CTM festival exhibition

 I recently attended the opening art exhibition of the CTM festival at Kunstraum Kreuzberg, a turn of the century hospital turned art space. Each year, musicians and creative people come to Berlin to exhibit and perform their work in the city. The CTM festival centres on music and sound but they also collaborate with the concurrent Transmediale festival and its focus on the visual arts.

  The exhibition covered many areas around music, media and the current reality of being creative in this genre. One artist from Mexico, Pedro Reyes presented a large automaton project in the exhibition. Disarm (Mechanized) is a collaboration with Reyes and a media workshop in Mexico city called COCOLAB. The project constructed musical automatons out of guns that were donated through a campaign to rid the Mexican state of Sinaloa of weapons. The idea was to create something positive and useful out of an object of destruction as a commentary on the sale of arms around the world, thus creating an alternate ideology for a society plagued by gun violence.

  Each piece created out of discarded weapons represents a version of a musical instrument. In most cases the visual similarity is evident however all are distinctly unique due in no small part to the source material. The percussion instruments had a metallic resonance but the stringed instruments had a fairly traditional sound and the entire ensemble was able to play individually or together in a harmonic style. It had moments reminiscent of digitized, sampled or electronic mechanical notes which were right at home with a Berliner's ear for the alternative techno or dubstep club soundtrack. I can't quite say it was an award winning composition however that was never the goal of Reyes and his team. Its visually compelling while at the same time opening the subject of weapons in our society for commentary (no to mention recycling as a means of disposal of the problematic objects).

  The over all shape of each automaton is obviously heavily influenced by the source materials and by the traditional musical shape of instruments. Perhaps its just by chance but I can see shapes reminiscent of H.R. Giger's bio-mechanical work of the 1970's, most famously used in the Hollywood film Alien. No doubt this band would be at home in Giger's Swiss castle home.

Until next time,
Andy

Surreal exhibition

I recently visited both Museum Berggruen and Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg in Charlottenburg to see two shows. Both collections showcased complimentary work from the early 20th century of experimental and surreal subjects. Artists involved range from the well known, Picaso, Dali, Piranesi, Ernst, Magritte, Man Ray etc too a few lesser known.
  A good portion of the work on display at Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg is actually from the Neue Nationalgaleries collection which is now undergoing renovation until 2019. So its a blend of work from influential artists displayed by theme rather than chronological order.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Max Ernst

Hans Bellmer

  A discovery for me was the work of Hans Bellmer. Apparently he's known for photography but here he has paintings made with Gouache and an element of chance. A very liquid layer of pigment is applied and further added to with faces or figures pulled out of the resulting collection of shapes.

Hans Bellmer

  Here Bellmer has soaked paper (I believe) and pressed it onto a board, massaging it into a collection of folds and wrinkles to begin the shape. On top of this, he has painted white lines to define edges and shadow of the face. Its rather similar to a 3D computer graphic wire frame model that didn't come into existence for another 50 years.
  I saw another artists work, in Vancouver I think, many years ago doing similar looking illustrations with clear cello tape on black which produced a great look. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of that artist however I can't help but think that this may have been inspired by Bellmer.

Hans Bellmer, self portrait

Checkout the shows if you're in Berlin as they have many more interesting works. They're on until August 2016 if not longer.

Until next time,
Andy

Bierpinsel tower or Turmrestaurant Steglitz

  On a long ride through the south of Berlin I discovered this landmark tower on Schloßstraße. Situated above the palace ubahn station, it has the location and the iconic shape that stands out and yet its been empty since 2006. With a look this futuristic it looks like the surrounding building are only just now beginning to catch up with its distinct style.
  It seems it was developed as a restaurant back in the mid 70's called Turmrestaurant Steglitz, but for various reasons went bankrupt. It has since had many different businesses at the location including bars and cafe's. Its an impressive structure for sure. Its possible it was intended to be another icon for the former West Berlin state and to showcase architectural abilities of the west.

  Not only is it on the main street but its also on a large cross street. The building is integrated into the elevated highway and has a central elevator to access this and an adjoining elevated parking area.

The entrance to the elevator from the ubahn exit.

  The current graffiti edifice was created in 2010 by a number of artists for a street art exhibition in and around the tower. There's a bit more info here

  Apparently needed structural repairs forced its closure and are the reason no one wants to reopen it. Too bad as I'd like to see inside.

  Until next time,
Andy

Not so silent exhibition at Delphi

I recently went to the "Projektionen" exhibition put on by Art van Demon. Art van Demon is a nonprofit organization founded in Heidelberg in 2007 by art students. Now with a Berlin branch, the group put together this exhibition which coincided with 100 years of the Delphi theatre and film production in Berlin.

 The Delphi silent film theatre is located in the northern district of Berlin called Weißensee. During the 20's this was the ultra hip cultural location of the city. Great stars of the era like Marlene Dietrich and Fritz Lang are said to have been there at this time. The street Gustav-Adolf Straße had a great many silent film theatres and Berliners flocked to experience the new medium. This was also a film making area of Berlin and films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari were filmed in the area.
  The cinema survived WWII but damage later caused it to be closed for many decades. Only recently has a new owner come forward with plans to revitalize its former glory as a new centre for the arts.

  It was a treat for me to be in a theatre with such provenience let alone also enjoy a gallery exhibition. The renovations are a work in progress so the theatre still has the feel of having been abandoned. The lights are rather low but well designed to bring out the Art Deco styling from the 20's architecture.

The hall leading to the auditorium with the main lobby behind.

The bar at the back of the main seating area, box seats above.

View from the balcony box seats, on the right is a long seating area with tables.

The Deco design details around the proscenium arch.

Looking back from the orchestra pit.

  Up in the balcony was an installation work by Jae-­Yong Choi, a cloud of plastic strands spread out over some of the original theatre seats. More of his work here.

 During the evening there was a presentation by Matthias Conrady on the subject of film which seemed to focus on zombie films. Unfortunately my German wasn't good enough to follow his thesis but numerous images and clips from various low budget slasher films were shown.

  Work was hung around the theatre and on temporary surfaces in the centre. The work here is from Marlet Heckhoff and Masaki Hagino.

  Part of the evenings events included an animated film that rotoscoped clips from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and isolated movements from a number of scenes. A film by Will Kempkes & David Dommel.

  The final performance of the night was from two dancers, Marisa Akeny and Lukas Steltner in modern dress who created an interpretive dance.

  On the main stage was a striking triptych by Felix Wunderlich. The imagery, painting style and application are great and I look forward to seeing more from this artist.

  Up in the balcony was an installation by Rimma Elbert. A collection of household items in a small film set like presentation that invited the viewer to participate in the scene.

The surface of the sculpture played off the painted walls of the interior of the theatre

  The ladies at the entrance teased about there being a hidden cake in the exhibition. One geometric sculpture hanging on the wall looked like a good candidate and later in the evening it was taken down by the artist Kristiane Kegelmann and promptly carved up for the crowd.

The promise of free cake brought us all running.

  It turns out that Kristiane Kegelmann is an accomplished pastry chef who honed her skills at high end bakeries in Austria. This was quite evident when tasting this delicious sculpture. No packet cake mix here, simply top notch Torts with fruit, chocolate and loads of Marzipan. Vielen dank Kristiane!

And in the grand tradition of the smoke filled clubs and bars of Berlin, the evening ended with everyone puffing away at the bar in a scene reminiscent of an opening night at the cinema a century before.

Until next time, Ciao.
Andy

Critical decision?

I set out one Friday evening to check out a gallery opening. One block out of the apartment and I hit a mass wall of bikes touring through Kreuzberg. This was the July edition of Critical Mass Berlin and having missed all the others since coming here I wasn't about to miss another, I tagged along.

  They meet at Heinrichplatz and finish there as well so although I had missed the start, I thought it would be a challenge to make it too the end, how far could they go... So we were a mass group of maybe 500-700 bikes going through the streets of Berlin. The law here says that if a large group of bicycles enter an intersection on a green light then all the members of the group are allowed to follow along even if it turns red so the group is not split up. The law also stated that if you have a large event (protest/parade/march etc) that you should register it with the police so they can close streets and manage traffic. These events have no organizer so the police have no real ability to shut it down unless they commandeer loads of police cars, surround the group and force everyone onto the bike lane. They have better things to do.

We left the east side and headed for Charlottenburg and the glitzy west of Kurfurstendamm. Shutting down Ku'damm was fun and turned a lot or tourists heads. Turning right off of Ku'damm we went under the Sbahn train and up to Charlottenburg Palace. After turning left we passed the Palace and started the long run up to Spandau. Looking ahead up the hill was like watching the life blood of the city, all those blinking red tail lights energetically swimming with singular purpose, be visible to the motorized world, clearing the streets of cars to make our presence known. Conversely, looking back was a sea of white lights as the tail of our human powered group left a clear white trail.

 On the way to Spandau in the west we pass an industrial area with the eerie sight of a Nuclear reactor. Now in the darkness it seemed almost traquil when not thinking about the cost of such technology. Surging past this we entered Spandau and went right past city hall to the old Zitadelle castle fortifications. However, before we got that far we hit a large traffic circle (round about). This was a highlight of the trip as by the time I got there it was completely full all around and cars were stopped from entering. A red and white ring running with the soundtrack of peddals and techno from the bike mounted sound systems. I did one long lap before we were directed out and back towards the east.

  I've been meaning to head out to Spandau to see the Zitadelle fortification and we went right past it but due to the dark and vibe of the group I missed it, something the size of, well, a castle. As we headed back east we passed the north side of the Nuclear power station. This enormous cooling tower belching steam was now back-lit by a full moon, another moment I wish I had my camera. A few kilometers on, we were "guided" but the police (appearing every now and then) away from the autobahn and back down to Charlottenburg. Following the canal that pairs up with the palace again we headed down to the Zoologischer garten. The natural flow took us through the heart of Mitte, past the city hall and north.

  Now entering Prenzlauer Burg we buzzed baby carriages, BMW's and yuppies out for a Friday night cocktail. Along the way Trams were packed with partiers as they watched us flow past the Sbahn and out to Weissensee. From there the route meandered its way towards Marzahn via streets named Allee der Kosmonauten which hearkened back to the Soviet era. Turning west again we headed towards Ostkreuz station and sailed over the bridge to Alt Treptow. I had considering turning back at a few points but pushed on however at this point we were down to about 100 riders. I sensed the home stretch now as we turned right towards Kreuzberg. I think it was about 4 hours later when we arrived in the buzzing Heinrichplatz bar scene. Everyone raised their bikes over their heads in a cheer of triumph for the few that persevered. Each small group or individual melted back into the Friday night crowd to refuel for the August run.

  I tried to track the route from memory on google maps and promptly crashed it as there is an arbitrary limit to the number of pins and destinations you can enter. In any event this was the rough route, about 65km:

Ciao
Andy