Techno Land

Techno started in Detroit and went around the world, but nowhere else did the futuristic sound find such fertile ground as in Germany. As a soundtrack to the end of the Cold War, the ensuing scene experienced classic highs and lows before experiencing a new resurgence at the end of the noughties.
 

Techno – it was the spirit of dance and of life itself in the nineties. Tilman Brembs was right there with his camera: a photographic journey through the rave era.

For many people techno is the sound that defined the 1990s. In Germany, Berlin was the epicentre of the new music genre, and before mass events like the Love Parade began, raves took place inside a fairly small circle of party-goers – and in some very unusual places.

DJs are the heroes of Techno Land. In our interview with one of Germany’s most important techno DJs, we hear from Thomas Andrezak (aka Tanith), resident DJ at the legendary clubs Ufo and Tresor.

American artist, musician and filmmaker Danielle de Picciotto was among the first to define the visual and stylistic facets of techno. In our interview, she speaks about the great moments and the far-reaching upheavals of the new era.

Dimitri Hegemann, the owner of Berlin’s famed Tresor club, recounts the beginnings of the techno club scene, the connection to Detroit and the magic of those early days.

In our interview about the early days of Berlin’s legendary record store Hard Wax, founder Mark Ernestus talks about how direct imports made it a nucleus for the emerging techno DJ scene.

Curator, musician and artist Mathilde Weh on the links between music and art and the exhibition “Techno Worlds” she co-developed for the Goethe-Institut.

As an artist on the Francfurt label ”Mille Plateaux”, Alec Empire and his band Atari Teenage Riot had a political perspective on Germany’s early techno scene.
 

Journalist Martin Böttcher recounts the early days of techno, which he experienced firsthand, both as a fan and a raver.

“Frontpage” Magazine was one of the driving forces behind techno’s meteoric rise. In our interview, the magazine’s late editor, Jürgen Laarmann, looks back at the early days of the movement.

For many in the early 90s, Monika Dietl (aka Moni D)’s radio show on SFB was a signpost into the still nascent Berlin techno scene.

DJ, author and musician Hans Nieswandt reflects on the changes in the German house and techno scene over the years, as well its regional differences.

Verena Vehling (VV) is techno insider. Since her teenage years she’s been intimately acquainted with techno – not just as a new trend, but as a lifestyle.

Dimitri Hegemann, mastermind behind the Berlin nightclub Tresor, has been nurturing artistic connections between Berlin and Detroit since the early ’90s. He wants to thank Detroit for what its music has given Berlin — by converting Detroit’s former industrial spaces into cultural hotspots.

“It was chaos, it was total chaos.” When the Berlin Wall unexpectedly fell in 1989, subcultures and international trends combined with other creative forces to establish Berlin as a mecca for artists.