Dimitri Hegemann

Dimitri Hegemann, born in 1954, is many things at once: entrepreneur, cultural organizer, label founder, explorer of spaces – and one of the defining figures of the German music and club scene. His story begins in West Berlin of the late 1970s and early 1980s, a city in a state of exception that not only offered freedom but practically demanded it. In 1982, he founded the Berlin Atonal Festival – a festival for radical, experimental music that quickly became an important meeting point for the international avant-garde. Until 1991, he directed Atonal, consistently pushing the boundaries of what was possible in Berlin’s art and music scene.

With the fall of the Wall, a new chapter opened. In 1991, Hegemann founded the legendary Tresor club as well as the associated label Tresor Records. With the help of Detroit techno, Hegemann tapped right into the spirit of the times during the period of reunification. What began as an experiment in a former vault near Potsdamer Platz quickly became one of the most influential places in global techno culture.

In 2007, Tresor moved: away from its historic location along the former Wall strip and into the decommissioned Heizkraftwerk Berlin-Mitte. Hegemann never thinks of spaces solely as places for celebration, but also as social infrastructure. In 2021, he founded the Tresor Foundation Berlin – a foundation dedicated to the long-term preservation of curated cultural spaces and committed to resisting displacement and speculation.

Hegemann’s work is shaped by curiosity, a willingness to take risks, and a firm belief in the power of subculture.