This is why we like winter in Berlin: two of our favorite festivals in Berlin - transmediale and CTM - are ruling the city when everything else here makes us book flights to Spanish-speaking countries. These yearly cultural milestones are a definite must, but even outside the festival programs, the next two weeks offer some unique events you will not want to miss. 

THURSDAY 28.01

19.00 Kai Franz – "The Particles Fell Silent" @ ROCKELMANN&

WHY: Kai Franz’s work questions notions of authorship and subjectivity. In the making of his work, the artist sets up systems and builds machines that translate digital drawings and information into the nexus of matter and materiality. As a result of these processes, the work manifests as sculptures, paintings, drawings and etchings, which tie together the artist’s interests in phenomenology with notions of objectivity and subjectivity in digital making processes. The exhibition features a variety of the artist’s work from the past 5 years.

ROCKELMANN& / Schönleinstrasse 5, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstrasse / open through 05.03 / more info

 

19.00 Goodbye Party & Sale @ Archive Kabinett

WHY: After more than 7 years and 101 events, Archive Kabinett is moving out of thier current space in Kreuzberg. Join the goodbye party and help clearing some of the inventory by buying with 50% discount. On the same evening one of their latest titles, „Republications“, will be presented. After this evening, Archive Kabinet will continue organizing events in other spaces in Berlin until Autumn when they are planning to settle, so stay tuned, and in case you know of a place that could be their next home, get in touch with the team.

Archive Kabinett / Dieffenbachstr. 31, 10967 Berlin, U Schönleinstr. / more info

 

FRIDAY 29.01

18.00 In Formation @ Sexauer Gallery

WHY: Ettore Sottsass, founding member of the design collective Memphis, has put into the world a visual vocabulary which has been coining artists and designers to the present day. Since their first exhibition in Milan in 1981, Memphis has been predominant in the field of design, and has been coining the post-modern style. By comparing Ettore Sottsass' iconic Memphis-Design with works of contemporary artists, the show tries to exemplarily point out the principle of aesthetic passing on.

Sexauer Gallery / Streustr. 90, 13086 Berlin, Station Friesickestraße Straßenbahn 12 & M13 / open through 20.02 / free entry / more info 

 

19.00 Carla Chan Ho-Choi - "To Outland" @ SMAC

WHY: "To Outland" is a media art exhibition that explores digital manipulation of the erratic forms in nature, featuring works by Hong Kong and Berlin based artist Carla Chan Ho-Choi. As her first solo show in Berlin, this exhibition showcases video artworks that mistreat and misplace visual elements of natural scenery, such as texture, scale and movement of landscapes, portraying an immersive journey through an alien land.

SMAC / Linienstr. 57, 10119 Berlin, U Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz / open through 14.02 / free entry / more info

 

19.00 CTM New Geographies @ Various locations

WHY: From 29.01 till 07.02, CTM Festival returns to Berlin’s most exciting nightlife and cultural venues, including HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berghain / Panorama Bar,YAAM Berlin, and Astra Kulturhaus Berlin. CTM 2016 New Geographies examines today’s rapidly collapsing borders and emerging new hybrid topographies, as well as the tensions and essentialist backlashes that arise as a response to these changes. Special projects and commissions, as well as voices and sound cultures emanating from less familiar countries and localities and operating on the fringes of the electronic circuit are featured in greater numbers than ever before.

CTM 2016 – New Geographies / Various locations / ongoing until 07.02 / more info

 

20.00 Safe and Sound: "The Chase" by Alona Rodeh @ Vesselroom Project

WHY: As a part of Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM, Alona Rodeh will present a new time-based piece, embedded in the architecture ofVesselroom Project space. In the last two and a half years, Rodeh has been pursuing the visual and sonar expressions of safety in the city. For this show, the emphasize will be placed on the presence of light and its physical effect on one's eyesight and body. An illumination system specially conceived and developed for the occasion, together with a series of lit photographs will perform a chase of lights in a silent performance of rhythm.

Vesselroom Project / Adalbertstr. 4, 10999 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / more info

 

23.55 Videoart at Midnight: Christian Falsnaes @ BABYLON

WHY: For his video “There and Back Now”, Christian Falsnaes has been searching through his archive of video works and performance documentation in order to assemble a collection of material from the past ten years, editing a new video. Focusing on the experience of watching a video, “There and Back Now” takes the viewer through a journey of absurd situations, embarrassing moments and social rituals while giving attention to the unique situation of a cinema audience. The video will only be shown once and only at 'Videoart at Midnight' on January 29.

BABYLON / Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, 10178 Berlin, U Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz / free entry / more info

 

WEDNESDAY 03.02

19.00 Opening: Transmediale / Conversation Piece @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt

WHY: transmediale reboots itself with a new performative and participatory format for its 29th edition. With Conversation Piece, the event creates an intensive space of exchanges, murmurs, and transitions, with dialogues initiated before the event and continued afterwards. Rather than a monothematic festival with static exhibition and programme structures, artistic and research practice will unfold live through discussions, lectures, workshops, temporary installations, and various experimental hybrid formats.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt / John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, S+U Brandenburger Tor, Bus 100 / ongoing until 07.02 / more info

 

FRIDAY 05.02

19.00 Juliane Zelwies – "No more words, no other thoughts. About the rituals of speaking." @ Scotty Enterprises

WHY: "No more words, no other thoughts. About the rituals of speaking." is an ongoing series of video works examining the ritualistic elements of communication, whether in informal settings, formally constructed settings, or between humans and animals. Premiered at Scotty Enterprises will be the latest work in the series, exploring group exercises as used in an actor´s development.

Scotty Enterprises / Oranienstr. 46, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz / open through 27.02 / free entry / more info

 

SATURDAY 06.02

18.00 Bram Braam – "Modern Mutants" @ Galerie Burster

WHY: With his new body of work, Bram Braam’s focus has shifted from imperfect figures of total design to messy ground. Also, to centrifugal fallout: wastelands, junkspace and street furniture; milestones on the pathway between environmental rationalization and entropy. Specifically, Braam’s new works address Berlin—his home—as a mutable cityscape, hovering between the forms inherited from its exceptional history, its planned future development, and its remaining pockets of undefined character.

Galerie Burster / Kurfürstendamm 213, 10707 Berlin, U Kurfürstendamm / open through 12.03 / free entry / more info