Berlin’s (and quite possibly the world’s) most famous night club, Berghain celebrates its 10th birthday this weekend. Throughout the years, besides inducing some very long nights, hefty headaches, a long credo of entrance credentials, and even an app for wayward tourists hoping to step inside the heating and power station cum cathedral of minimal techno, the club has garnered quite the artistic following. It is cemented in the cultural scene—Berliners don’t go to church on Sunday; they go to Berghain. Or, so they say.
So, what better way to ring in 10 years of excess and epic sound than an exhibition of works by some of the artists who have made Berghain an essential part of their practice. 10 which opened last night at the Halle am Berghain does just that, featuring works by Carsten Nicolai, Norbert Bisky, Marc Brandenburg, Ali Kepenek, Sarah Schönfeld, Viron Erol Vert, Friederike von Rauch, Piotr Nathan, and the club’s legendary doorman and photographer, Sven Marquardt.
It’s not the first time the club, which says it was founded on, “the triumvirate of art, music, and clubbing,” has hosted an art show. Two years ago, they showed work by the many artists who also tend bar or work other jobs at Berghain. And, it’s become a fairly regular venue for performances: Bisky recently collaborated with the renowned Staatsballett Berlin on a piece called Masse.