This week it was especially hard to leave home and go see things, but it was usually worth the effort. So if you stayed at home this week, chances were you did miss something, have a look. There were also some impressive winter outfits despite fashion week being over.

In case you didn't read last week's post here's what's new: this weekly update now contains not only pictures from the events we visited this last week but commentary and a +/- system for you to gage whether or not you came up with the right answer to the all important winter question: Is it worth leaving my warm bed to freeze my face off and see some art and people? What we are reviewing here will be not only about the artwork (because that will probably still be around in the gallery for a few more weeks) but rather the atmosphere, the crowd, the drinks, etc. You know, what really matters. Let’s see how the rest of Berlin did and where these events stand on our Miss or Diss scale...

And hey, if you have something to say too, please feel free to leave comments down below. You can use a pseudonym, forget fear!

Tuesday 22.01

 

Alexandre Babel performs Cage and Tenney @ Veneklasen/Werner

as part of their current exhibition “Shakers & Movers”

 

To the right you see one of my favorite winter outfits this week; you can’t go wrong with white leather pants, puffy jacket, and a pointy faux fur hat. He might have been frowning the whole time, but his outfit made me smile, so thank you.

I took this photo of the score in case any of you want to recreate the last piece at home.

 

-3 for not having chairs for the audience…By the third piece most people were sitting on the floor, not ideal when everyone is tracking in snow and gravel from the street outside.

 

+5 for having a bar in the gallery with beer on tap...

 

+15 for the live performance…Revisiting important performance work by watching video recordings or looking at photographs or relics of the performances usually doesn’t do much for me. Only the Yoko Ono piece in the last room really made me think, and having a recreation of some of the sound works is much more effective and enjoyable than listening to recordings. The performance was great.

 

+an additional 5 for using a cactus as a musical instrument…

 

Thursday 24.01

 

Three openings in one @ Sprüth Magers

Astrid Klein “La Societe du Spectacle,” Kenneth Anger “ICONS,” Analia Saban “Bathroom Sink, etc.”

Spotted: another amazing winter outfit.

Artist Analia Saban (in blue) talking about her careful material choices.

 

 

+5 for Kenneth Anger taking celebrity gossip very seriously (like I do)…If you haven’t read Hollywood Babylon, read it.

 

no points gained or lost, but I was disappointed the dresses from Puce Moment (1949) weren’t there…

 

+7 for Analia Saban’s work…So simple, but so exquisite and so perfectly executed! It’s the kind of work people I went to art school with tried to make, but didn’t do so well. If my friend’s architect dad were there, I could imagine him saying “what an admirable concrete job” about the polished concrete mounted on canvas.

 

no points gained or lost, but they made us leave our drinks outside of the gallery to view Saban’s work, and my mom told me never to leave my drink unattended. You never know with this art crowd…

 

Carson Salter (AmbI) @ Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler- talk

presentation on contemporary artist’s enterprises

 

+3 for the conference room the talk took place in…I really like these sterile office spaces with buzzing fluorescent lights, and it was appropriate for the subject of the talk.

 

+5 for the clarity of his presentation…I came in expecting to hate it, but was pleasantly surprised. He was careful to really break down the language he was using for maximum understanding, but this still doesn’t mean I knew what he was talking about a lot of the time. But that’s my fault, not his.

 

Secret Universe IV: George Widener @ Hamburger Bahnhof- opening

complex number pictures

 

the outfit from Tuesday makes another appearance!

 

-5 for the cheesy video about the artist and his process…It was totally unnecessary.

 

+10 for really creeping me out…The artist obsessively collects and analyzes data, usually about the dates disasters take place (plane crashes, the Titanic) and his own biography and makes obsessive, insane drawings about the numbers. The press release says something about these algorithms being intended to create intellectual entertainment for supercomputers…yeah.

 

no points but it was so quiet!

 

Friday 25.01

Harun Farocki’s Videoart at Midnight @ Kino Babylon-screening

showing Ernste Spiel I-IV

 

-1 for the artist being at home with a fever, get well soon, Harun!

 

-3 for the crowded lobby before the screenings…People were pushing to get tickets.

 

+15 for the affect of the films…The content was so heavy, I tried to go dancing after but couldn’t because they weighed me down too much. How can one enjoy disco when there is a war going on? So maybe it’s more a +15 for Farocki and -15 for my Friday night, but I’ll get over it. So George Widener was right, my TGIF went bad.

 

Saturday 26.01

Abstrakte Welten Realisieren @ LEAP-opening

"Times New Roman"">works by David Bowen, Verena Friedrich, Markus Hoffmann and Lucas Buschfeld, Sascha Pohflepp and Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

 

 

+5 for the LEAP guys being one step ahead of us…

 

Sunday 27.01

De Joode and Kamutzki Winter 2012 Auction

featuring rising international artists

unfortunately there were not so many numbers up during the actual auction...

-10 for the pace of the auction…What I love about auctions is the quick pace where the auctioneer is speaking so fast it is like they are yodeling; I love the perversity of the speed, the air of competition, and the conspicuous consumption. This didn’t happen here at all. Kamutzki was charming, giving background about each work and trying to really sell it to the audience, but it was just too slow.

 

-3 for people not bidding…Too many works didn’t sell. I will admit that I was part of the problem and wasn’t intending to buy. But maybe if everyone was bidding on Jennifer Chan’s work, normal">Big Sausage Pizza II, (porn, fleece, and pizza), I would have jumped in there and coughed up a few hundred euros.

 

+3 for the location…Karl Marx Allee and in an old bookstore.

 

+10 for the intention of selling the work of emerging artists…The auction statement says that they want to inspire people to buy art out of love, not speculation or for social status, which is great, it’s just that the latter is more of a thrill to watch.

 

So generally speaking this was a productive week. If you agree or disagree with us on something you read here, don't hesitate to leave comments below. Next week we will be reporting on transmediale so if you want to keep up with us, check it out too.