Although the big performances at transmediale and CTM festival were all that everybody was talking about last week, we mostly stayed faithful to the smaller events in the shadow and encountered many like-minded visitors equally enjoying art without paid entrances and queueing in vain, but with free drinks and gourmet snacks instead.
Although the big performances at transmediale and CTM festival were all that everybody was talking about last week, we mostly stayed faithful to the smaller events in the shadow and encountered many like-minded visitors equally enjoying art without paid entrances and queueing in vain, but with free drinks and gourmet snacks instead.
Unsurprisingly, Douglas Coupland's lecture brought a lot of people to the Canadian Embassy, too many to fit into the auditorium, but it did not matter that much because it was all prepared for the flood of fans who were dispersed into several rooms for the live screening of his talk. This renaissance man came there as an author and a thinker, to give a lecture about the ultimate fate of our junk data, flowing "between trash and treasure". It was actually more of a stand-up show, or at least it was meant to be, while most of the funny moments were ruined by Coupland's nervousness. I say ruined while I actually think it was cute - a sign of a healthy mind and a pleasant personality.
For his solo exhibition "Disruptive Berlin" at Galerie Buchholz Simon Denny reflects on the cultural landscape of Berlin, and its new status as a start-up hub. Working with a range of local start-up companies, Denny uses the tools of the trade in order to explore such topics as "disruptive technologies", which are also a synonym of "disruptive innovation" and have to do with creating new markets and value networks. (E)
Tucked away around the corner from Das Gift, Donau115 hid between a cactus shop and apartment buildings as I obliviously walked passed the cozy café/bar six times before figuring out where I was going. Packed inside the already small bar were half a dozen artists and their work – and their visitors. Although crowded, it was a warm (but humid) diversion from the winter “wonderland” we have been living in for the past few weeks.
Always the classiest, you could tell what crowd MOMENTUM was playing to by the plates spilling with grapes and crackers that accompanied the largest Brie wheel I have ever seen. We’re not in Neukölln anymore…
Maybe it is my fault I showed up criminally underdressed – with a high-powered commercial/art photographer like Roe Ethridge, I should have expected the number of patrons who could be confused for models to be ~85%. You live and you learn.
Upon arriving, my friend noticed two things. One was that the exhibition is kind of predictable and boring if you look at its elements, but it looks good from certain points where those elements come together into nice compositions. The show had the potential of looking better in the photos than in the gallery space. That observation also fostered a debate whether or not fines should be charged in Berlin for art crimes such as using the same old tricks over and over again, exploiting garbage to make an expensive art show, etc, etc.
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