Another week, another festival! These days we truly feel privileged to live in Berlin. Transmediale is just about to begin and join forces with the ongoing CTM, which gives you plenty of reasons to leave the house and start camping in the festival sites. Besides the festival madness, pay attention to some great openings this week!

WEDNESDAY 29.01

17.30 transmediale @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt

WHY: The 27th edition of transmediale presents five days of programme including Hackathon, performances, screenings and conference with exclusive guests in attendance. Between shiny high-tech, e-waste dumps, big data businesses and mass surveillance schemes, in the festival the image of afterglow is used as point of departure to explore our present post-digital moment as one where media technologies and mediatic practices that once were treasure(d) are turning into trash. Transmediale presents part of its programme in collaboration with its sister festival CTM.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt / John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, S+U Brandenburger Tor, Bus 100 / ongoing until 02.02 / more info

THURSDAY 30.01

19.00 Edward Burtynsky - Water @ Galerie Springer Berlin

WHY: The exhibition is showing a selection of work by the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky from his recent series Water. Burtynsky focuses on the visual and physical effects of the lack of water, hoping that those pictures will stimulate a process of thinking about something essential to our survival; something we often take for granted until it is gone. Along with the book Burtynsky - Water, his film Watermark will be screened at Berlinale 2014.
Galerie Springer Berlin / Fasanenstraße 13, Berlin 10623, U Zoologischer Garten/Uhlandstraße / show open through 15.03 / free entry / more info

FRIDAY 31.01

19.00 (Ver-­)Handlungsräume @ Haus am Lützowplatz

Vajiko Chachkhiani, Andreas Greiner, Fabian Knecht, Vinzenz Reinecke

WHY: This group exhibition with works by four Berlin based artists presents different possibilities of appropriation and activation of space in the sense of temporary artistic parameters or markers, such as gestures that irritate the familiar way of looking at the everyday environment, alienate and invite new perspectives. 
Haus am Lützowplatz / Lützowplatz 9, Berlin 10785 / U1/U2/U3/U4 Nollendorfplatz / show open through 02.03 / free entry / more info 

19.00 Cycle 2: Jodith Hopf / Falke Pisano @ PRAXES

WHY: After the successful first half-year cycle of consecutive exhibition modules, publications and live activities revolving around two unassociated artistic practices, this Friday PRAXES inaugurates the second cycle focusing on the work by Judith Hopf and Falke Pisano, with guest curators Cecilia Canziani and Elena Tzotzi joining the PRAXES team. The opening night will feature an outdoor screening of Hopf’s 2003 collaborative zombie-starred hip-hop video piece Held Down on the PRAXES roof terrace. Free wine for early birds as well as food and further drinks for purchase will be available. 
PRAXES / Alexandrinenstrasse 118-121, Berlin 10969, U Prinzenstrasse; Hallesches Tor / show open through 14.06 / free entry / more info

19.00 Vital Functions - Exhibition & Lecture Program @ team titanic

WHY: A group exhibition and a lecture program take place in team titanic as the second part of the issue Vital Functions that started last week with performances and DJs in Kühlhaus Berlin. This Friday get ready for topics such as physiology in space and extreme environments, manufacturing with synthetic biology, imaging procedures & techniques or simply show up and let yourself be surprised. 
team titanic / Flughafenstrasse 50, 12053 Berlin, U8 Boddinstrasse / show open throug 09.02 / free entry / more info

21.00 Dinos Chapman - Luftbobler @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt

WHY: Dinos Chapman, one half of the enfants terribles of British contemporary art, The Chapman Brothers, will perform the German premiere of his audiovisual live show based on his acclaimed 2013 release, Luftbobler. The album is the result of a decade of sonic experimentation that was literally made in the afterglow. This dynamic work blends influences from electronic music luminaries such as Aphex Twin and Stockhausen with Chapman’s quirky dark humour.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt / John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, S+U Brandenburger Tor, Bus 100 / € 12-15 / more info

SATURDAY 01.02

21.00 Lucky Dragons - Actual Reality @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt

WHY: Lucky Dragons' Actual Reality explores how a "fixed" or "pure" sound and image stream can be re-experienced through re-presentation. The duo will premiere a new version of their intermedial work that began life as a simple Google search on the words “Actual reality”. Each iteration of Actual Reality filters and re-composes elements from past versions: image and audio-processing algorithms, performance documentation, staging, video, text, and an open-ended score for chamber ensemble all provide source material. 
Haus der Kulturen der Welt / John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10, 10557 Berlin, S+U Brandenburger Tor, Bus 100 / € 12-15 / more info