Time Warp is one of the most iconic techno events in the world. The festival has been known for its uncompromising sound, striking floor designs, and international appeal since it began in 1994. Its home is the Maimarkthalle in Mannheim, with global editions in cities including São Paulo, New York, Madrid, and Santiago de Chile.

Since 2013, POOLgroup has been part of this story, delivering ad-hoc services at first and then acting as a full production partner in Mannheim from 2016.

‘Techno. Since 1994.’ is what Time Warp is all about: a carefully selected lineup consisting of genre-defining icons such as Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, and Laurent Garnier, as well as leading voices from the new generation of stars – think Amelie Lens, Nina Kraviz, Adam Beyer, or Charlotte de Witte – are entrusted to a production team that treats each floor as a distinct, immersive environment.

The aim is to create a large-scale club environment: several floors, each with their signature sound, lighting, and vibe, which meet the exacting creative demands of artists, labels, and audience.

Time Warp in Mannheim is a techno marathon of almost 20 hours of non-stop music. Multiple floors, changing sets, high volume levels, and extended performance times demand precise, resilient, and flexible infrastructure.

The main challenges include:

• delivering the highest sound quality in a venue with complex acoustics,
• producing distinctive room staging and lighting every year,
• designing high-load rigging and lighting systems to a tight schedule.

At the same time, Time Warp is considered a benchmark event within the scene. As such, it is widely covered by TV and streaming channels such as ARTE, further increasing the pressure on audio, visuals, and the overall staging.

Since 2016, the POOLcrew in Mannheim has handled full production support for Time Warp.

Key services cover:

• specialist technical planning for lighting, audio, public address systems, video, media technology, IT and rigging,
• developing modular rigging and lighting structures that support the individual spatial modeling on each floor,
• in-house planning and scheduling including preliminary testing of audio and lighting designs,
• operational implementation on site with highly trained floor crews, from the first rehearsal to the final track.

POOLgroup was also involved in “Awakenings & Time Warp present: connect,” where we transformed Time Warp’s high-level technical and stage settings into a joint brand experience.

For the audience, Time Warp is an opportunity to dive into another reality. Powerful, clearly defined soundscapes, immersive axial lighting, furnishings, and LED elements and projections create floors that are more reminiscent of perfectly managed clubs than traditional festival stages.

The interaction of sound, atmosphere, and visual staging is a central component of the Time Warp brand and one of the reasons why the festival is a must-attend event for the international techno community.

Delivering ad hoc services in 2013 has turned into a stable partnership with comprehensive support. Time Warp is consistently developing its output and POOLgroup provides the technical backbone and planning certainty required to turn 20 hours of techno into a fully choreographed experience.