By: Filip Sandstrom Beijer
Photos: Lukas Viar
Playful had some cocktails with the techno doctor of Berlin.
Marina Rubinstein, better known as Dr. Rubinstein slides into the bar where we decided to meet, in the middle of Volkpark Friedrichshain on her baby blue bike.
“They don't have mate, but they have paper straws ..., she notes a bit ironically and decides instead to let an Aperol Spritz accompany the interview.
Having followed her through social media during the spring and summer, it feels like we've already met. Her personality shines through–to say the least–on YouTube, where she and one of her best friends, Lukas, have started streaming live during the Corona quarantine. It is both honest and spontaneous and Marina feels like self-assurance personified. Therefore, it surprises me a little when she produces a printed paper with notes, which she prepared for our meeting.
“I always want to prepare as best I can. That's how I am,” she says, laughing.
I was born in Russia and I speak Russian. I love it.
We’re starting to talk about how everything started, and how Russia-born Marina Rubinstein ended up in Berlin and became a hyped DJ with constant bookings at Berghain.
”I was born in Russia and I speak Russian. I love it. Most people don’t know, so when some fansare talking to me in Russian, I’m getting super happy. I’m like ‘Oh my god, that’s kinda cute’,like, they really know me.”
In school she was bullied for not being like everyone else, and also for having a Jewish last name. Yes, her real name is Rubinstein and as a teenager she moved to Israel and Tel Aviv. In previous interviews, she’s been described as a "True Raver" in the Israeli party city, something she wants to take the opportunity to bury. But just because it sounds a bit silly, not that it isn’t true.
“That ‘True Raver’ will hunt me forever, I said it years ago and since then it follows me everywhere. It sounds so silly, but yeah, I love to party always."
That she liked going out and dance was no exaggeration though. Marina enjoyed partying, especially at one specific club, and people started to think that she got paid to be there.
"I always enjoyed partying, and in Tel Aviv I was always this party girl. Coming to the parties early, staying late. I have a friend, Partok, who lives in Berlin right now. He used to throw parties in Tel Aviv and me and my friends came immediately every time. When I met him a few years later he told me that people thought that he was paying us to come and dance at his parties. I’m like, ‘Bitch where is my money’? He’s like, ‘I made you soup, here, eat it’.”, she says and laughs.
On one of the last days I met a person who would become my partner for the next seven years.
A little more than nine years ago, Marina came to Berlin for the first time. Then as a tourist, eager to explore the nightlife of the German capital. She traveled alone and stayed for a total of twelve days.
“I booked a flight and found this room on Craigslist. You remember when we used that, haha? It as next to Hermanstrasse, a very tiny room. Then I rented a bike and bought a bag of weed and went to all the parties by myself. Berghain, Watergate, ://About Blank, Club De Visionaire, open airs in Rummelsburg, Golden Gate. I stayed for twelve days and I was like ‘Oh my God!"
Her love for the city was a fact and almost cinematic, she also found love personified at the end of the trip.
“On one of the last days I met a person who would become my partner for the next seven years. In Golden Gate actually. I was kicked out of Golden Gate and this person left with me, took me to my bike and started to be in touch. A few months later I moved here”, she says and looks nostalgic.
“All of my friends said, ‘don’t do it’, but it was like ‘I have to’. When I think about it it’s crazy. No money, no job. It wasn’t always easy, but it worked out. If someone wants a boyfriend, they should go to Golden Gate and get kicked out. I am probably the only person who got kicked out of there” she says and laughs.
