Zur Klappe relaunches with new events and club programme in Berlin

“Zur Klappe is a former public toilet.  The name comes from the special history of the place: This was once a known as a Klappe in German, or cruising toilet in English: aka a meeting place for men to have quick, anonymous sex. The original premises have hardly been changed; graffiti and original tiles on the walls remain. Counters, lamps and seating are self-made and tailored to the rooms with great attention to detail to use every single inch of the space. All of this creates an unusual and unique atmosphere in the a mere 100 square meters, or 150 person capacity space.

From the mid-1970s to the end of the 1990s, these cruising toilets were a massive part of Queer culture due to the conservative legal basis of the Federal Republic’s Paragraph 175 § laws. Zur Klappe used to be one of many public restrooms around the city where gay men had clandestine rendezvous before homosexuality was decriminalised. These public toilets were known colloquially as Klappen. These spaces were used by primarily homosexual men, as “cruising” places, until the operator of the public toilet went bankrupt at the end of the 1990s.

The city of Berlin considered having the property filled in and almost lost to time, but however: the unique location means that there were still main city water pipes and mains, and two subway tunnels worth of logistics too. In a surprise development: the property was left unsealed but unused until the city of Berlin advertised the property as a cultural site at the beginning of 2012.

A chance meeting between Sören Van Laak and the French artist Marc Martin, who was in Berlin photographing former Klappe locations for an exhibition, led to the creation of Zur Klappe. Once learning the roots and history of this unique space, we applied for the tender with the idea of establishing a cultural location at this historic place and ultimately received the city of Berlin’s acceptance.

I am very passionate about making Zur Klappe a space that is community driven and reflects the values that we want to see more of in the scene: challenging all white, all male lineups, prioritising BIPOC and Queer promoters and artists, hosting non-party events to share space outside of parties and mentoring a new generation of party organisers. I have previously hosted party organisation workshops for RA and will extend this to my daily work, which I believe is something truly unique for a booker to do: not just host parties, but to help foster them for success!”

More details on the upcoming dates can be found HERE.