Last week the dreary weather (-50) didn't stop us from going out to some events. And apparently, we weren't the only ones who refused to spend their weekend under the duvet, and wrapped themselves in their best winter outfits instead(+30)... because what a turn out!. Given the circumstances, namely epic events such as the opening of Martin Kippenberger's "Sehr Gut, Very Good" and the long awaited re-opening of Galerie Eigen+Art, art spaces got their houses effortlesly full during the past weekend. Here our very own Miss/Diss scale scrutinizes these and other events that we visited.

 

THURSDAY 21.02

Unmenschliche Musik @ HKW

+9 for the concept of this series of events, presented as part of The Anthropocene Project: "Compositions made by machines, animals and coincidences". Stay tuned because there is also "evil" and "stupid" music coming up.

+7 for Tamer Fahri Özgönenc explanining the technicalities of his drill orchestra, and -4 for some people in the audience who rewarded him with a piercing LAUTERRRRR. What about a bitte?, it's such a short word that they could easily afford...

- 10 for calling this "Mid size robot soccer music". I didn't get the musicality nor the rhythmical sense of this performance that we simply referred to as "the robot football" afterwards, but +16 for the spectacle in itself and for the human referee who coordinated a football game that, then again, was being played by a bunch of men behind the screen of their computers, ha.

And -4 because there was no deus ex machina for the poor broken keeper which couldn't stop any goal.

+13 for the interesting mixed crowd... from musicians and the usual geeky HKW tecno-enthusiasts to klingons, children, hatted elders and some rainbow haired people. It was refreshing to see faces that we have probably never seen before.

 

FRIDAY 22.03

On Friday, I give another shot to the Inhuman Music @ HKW to find the -not petite reporter friendly- space extremely crowded again, but getting some insights into the Klingon Opera was completely worth it. -4 for the parents who told their child that the klingons don't really exist. Apparently they didn't watch this video, otherwise they would be informed that they are passionate opera lovers, but that fact is still pretty unknown in our planet, and it's actually only a few Dutch men who communicate with them. And +9 for the klingons walking around the foyer to prove those parents wrong. +10€ is what you'd had to pay to see the opera >>u<<, but due to timing, I couldn't stay, so the pseudo ethnographic exhibition of klingon paraphernalia had to make it up for me (+5)    

Ulrike Heise @ Klosterfelde

+12 for the exhibition comprising video and installation. After liking the "caterpillar poo" work shown at abc, I couldn't help but getting extremely happy to see a solo show by Ulrike Heise

+8 for the artist casually explaining to some visitor the -absolutely not intended to be voyeuristic- filming process of one of some her videos (yes, especially the one with a human being in a really compromising situation)

-2 for no one daring to enter the installation box, I guess it was still a bit early and no one felt like breaking the ice in an exhibition of such scientific nature

-2 for the press release being available exclusively in German. Not that I mind, but I wonder: is this a statement?

 

Martin Kippenberger @ Hamburger Bahnhof

+20 to the Hamburger Bahnhof for organizing this very very very good restrospective exhibition coinciding with the 60th birthday of Kippenberger. If only he were alive to see it... (he would totally be by the bar at Sarah Wiener's celebrating it right)

Such a crowd I haven't probably seen/experience since they showed Joseph Beuys about four years ago. It was a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but after waiting in line, it was possible to get into the exibition space. No points, just saying, it was expected to be really packed.

+6 for the reconstruction of the forgotten installation that he made for Claudia Skoda, but not really sure about the "pantoffel action" enactment.

+9 for this family picture (young Kippy pre-excessive life + happy Mom)

+11 for the variety of works presented and the distribution of the space (spanning a room in the upper floor and the west wing of the building). This exhibition deserves to be seen again, alone, on a wednesday morning, when you can really concentrate and don't miss any detail, especially to enjoy the drawings on Chelsea Hotel stationery displayed in the smaller rooms.

 

Videoart at Midnight @ Kino Babylon 

+ 6 for Douglas Gordon's presentation of the work, his sincere excitement to see that "more than ten people" had shown up and his sweet effort to speak German.

+18 for the work: Feature Film. Taped (and screened) in its original film format (with all its enchanting original flaws), this video follows a music director conducting his imaginary orchestra for... maybe a bit too long (-5 for all those affected by the Youtube Syndrome who left the theatre during the first 30 minutes). Seeing this work was an amazing experience and a real proof of endurance. Great choice to show it in this series, most people would have never seen it in its entirity in an exhibition context.

+7 for the lovely Baron de Gaillard I sipped before the video, it definitely helped me to enjoy this film so much.

 

SATURDAY 23.02

Reopening @ Eigent+Art

+15 for the new architecture of the space. The gallery does look amazing, it was worth to wait this long. And some extra +3 for the smell of fresh wood and paint

-9 for the unfair queue and the "friends of friends" access policy and all the poking in the overcrowded ground floor

- 4 for making it so easy for me to make the worst joke: "So, is this supposed to be a badass office?"... courtesy of Martin Eder, but some +3 for the glitter makes it almost even