WEDNESDAY 28.08

Languageleaps @ Galeria Plan B

 

Recently I got the feeling that Tyrannousaurus Rex (known as T-Rex) is getting quite popular. Like an icon. I have met one here as a star of a poem written by Hanne Lippard. I would call it the same word I have heard from the audience after her performance: "Intense!"
P.S. My favourite: Whenever you get mad think of T-Rex trying to masturbate... (E)

 

THURSDAY 29.08

National Gallery Prize For Young Art 2013 @ Hamburger Bahnhof

Kerstin Brätsch, Mariana Castillo Deball, Simon Denny, Haris Epaminonda 

The Prussian blue suit the director of the Neue National Galerie usually wears  - 800$ 
The Bavarian blue he wore on Thursday to honor the BMW sponsor – 900$
The prize the winning artist usually gets -25.000Euro
The solo show the winning artist will get this year instead of money – priceless…

Speeches are something one has to stand awkward through, before being allowed to the exhibition, but I will pause here for a moment and give a + 5 to Udo Kittelman, whose gooffy, “dad” style breaks the boredom, every time.

 

I might be mistaken, but I think it is often the case in these kind of shows- competitions, that the individual presentations are way below expectation and standards of the artists. Do artists get nervous or do they not get enough budget and/or time to do something awesome. While I know and admire the work of almost all the artists the show for me went from bad to worse, to meeeh that-could-work, to I have seen this like million times.  We have started a betting race for the winner on our fb page - so far 15euro for Castillio Deball and 11euro for Haris Epaminonda --- put your bets too!! (D)

 

FRIDAY 30.08

Disturbia - Jörn Vanhöfen @ Kuckei + Kuckei

 

Simple present - Peter K. Koch @ Kuckei + Kuckei Remise 

The same as it is with the Berlin neighbourhoods - there are certain types of people who live in certain parts of the city - so it is with the Berlin galleries as well. You know who to expect where. In Kuckei + Kuckei galleries you might feel like you don't quite fit in if you're not a Mitte parent, or a child of one. At least that was the case for me at these two parallel openings, which to an extent looked like a family reunion. At least the atmosphere wasn't stuck-up. The space itself and especially the yard always brings a tranquil atmosphere, which was positively ruined by people chatting and kids wandering around curiously. Artwise, I liked the photo exhibition more just because these days it's so hard to find something visually very literate to actually enjoy. (A)

 

Trashing Utopia - Jenny Michel @ Feldbuschwiesner

A neighbor gallery from Kuckei + Kuckei had a show literate in a different way. You could read the pieces made mostly of paper/ cardboard, as if you were reading physically deconstructed books. The space was actually filled with messages...The bag in the photo was a good accessory choice for this show; well, with the message it carries it's actually appropriate for any contemporary art event. (A)

SATURDAY 31.08

Gerard Byrne / Jutta Koether @ PRAXES

The opening show at PRAXES was a definite ‘to do’ for the who’s who in the Berlin. The beautiful new space was packed and hot! Gerard Byrne’s intimate videos had people laughing and waiting in line for the headphones. Well displayed, I love seeing the backs of the monitors with wires, etc. +12 for having video art that is short and watchable. (C)

Upstairs Jutta Koether had some people scratching their heads. Is this the future direction of painting? Curious to see the successive works in the coming months. I was worried someone would fall on the Viktoria PVC piece in the middle of the room. +9 for the grilled potatoes and +27 for the unexpected blackout at exactly 22:00! (C)

 

The Pizza Suicide Club Presents: "American Student Loans/German Taxes"@ Staycation Museum

The Pizza Suicide Club, the quirky event series that started in June in Bei Ruth (we were there as well), popped up with another quirky show. This time the emphasis was on art rather than music. The curators Elena Gilbert and Harmony Molina gathered a nice bunch of drawings to make a show which had a very weekend vibe - both the fun drawings and the crowd that dispersed from the gallery to the bar next door. I would still agree on the description part from the first Pizza Suicide Club that says: "a thorough selection of the best and the worst underground, semi- underground and semi-shitty and even some of them well known and even talented artists". (A)

 

SUNDAY 01.09

ENTLADUNG @ Galerie Arndt

There seems to be one more reason to wake up early on a Sunday except going to Berghain - Artists Andreas Greiner & Fabian Knecht blew out the windows of the gallery ARNDT at more or less exactly 10.00 this Sunday.

I was there feeling a. stupid b. afraid c. entitled. "Well we get to see how it would be like if we were in Syria" said an older lady to a girl. was thinking about that too. I move closer to a bigger guy I can duck behind. "No I don't have a business card, I just graduated" says a young guy to an older journalist. Big mistake dude. "It feels weird to write artist on it". Oh grow up! This is actually one of the questions the curators of the Berlin Masters 2013 want to raise, how soon should the art market enter the art schools. They have a talk about it on September 14, from 4-6pm between others with gallerist Alexander Levy. 

The actual explosion lasted like a mini second. It was beautiful! This is how my face looked right before, the image is courtesy of the artists and the curators, we were covering our faces.  (D)
Join Greiner&Knecht and quite a few more Master Schüler from Udk and Weissensee @Berlin Masters 2013 opening on September 6 curated by Lydia Korndörfer and Lisa Polten

photos: courtesy of the artists