The cult beverage brand makes space available to artists

Berlin’s nightlife is known to be colourful and wild. But rising rents and increasingly stringent requirements are causing the creative spaces in the German capital to shrink. From the beginning of September to mid-December 2019, Mast-Jägermeister SE, manufacturer of the internationally known herbal liqueur of the same name, made a breakthrough in terms of space and time with the pop-up club concept, Night Embassy.

Over 70 artist collectives had applied to be allowed to perform artistically at the Night Embassy for two weeks each. Six such slots were available. “The concepts selected by the Night Embassy's creative board spanned the entire artistic spectrum. From installation and visual arts to panels and workshops to parties, concerts and tattoo artists, everything was represented,” recalls Pedram Panahi, project manager for Jägermeister Germany.

The Night Embassy was housed in the premises of the current Curfew Bar in Falckensteinstrasse. Here three rooms—club, gallery and bar—were available for creative use. The lighting concept was realised exclusively with luminaires from GLP.

“Probably the most beautiful club lighting in Berlin”

The impression FR1 and FR1 TM, X4 atom, impression X4 Bar 10, KNV Dot as well as impression E350 and S350 Wash were installed. The majority of the fixtures were of course deployed in the club room. 25 impression FR1 were installed in a 5x5 matrix directly above the dance floor, enclosed by an LED grid.

Twelve X4 Bar 10 took their place on a column in the middle of the room behind a steel grille (three on each side, one above the other). The Night Embassy technical team placed four more X4 Bars, six S350 Wash and four E350 over the stage or the DJ booth. Twelve decentralised KNV Dot provided additional flexibility in lighting design.

The bar area was illuminated by 20 X4 atom, which were either focussed on tables with a narrow zoom or provided the basic general lighting in the room with a wide zoom. The gallery was illuminated by 25 FR1 TM, the trackmount version of the compact FR1.

The design was developed, implemented, programmed and controlled by the Berlin lighting collective, Kombinat Licht und Kultur. “When the club room opened, a large number of guests were enthusiastic about the uniform lighting concept. During those early weeks we probably had the most beautiful club lighting in all of Berlin—and we were extremely flexible in using it,” says Panahi.

Felix Fischer from Kombinat Licht und Kultur was regularly on site as an operator and was also very happy with the lighting equipment at the Night Embassy. “The FR1 really stood out in the club,” he says. “This little lamp has a nice beam and looked really good in combination with the LED grid. The X4 Bars are always good and I really liked the gobos on the E350s.”

“In the gallery, the FR1 TM on Eutrac rails, in combination with the wireless control via CRMX, gave us great flexibility, which we specifically needed in view of the variety of uses. Depending on the requirements, the setup of the lamps could be adjusted quickly and easily. "

The Berlin Night Embassy proved to be a successful pilot project for Jägermeister. Further Night Embassies at other locations are now set to follow.