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.
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| The hall leading to the auditorium with the main lobby behind. |
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| The bar at the back of the main seating area, box seats above. |
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| View from the balcony box seats, on the right is a long seating area with tables. |
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| The Deco design details around the proscenium arch. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
