Reconstruction of the Atomic Café at Munich's Stadtmuseum 2023
Here Comes the Night : City Museum collects 80 years of Munich’s nightlife for a major exhibition
Spanning from the 1940s to today, this impressive exhibition tracks Munich’s nocturnal journey through the music hotspots of its night time scene, incorporating intriguing objects, atmospheric installations and photographs. Comprised in the main of items from Munich’s Stadtmuseum’s impressive archive of popular culture, the exhibition took three years to curate and runs until 7th January 2024. MAG_BTMMusic Archive Gallery: Beyond The Music spoke to co-curator Christoph Gürich about the factors which led to Munich becoming a European focus for musicians and the nightlife that developed around them.
When was the first night club established in Munich?
“Because Munich was the centre of the American occupation in the aftermath of World War II, with both American soldiers and those from the Allied forces, there were many clubs in the military bases in the city. You had GI clubs and clubs for other soldiers. We even acquired an old officers bar from one of these clubs which is in the exhibition. This time also marked the beginning of jazz being performed here and later on, rock and roll and soul music. A lot of commercial clubs also opened in district of Schwabing which became the centre of youth culture in the sixties particularly on Leopoldstrasse which was the main drag for commercial nightlife. Bars, jazz clubs and clubs popped up when the remnants of war damage was cleared and alot of bands from Britain and the US came here to play from the late 50s.”
Hans Michel and Karl Georg Günther Kieser, graphics, poster for the Duke Ellington concert at the Deutsches Museum Congress Hall, 1964
What was the importance of the station Radio Free Europe in the development of Munich’s music scene?
“It was incredibly important. Set up in 1950 and financed until 1971 by the CIA, music and particularly jazz in the early days, was used to help towards the democratization of the nations behind the Iron Curtain, communicating the existence of free press on the Western side. At its peak there were 1400 people working at the station producing radio programs in over 20 languages. They also had a studio and many famous musicians came there to perform live and produce sessions which were then sent abroad.
Music stars headed to Munich and a couple of other cities as well, but Munich was the favourite to play gigs and the jazz scene was big for a long time. Until the 1980s, a couple of American jazz players had their base in Munich because of tax implications, making it cheaper to store their instruments here and start European tours from here. It was like a second home for many of them until the tax policy changed. We had a lot of record labels as well created here like ECM and alot of the important jazz labels in Germany are still based here.”
Dimitri Soulas, Sammy Davis Jr. in Munich, 1972
Were there any other spin offs from this concentration of music?
“Because the bands in the 60s and 70s were here to record, they also hung out at the clubs like the Sugar Shack or Blow Up which was opened in 1967 as the first big commercial club in Germany.
Later on Munich became a real hub for music production. A lot of bands came here like Led Zeppelin and Freddie Mercury who produced his only solo album here in Munich. He also made a video for Living on My Own on his 39th birthday. The Rolling Stones also recorded a couple of hits here such as It’s only Rock ‘n Roll, (But I Like It).
Germany has alot of tech companies like Siemens for example which actually had a laboratory or ‘Advanced Electronic Music’ based within the company! The studio Musicland based in Munich was one of the best equipped studios in all of Europe.
There were also things which weren’t so planned such as the fact Giorgio Moroder moved to Munich. He was a previously a singer before he came to Munich, and started experimented a lot with new recording technologies in the 70s. By coincidence Donna Summer, who was an actress and singer at that time, was in Munich for the musical Hair and she met with Giorgio. They ended up recording together and tracks such as Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love were created here.
At that time there were a lot of media production houses in Munich. Movies and films took place here – all offshoots from the scene and way of life which was going on at that time in the city.”
Invitation (card and envelope) to Freddie Mercury’s birthday party at Old Mrs. Henderson’s in Müllerstraße street, 1985
Is there a feeling of nostalgia in the exhibition for these good old times?
“No, not really. We didn’t want to do that. Every exhibition we’ve seen about this theme wants to show how special the city is in relation to the night culture or musical genres or certain period of time. We didn’t want to romanticize it. We wanted to communicate to people who aren’t that up on the topic of night culture and club culture what type of activites can happen at night which the day has no room for. It could be a social element or – for example – a space for creativity, individuality and freedom and also a space for marginalized groups. Its intention is to promote the night in a way of – come on guys – let’s get out there! The night time in the city reveals completely different sides to its complexity.”
Stefan moses, Blow Up (club), Elisabethplatz Square, ca. 1969 © archiv Stefan Moses
Whats the nightlife like now in Munich?
“We have a big scene of rave collectives which put on self-organized parties in the city. I was at a conference here in Munich and somebody said there are about 120 collectives currently. I have the impression that Munich is quite different compared to other German cities in the way that much of what’s going on is quite institutionalized, even in the alternative spaces which are subsidised. It’s good on the one hand but it’s still controlled so if they don’t cover their costs, then those clubs can’t survive. If you compare it to the eighties things were more repressive – police would come in and raid the club. It’s more soft control now.”
“Flokati Hardcoregaudi” at Ultraschall II, flyer, ca. 2000
How did you get the items for the exhibition?
“We had some items already but when the current Head of collections started she made a concerted effort to increase what we had by for example doing events with former club owners in the museum in empty spaces in the museum. It was a great idea because if nobody knows that you are interested in collecting artifacts of a certain topic or field, nobody gives you anything. We communicated via the press, set up an email address and did flyers too which we sent to clubs and bars. We also looked at specialist areas such as LGBTQ history in Munich.
Because of all this proactive collecting by the museum, the owners of a famous indie club in Munich called the Atomic Cafe contacted the museum and offered the museum to take the whole club! The club closed on the 2nd of January 2015 and one hour later our workmen came and gutted the club taking over 1500 objects for the Stadtmuseum’s collecdtion. And now we are able to reconstruct certain areas of the club in the exhibition.
The rest of our nightlife/popular culture collection we gathered in the last 12 years. A very special thing about this current exhibition is that we have over 1000 objects on display and only 17 of them are loans. As a key goal of the museum, it’s great to have these objects which are a material memory of the city. It will be a part of our new permanent exhibition after we reopen the museum in 2031.”
Front of the cigarette machine at the Registratur (club), ca. 2003
Under-18s membership card for PN Hit House (club), ca. 1967, private loan
Volker Derlath, A night-time ride on the escalator to Karlsplatz Metro and S-Bahn Station, 1985
Simon Vorhammer, Inside the Blitz Club on Museum Island, 2017 © Simon Vorhammer
Marcus Zumbansen, Inside Ultraschall II (club), ca. 2000
Volker Derlath, Club 4004, a nightclub with multiple floors, 2003
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
Still from ‘Nacht’ exhibition: Courtesy of Munich Stadtmuseum 2023
If you are passing through Germany, don’t miss the Staatliche Museum’s exhibition Broken Music Vol. 2 at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, commemorating 70 years of records and sound works by artists. Find out more about Broken Music Vol. 2 here
