What did they think was going to happen? The Bristol-based band Massive Attack have never hidden their politics. For years, their shows have been accompanied by large-scale political messaging — occasionally in collaboration with British filmmaker Adam Curtis — confronting audiences with global affairs, examining power structures and exposing cruelties. For a certain type of audience member in Berlin, however, this is precisely what art should not do. As Wim Wenders put it at the Berlinale: "art is the opposite of politics."
"If I had known beforehand that this was going to be a pure pro-Palestine demonstration, I wouldn't have paid 80 euros for it"
It should come as little surprise, then, that reviews in the Berlin press of Sunday's show at the Zitadelle Spandau have been full of righteous sulking and hurt feelings.
HEIST is a worker-owned online magazine, founded by writers and editors who after years working across Berlin's media landscape believed something essential was missing.
Anyone living here has felt a growing gap between the city as it actually is and the version being served up by mainstream outlets. We experienced that disconnect firsthand. We saw political censorship shape coverage decisions and felt the weight of billionaire ownership land directly on our work. It reached a point where we could either keep going along with it, or try to build something better.
That's why we created HEIST.
And look at you: scrolling, clicking, squinting at blurred text just to get a little further. If you'll go to that much effort to read HEIST, you can surely give us one email. That's the whole price, and the rest of the story is right behind it.
Real journalism costs money. We commission the hard-hitting, well-reported, long-form work everyone wants to read but nobody seems to publish anymore.
The future of this city is still in the balance. We intend to be part of that struggle. We hope that you'll join us.
