By Justin Kendall
It’s 5am at re:mise, a nightclub located in the bleak riverside zone of Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. The music has stopped, and, like the other 200 or so partygoers, I’m sitting on a sticky, sweaty floor.
A space has been cleared at the front, and drag performer Lilith the Quing sits on a stool with a microphone, hosting a bawdy series of performances and discussions, received with snaps and squeals from the crowd.
Then, after about 30 minutes, the high-BPM, trance-adjacent techno rumbles back into life, and the party continues – that is, until vegan breakfast and group yoga at 11am.
This is Fluidity, a new-gen ‘raving experience’ run by the collective fluid.vision – and, like many of its kind in Berlin, it’s a party with a purpose.
That means going far beyond the now limp-feeling “no sexism, racism, homophobia or transphobia” messaging, or the vague mention of an on-site awareness team.
Instead, fluid.vision is an activist collective, coupling their events with art projects and educational workshops, and centring topics outside the usual ‘queer Berlin discourse’.
By Justin Kendall