UNDER THE GROUNDS OF BERLIN..
1. FNS Confessions
We are Fraktion Nimmersatt: a community of the hungry; a collective of the driven.
Driven by dedication. Driven by adrenaline. Driven radicals, thrilling for a next rush
... a shared mission ... the unfolding of a creative impulse. Driven pulse by pulse.
We are toxic. An alliance of intricate egos, with a semi-permeable membrane. Hating each other. Loving each other. Constantly renegotiating each other, in search of unity, in search of peace; in the friction of heterogeneous connectedness.
We are a sect. We create our kingdom of heaven underground. Aiming for metaphysical moments, in defiance of the trivial transience of existence.
We know no compromise: Constantly failing; constantly triumphing. We are Winners. We are losers. Dystopia and utopia. We are excessive as fuck... We are nimmersatt!
2. Historie
The scene has changed: Where once free spaces existed, fixed instances of the gentrification process have claimed their territory. Where creativity once flourished, the capitalist productivity dogma now prevails as a primary pushing force. What was once considered underground found new use within mainstream culture.
And this is where the idea behind Fraktion Nimmersatt comes in:
In the summer of 2017, we - a group of people of different social and national backgrounds and artists of various genres - came together as outsiders to a dusty system, in which positions were already defined and resources were distributed, so there seemed to be no space left for our visions and ambitions. Partly out of necessity, partly out of boredom caused by these deadlocked states, we decided to organise raves, to shape our time according to our own wishes and ideas, and thereby to set up a stage for our ideas and expressions. So we raced from action to action and, within a short sequence of time, our intimate gatherings degenerated into events that filled huge occupied basements.
In the course of this first phase of working together, characterised by an almost hopeless struggle for freedom and surprising triumphs, unexpected challenges and improvised solution strategies, resigned overload and collective flights of fancy, we realised that despite the group's internal heterogeneity, a common consensus was emerging: We are more than a party!
When the extent of the pandemic became apparent in 2020, we were forced to reinvent ourselves. Thus, the inkling of our political dimension became a new collective identity..
We began to establish an understanding of subcultural movements through panel talks and demonstrations and, in cooperation with the Berlin Clubcommission, we got the chance to communicate their socio-cultural value to political decision-makers.
The following year, our commitment paid off: we were entrusted with one of twelve state-subsidised free open-air test spaces - Brache 09 - where we were given the opportunity to host cultural events in a pandemic-appropriate setting. And as we grew out of our infancy in the face of these new challenges, the creative potential of Fraktion Nimmersatt was complemented by a large network of diverse cultural practitioners; our horizons were broadened by a wide spectrum of various expertise and our collective became a community.
The highlight and the end of this era was marked in fall 2021 by winning the award for the Day of Club Culture. Soon afterwards, contrary to our hopes, we had to leave Brache 09.
For Fraktion Nimmersatt, in its original form, a phase of stagnation followed. Exhausted and disillusioned, we moved away from each other and discovered other platforms in new constellations, focusing on our specific sectors.
It was only in the winter of 2023, when we were gripped by a familiar desire, that we dared to make another attempt at a cross-disciplinary gathering:
In the midst of a panorama of a post-pandemic world; where political tensions are coming to a head and aggravated economic pressures are increasingly impacting the accessibility of clubs and other cultural institutions; it became clear:
A renaissance of the underground is needed! Back to rave!
The first action was to take place in an empty waterworks and was to be an attempt at a new internal form of organisation that would actively involve our extended network in the decision-making processes.
This decentralisation of planning processes required us to establish new forms of exchange and communication channels and resulted in the successful implementation of the "Submerged" rave ... and in new hope for its continuation!
In spring 2023, we were contacted by a Parisian collective that showed interest in our work. An exchange followed, which led our Berlin gang into the caverns under Paris and the Parisians into the underground landscape of Berlin.
We had previously collaborated with collectives in and from other countries (Greece, the Netherlands), but the intensity of the Berlin-Paris connection made it clear to us that we wanted to grow beyond our urban horizons and deepen the connection between underground movements on a European level. As an international collective, in the context of a globalised world, the focus on our urban areas no longer does us justice. With these new intentions, we look to our future... The outcome remains uncertain.
3. Raveactivism
Fraktion Nimmersatt is the sum of many fractals. It is an interlocking of forms of expression and an exchange of expertise. What holds us together in our diversity is the platform: the rave.
A rave is a hybrid of protest and art: we occupy spaces that have been taken from us; we create stages for ourselves that are not offered to us; we empower ourselves to participate in a socio-cultural discourse in which we are otherwise ignored.
It is a political gesture of disobedience in which our creativity unfolds.
Radical expressions as an answer to the radical restrictions against our abandoned scene: Fraktion Nimmersatt is telling the story of an underground movement -Shouted out loud, as a creative Antithesis!
