The second U.S. edition of Time Warp, Germany's longest-running techno festival, is scheduled to bring some of the world's best techno, deep house and minimal producers and DJs to the Bedford Armory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in two weeks. However, the festival is facing some serious opposition from the community: Local residents and elected representatives including Assemblymember Walter Mosley have been voicing concerns regarding various quality of life issues and lobbying City Hall to shut the event down. As Mosley stated to local news outlet DNAinfo, his constituents are mostly worried about parking and "potentially intoxicated" ravers meandering the neighborhood after the event.
Both DJ Mag and The Village Voice have referred to Time Warp as "the world's most prestigious techno" because, well, it is. Since the festival's inception in Mannheim, Germany, in 1994, it has traveled to Italy, The Netherlands, Argentina and The Czech Republic, while returning annually to Germany. This year marks the festival's second stateside indoor event, and the hype-worthy DJ roster includes Black Coffee, Luciano, Seth Troxler B2B with Jamie Jones, Apollina, Chris Liebing and Julia Govor just to name a few. Sven Väth, who first graced the Time Warp decks back in 1995, is also headlining. So is Ricardo Villalobos, who as DJ Mag points out, is returning to the U.S. for the first time in "many years."
The event is supposed to transform the Bedford Armory on November 20 and 21 into "the Cave 2.0," the organizer's term for the event's design concept that obviously involves tons of lasers. However, as Thump points out, "whether or not it will happen depends on who you ask." While the event is scheduled to go on as planned and organizers "have confirmed that they have secured the proper approvals," Assemblymember Mosley's office apparently got word from the office responsible for affairs concerning the Armory, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), that the event will not go on. Meanwhile, DNAinfo reports that DCAS is still "reviewing the application."
The two-day techno festival ran into some permitting issues leading up to its New York debut last year, but ultimately everything worked out, as it always has in their over 20-year run. As Dancing Astronaut reports, event organizers stated that, "All procedures thus far have been properly handled. We are underway for a seamless event at Bedford Union Armory."
Watch the aftermovie from this year's Time Warp Germany below.
