#Absolut Nights #Berlin

Sep 28, 2019

Studio XO and Absolut Turned a Berlin Club Into Futuristic Jungle Party for “Nights By Absolut

“Nights By Absolut” is an ambitious project from the creative minds at Absolut that brings together art, design, performance, and explosive light shows for events all over the world. So far, Absolut has turned a dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn into a wild nightclub and created a dance floor inside a giant mirrored cube in Johannesburg, South Africa. This weekend, they are hosting a party in São Paulo, Brazil where guests take on unfamiliar roles. All of the events are meant to explore the future of nightlife by partnering with artists, designers, writers, and other creatives to come up with unforgettable experiences. If the Berlin installment of “Nights By Absolut,” which took place on Saturday, was anything, it was a vision from the future.

Known for almost mythical tales of transformative experiences that take place during a night out in Berlin, the German city was the perfect place to stage “Nights By Absolut.” The event took place at Kraftwerk, a former power station in the Mitte district of Berlin, the area that birthed the city’s storied nightlife in the early ’90s after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Entering the club on Saturday night was like walking into a sci-fi jungle. Luscious foliage hung from the ceilings and seemed to spring up from the cracks of the concrete warehouse. Club-goers, all dressed in black, sipped on exotically flavored Absolut drinks (think: mint toffee pineapple slushies). Fog filled the dance floor, and beams of electric blue light pulsed through the air. But that was only the beginning.

While guests were directed to wear black to become “part of the experience,” many were adorned in shiny patches of material or large, geometrical accessories made of dozens of cut mirrors. Designed by Studio XO, these 3D-printed wearables took on a new life when the laser show started, an intense experience from all sides that bounced off (and even came from) the audience, creating a call-and-response of light, movement, and energy.

Studio XO is a London-based design team that has created everything from a flying dress for Lady Gaga to a glowing “Mermaid Bra” for Azealia Banks. Recently, they’ve started to develop wearable tech that responds to users’ emotions. For “Nights By Absolut,” the designers brought their talents to Kraftwerk, creating outfits that would intensify the nightlife experience.

With the music pumping, lasers beaming, and outfits shining, “Nights By Absolut” captured everything you would expect from the perfect night at a Berlin club—only taken to the next level. Instead of the D.I.Y. parties of the early ’90s that Berliners will look back on with nostalgia, “Nights By Absolut” offered the next stage in the city’s nightlife legacy. The jungle springing up from Kraftwerk was like exotic energy of the future taking over the historical landscape. It was a place for new creative exploration, and it was so much fun.