Unscene Berlin

A combination of the pandemic and policing efforts have left Alexanderplatz looking like a still from the 1960's: empty, windswept. Aimless people, seemingly fresh-awakened to the endless possibilities of city life, are moving with uncertain freedom to the Reclaim Club Culture sound system. I had to bypass what looked to be a " hygiene demo " to get to this antiracist action by RCC, in support of freedom of movement. The hygiene demo was a messy scene, full of aggressive, drunk people trying way  too hard to look like they were having fun.  One can see the different intentions behind the two actions in the way that each group uses its allocated demo space. The hygiene crew use it to scream at passers by to take off their masks and invade their personal space, walking or dancing uncomfortably close. As if they blame you for whatever is going wrong with society. Under the auspices of freedom, they move into the power vacuum of an empty city street, and attempt ...

Photos taken by A. E. Elliott at At.Tension festival 2019 If there's something that holds people together, it's their creations: story-telling, painting, drawing, playing music and making clothing and food are what people have always done together.  And Berlin has a surfeit of visionary people, but how many of them are taking steps towards making their visions real?  As many as have the chance I'd guess. Yet that creativity could be the key to the largest problem we're facing - climate change. So maybe it's time to stop leaving things to chance.  Between September 20 th -  27 th , Reclaim Club Culture ,  UKlima2019  and Fridays For Future aim to bring all of Berlin's creative tangents together to see what solutions can be collectively dreamed, and then realised, in this city. Their weeklong lineup of action against climate change will kick off on Friday September 20th with a street party / demo called " No Future, No Dancefloor ". But...