Wolfgang Tillmans, Outside Snax Club. (2001). Courtesy of C/O Berlin.
Berlin’s nightlife doesn’t stop for much, but as Covid-19 spreads through the city, venues are starting to close their doors—Berghain, one of the world’s most revered techno temples, announced that all club events will be discontinued as a precaution until April 20. Although well-established venues will likely survive a temporary shutdown, Berlin’s club commission warns that the city’s smaller venues are likely to go bankrupt as they weigh up the closing of all clubs during the outbreak.
“A shutdown of only a few weeks would inevitably lead to insolvency for most clubs,” Clubcommission Berlin—which represents close to 200 of the city’s bars, clubs and event spaces—said in a statement on the spread of the disease on Wednesday. “The Clubcommission has made contact with banks, and crowdfunding platforms, as well as the Berlin Senate, to provide a rescue fund for hardship cases.”
As of Wednesday, the city had 81 reported cases with 1600 people in isolation, but 17 of these cases were from people who attended a party at Club Trompete in Berlin’s Mitte district on 29 February and nine cases were linked to a party two days earlier at The Reed, creating caution among the city’s nightlife community, especially for more hedonistic venues known for packing sweaty clubbers shoulder to shoulder. While Berghain and the performance art venue and club Traumabar und Kino have chosen to temporarily shutter their doors, other venues have chosen to stay open.
KitKatClub, posted on 4 March that they the staff voted to keep the party going with a few changes to promote safety such as moving the coat check room to a larger space and creating an email list for clubbers so that everyone can be easily contacted should anyone become infected. This isn’t the first time that the Kreuzberg club dealt with contagion risks. In 2018, there were cases of bacterial meningitis were connected to the venue, but the owners chose not to close down then either.
The coronavirus could not come at a worse time for the Berlin club scene as the beloved Griessmühle club just closed in February to make room for office and apartment developments, while Salon zur Wilden Renate and About Blank will potentially be closed to make way for an Autobahn extension.