Lockdownbeats

Starting with the clubs deserted during the pandemic, he created photographs that go far beyond mere documentation. Schulz transforms places of wild celebration and collective experience into silent pictorial spaces. He condenses them with atmospheric and formal clarity, evoking the aesthetics of so-called lost places.


Added to this are the portraits of the masters of ceremonies of these places, who were virtually on forced leave at the time: their resident DJs, in their usual habitats yet entirely without the enlivening audience.


What began as a snapshot during the lockdown is now unfolding as a haunting contemporary document about the fragility of a cultural ecosystem. Berlin's club scene, once synonymous with freedom, excess, and artistic experimentation, is not only marked by the aftermath of the pandemic. It is also increasingly under pressure from structural changes and economic dynamics.


The Presence of Disappearance

The current situation sheds a stark light on the precarious situation of clubs: rising rents, declining attendance, economic pressure, and political inertia are increasingly threatening their existence.

Media report of a continuing wave of closures. Analyses predict that almost half of Berlin's clubs will be at risk of extinction by 2025. Venues such as Watergate, Wilde Renate, and KitKat have announced their closure or are fighting for survival. While the recent recognition of techno culture as UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage recognizes its importance, it cannot guarantee the continued existence of these venues.

In this context, Schulz's photographic work unfolds a special, aesthetic-documentary urgency. His images reveal not only the beauty of emptiness but also its pull, allowing us to anticipate unpleasant possibilities. Do his photographs depict a contemplative interim or a silence that endures?


Faces of Nightlife

As a conceptual complement to the „Lockdownbeats“ series, classic black-and-white portraits of those personalities who have musically shaped Berlin's nightlife for years—the DJs—were created.

Unlike the color photographs of the clubs, these portraits are deliberately reduced and monochrome. The portraits of the DJs were deliberately taken in their abandoned workspaces and highlight the discrepancy of these performers: temporarily off duty and without an audience.


Among those portrayed are:

• Alex Gallus inside Haubentaucher indoor
  
• DJ Noppe inside Haubentaucher outdoor
  
• DJ Paradoxx inside Insomnia
  
• DJ Ployceebell inside SchwuZ
  
• DJ Senay inside Solar
  
• DJ Tomekk inside Maxxim
  
• DJ Vilify inside Void
  
• Harris inside 808
  
• Kalle Kuts inside Gretchen
  
• Martin Ka inside Wilde Renate
  
• San Gabriel inside Spindler und Klatt
  

Further Information

Carsten Schulz, born in Berlin in 1969, is a photographer and engineer. His initial influence was his grandfather's camera equipment, which helped him develop an early sense of light, structure, and atmosphere. Schulz has been working intensively as a photographer since 1997, initially focusing
on landscapes, stills, and action, later also expanding into advertising and people photography. His visual language oscillates between technical precision and emotional intensity, between construction and atmosphere, movement and stillness.


Project & Collaboration

Editor-in-Chief Juliane Behnfeldt has steered this complex project with congeniality. In addition to artistic coordination, she is also responsible for the extensive communications efforts, combining her long-standing collaboration with photographer Carsten Schulz with her extensive contacts in the music and club industry to create this work of art.


#BerlinArtWeek

Opening hours for Berlin Art Week:

• Friday, September 12, 12 p.m.–8 p.m.
  
• Saturday, September 13, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
  
• Sunday, September 14, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.