pBerlin in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall this is the place to be. Berlin-Mitte, the central district of the city, with its wastelands and decaying houses, has become the centre of a new movement. Artists, musicians, squatters, club owners, DJs and ravers are reclaiming the old city centre and bringing it back to life. This interregnum between two systems - the collapse of the old East Germany, the gentrification of the new Berlin - lasts only a few years. West Berliners, East Berliners and new residents from abroad join together to create music, art and fashion, to open bars and clubs and galleries, even if only for a few weeks. In the months following the fall of the Wall, there is a feeling of new beginnings and immense possibilities life is now, and to be in the here and now feels endless. The phrase 'temporary autonomous zone' is circulating, it describes the idea - romantic and naive but, in the circumstances, not absurd - that, at a certain moment in hi