"Fitter, happier, more productive"...  Thom Yorke of The Radiohead got the January spirit right. As soon as the holiday leftovers and hangovers are gone, the all-too-familiar new year's resolutions begin. Be one step ahead of your own disappointment and skip the aggressive regimes. How about excessively attending events instead? Exhibition openings, concerts, performances, two amazing festivals and a thought-provoking conference - "capture all", as the upcoming transmediale suggests. Immediately visible results guaranteed.

 

THURSDAY 15.01

19.00 Tropicana 404 @ SomoS

WHY: Paradise is not all as it seems, and "Tropicana 404" is here to prove it. Fabian Schröder, Tata Christiane, Phntm Beach and Luiza Schiavo are four participating artists who approach tropical subject matter with an unusually eerie and melancholic sensibility. Peeling away the veneer of sublime tropicalia, they reveal the uncanny nature of a purely symbolic paradise, with an unsettling balance of sensation and cynicism. The absurd, the unexpected, and the false merge to show us the paradise where hopes and dreams are disturbed by darker realities.

Somos / Kottbusser Damm 95, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / open through 14.02 / free entry / more info

 

FRIDAY 16.01

14.00 54321... Radical Philosophy Conference @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt

WHY: Looking for some delicious food for thought? Go straight to the Radical Philosophy Conference!  For the first time now in Germany, the conference discusses topics such as Acceleration & the New, Artistic Strike, Secrecy & Surveillance, Queer Theory & Geopolitics, Pedagogization, Philosophy of the Essay-Film, Animalities, On Organization. In a sequence of panels, it brings together an impressive line-up of international speakers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt / John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, S+U Brandenburger Tor, Bus 100 / more info

 

18.00 "Basic Precautions Should Always Be Observed" @ DUVE Berlin

WHY: The new exhibition at DUVE Berlin features paintings by Manor Grunewald and sculptures by Vera Kox, produced specially for this exhibition. Grunewald and Kox are united here by their shared interest in material transformations applied to everyday objects; the exhibition title refers to the precautionary remark found in instruction manuals for industrial products, which the artists here choose to disregard. Enjoy their investigation of the everyday with a sense of levity and wonder.

DUVE BERLIN / Gitschiner Str. 94/94a (Entrance D, 1.5 floor), 10969 Berlin, U Prinzenstr. / open through 20.02 / free entry / more info

 

18.00 Paul Czerlitzki / Justin Matherly @ Johann König, Berlin

WHY: For the exhibition openings that are equally interesting art- and socialwise,  always go to Johann König, Berlin. This time, the gallery divides the space to present two  solo shows: by Paul Czerlitzki and Justin Matherly. Paul Czerlitzki's exhibitions are intense studies of the medium - the young artist deals with the elements of the painting and the ways they interact. Justin Matherly is a New York-based sculptor whose work fuses simple industrial material with readymades.

Johann König, Berlin / Dessauer Str. 6-7, 10963 Berlin, S+U Potsdamer Platz / open through 21.02 / free entry / more info: P.Czerlitzki - J.Matherly 

 

Saturday 17.01

18.00 Dorothy Iannone - "My Heroine and Her Mate" @ Peres Projects

WHY: Peres Projects present early abstract works by Dorothy Iannone, exhibited together for the first time since 1989 in West Berlin. With these earlier paintings, created throughout 1960s during her time in America, the artist commenced her exploration of vibrant color structures and intimate visual narratives. These works are rooted in Abstract Expressionism, with early instances of Iannone's own style of figuration and textually grounded themes of erotica, mysticism, and liberated female sexuality - all of which would become central to her oeuvre.

Peres Projects / Karl-Marx-Allee 82, 10243 Berlin, U Weberwiese / open through 28.02 / free entry / more info

 

19.00 Appropriating language #2 - It all started a 17th of January, one million years ago @ Maniere Noire

WHY: Art's Birthday was proposed in 1963 by Robert Filliou, a Fluxus artist who suggested that 1.000.000 years ago there was no art. But one day, on January 17 to be precise, Art was born. Filliou says it happened when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. He also proposed a public holiday to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. Pierre Granoux pays a tribute  to Robert Filliou with 12 poetries written on the occasion of the 1.000.052nd Art's Birthday.

Maniere Noire / Waldenserstraße 7A, 10551 Berlin, U Turmstr. / open through 15.02 / free entry / more info

 

THURSDAY 22.01

18.00 Joe Clarke - Polychroming @ Centrum

WHY: The title of this show alludes to the act of hand-colouring a sculpture to mimic life. Although it takes its cue from specific CG workflows which use photographic information to light and colour their virtual subjects, the video work at the core of this show is in fact produced in-camera in the artist's studio. Working from a position of both fascination and deep-distrust, Joe Clark's practice pulls from the contemporary photographic idiom, cross pollinating processes and concepts from landscape, studio photography and CGI.

Centrum / Reuterstrasse 7, 12053 Berlin, U Rathaus Neukölln / open through 19.02 / free entry / more info

 

FRIDAY 23.01

18.00 Group show: "Die dritte Hand - Last Exit Painting" @ Salon Dahlmann

WHY: Salon Dahlmann's next project is a group exhibition "Die dritte Hand - Last Exit Painting" curated by Lea Schleiffenbaum and Anne Schwarz, with works by Philip Guston, Matthias Dornfeld, Katharina Ludwig, Eddie Martinez, Felix Oehmann, Janne Räisänen, Maeve Rendle, and Stefan Sulzer. The exhibition combines works by Philip Guston with works by young artists who are directly or indirectly influenced by Guston's work, and celebrates painting as the "last resort of free artistic practice".

Salon Dahlmann / Marburger Str. 3, 10789 Berlin, U Wittenbergplatz / open through 07.03 / more info

 

FRIDAY 23.01

CTM Festival - Un Tune @ Various locations

WHY: One of the geekiest and most exciting music festivals in the world presents the finest of contemporary electronic, digital, and experimental music, bringing together more than two hundred participants. This year under the thematic umbrella of "Un Tune", the festival aims to engage with the direct bodily  effects of the frequencies, sound, and music. It highlights - more than ever - the adventurous side of music and art, presenting many special projects and premiers: concerts, performances, exhibition, a discourse series, workshops, and more.

Various locations / ongoing until 01.02 / more info

 

WEDNESDAY 28.01

17.30 transmediale - "Capture All" @ Various locations

WHY: Berlin's festival year starts with transmediale - a year-round project that draws out new connections between art, culture, and technology. As a leading international culture festival, it offers an overwhelming five-day program including conferences, screenings, exhibitions, performances, and workshops. Under the title "Capture All", it aims to investigate the quantification of life, work and play and its limits. The activities of the festival aim at fostering a critical understanding of contemporary culture and politics as saturated by media technologies.

Various locations / ongoing until 01.02 / more info