2021: A wild year

A commented review of the year by Managing Director Florian Winkler-Ohm

Roller coaster rides can be really exciting. At least in amusement parks. You get that amazing tingle in your stomach from the constant ups and downs. In real life, you generally prefer to skip something like that.

But roller coasters are exactly what come to mind when 2021 passes before my mind’s eye. A year that ended the way it started – without a New Year’s Eve party at SchwuZ. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, all the other highlights of the season were missing: no ESC party, no CSD party, no Berlinale Art party.

A club is closeness, dancing, ecstasy, letting go. This year, however, we dealt with distance, control and a ban on dancing. This is exactly the opposite of our actual business.

SchwuZ was already closed for 19 months when we reopened the gate at Rollberg on October 30th: Big hype and cautious optimism spread as the public could see and experience what the hard-working hands of our team had created during the lockdown.

The new Pepsi Boston Bar, which greets our visitors with rich red lips, the darkrooms for a moment of quick happiness, new floors and radiant toilets. Yeah, we’re probably one of the best-renovated clubs in the lockdown ranking.

And so it’s not really surprising that for many people in our team, the lockdown didn’t feel much like home office and putting our feet, but rather more like rethinking things and rolling up our sleeves.

And so, in addition to all the structural commitment to fighting the corona virus, we’ve also brought many other ideas to life. From streaming to the webshop, from outdoor events in the SAGE Club to participation in Folsom: Queer visibility, when and wherever possible.

SchwuZ lives in the team that sustains it – for 44 years. Because this place is and remains not an end in itself, but a promise to the community: We will keep going.

So take the next roller coaster ride – in front of car number 22:

A new round, with new luck. Ride with me again, be with me again. The next ride – hopefully – will only go forward.