STATEMENT 2020

German version below

Today we like to talk about an issue which we worked on intensively during the last year. In February 2019, our member, resident DJ and friend Tim aka DJ Normal 4 harassed several guests during a gig1. What happened that night is still deeply saddening to us, and our empathy and solidarity goes to the women affected. To hear about the incidents a few days after was a great shock and severe disappointment. Soon after we announced that DJ Normal 4 won’t play his planned gigs at Warning2. At the same time we decided that a careful investigation and evaluation of the events is absolutely mandatory to us, one that includes friends, partners and Tim himself. There has been no contact between us and the affected parties, apart from a few emails exchanged between Tim and the promoter shortly after the incident. Due to the non existing possibility for exchange, we recognize that our evaluation of the events is limited to the structures and processes within our own community.

It has been a difficult step from cancelling Tim’s gigs to the true beginning of a workup which isn’t protecting the offender. We only realised the true dimension of this process after some time and without external support it would have been even tougher. We valued and included the non-male perspectives we could find in our direct and extended surrounding from the beginning. Furthermore we were able to draw on existing structures of Safer Nightlife projects we have been working with before.

Through our contact with specialized initiatives3 and individuals we were able to broaden our horizon and gain a lot of important input and feedback. Especially important here is the person who is having regular sessions with Tim and guiding him on his way. This was an early desire of Tim himself and he’s consistently pursuing it. Thanks to her experienced background, and personal distance, this person has become an important instance regarding our own evaluation of Tim’s progress.

The book How to deal with sexualized violence?4 (OT: Was tun bei sexualisierter Gewalt?) and particularly the described ways to act towards offenders has been an important influence for us. We like to recommend this book to anyone, especially those who find themselves in similar situations (Sadly it is only available in German language so far). Due to the formerly mentioned non-contact with the affected parties, a process in terms of Transformative Justice5 has not been an option in our case. Nevertheless, the concept offered some interesting basic approaches. Specifically the concept of Community Accountability6 is something we are working with.

In many conversations within our own community we continue to critically reflect our own roles, learning about the different factors and dynamics, which support sexualized violence in nightlife and in general. Some of the specific questions that were relevant are: How did we and others in Tim’s surrounding act during the time before the incident? What could be observed? How have the different reactions been afterwards, when did they change and why? The purpose of this process is to help each other learn and develop through common and reciprocal reflection, which in the end determines the progress of the project. That is why we are also working with structures and experts outside of our own project and commit ourselves to exchange and networking within other projects, such as the Awareness Roundtable7.

Through the examination we are learning a lot and we will continue the process within our community. To guide and assist Tim as his friends and as his critics is a contradiction which we could not always resolve easily. For example we had planned to release a record in September, including a track he co-produced. Only after the important and righteous criticism towards this plan did we realize that it goes against our actual intentions.

This case is none that can be seen as closed at any time. Instead, we are embracing this ongoing process as an important gain to our personal and professional self-conception and identity. At the current step in our process we like to grant Tim a unique second chance to get involved in the project again. Our reasons for this decision are his personal development during the last year, which appears genuine to us, and his definite intention to keep the process going, working on himself, being socially sensitive and doing everything possible to prevent inappropriate behavior. We also appreciate and support his willingness to stay sober during professional situations such as gigs.

The safety and well-being of all our attendees and the trust of those who are working with us as Warning will always be our top priority. This is one of the reasons why we decided, that for our events at ://about blank we won’t solely rely on the in-house structures but also work with our own team to create a safer space. Our clear prioritization means that Tim will leave certain common spaces in case someone feels uncomfortable in his presence. We do not expect everyone else to already be likewise able to extend their trust again. The coming times will show how our friendship and our own standards can exist alongside each other in the professional context. For our April event in Vienna we let Tim appear as a DJ for the first time again. This decision has been made carefully and under involvement of all participants, which will also be our way to go for future bookings of him.

We appreciate any critical exchange about this matter and are very willing to hear counterarguments, every mail sent to us will be replied for sure. Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has supported us on this way so far, we are very grateful for all the listening, feedback and critique. Whoever wants to reach out to us about all this, please send an email to feedback@warning.berlin

On behalf of

Sebastian Grap and Hendrik Wolff

Berlin – February 29th 2020



Further information on the topics of sexualized violence and safer nightlife

