WMF Club
The WMF (Club) was a Berlin techno club that had a lasting impact on the Berlin techno scene from 1991 to 2010. In addition to his musical profile, he was also typical of the Berlin cultural scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall because he repeatedly applied the principle of temporary use at his eight locations , which helped to keep rents low, because otherwise you would also Preservation of a building should have arisen.
History and foundation
Naming
The founding site of the Berlin Club was an empty building of the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik in Berlin.
Founding members
Gerriet Schultz, Thomas Prilop and Martin Dobbeck are the founding members of the operating company "Abbey Road GmbH".
history
In 1991 music activists occupied the old halls of the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik and began to organize the first illegal parties there. The movement had to quickly disappear underground due to problems with the authorities. Until the establishment of an operating company and the accompanying publication of the WMF, old underground toilet facilities directly under the fragments of the fallen Berlin Wall were used as an event location. The “ Hackesche Höfe ” became the club's next venue. In the end, you went public here.
Other venues:
- Former guest house of the GDR Council of Ministers, Johannishof
- Ziegelstrasse
- Cafe Moscow
- Gasag building, Rolandufer
- Former telecommunications office at Klosterstrasse 44
In 19 years, the club had to change its premises a total of 8 times. In March 2010, the location's landlord pulled the debt brake and the club had to be closed. The operating company, Abbey Road GmbH, then filed for bankruptcy and the WMF Club came to an end quickly.
Significance of the club for the Berlin techno scene
Like many other clubs, the WMF has had a lasting impact on the club scene in Berlin. With many changes of location, the WMF has manifested an ideology which, among other things, should paint an image of the always new, of the never stagnant. For many clubbers at the time, the WMF was a place where alternative ways of life and escalative freedom could be enjoyed. The WMF is later criticized for ignoring the wishes of the audience and for staying musical in the 90s .
Acts and artists
The series of events of the WMF Club are broad and range from drum'n'bass evenings and house parties to jazz evenings. External party organizers also organized recurring formats such as the “GMF” evening (where the “G” stands for “Gay”) or the Nu Jazz event “ Kaleidoscope ”.
The line-up mostly featured live acts from renowned DJ names and labels such as:
Labels:
- Comfort.Laboratory
- ~ scape
- Ocean Club
- Jazzanova Kalaidoskop
Artists:
- Nikakoi
- Kotai
- Middle karaoke
- The modernist
- Kit Clayton
- Highfish & Diringer
- hard: edged
- Dean Dawson
- Paul van Dyke
- Westbam
- Timo Replay
- Aj Skillz
- DJ C-Juice
Web links
- 25 Legendary Clubs That Made German Techno Party Culture What It Is Today, From Bunker in Berlin to Ultraschall in Munich, these now-closed clubs are the places where Germany's electronic dance music scene developed. In: electronicbeats.net (English)
- Guest lists, events & tickets WMF Club Berlin, In: gaesteliste030.de
- Kaleidoscope WMF, Berlin 1998–2000, slide and video, In: jutojo.de
- Club culture: WMF Berlin - party under the wrecking ball, The “WMF Club”, for many the most important club in Berlin, is celebrating its tenth anniversary in the inconsistency this year, by Aram Lintzel, April 25, 2001 In: faz.net
- 11 legendary Berlin clubs, in which we would like to party again, In: With pleasure Berlin
- The nomads of the club scene, December 9, 1999, In: Welt.de