At the Bar with Hannibal Tarkan Daldaban / “Von Putzlicht zu Putzlicht – Dr. Atmo reads” with Dr. Atmo
09.05.2026, 16:30
For decades, Hannibal Tarkan Daldaban has been an internationally recognised promoter and DJ, and a key figure in Frankfurt’s club and event culture. Despite his international career, he has chosen to remain based in the Rhine-Main region, where he has realised many of his projects. At the core of his work is the encounter between people—for which he continually creates new spaces and situations.
As part of the exhibition Hidden History, a bar counter in the foyer of the Frankfurter Kunstverein becomes a central meeting point. Through his personal presence, Daldaban activates the exhibition space and invites visitors to engage with stories of the events, personalities and places that shaped Frankfurt’s subcultural scenes of the 1990s and 2000s.
On May 9, Amir Abadi, better known as Dr. Atmo, will read from his book “Von Putzlicht zu Putzlicht” at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. It is a literary return to a place where modern club culture in the 1990s was still an experiment—and the nightlife associated with it was not a fully commercialized industry, but rather a state somewhere between glitter and the demi-world.
Now working as a successful architect in Berlin, Abadi belongs to the generation that significantly shaped Frankfurt’s dance scene. He was there when Frankfurt transformed into a center of electronic counterculture—not neatly curated, but contradictory, migrant-influenced, improvised, and seemingly open in all directions.
As a designer of spaces, sounds, and atmospheres, he moved between innovative club architecture, ambient visions, and endless nights beyond official cultural policy. His book tells precisely this story—not nostalgically glorified, as others have since done, but candidly, sometimes surprisingly tender, then again biting. It is written from the perspective of an insider who knows how quickly myths arise once reality fades.
To this day, 35 (!) albums bear his finely tuned sonic signature, including numerous milestones in the field spanning ambient, trip-hop, and chill-pop. Sometimes as a solo artist, at other times as part of a team, and even in international band contexts, such as with Atmo & The Lightz—but always with the utmost dedication, deep expertise, and a keen sense of how genre boundaries can be expanded.
His reading offers insights into the origins of what has since become a cult book. What initially began as a loose collection of stories for personal catharsis was developed by Abadi into a multi-layered work about new beginnings, loss, belonging, and the transformative power of music and art.
Anyone who has always believed the music business to be a snake pit will feel confirmed. And those who thought it a place where wild dreams can be realized—also.
The event is aimed at literature enthusiasts as well as friends of Frankfurt’s music and subcultural history, and anyone interested in artistic biographies shaped by social change.
Admission: €5, including entry to the exhibition. No registration is required.
Please note that the event will take place in German.
