Tilman Brembs: Love Parade, Berlin, 1997
In the 1990s, the Berlin Wall had only been down for a year. Berlin, the squares, the young people were breathing again, as they had not done for years. The excess, the fun, the transformation of the “public” into a space for the youthful vindication of that oppressed generation became background concepts to that culture that was growing loudly at the beginning of the decade.
Old abandoned factories and warehouses thus became discos and clubs, where techno music is played: Tresor, Ufo and Planet are just some examples of the most iconic clubs in the city.
The rule in the clubs was one: no photos. For everyone’s respect, the fun wasn’t photographable. Those were the years of gossip, in which VIPs and celebrities fought against defamation and the illicit dissemination of images and paparazzi were really hiding everywhere, even in the sofa of a private room. It goes without saying that, after a grueling Door Selection (that unpleasant practice that decided if you could or could not enter), the bouncer reminded you to turn off your cameras and think more about having fun and enjoying good music.
Tilman Brembs: Keoki, Tresor 1991
Tilman Brembs, in an anarchic way, is the exception to that rule of ‘Please No Photos’: he is a photographer who managed to immortalize the subcultures, just born in those years, of Berlin that never sleeps. Brembs has collected 20,000 analogue images, which are now stored in an archive and exhibited at the exhibition “No Photos On The Dance Floor”, which was held at CO Berlin.
Tilman Brembs: Marco 1991
His photographs describe much more than an environment: the Berlin clubs of the 90s were a manifesto of a newly blossomed generation, the place where avant-garde niches expressed their identity, their fashion, their music, their way to have fun. The colors and faces are those of the LGBT community and the scenes portrayed show the Love Parade; the grain is one of its distinctive features.
Without Brembs we would have only blurry photos, in passing, not very representative of one of the most important moments for world club culture: Berlin Calling, Berghain, abandoned factories.
Tilman Brembs: Carl Cox 1993
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