gegen mystery

The third decade of the 21st Century, later known as the Raving Twenties, was a vibrant period in the city historically known as Berlin. Until recently, little evidence survived from this golden age of Ecstatic Dance Mystery (EDM) with the exception of few bathroom stall confessions depicted in partially preserved films and images. To fill this gap, we have attempted to decipher some recently discovered artifacts found in a box buried deep in the former mudbanks of the Spree River.

Inside the box, a few precious scraps of paper must have been part of a private diary. Roughly translated, these accounts cast light on some of the proto-rituals developed at the time, adding detail and insight to the beliefs and practices of various Ecstatic communities in the city of Berlin. In the extracts we have analyzed, the author discusses a specific pleasure ceremony, referred to as GEGEN Mystery, which seemed to have happened at a cult site called KitKatClub in "Nov. 2023." From rare internet archives, we have already deduced GEGEN’s paradoxically opposite meanings:

One meaning is closed, defined in terms of space. The other is open and undefined in terms of time. In the contemporary moment the idea of “enemy” – in which a thought and an action can be identifiable as “against” [...] is not clear anymore as power relationships changed [...] And this gave space to markets to regenerate themselves through the queer-counter cultural movements by producing an oligopoly of empty events repeating themselves [...] crystallising the institutionalisation of big “queer meccas” which exercise more and more power on the scene. This process is verifiable in Berlin as the incubator of new world trends in the arts of entertainment.

The first paragraph of our ancient diary describes entering this temple: The line undulated slightly as it wound around the corner, waiting to be admitted inside. After changing into ceremonial garments, the author seems to have been allowed into the main halls, thereby altering their neural net:

As I emerged I could see light above me. [...] The walls had animated scenes on them: fluorescent sex scenes that flickered to the constantly changing lights. [...] Then I began to experience visual and auditory hallucinations; vague at first, just chaotic noise knocking around my head but increasingly well-resolved and realistic.

However, perhaps the most superb example of actual unfolding EDMs can be found in descriptions of the "ravers" encountered when reaching the grand chamber:

I spilled into the room abruptly as the set reached a crescendo. The air was thick with a heady mix of desire and liberation, defined by unapologetic passion [...] glowing neon harnesses crisscrossed torsos while sheer mesh bodysuits revealed tantalizing glimpses of tattoos [...] As the night unfurled, it was clear that these queer ravers were architects of a new dimension, where the boundaries of reality and fantasy blurred and the very act of existing became a transcendent art form [...] Filling the floor, a thousand living constellations danced in ecstatic rapture.

Thanks to this firsthand account of GEGEN Mystery, we can now start to imagine the Ecstatic Dance Mysteries of the Raving Twenties. As the deciphering continues, we invite you to ask: What can these techno-cults of the late capitalistic era teach us today?

concept courtesy of Sir Rita & Flo Heiden
photo courtesy of Florian Hetz
graphics & logo by Enrico Bardin

video teaser & sound by Chase Mohrhardt
w/ Aries Liu & Blathin