Empty clubs are a strange sight to behold, but this has been the reality for a long time now in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nightlife industry is suffering, and in Berlin the clubs have been sadly shut ever since last April. A new book titled HUSH explores over 40 of Berlin’s finest clubs, stripped of all partygoers.
Between April and December of 2020, photographer Marie Staggat and journalist Timo Stein went to clubs to photograph them in their naked state, and interviewed everyone behind the success of clubs from the managers, to bouncers and even toilet attendants. Not only does this book give us a rare glance of the clubs we know and love in a different light, but it also reflects the hardships that people working in these spaces are facing during the pandemic, with an uncertain future.
HUSH book cover
Clubs such as KitKatClub, Else, Watergate Club, Suicide Circus and many more were explored and each have interviews attached to the haunting and powerful images. Showcasing the sad reality of what is happening to our lively places that we took for granted before the virus, the book boasts 360 pages of images, interviews and notes.
“At first glance, HUSH is a book about clubs during the coronavirus crisis, at second glance, it’s also a book about what home can be.”
HUSH will be available from March 1, via the Parthas Verlag website. You can also buy the book directly from the clubs or in leading bookstores.
Image credit: Marie Staggat
