FRIDAY 06.07

Berlin Masters @ Arndt

An exhibition of works by selected master students from two Berlin art universities turned out to be the most exciting opening this week. There were more people in the gallery than seeds in a pomegranate, and still nobody wanted to give up on jostling their way in and through the space. The piece on the entrance made it harder to get in, while conveniently preventing a stampede. 

- This is where it all started a week ago ... After that explosion expectations were raised, which could easily lead to disappointment, but it didn't. There were some highly refined pieces and you couldn't really spot any studently sloppiness and immaturity in this show. (A)

Stella  Hamberg – Whiteout @ Galerie Eigen + Art

It's certain that Stella Hamberg's work is as massive as her reputation. Although the whole exhibition includes only two pieces you can keep watching every little detail and stay for an hour. Or more. (E)

Kate Squires – Un-nameable Things @ Giftraum

The show at GiftRaum looked like it needed a bit more love and attention. I didn't really get what was it about and why, and neither did it help to overhear a part of the conversation in which somebody (probably the artist herself) gave instruction on how to look at this piece of art and what to see in it. If you look at the artist's website you can see that she has more to offer; too bad the show wasn't as contentful and really felt incomplete. (A)

SATURDAY 07.09

The Unanswered Question. İskele 2 @ Tanas

„The Unanswered Question. İskele 2“ filled the Tanas space with unusual installations that kind of made you feel you understand what is going on.

I really enjoyed collages (made not only from photos) hanging on the side which gave the impression of something beautiful but in the same time painful.

The whole opening felt like Turkey with huge tables full of drinks, food and of course (not only but mostly) Turkish visitors with a nice occasion to celebrate. As they always find some... (E)

Ich bin Ich: Ulay on Ulay @ Salon Dahlmann

The grandfather of performance was present at his show, gave a long talk about the works on display and shared some stories and thoughts on art and life matters. The guy that I only knew as the ex partner of Marina Abramović was now solo in the centre of attention, and it was interesting to learn about his work and philosophy outside the frame made by this power couple.

One of his main preoccupations lately is water; he even introduces himself as Water nowadays. There is, of course, a moral behind it, but I can't help it - to me it sounds like an old man's whimsy... I was happy that there wasn't only water circulating on the plates because the wine they served was of the sort that I would drink on a daily basis if I could afford it. Altogether, quite posh for an old punk...(A)

Some paparazzo moments:

- Ulay with his wife

- and I'm pretty sure the guy on the left is Rammstein's singer

Constant Dullaart - Jennifer In Paradise @ Import Projects

An interesting addition to the reproduction of the (first ever photoshopped!) photo on the wall was the text that vaguely appeared through the digitally enhanced beauties of the nature. With a limited concentration span at the moment, I couldn't bother to read it, but I decided to like it.

This floating browser (regardless of what it really is about) painfully reminds me of all my bad-internet-connection problems and consequences... One side of it says "the death of the url" - I would say we're still quite firm in the "death by url" era

Click here to see the artist's website