Zodiak Free Arts Lab
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The Zodiak Free Arts Lab, sometimes known as the "Zodiak Club" or "Zodiac Club", was a short-lived but highly influential experimental live music venue, founded in the then
West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
in spring 1968 by German artists/musicians
Conrad Schnitzler Conrad "Conny" Schnitzler (17 March 1937 – 4 August 2011) was a prolific German experimental musician associated with West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement. A co-founder of West Berlin's Zodiak Free Arts Lab, he was an early member of Tangeri ...
(1937–2011) and
Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic musician and composer, best known as a co-founder of the influential 'kosmische' groups Cluster and Harmonia. He also performed in the ambient jazz trio Aquarello, and relea ...
(born 1934), together with Boris Schaak (1942–2012). The Zodiak Free Arts Lab was based in a large rented backroom area within a building in Hallesches Ufer, along the north bank of the
Landwehr Canal The Landwehr Canal (german: Landwehrkanal), is a canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné. It connects the upper part of the Spree at the eastern harbour () in Friedri ...
in the
Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...
district of Berlin, near the corner of Großbeerenstraße. The main purpose of this building from 1962 until 1981 was as the first home of the , a politically inspired and motivated theatre company. Hence, the Zodiak could not open until late in the evening after the theatre itself had closed, so that the theatrical performances would not be drowned out by the noise. The Zodiak itself was sub-divided into two main performance areas, one of which was painted completely white and the other completely black, and was filled with various instruments, amplifiers and speakers which people could more or less do with as they pleased. Here, musicians were allowed to experiment with
free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
,
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
and
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
styles. Conventional forms of music were frowned upon: a phrase frequently used to describe the spirit of the times was that "songs were considered
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
." Among the many artists and bands who passed through the Zodiak in their early days were
Ash Ra Tempel Ash Ra Tempel was a West German krautrock group led by guitarist Manuel Göttsching that was active from 1970 to 1976. Their debut album '' Ash Ra Tempel'' was released in 1971. Following the band's demise, Göttsching released music under the nam ...
, Geräusche (Noises), Plus/Minus, , Per Sonore, Human Being, The Agitation (later
Agitation Free Agitation Free was a German experimental krautrock band formed in 1967 by Michael "Fame" Günther (bass guitar), Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich (guitar), Lutz Ludwig Kramer (guitar) and Christopher Franke (drums). Name They were initially called Agitat ...
),
Klaus Schulze Klaus Schulze (4 August 1947 – 26 April 2022) was a German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and The Cosmic Jokers ...
and, most significantly,
Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...
. While not quite reaching the status of being "house band," Tangerine Dream certainly played there frequently over a 3-month period, sometimes for five or six hours a night and for little or no payment, and the loud,
iconoclastic Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...
improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...
sometimes climaxed with
Who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
-style destruction of equipment. The club played an important role in the development of a style of music that would later be called
krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
. Whether due to the Schaubühne's management calling for things to be toned down, or the restlessness of the West Berlin scene simply seeking other outlets for expression, has not been recorded, but the Zodiak lasted only a few months, closing in early 1969. Nevertheless, it earned a significant place in
German rock German rock music (''Deutschrock'') came into its own only by the late 1960s, but spawned many bands spanning genres such as krautrock, Neue Deutsche Welle, heavy metal, punk, and industrial. Rock and roll itself arose in the United States in t ...
history and is fondly remembered by all who were associated with it. In 1969 one of its founders, Conrad Schnitzler, joined Tangerine Dream for a while, playing on their first album, ''
Electronic Meditation ''Electronic Meditation'' is the first major release and first studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in June 1970 by record label Ohr. Recording and history The album was recorded in a rented factory in ...
'', released in 1970. After leaving Tangerine Dream, Schnitzler rejoined one of the Zodiak's other founders, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, together with
Dieter Moebius Dieter Moebius (16 January 1944 – 20 July 2015) was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia. Moebius was studying art at Berlin's Akademie Grafik and ...
(born 1944), and formed his own band,
Kluster Kluster was a Berlin-based German experimental musical group formed in 1969 by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Conrad Schnitzler, and Dieter Moebius. Their improvisational work presaged later industrial music. The original Kluster was short-lived, exi ...
(name later anglicised to Cluster). As for the building that once housed the Zodiak, the
Schaubühne The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designe ...
relocated in 1981 to its present home in a former cinema (the Kino Universum, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1926), in Lehniner Platz, along the
Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...
. Its old home then became the . Today it is one of two additional venues complementing the
Hebbel Theater The Hebbel-Theater (Hebbel Theatre) is a historic theatre building for plays in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Germany. It has been a venue of the company Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) from 2003. The theatre, with approximately 800 seats, was built by Oskar Kaufmann ...
in nearby Stresemannstraße; it is now known as
Hebbel am Ufer The Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) is a theater and international performance center based in Berlin. It was founded by combining three theaters in Kreuzberg, Berlin: Hebbel Theater (now called HAU1), Theater am Halleschen Ufer (theater at Hallesches Ufer) ...
or "HAU 2".


External links


Zodiak Club
overview at Néosphères {{Authority control Krautrock Culture in Berlin