.guardian.co.uk/electronic/reviews/story/0,,2087274,00.html |title = Various Artists, Shut up and Dance! |last = Macpherson |first = Alex |work=The Guardian |date=2007-05-25 |accessdate=2007-07-04] Photography is strictly forbidden. cite web|url = http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=7978 |work = Resident Advisor |accessdate=2007-07-04 |date=2006-07-09 |title = New Cassy mix captures Panoramabar] The door policy is selective, but there are no VIP entrance, VIP areas or special guest lists. As a special feature no mirrors or reflecting surfaces can be found anywhere in the club. Like many Berlin clubs, Berghain hosts extremely long events; a Philip Sherburne column in Pitchfork describes a Carl Craig set that began at 3:00 Sunday afternoon and continued until the club's ending time.cite news | first=Helen | last=Pidd | coauthors= | title=Last night a cellist saved my life | date=2008-01-09 | quote= Berlin's Berghain club is known for many things: its hardcore opening hours (no one arrives before 4am, and most stay until well past teatime), its DJs (who play some of the best techno in Europe), and its relaxed attitude towards sex in public (walk past the booths on the ground floor and you're sure to see a bare bottom or 10).| url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2237489,00.html | work =The Guardian | accessdate = 2008-01-31]

History

Berghain is the reincarnation of the "legendary" club "Ostgut" (1998-2003). This club itself emerged out of a men only fetish club night, called "Snax", which was held in different locations before it found its permanent home at the new club "Ostgut" as a part of a new concept. Quickly the "Ostgut" developed into a focal point of the Berlin techno-subculture since the venue was now open for all genders on regular nights except on those "Snax" club nights six to eight times a year. "Ostgut" closed down on January 6, 2003 following a 30-hour farewell event, and the former railway warehouse which housed it was subsequently demolished. Berghain opened in 2004.cite web|url = http://www.discopia.com/portal/issues/issue4/ostgut |title = Ostgut, Berlin: Daniel Wang's scene report from the German capital |last = Wang |first = Daniel |date=2004-10-01 |work=Discopia |accessdate=2007-07-04] [cite web|url = http://www.theberlinpaper.com/home/42400.html |title = Berlin electro club Berghain turns two |work = The Berlin Paper |accessdate=2007-07-04 |date=2006-12-16] . The name "Berghain" is a composite of the names of the two quarters, which flank the building south and north: KreuzBERG (former West Berlin) and FriedrichsHAIN (former East Berlin).

Music

The music is mostly techno and minimal techno. The Panorama Bar hosts well known house and electro DJs. Nick Höppner, a resident DJ who manages the club's record label, states that "The simple division is that Panoramabar more or less caters to house...and Berghain is really the platform for purist techno."

In 2005 the club's owners started a record label, Ostgut Tonträger (or Ostgut Ton). The label's first releases were by Berghain/Panorama Bar residents such as André Galluzzi, Cassy, and Ben Klock. In 2007, Berghain collaborated with the Berlin Staatsballet to create "Shut Up and Dance! Updated" a ballet for five dancers that was performed at the club in late June and early July. [cite web|url = http://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/spielplan_kalendarium.php?id_language=2 | publisher = Staatsballett Berlin |title = Spielplan Spielzeit 06-07 |accessdate=2007-07-04] cite web|url = http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=8579 |title = Shut up and dance |work=Resident Advisor |date=2007-03-23 |accessdate=2007-07-04] The ballet's soundtrack (released on Ostgut Ton on May 29) is made up of five specially composed tracks by prominent minimal techno artists such as Luciano, Âme, Sleeparchive and Luke Slater (here using his pseudonym The 7th Plain) .cite web |url = http://www.inthemix.com.au/music/32559/Various_Artists_Shut_Up_And_Dance_Updated |title = Various Artists - Shut Up And Dance! Updated |work=inthemix.com.au |date=2007-06-07 |accessdate=2007-07-04] The soundtrack received some positive reviews,http://www.stylusmagazine.com/beatz/various-artists-shut-up-and-dance-updated/] http://www.xlr8r.com/topstories/2007/04/] including a five star review in The Guardian, although the ballet itself was panned by Resident Advisor. [http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=4658 RA: Shut Up and Dance! - Event Review ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.berghain.de Official Website]
* [http://www.discogs.com/label/Ostgut+Tontr%C3%A4ger Ostgut Tonträger] at Discogs