Berlin has earned its reputation as the techno capital of the world already in the 1990s and the city’s techno scene has only grown bigger ever since. It comes as no surprise then that Dimitri Hegemann, founder of the legendary club Tresor, wants to make things official by opening a techno museum in the German capital.

The news follows an announcement this past April that a Museum of Modern Electronic Music (MoMEM) is scheduled to open in Frankfurt in 2017.

Not to be outdone, Hegemann is planning to open the Living Archive of Electronica a year earlier, in the fall of 2016, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Tresor.

Berlin’s Tresor club has been legendary since the 1990s.
Photo: residentadvisor.net

Speaking to Insomniac, he said “I will call it the Living Archive of Electronica because techno here in Berlin is still a living, inspiring and vivid movement.”

Mixmag reported that the club and record-label owner is currently fundraising for the project.

However, the plans for a techno museum probably won’t go down very well with Berlin’s residents, who are upset about the commercialization of an underground movement that is reluctantly being thrust into the mainstream.

Art world figures including Chris Dercon and Maurizio Cattelan are both fans of Berlin’s Berghain club.
Photo: thevlyhouse.com

Since becoming synonymous with electronic music and hedonistic parties that go on for days, the city has attracted vast numbers of party tourists scornfully labelled the “EasyJet set” by locals, in reference to the inter-European budget airline.

These primarily young, thrill-seeking visitors have been blamed for most of the city’s ills including gentrification, rising rents, unemployment and being turned away from overcrowded clubs.

Fans of Berlin’s notorious nightlife include the Director of London’s Tate Modern, Chris Dercon who waxed lyrical about the techno temple Berghain only last month. Another self-proclaimed Berghain fan, Maurizio Cattelan told the New Yorker in May that his strategy is to go to the club “at, like, seven o’clock in the morning.”