Munich

The Munich scene

Munich is the home of BoundCon, a bondage and fetish fair. It was first held in June 2004, modeled on similar events in the United States, and combines trade stands, public shows, staged sessions for photographers and workshops over a weekend each year, although the 2020 edition was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. German Wikipedia puts attendance at around 5,000 and notes that press reports call it the largest event of its kind in Europe. Since 2008 it has been held at the Zenith hall in Freimann, and since 2016 a smaller autumn event, BoundOne, has been added. Riggers and models from Europe and North America are invited; the Hamburg author and teacher Matthias T. J. Grimme is a regular performer and received a lifetime award there in 2017, as told in Kinbaku in Europe.

Teaching projects

In an interview with the Abendzeitung ahead of one BoundCon, the Munich bondage artist and author Bas Spacewalk said that demand for bondage workshops in the city was rising, that many people took their inspiration from Japanese shibari, and that participants ranged from young couples to friends in their seventies. With his co-teacher Vero he runs the Mein Bondage workshops, which are booked in pairs, begin with a taster in which both partners try both roles, and put the emotional effect of rope next to technique, risk and consent.

Seilprofi holds a weekly taster evening for singles and couples in a photo studio with several hang points; there are no prerequisites, rope can be borrowed, and the evening is aimed at beginners and exchange between participants. Project:Rope, run by the couple Jörg and Julia, offers a space for kinbaku culture with classes, study groups, labbing, photography and performances, and from September 2026 a semenawa study group. Tengu Shibari works as a teaching pair offering one-to-one coaching for couples and stage shows that set Japanese rope to techno.

Community formats

BightNight e.V. began, in its organizers’ words, because Munich needed a proper rope jam again and the existing offer was thin. It is a group of rope enthusiasts shaped by many different tying styles who run a monthly jam open to every style and level, small workshops by the community for the community, labbing groups and a summer workshop day, and who invite international teachers twice a year for a workshop weekend; its current dates include an introduction to Yagami-ryū. Guests register by email so the organizers can keep a balance of newcomers and regulars, and the team works unpaid alongside their jobs. Kinky Wohnzimmer has offered a regular kink bar evening since 2018, with an awareness team, and has also hosted rope workshops.

What the city offers now

A newcomer can start at a weekly taster evening or a couples’ workshop, move on to a monthly jam and study groups, and see international performers at BoundCon. The programs cited here are published in German. For what to expect at a first session, see What happens at a first shibari class.