EXB issue 166 December 2017

This issue is all about analogue Berlin: the old formats making a comeback, the bars and cafes trying to ban devices, the non-Tinder dating alternatives... and much more. Here's a taste:

BOOKED FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Seven new page-turners for every naughty-or-nice Berliner on your Christmas list.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
For these Berlin enthusiasts, cassettes, vinyl, film photography, videotapes and analogue synths never went away in the first place.

DIGITAL-FREE SAFE SPACES
Bar and cafe owners want you to put away your phone and talk to each other... but how realistic is that, really?

MEETING MY OFFLINE MATCH
Topf sucht Deckel? A swipe-happy millennial quits Tinder and gives matchmaking, speed dating and singles' parties a go.

IT'S NOT YOUR PHONE, IT'S YOU
Berlin's foremost expert on smartphones and mental health weighs in on "smombie" panic.

GOING AGAINST THE CURRENT
Surprising new inventions that keep electromagnetic waves out of your pocket and bedroom.

ERIK SPIEKERMANN
A peek inside the design legend's Potsdamer Straße studio.

CHARITE'S BLOOD LABYRINTH
A system of pneumatic tubes keeps the blood (and everything else) flowing at the historic hospital.

Also in this issue...

#BERLINTOO?
Four years after the #Aufschrei hashtag campaign, where are the German Harvey Weinsteins?

EXIT WILMERSDORF
Inside a makeshift refugee shelter's last days.

BEST OF 2017
Our critics look back at a year of music, stage, film and art in Berlin.

ROBIN CAMPILLO
The French filmmaker revisits his AIDS activism days in 120BPM.

EAT LIPSTICK
Rev up for the new year with Berlin's own electro-glam-drag duo, playing December 29.

SUSANNE KENNEDY
The acclaimed theatre director breaks in the new Volksbühne this month with the unintentionally timely Women in Trouble.

ED ATKINS
Why is everyone crying? Because the artist behind Old Food (extended to Jan 7) made them cry. Which he finds weird.

BEST OF BERLIN
A doggie Christmas market, customised coconuts, Wedding comics and a secret samurai stash.

BERLIN BITES
A scene-y wine bar in Mitte and new sweets straight out of Neukölln.

...And much, much more!