Dark Market: the gothic oriented flea market in Berlin

(Italian text follows)

Hi!

I haven’t been posting for a while once more, but temperature is pretty high in Italy now and sitting in front of my computer is challenging…

However, I would like to introduce you today to a topic that I enjoy a lot. I hope you will like it!

Flea markets are not only a tradition in Berlin, they are almost institutions. Some are small, some are huge and take place in several parts of the city. Most flea markets are on Sunday (like the ones in Boxhagener Platz and Mauerpark), they are a relaxing ritual for Berliners and the ideal destination for those tourists who wish to take a break from the classical sightseeing.

Especially interesting are those flea markets dedicated to a single subject or subculture, for all people looking for a specific object or garment, for those who like to keep focused on their own scene or for those who are simply curious. Among the several categories, for all gothic/dark style lovers there is the Dark Market –Der Gotische Trödelmarkt.

Entrance of Dark Market @ Duncker Club

The gothic market takes place on the first Sunday of the month, every second month, at Duncker: the well-known club of the dark scene in Berlin. Entrance is free. Exhibitors offer a range of both first and second hand goods, beside handmade accessories. In summer time (of course by good weather) stands are placed outside the club (by the street), inside it (yeah, directly on the dance floor!) and in the backyard: a small garden with gazebos and arbor.

Backyard of Duncker Club during Dark Market

Backyard of Duncker Club during Dark Market

The Dark Market is not only a sale-purchase occasion, but a true rendezvous moment. The bar of the club works like during night parties and, again in summer time, barbecue is granted in the backyard. Furthermore, inside the club, there is always a dj playing dark wave songs at low volume, so that participants can talk.

One of the stands inside Duncker Club. I lost the business card of the talented girl who creates these beauties and who was so kind to let me take the picture: if you konw her, please tell me, because I want to tag her in this photo, as deserved!

To keep updated about the events and to see the pictures which are taken every time, you can check the official Facebook page. If you wish to ask for information to take part as exhibitor, instead, you can send an e-mail to daisy@darkmarket.de , writing as subject of the e-mail “Dark Market”.

 

Next Dark Market is scheduled for August 2^nd, between 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

Duncker Club is in Duncker Straße 64 and you can reach it by tram M10 (Husemann Straße stop) or by S-Bahn (Prenzlauer Allee stop) with lines S41, S42 or S85.

Have you already been there? Are you planning to go? Let me know!

(I wrote the Italian version of this article for the on line magazine Berlino Cacio e Pepe)

See you soon

Mary

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Ciao!

Sono dinuovo stata un po' senza postare, ma patisco tantissimo il caldo di questi giorni e fatico a stare davanti al computer...

Oggi, però, torno con un argomento a cui tengo particolarmente: il Dark Market berlinese!

Ho scritto la versione italiana già qualche settimana fa per Berlino Cacio e Pepe, quindi è con gioia che vi rimando al link:

Dark Market (articolo per Berlino Cacio e Pepe) 

Voi ci siete già stati? Ho stuzzicato la vostra curiosità? Fatemi sapere!

A presto!

Mary

Blutengel fly to Italy for their new video: Asche zu Asche

Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favourite bands, Blutengel, focussing on their last single “Asche zu Asche”. 

For Italian speakers: you can find my article for the magazine “Berlino Cacio e Pepe” at the following link

Da Berlino a Roma fra atmosfere gothic: i Blutengel volano in Italia per girar un nuovo videoclip 

I strongly believe that most of the readers of this blog know the band quite well but, anyway, I think that a short introduction is due.

Blutengel are one of the most famous German dark-gothic bands. They were founded in 1999 by the frontman, Chris Pohl, who had already been member of Terminal Choice and Seelekrank. After the turnover of several female singers, at the moment the only woman sharing the microphone with Chris is Ulrike Goldmann, who has been part of the band since 2005.

Chris and Ulrike are not alone on the stage during concerts: dancers and performers (at the moment: Viki Scarlet, Nicola Heinrich and Nadine Schneiderat) create a catching show, which recalls the topic of each song played.

 Photo by Marco Tridente

Blutengel have many fans here in Italy too: they follow the band in tour and at festivals in Germany, because unfortunately they have not been playing in our country for a long time. However, last month, we have had a clear sign that Blutengel are quite attentive to what happens in Italy too: Chris Pohl announced (via Facebook) that Ulrike and he would have flown to Rome to shoot the videos of two songs which will be part of their new album Omen (expected for February 2015).

In Germany there are several agencies for video production, but this time Chris Pohl was looking for something new compared to what they had shown until then with their videoclips (though they being very good). He had the chance to see the works of the director Carlo Roberti and he was quite impressed by the cinematographic style that Roberti creates, thus Chris decided to collaborate with the director’s agency: Solobuio Visual Factory. This last is not new to the dark-gothic scene, as they had already worked with bands like Kirlian Camera, Spiritual Front and L’Âme Immortelle.

The two Blutengel’s videos were shot between Rome and Tivoli in less than a week. The first result shown to the public is “Asche zu Asche”, uploaded on line on 13^th November by Out of Line, the band’s label. The German-Italian collaboration was immediately appreciated in the web, scoring more than 55.000 views in the first three days.

The effect that both Chris Pohl and Solobuio wanted was fully achieved: “Asche zu Asche” looks like a thriller movie synthesized in the 5 minutes length of the song. The sexy killer, played by the Italian actress Claudia Salvatori, is hired by Ulrike Goldmann, acting the part of an icy dark lady, in order to kill some men. The turn of events is reached when the killer changes her mind: to put an end to her violent destiny, she shoots Ulrike, instead of murdering the chosen victim. In the last scenes we see Claudia Salvatori appearing, weapon in the hand, behind Chris Pohl, who had been watching everything from the top of a high building until that moment. The immediately following image shows the woman in her flat, trying to wash away blood from her hands. The viewer feels the suspense and asks himself if Chris could have been the real instigator and if he ended up by being killed too.

It is surely peculiar, especially for those who usually follow the German band, to hear one song of theirs and seeing it played by Italian actors under such an Italian style direction. It is a “fusion” which has satisfied both Solobuio and Blutengel. Furthermore it is nice to see fans’ comments in the several social networks: Italian ones are happy to see their idols appreciating the work of their compatriots at the point that they did not hesitate to come over to Italy to start a collaboration, the German ones, on the other hand, like the news introduced by the video in terms of idea and directions.

Deutsch-Italienische Freundschaft perfectly succeeded!

Ritorno al K17

(English text follows)

Al K17 sono stata per la prima volta nell’estate del 2003: primo viaggio a Berlino, inizio della mia “svolta dark”.

All’epoca non ero ancora molto informata su come muovermi nei vari parties in città, ricordo che io e l’inseparabile amica che era partita con me cercavamo le serate di nostro interesse sulla rivista Zitty, poiché del “Das Schwarze Buch” non avevamo mai neppure sentito parlare

Un gentile, ma poco aggiornato, informatore, ci aveva detto che il locale si trovava nella Kadiner Strasse, al numero 17. Brutta sorpresa è stata trovare l’edificio chiuso, neppure una luce accesa ad incoraggiarci a cercare un altro ingresso, neanche un anima per strada. E’ qui la festa??? Mi sa di no.

Non è stato facilissimo trovare qualcuno che potesse chiarirci le idee ma, alla fine, abbiamo trovato anche l’informatore aggiornato: il K17 si era spostato, nella Pettenkofer Strasse n. 17. Da quel momento per me è iniziata una serie lunghissima di serate trascorse in quel locale, anno dopo anno, vacanza dopo vacanza, con persone diverse.

Al K17 si andava di martedì e giovedì, perché il lunedì c’era il party “Montag im Duncker” (e c’è ancora, per fortuna!), il mercoledì “Sentimentale Jugend” all’Halford (purtroppo questa serata, invece, riposa in pace da poco meno di un decennio), il venerdì era dedicato al Kato (ha riaperto con un altro nome, cosa fanno?) e il sabato c’era troppo metal per i nostri gusti.

La preparazione prima di uscire avrebbe potuto dar vita ad un nuovo programma televisivo, “Pimp my dark”, perché tanto non si correva mai il rischio di essere eccessivi rispetto agli altri frequentatori, si esprimeva la propria creatività, si sperimentava sul proprio look e a me piaceva!

Un volta arrivati al club, si facevano incontri di ogni tipo: ragazze che sembravano modelle gotiche (e magari lo erano davvero), ragazzi altissimi che indossavano gonne molto più lunghe delle nostre, personaggi con outfit e trucco elaboratissimi (raffinati e non) e poi gli italiani, quelli che come me erano lì in vacanza, ma che facevano i fenomeni, senza accorgersi che nessuno li notava. Si, perché il mood che avvertivo io era quello: nessuno ti giudicava, ma nessuno ti notava, però tutti ti rispettavano. Poteva esistere una combinazione migliore? Chissà se tutti la percepivamo così?

Le cose nel tempo sono un po’ cambiate, le serate del martedì e del giovedì hanno avuto cadenza oscillante, il sabato offriva solo un po' di dark music e l'età media degli avventori si era notevolmente abbassata. Poi, qualche anno fa, la gestione del locale sembrava aver preso una direzione differente, nell’elenco delle serate iniziavano a comparire parties r’n’b, feste di fine anno scolastico, musica più “colorata”, fino a far diradare gli eventi dark. Non è che ci sia qualcosa di male ad ascoltare r’n’b’ o generi simili, ma semplicemente non era ciò che mi interessava e, tra il 2010 e il 2011, ho smesso di frequentare le serate danzanti del K17, ovviamente a malincuore, dato che era il locale che un po’ aveva “visto” le fasi della mia crescita.

L’offerta di concerti, però, non era cambiata: moltissimi artisti della scena dark continuavano ad esibirsi live al K17 e quante volte ho preso un aereo dall’Italia per andare a sentire i miei gruppi preferiti (Blutengel e Solar Fake tra tutti)! Rimanevo comunque sempre solo nell’edificio dedicato ai live.

Fino al 2014.

Lo scorso agosto ero nuovamente a Berlino, sbirciando nel Das Schwarze Buch, ho intravisto una serata possibilmente interessante: FRIDAY CLUB: 80s + 90s, Rock, Metal, Gothic, andiamo? Andiamo!

Non me ne sono pentita. Il club era di nuovo pieno di gente, le tre sale avevano ripreso quasi del tutto l’identità originaria: dark wave e post punk al primo piano, musica anni ’90 (e vabbè!) e anni ’80 al secondo piano e metal al terzo. Era una sensazione piacevole essere nuovamente lì a ballare o anche solo stare seduti nel Biergarten all’ingresso (ma hanno creato anche un nuovo cortiletto interno!), tra un darkettone e l’altro, a bere qualcosa o mangiare un panino cucinato sul momento, guardare il cielo e, per un attimo, pensare che quella sia l’unica realtà, senza tempo.

Spero che tutto rimanga com’è, ad aspettarmi per la prossima tappa a Berlino!

Auf wiedersehen K17, tornerò!

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I have been in K17 for the first time in summer 2003: my first trip to Berlin, the beginning of my “dark era”.

At the time I still did not know very well how to look for parties in the city. I remember that my closest friend (who was on holiday with me) and I used to check parties in the magazine Zitty, as we did not know about the existence of Das Schwarze Buch.

A kind guy, though not a well informed one, told us that the club was at number 17 of Kadiner Strasse. What a bad surprise we had when we were face to face to a closed door, a building with no lights which could invite us to look for a  second entrance, not a single person around. Is party here??? I don’t think so.

It had not been very easy to find someone who could give us more reliable information but, in the end, we met somebody who was a bit more up-to-date with was going on in Berlin’s night life: K17 had moved in Pettenkofer Strasse n. 17. From that moment on I spent so many nights in this club, year after year, holiday after holiday, with several people.

We used to go to K17 on Tuesday and on Thursday, because on Monday there was (and fortunately there’s still!) “Montag im Duncker” party, on Wednesday “Sentimentale Jugend” party in Halford (this party was cancelled a little less than ten years ago), Friday was devoted to Kato (it was recently opened with another name, what's up down there?) and Saturday was too much metal-oriented for our taste.

If someone had filmed us while preparing before a night out, a new TV show could have been broadcasted: “Pimp my dark”! Because we knew that there was no risk of being over-the-top, compared to the other party attenders: we expressed our creativity, experimented on our look and I loved it!

Once arrived at the club, we saw people of every kind: girls who looked like gothic models (and maybe they were actually), very tall guys wearing skirts much longer than ours, eccentric characters with very complicated outfits and make up (some well done, some not) and furthermore Italians, who were in Berlin on holiday like me, but played the V.I.P.s, not realizing that no one noticed them. This was the atmosphere I felt: nobody judged you and nobody noticed you, but everybody respected you. Could a better combination exist? I wonder if we all shared this mind.

Year by year things changed a bit, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s parties did not happen regularly any longer, Saturday offered only a little dark music and the avarage age of the customers lowered. Eventually, some years ago, the club management took another direction: in the list of parties started to appear some r’n’b’ nights, end of school parties and “colorful music” in general, so that dark parties became quite rare. I mean, there’s nothing wrong in listening to r’n’b’ and stuff like that, it was simply not what I was interested in. The result was that around 2010-2011 I stopped attending K17’s dancing parties. I was a little disappointed, of course, because this club “witnessed” my growing-up (mmm…or better my “getting old”?) since my early twenties.

However, concerts continued to take place normally in K17: artists belonging to the dark scene performed there, as they had always done. I have often taken flights from Italy to reach the German capital city and see my favourite bands (Blutengel and Solar Fake among all), but I only hung in the live performances building of the club.

Until 2014.

Last August I was in Berlin again. Checking Das Schwarze Buch I picked up a party who seemed interesting: FRIDAY CLUB: 80s + 90s, Rock, Metal, Gothic, let’s go? Let’s go!

I’m glad I went. The club was once more full of people, the three dance floors showed again their former identity: dark wave and post punk music on the first floor, ‘90s (ok, ok…) and ‘80s music on the second floor and metal music on the third floor. It felt good to be back there dancing, or even just sitting at the Biergarten at the entrance (they created a further open air space in the inner part!), among other gruftis, drinking or eating a freshly made sandwich, watching the sky and, for a moment, thinking that this is the only reality, timeless.

I hope that everything stays as it is, waiting for my next journey to Berlin!

Auf wiedersehen K17, I’ll come back!