Even before covid-19, nightclubs were struggling
IN NORMAL TIMES it is notoriously difficult to get past the bouncers at Berghain, a techno nightclub in eastern Berlin. But in September the establishment flung its doors wide: anyone could come in, not to dance, but to inspect work by 115 Berlin artists. The organisers tried hard to recreate the club’s forbidding atmosphere. Stickers were placed over visitors’ phone-cameras. Security officials, released from furlough, exhibited an authentic grumpiness. Visitors were denied anything as useful as signs telling them about the art.
