Celebrating the spirited life of Monika Döring, the ultimate partygoer.
Monika Doering, a trailblazer in Berlin's music scene, was born in the city in 1937 and had a background in classical music. In the early 1980s, she founded Loft, an event agency and music venue located at Schöneberg's Nollendorfplatz.
Doering's influence extended beyond Loft, as she was also the founder of Monster, Mythen, Mutationen, the music festival forerunner of Berlin Atonal. Her speciality lay in avant-garde electronic music and goa trance, and she began organizing psytrance parties.
One of her most notable contributions was the organisation of Rock Against Junk in 1980, a festival aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of hard drugs. Mark Reeder, a musician and record producer, first met Doering in the middle of preparations for this event. Their friendship lasted for 40 years.
Reeder also helped organise a gig for the English band Blurt at Rock Against Junk. Doering's impact on the city's music scene continued to be felt even after the fall of the Wall in 1989, as she welcomed an era of musical diversity in Berlin.
Doering's legacy was not limited to her work in the music industry. In 1978, she was one of the initiators of the Tunix Congress at Technische Universität and opened Charlottenburg's Schwarzes Cafe.
Despite being told in 1980 that she had a terminal heart condition, Doering continued to champion Berlin's music scene for another three decades, until her death in May 2022 at the age of 87.
In her final years, Doering attended parties up until only a few years ago, when her eyesight and hearing started to deteriorate. She requested a departure party instead of a conventional funeral, and Mark Reeder DJ'd at the event.
Doering's photographs from the 1980s were taken by Ulrike Elinor Richter. She is remembered for her teachings that people can achieve so much more if they get over the trivial, and her belief that life is too short and you only have one go.
However, detailed, publicly available documentation or acknowledgment of Doering's influence in Berlin's music scene is currently not widely found in existing results. Further research may reveal more about her contributions to the city's vibrant music culture.
Monika Doering's contributions extended beyond music to encompass fashion-and-beauty, as she was one of the initiators of the Tunix Congress at Technische Universität and opened Charlottenburg's Schwarzes Cafe. Her teachings, echoing pop-culture ideals, asserted that people can achieve so much more if they get over the trivial, and she advocated for a lifestyle that valued musical diversity and innovation. Furthermore, Doering's influence in fashion-and-beauty can be observed in the lively entertainment scene she cultivated, which often embodied the avant-garde and was home to celebrities such as herself and associates like Mark Reeder.
