Club Berlin

Co-presented by DECK and the Goethe–Institut Singapore, Club Berlin showcased the history, sights and sounds of Berlin’s techno culture that emerged after the fall of the Berlin wall. The exhibition—curated by Heiko Hoffmann and Alfons Hug—featured Martin Eberle’s photographs of Berlin’s club scene in the 90s, an immersive video installation of the Boiler Room, and a media installation by photographer and Berghain’s bouncer, Sven Marquardt. Practice Theory carried out the exhibition’s visual identity and collaterals to reflect the reverberant culture and context.

During the design process, we discovered significant parallels between the way in which both Berlin’s techno culture and DECK were founded—from the ground up and occupying underutilised spaces. We also needed a design solution that could accommodate the images that were coming in at different rates. The two situations, when considered together, provided a design opportunity to use and repurpose what was available, in a DIY approach that drives the exhibition’s visuals and identity. The collaterals reflect a similar attitude by employing a mixture of found online imagery, high-resolution screenshots of videos, and a reproduction method by Risograph printing.

Echoing the guerrilla marketing that is typical of music nights in Berlin, we also fly-posted the exhibition’s publicity posters around public spaces island wide. After premiering at DECK, the exhibition travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Mexico City.