Carsten Schulz
LOCKDOWNBEATS
September 10th – November 1st 2025
opening reception: September 10th 2025, 6 – 10 pm
The artist as well as several of the portrayed DJs will be present
With the works in the exhibition „Lockdownbeats“ Berlin-based photographer Carsten Schulz focuses on a period of caesura: the sudden silencing of a city whose nightlife was otherwise constantly vibrant. 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 formalclarity, 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, decliningattendance, 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 andhighlight the discrepancy of these performers: temporarily off duty and without an audience.
Among those portrayed are:
Alex Gallus Haubentaucher indoor
DJ Noppe Haubentaucher outdoor
DJ Paradoxx Insomnia
DJ Ployceebell SchwuZ
DJ Senay Solar
DJ Tomekk Maxxim
DJ Vilify Void
Harris 808
Kalle Kuts Gretchen
Martin Ka Wilde Renate
San Gabriel Spindler and Klatt
further Informations
The photographer
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 toartistic 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.
The DJ’ and the Clubs
Alex Gallus – Haubentaucher (indoor)
Alex Gallus is considered a true veteran of Berlin’s DJ scene. Since the early 1990s, with his legendary record store Such a Sound, he has shaped generations of DJs. His sets move between deep house, electro, and funk, always with a refined sense for smooth transitions and urban elegance.
Haubentaucher, established in 2015 in the industrial heart of the RAW complex in Friedrichshain, is a Mediterranean-inspired retreat. A pool with sundeck, nestled in the historic halls of a former railway repair works, merges summer lightness with raw charm a stage for music, culture, and subcultural energy.
DJ Noppe – Haubentaucher (outdoor)
Since the mid-1990s, DJ Noppe has been a solid presence in the Berlin scene, known for stylistic versatility from deep house to tech-house and nu-disco. His sound is warm, energetic, and finely tuned to the atmosphere of each space.
The Haubentaucher outdoor area offers a summery open-air setting where music and water combine into a festival-like urban experience – an intersection of clubbing and open-air culture.
DJ Paradoxx – Insomnia
DJ Paradoxx fuses hard techno with trance-like euphoria, creating sets that are both forceful and uplifting. His music oscillates between dark drive and ecstatic release.
Insomnia is a hedonistic nightclub located in a former cinema in Tempelhof, founded in 2006 by Dominique. It merges erotic performance art with club culture, acting as a hub for fetish and queer communities, known for its opulent, sensuous atmospheres.
DJ Ployceebell – SchwuZ
For more than 15 years, DJ Ployceebell has been a fixture of Berlin’s nightlife. Her repertoire ranges from hip-hop, R&B, and house to pop, 70s/80s/90s hits, and current charts. She stands for danceable sets that bring together diverse communities.
SchwuZ, founded in 1977, is one of Germany’s oldest queer clubs. Long a center for LGBTQ+ culture and activism, it relocated to Neukölln in 2013. In August 2025, it filed for insolvency a stark symbol of the current crisis facing Berlin’s club scene.
DJ Senay – Solar
Senay Gueler, born in 1976 in Hesse, is a DJ, model, actor, and blogger. His musical style combines house and electro with a charismatic stage presence.
Solar crowns a Kreuzberg high-rise as a glass cube on the 17th floor. With panoramic views and elegant interior design, it turns club culture into an urban high-altitude experience architecture as an extension of sound.
DJ Tomekk – Maxxim
Tomasz “DJ Tomekk” Kuklicz, born in Kraków in 1975, is a pioneer of German hip-hop. With collaborations like 1, 2, 3… Rhymes Galore and his work as a radio and TV host (Kiss FM, MTV, VIVA), he decisively shaped the late 1990s and 2000s scene.
Maxxim in West Berlin, opened in 2007, is synonymous with opulent club entertainment, complete with disco aesthetics, show acts, and a mix of house, chart hits, and party classics.
DJ Vilify – Void
Originally from Canada, DJ Vilify has built an international reputation for genre-blending sets, from drum & bass to techno and bass music. Her performances are energetic, experimental, and boundary-crossing.
The Void Club, founded in 2015 in East Berlin, presents itself as “by ravers for ravers.” It is a minimalist but intense space for hard electronic genres a nucleus of underground subculture.
Harris – 808 Club
Oliver Harris, born in 1976 in Kreuzberg, rose to fame as part of the rap duo Spezializtz. He combines hip-hop roots with charismatic stage energy and remains a staple of Berlin’s music landscape.
The 808 Club, located in Bikini Berlin and opened in 2017, is known for stylish interiors in shades of blue and pink, paired with high-end sound. It attracts a fashion-conscious, international crowd.
Kalle Kuts – Gretchen
Kalle Kuts is a DJ and curator, known for soulful, funky, and electronic sets with an urban groove.
Gretchen, founded in 2011, occupies a former Prussian cavalry stable from 1854 in Kreuzberg. Its Gothic arches and eclectic program spanning drum & bass, funk, hip-hop, and jazz make it a space where historical architecture and musical avant-garde converge.
Martin Ka – Wilde Renate
Martin Ka is closely connected with Berlin’s alternative club scene, known for eclectic sets blending house, techno, and disco.
Wilde Renate in Friedrichshain inhabits a labyrinthine apartment complex, notorious for its maze-like structure and themed dance floors halfway between rave myth and art installation.
San Gabriel – Spindler & Klatt
San Gabriel delivers melodic, club-oriented sets infused with international flavors.
Spindler & Klatt, located on the banks of the Spree, combines Asian-inspired cuisine with a stylish restaurant-club hybrid. Its flexible interior design allows the venue to transform into a glamorous nightlife hotspot part of Berlin’s upscale club landscape.