// Club and concert hall, Berlin
Since its inception in 1998, with a home-base in an old nautical engine works on the banks of the Spree parallel to the former border, MAO persists as one of Berlin’s most innovative and authentic clubs. Involved in various other legendary Berlin venues such as Ständige Vertretung, I.M. Eimer, Club for Chunk, MAO's managers are veritable warhorses of local underground culture. Despite growing bigger over the years, their spirit and their reluctance to allow commercial interests to take the upper hand remain strong. Maria is still a venue for glorious nocturnal excesses, and for unusual concerts well off the beaten track. The newly instigated spin-off, Josef, is a club in the club, with a low-key format designed to ensure the experimental local scene has an informal platform in a style that is increasingly rare today.
> www.clubmaria.de
> www.clubjosef.de
