Berlin-Melbourne: Transnational Cultures Collide

Abstract

Berlin and Melbourne are commonly conveyed in popular culture as kindred cities, places between which artists, musicians and free thinkers have exchanged ideas and collaborated since the early 1980s. This transnational artistic axis was symbolically forged when Melbourne musician Nick Cave and local avant-garde performer Blixa Bargeld joined forces to form The Bad Seeds in Berlin in 1983. Both cities have since become renowned as islands of creativity and counterculture, common ground upon which artists can easily alternate and collaborate with like minds. They are very distinct from their richer, brighter urban cousins, Munich and Sydney. This paper will discuss how underground culture has formed a common identity in these cities, how an enduring community has transcended national boundaries, geographic distance and historical divergences.