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Techno Worlds
 From Tresor to Loveparade – the golden era of techno

Tens of thousands of ravers gathered together for one night: Mayday 1994 in Dortmund.
Tens of thousands of ravers gathered together for one night: Mayday 1994 in Dortmund. | Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs

Techno – it was the spirit of dance and of life itself in the nineties. Tilman Brembs was right there with his camera: a photographic journey through the rave era.

By Sarah Klein

  • Looking back at the 1990s, it was a decade with three main music genres influencing teenagers and young people in their twenties: hiphop, grunge and techno. Visually the fans were easy to tell apart, with one group in the typical low-lying baggy pants and hoodies, the other sporting ripped jeans and checked shirts, and the techno fans in a motley mix of eccentric gear, adorned with accessories such as gas masks, glitter and wacky spectacles. Yep, those were cool times. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    Looking back at the 1990s, it was a decade with three main music genres influencing teenagers and young people in their twenties: hiphop, grunge and techno. Visually the fans were easy to tell apart, with one group in the typical low-lying baggy pants and hoodies, the other sporting ripped jeans and checked shirts, and the techno fans in a motley mix of eccentric gear, adorned with accessories such as gas masks, glitter and wacky spectacles. Yep, those were cool times.
  • One of the places where it all started in the early 1990s was the Tresor club in Berlin. Tresor means treasury, and originally it was actually intended to be a strongroom for the Wertheim department store. After opening in 1991 it quickly gained fame beyond national frontiers and eventually became one of the most iconic techno temples ever. The club also had its own record label in the form of “Tresor Records”, which would go on to be a particular influence on the scene in Germany and Europe. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    One of the places where it all started in the early 1990s was the Tresor club in Berlin. Tresor means treasury, and originally it was actually intended to be a strongroom for the Wertheim department store. After opening in 1991 it quickly gained fame beyond national frontiers and eventually became one of the most iconic techno temples ever. The club also had its own record label in the form of “Tresor Records”, which would go on to be a particular influence on the scene in Germany and Europe.
  • Tresor was not the only techno club for long – E-Werk, the former Buchhändlerhof electricity substation, was considered another influential scene location from 1993 to 1997. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    Tresor was not the only techno club for long – E-Werk, the former Buchhändlerhof electricity substation, was considered another influential scene location from 1993 to 1997.
  • E-Werk boasted resident DJs whose fame extended far beyond Germany, including Paul van Dyk, Kid Paul, DJ Clé and DJ Disko. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    E-Werk boasted resident DJs whose fame extended far beyond Germany, including Paul van Dyk, Kid Paul, DJ Clé and DJ Disko.
  • Techno induced a kind of euphoria in the ravers - they often danced for days on end, as pictured here at E-Werk in 1994. Many resorted to energy drinks or took ecstasy, the popular drug of its day, for stamina. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    Techno induced a kind of euphoria in the ravers - they often danced for days on end, as pictured here at E-Werk in 1994. Many resorted to energy drinks or took ecstasy, the popular drug of its day, for stamina.
  • These sunglasses – known as Mind Machines or Brain Machines – also induced a kind of euphoria back then. They projected light pulses onto the eyes and the idea was to get ravers into the right frame of mind. Stroboscopes were joined by yet more flashing lights – that was when the party really got going for some people. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    These sunglasses – known as Mind Machines or Brain Machines – also induced a kind of euphoria back then. They projected light pulses onto the eyes and the idea was to get ravers into the right frame of mind. Stroboscopes were joined by yet more flashing lights – that was when the party really got going for some people.
  • There were cult clubs in Frankfurt am Main too, for example Dorian Gray at the airport terminal. This place is regarded as the birthplace of the “Sound of Frankfurt”. Dancers typically took smoking breaks in the toilets in those days, something you don’t often see now. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    There were cult clubs in Frankfurt am Main too, for example Dorian Gray at the airport terminal. This place is regarded as the birthplace of the “Sound of Frankfurt”. Dancers typically took smoking breaks in the toilets in those days, something you don’t often see now.
  • In the Ruhr region, they celebrated techno culture at a May dance with a difference: “Rave Olympia” was the slogan for Mayday 1994, at which 24,000 festival-goers partied in the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. The Mayday events are still held on 30th April each year, with an assortment of high-profile techno DJs in their line-ups. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    In the Ruhr region, they celebrated techno culture at a May dance with a difference: “Rave Olympia” was the slogan for Mayday 1994, at which 24,000 festival-goers partied in the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. The Mayday events are still held on 30th April each year, with an assortment of high-profile techno DJs in their line-ups.
  • The first Loveparade in 1989 was a techno carnival organised by techno DJ Dr. Motte in 1989 – with just 150 attendees – that processed through the streets of Berlin and was attracting interest beyond the region by 1991. These three were amongst the participants that year – who already numbered 6,000 at that point. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    The first Loveparade in 1989 was a techno carnival organised by techno DJ Dr. Motte in 1989 – with just 150 attendees – that processed through the streets of Berlin and was attracting interest beyond the region by 1991. These three were amongst the participants that year – who already numbered 6,000 at that point.
  • Over the years, Loveparade increasingly became a centre of attraction for international techno fans. In 1996 the procession route included the Berlin Siegessäule. However by 1999, when visitor numbers reached a peak at around 1.5 million, criticism from within the scene was rife – the event had become too commercialised, they said, and many of the DJs turned their backs on Loveparade. Photo: © zeitmaschine.org | Tilman Brembs
    Over the years, Loveparade increasingly became a centre of attraction for international techno fans. In 1996 the procession route included the Berlin Siegessäule. However by 1999, when visitor numbers reached a peak at around 1.5 million, criticism from within the scene was rife – the event had become too commercialised, they said, and many of the DJs turned their backs on Loveparade.

Tilman Brembs

Tilman Brembs Tilman Brembs | Photo: © Tilman Brembs The photographer Tilman Brembs has lived in the capital for over 40 years and has been following the cultural and subcultural development of Berlin for just as long. As “in-house photographer” for the techno magazine Frontpage, Tilman Brembs has always had his finger on the pulse: he did not only chronicle the early years of techno, in fact he was also an integral element of this music scene and its party culture. His archive includes around 20,000 photos from the 1990s, a comprehensive chronicle of the early days of techno. These images do not only depict the world through the eyes of their documentarist, but should be seen as an inspiration for the viewer and invite them to study the story behind the moment. In his project Zeitmaschine Tilman Brembs depicts the people who filled the times with vitality, setting a stage for fashion, lifestyle and the artists.

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