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The (heart)beat of the city Understanding club culture in post-1989 Berlin through authenticity discourse Vera Vaessen The (heart)beat of the city Understanding club culture in post-1989 Berlin through authenticity discourse MA Thesis in European Studies, Identity & Integration Graduate School of Humanities Universiteit van Amsterdam Vera Vaessen, 12771686 First examiner: Dr. Guido Snel Second examiner: Dr. Alex Drace-Francis April 2021 > Cover photograph: Closed club Paloma Bar in Kreuzberg, Berlin, July 2020, by author 2 Foreword While writing this foreword, it is April 2021. The last time I spent a night in a club is over a year ago. Not because I voluntarily decided to quit clubbing, but due to a virus which does not deserve more attention than this sentence only. I now – involuntarily – have a consistent sleep rhythm and a lot of knaldrang, as we say it in Dutch. Despite all clubs being closed, I decided to write a thesis on club culture. And maybe this actually has been the perfect moment to reflect on something so intangible. This period has made me think about what defines clubbing, what it is that we cannot simulate just by dimming the lights and putting on loud music by ourselves in our living rooms. It is hard to capture the essence of this ephemeral phenomenon in words, let alone in an academic thesis. Nevertheless, in this thesis I have tried to do justice to the uniqueness of clubbing experiences – I hope I have succeeded. I would like to thank dr. Guido Snel for his supervision. I hope the insights of my thesis have encouraged him to go clubbing in Berlin once clubs reopen. Also special thanks to my friends Jenneke, Sophie and Johanna. Lastly I would like to thank the current circumstances for a sleep rhythm, for without it I would probably never have been able to spend as much time on this thesis as I have now. 3 Abstract This thesis is concerned with club culture within the local context of post-1989 Berlin. It seeks to examine discursive fields within Berlin club culture, focusing on the idea of authenticity. Club culture is a ‘glocal’ and urban phenomenon with an ephemeral and transient character, due to the centrality of the physical, embodied experience. Authenticity is regarded as a discursive phenomenon, subject to local circumstances as well as developments in the global discursive field. Four phases of club cultural discourse will be analysed through Der Klang der Familie (Denk & Von Thülen 2014), Lost and Sound (Rapp, 2010) and a selection of online sources in order to distinguish discursive patterns. Despite processes of globalisation, the scene remained inward-looking and reorients its definition of authenticity, basing it on factors such as seniority in the scene or the originality of music. Several threats to the authenticity of club culture can be found in the material, such as tourism, gentrification and commercialisation. Keywords: popular culture, club culture, Berlin, authenticity discourse, discursivity 4 Table of contents Foreword 3 Abstract 4 1. Introduction 6 2. Theoretical framework 9 2.1 Club culture 9 2.2 Discursivity 13 2.3 Authenticity 15 3. Phase I: The fall of the Wall, the drop of the beat (1980s-1990s) 19 4. Phase II: Challenges for the underground (2000s) 26 5. Phase III: Clubsterben? (2010s) 33 6. Phase IV: Rewriting existing narratives (now) 40 7. Conclusion 45 Bibliography 47 5 1. Introduction ‘Techno capital’ Berlin is considered a global metropolis of electronic dance music (EDM)1 culture (Baker 2019). The German capital has transformed from a city of voids into a subcultural utopia, with club culture being the city’s dominant subculture after 1989, which has given shape to the city’s identity and still continues to do so, especially for young people. The common narrative of Berlin as a techno capital connects club culture to German reunification, in which the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 preluded the development of the so-called New Berlin (Bauer & Hosek, 2019). However, the city did not acquire this status spontaneously right after the fall of the Wall, nor did electronic music culture coincidentally bloom in Berlin. The city already had a longer history of artistic culture – club culture is the latest in a succession of several flourishing subcultures, such as dada, jazz and swing, cabaret and punk communities. Notably after World War II Berlin had a reputation as a cultural refuge for artists, especially from West-Germany but also from abroad. The circumstances for migration were attractive for creative people. Contrary to the GDR, West-Berlin was known for its lack of regulation. Furthermore rents were low and living was cheap. An exchange of inhabitants occurred: Berliners who chose for business migrated to West-Germany, West-Germans who were orientated towards art moved to Berlin (Sievers 2020). Internationally West-Berlin was already attractive to artists as well, with the well-known examples of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The (sub)cultural character of Berlin had thus already been established long before 1989. However, the social, cultural, political and geographical circumstances after the Cold War did enhance the rise of club culture. A few years prior to the fall of the Wall the first illegal parties were held in the West. Additionally club music started to reach the East due to the cultural transition based on Gorbatsjov’s glasnost and perestroika, when radio stations in the East were allowed to play new genres (Peter 2014, 177). Immediately after the fall of the Wall, there was not only access to music, but also to empty spaces: especially the Zwischennutzung (temporary use) of empty buildings strongly enhanced the development of a vibrant club scene in Berlin. At the time, the scene completely relied on unregulated, temporary spaces. Meanwhile, the municipality had big plans to change Berlin into a global capital, after it was determined to be the new, national capital of united Germany. The local government made ambitious plans for urban development and private investors made their entrance into the city (Arandelovic and Bogunovich 2014). There was a feeling of euphoria and speculation about major projects that had commenced. Between 1995 and 1999 the realisation of big building projects started, however, the city did not become the global power the government intended it to be and its growth stagnated from 1999. Many offices and warehouses were still empty, which ensured the club scene, with its temporary character, to further establish itself. The development of an EDM subculture in the late 1980s and 1990s did not occur solely in Berlin. The complexity of the international electronic dance music scene is illustrated by Reynolds’ (1998) comprehensive history of international rave and club scenes. He describes parallel developments of club culture in the 1990s which were happening across many different styles, actors and local scenes in, for example, Chicago, Detroit, Berlin, Manchester, Ibiza and London. Club culture is thus shown to have a so-called ‘glocal’ character (Knights and Biddle 2007): club scenes manifest themselves on a local, urban level, which together constitute a 1 Thereby referring to electronic dance music as an umbrella term for electronic music, not to be confused with the current genre denomination EDM. 6 global movement, similarly to other music subcultures (Kruse 2010). Local scenes have often influenced each other, the reciprocity between Detroit and Berlin being an important example, but Reynolds illustrates the intricacy of all these connections. Especially in the 2000s, under the influence of globalisation, club culture has involved more people and has grown into a culture with many actors and gatekeepers, ranging from DJs to promoters and from clubs to record shops, and, most importantly, clubbers, who have altogether established their own discourse. A complex international network of producers, promoters and DJs started to form when electronic dance music became more popular – many of which have relocated to Berlin in the early 2000s (Nye 2013). The latter detail proves that although dance music culture has become a worldwide phenomenon, the subculture has proven to be especially relevant for Berlin. Additionally the German Bundesfinanzhof has recently acknowledged that techno must be considered music, therefore granting German techno clubs to pay the same tax rate (Umsatzsteuer) as other cultural institutions (Radomsky 2020). Concerning Berlin, the positive reputation of techno might rely partly on the fact that the municipality started to use Berlin’s subcultural status as a trademark in the 2000s. The latest city branding narratives of Berlin have been based on its historical variety of subcultures, framing the city as a cosmopolitan, young and free city with large amounts of space and appreciation for subcultures (Colomb 2012a & 2012b). This is symbolised by former mayor Wowereit’s description of the city: “Berlin ist arm, aber sexy.”2 (Sontheimer 2004). In addition, Erek & Gantner (2018) highlight how strategies of self-historicisation or urban imagineering have been put into play to create a persistent cultural image of Berlin as a cosmopolitan, open minded and creative city. Within this semi-constructed narrative of Berlin’s identity, techno music and club culture are said to have played an important role. Bader & Scharenberg (2009) for example contend that there is a strong link between Berlin’s post-1989 identity and the electronic music subculture. These institutional developments are rather typical for Berlin, since subcultures have long been ingrained in the government’s city marketing – this phenomenon did not originate after the fall of the Wall, but already before 1989, and perpetuated (Lanz 2013). Club culture is thus being instrumentalised for the economic value of the city. On the one hand, the central role of club culture in city branding has enhanced the establishment of techno culture in Berlin, but scenesters dissent from its side effects, such as the attraction of many tourists who do not ‘belong’ to the local scene, threatening its authenticity.

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