Ich Bin Ein Berliner!*

I got back on Wednesday afternoon from my first trip to Berlin, Germany’s once divided capital city.  I flew out with my girlfriend on Friday 11th, two days after my MA graduation, and spent five (and a bit) good days there.

We stayed in Mitte, very close to Alexanderplatz, one of the city’s many commerical hubs.

Strange thing: first day we met up with my younger brother, who I’ve not seen for months. He was at the end of a couple of weeks of travelling (mostly hitch-hiking and fare-dodging) through Europe. He’d started in Bratislava, where he’s studying for a bit, and made it through Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany to Poland (with three friends), before returning to Berlin on his own to meet me and H. It was so good to see him. After a very good Thai meal, we spent the evening talking in a bar named after the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, an enclave of the Tachelles.

The rest of the trip… Why travel? What are you meant to do? I’m not sure. But, we enjoyed spending a lot of time walking, despite the freezing temperatures, and seeing art. We glimpsed the Tachelles, caught the BilderTräume exhibition, spotted Graff, and spent some time walking around the Hamburger Bahnhof – where they had a lot of Joseph Beuys (a highlight for me, but not for H who plans to create much better work of her own in the near future). We also visited the Pergamon after mistaking the location of the Neue Nationalgalerie for that of the Neue Museum, and ending up in the middle of Museum Insel on a freezing and steadily darkening evening. And on a recommendation we quick marched (again, it was freezing) back and forth along the East Side Gallery – a long series of murals on a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall (pictured above and below). Throughout the 5 days a constant thought was: “Is it just us, or do we have no where near this much art in England?” We were particularly jealous of an arts book shop  just off the  Hackescher Markt (massive – art and critical theory; period, movement and artist specifics; mags, journals and periodicals – about five or six rooms), if not jealous of the expensive protected and regulated book prices. Oh, and I almost forgot! We walked into the opening night of the Don McCullin retrospective photography exhibition ‘An Impossible Peace’, at C|O Berlin Aktuell Gallery, in Mitte. Definitely someone to be admired. H got busy doing her journo thing and had a chat with the man himself, earning his autograph and a promise to meet up at some point soon

We also spent quite a lot of time in cafés, talking, warming up, drinking coffee and Glühwein and beer. We noted two particular varieties: the overly formal types, where the waiters seemed to act as though they were being constantly watched, took visible pleasure in placing a menu precisely, and reacted in a pavalovian manner to mere eye contact, offering bills and menus when all you intended was to acknowledge their fellow existence.  Second, the casual places that seem almost futuristic in being carved into and out of the drek and reckage of the city. A good place for this is Kreuzberg. If you walk from the Warschauer train station down into town there’s a particularly nice example that should catch your eyes. They are uniformly covered from head to foot in graffiti, especially in the toiletten. These places can look intimidating, but the place we found was very nice. I wish I could remember its name.  The Zapata is a Mitte example. Here is a photo from inside the one in Kreuzberg:

What else did we do? We certainly spent a lot of time enjoying eating good food. On the first night we ate at Thai Inside,  on a street between Alex and Hackscher Markt. It was very good, and a bit different from Thai food in England. On the second night we ate at Monsieur Vuong Vietnamese restaurant, on Neue Schönhauser Straße, which is a very cool and popular noodle and soup bar that does good cocktails. Third night we ate at a Turkish restaurant on Planufer Straße, in Kreuzberg, called Defne which was my favourite meal of the whole trip. I shared a meze to start, with H, then had the tastiest Imam Bayaldi with a particularly nice bottle of Chianti. Fourth night we had Indian food in Kreuzberg in a restaurant near the café mentioned above. It was nice and very good value. On the last night we went all out and had sushi at a Japanese restaurant near the Hackscher Markt. It was very tasty, but after eating miso soup, a bowl of edamame, a whole platter of ‘Winter’ sushi, and a sweet rice cake, I was still hungry – but too broke to go on. All in all, the only German food I ate, then, was a Schaumküsse from the Weihnachtsmärkte.

On the last night, after the Japanese food, we walked once more toward Oranienburger Straße and ducked down into a cellar bar with paper lanterns everywhere, making it glow. We drank and chatted and played the “tell me three things I don’t know about you game”. After a while we reveresed it and played “tell me three things I don’t know about myself”. It was a nice way to spend the evening. A lot of laughter (some of it through my nose, apparently – this was one of the many revelations). The two people staffing it were nice too, and we had a bit of a laugh with them.

What else?! Observations about the people? They don’t seem to cross streets until the crossing lights change to green.  They all skip the fares on trains and trams. The city? It offers chance perspectives in parts, and is overdetermined in others. The Künstschule? It seemed a bit run down, but alive. Like Zapata or Kruezberg. The star-flyer? It wasn’t so bad, but I thought H was going to hate it (and possibly vomit), which did make me scared. The bier? So cheap in the supermarkets, so expensive in bars (50c – E1 and E3, respectively). What did I miss? No, I didn’t see Checkpoint Charlie. I’m sorry. The Holocaust memorial? Yes, it was very well realised. The…? Enough! Go there and find out for yourself. Go on. Get out of here. Get lost, scram!

Oh, go on then, have two more photos:

Love,

Wit

]]> http://rihass.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/dead-men-walking/ Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:51:06 +0000 rihass http://rihass.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/dead-men-walking/

I found the contradictions of the icy water and the naked men strangely attractive and a bit creepy. And now I’m frustrated with myself for not checking the name of the artist and exhibition. So there’s a trip for me to take tomorrow.

Gotta learn to get the facts

Update: I have the best friends, as you can see by my comments there’s a link

“The aim of the initiative is to put focus on the consequences of global warming through various art installations, which will highlight the climate change from different angles”

Date: 1st Nov – 20th Dec
Time: 7pm-10pm
Venue: Hidden Culture Studio
B1. Flat B1. Hung Fuk Factory Building.
60 Hung To Road. Kwun Tong. Hong Kong

A quick note to say we’ll be closed tomorrow (Sunday 6th December) to hang our new exhibition.

For more info on the upcoming show click here!

- Eion

Copyright Luke Page 2009

Copyright Chris Hudson 2009 http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapyotosho/

Band website: http://bluerocketmusic.wordpress.com/

Check out Chris Hudsons other photographs @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapyotosho/

My partner Lauren Playfair is exhibiting some of her honours work from this year in the University of South Australia’s Visual Arts Honours 2009 Graduate Exhibition at the SASA Gallery. I’ve already had a preliminary glance at Lauren’s work (well, I do live with her…) and a couple of the other artists and I strongly recommend it – the work is really worth checking out if you have the time.

Opening: 6pm Wednesday 9 December ‘09
SASA Gallery
Kaurna Building, City West Campus, Uni SA
Hindley St, City

An exhibition of work by Chris Henderson.

Monday 7th December to Saturday 30th January.

The End.

an exhibition of photographs by Chris Henderson

Long before being a professional photographer had ever crossed my mind, I saw cameras not as a means of simply recording an image but as a way of creating something new and unique.

Photography was not about capturing things as they were.

I deliberately sought out cameras which would make photographs with character, lenses which would leave behind a distinct personality embedded in each image they created.

I wanted my cameras to intervene, to alter and manipulate what was in front of the lens and to make something unpredictable and exciting out of the all too familiar surroundings of Aberdeen.

The work in this exhibition was shot over a period of several years, mostly on film.

Many of these images I would describe as experiments or happy accidents, the processes and equipment used having as much of an influence on the final image as I did as a photographer.

I’ve called this show ‘the end’ mainly because a lot of the facilities, cameras and film I used to create these photographs have since become harder to find, prohibitively expensive, or even extinct, possibly forever.

The dominance of digital photography may not literally be ‘the end’ of these techniques, but they have become far less accessible to new photographers than they were when I shot these photographs.

Every photo in this exhibition has had some sort of digital reworking, but none of them would exist as they are without the unpredictable quirks and imperfections of the analog processes used to create them.

If you’d like to find out more about the photos in this show, the techniques used to create them and my other work, please visit my blog at:

chrishendersonimages.co.uk

Chris Henderson graduated from Gray’s School of Art in 2006. He reluctantly ‘went digital’ in 2007 and now works as a freelance photographer documenting weddings, events and the Aberdeen nightlife scene.

Global Investment House Sponsors REUSE 3.0

en.v welcomes Global Investment House as sponsors of REUSE 3.0. Global Investment House is amongst the leading companies supporting REUSE 3.0, using the exhibition as a platform to generate awareness for their unique green initiatives.

Global Investment House is in the process of undertaking a strategic decision of going “Green” which is our first step in recycling structure that will be followed by other ideas and proposals into going in the Green direction. Our first step has to help in reducing recycling material consumption within the company.  Global aims towards contributing to reducing the emissions and waste side-effect. Global is focused towards achieving highest standards of efficiency, resource protection and green-building practices in the days ahead and intends to be ahead of environmental friendly.

Global Investment House Sponsors REUSE 3.0

en.v welcomes Global Investment House as sponsors of REUSE 3.0. Global Investment House is amongst the leading companies supporting REUSE 3.0, using the exhibition as a platform to generate awareness for their unique green initiatives.

Global Investment House is in the process of undertaking a strategic decision of going “Green” which is our first step in recycling structure that will be followed by other ideas and proposals into going in the Green direction. Our first step has to help in reducing recycling material consumption within the company.  Global aims towards contributing to reducing the emissions and waste side-effect. Global is focused towards achieving highest standards of efficiency, resource protection and green-building practices in the days ahead and intends to be ahead of environmental friendly.

Siemens Sponsors REUSE 3.0

en.v welcomes Siemens as sponsors of REUSE 3.0. Siemens is amongst the leading companies supporting REUSE 3.0, using the exhibition as a platform to generate awareness for their unique green initiatives.

Siemens Sponsors REUSE 3.0

en.v welcomes Siemens as sponsors of REUSE 3.0. Siemens is amongst the leading companies supporting REUSE 3.0, using the exhibition as a platform to generate awareness for their unique green initiatives.

From: Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 10:30am

Till: Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 6:00am

@: Reigate Artists Gallery (castle grounds behind boots: map)

A humourous look at the festive season with Sean TW Cartoons.
On show will be a veritable plethora of cartoons never before seen and a chance to browse my festive card range. So come by and enjoy some mulled wine and mince pies and have a giggle or two. Also featuring Liam Williamsons Popular ugly chicken series.

WK INTERACT at SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS from Joshua Gibson on Vimeo.

Tucked away and hidden in the Newcastle Hunter Street Mall is the newest artist-run space, Arthive, which has been transformed into dreamy installation complete with clouds and non-sense. Come and see the stuff dreams are made of in an installation suitably called Mimi and Marnie’s Magic Mushroom Mould Mountain Made Mysteriously of Milked Moose.

Take an adventure through the white curtain into a cube of imagination where you could see girls in pink dresses, buttons and messes, banana eating plants, a man with no pants, fill the tea pot has no limbs or broccoli disguised.

November 7^th – 29^th ARThive Level 1
111 Hunter Street (Mall)
Newcastle

Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm till 5pm

http://subjecthive.blogspot.com/

This collaborative installation plays with the idea of the narrative in altered states of consciousness. It encourages audience interaction as they have a mystical experience of magic mushroom mould mountain, made mysteriously of milked moose. The installation aims to express a sense that all could change again upon entry, highlighting the fleeting nature of dreams and memories.

On november 21st , among 27 other naif artists you can see my work at Jacques Ardies Gallery. I hope you come!

Galeria Jacques Ardies – Rua Morgado de Mateus, 579 – Vila Mariana – São Paulo – Brazil

Arte Naif: 28 artistas – from November 21 to December 24 – mondays to fridays from 10 am to 6:30 pm, saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm.

**********************************************************************************************************************

De 21 de Novembro a 24 de Dezembro, exposição com 28 artistas naif na Galeria Jacques Ardies.

acesse o site para mais informações: www.ardies.com

Conto com sua visita!

REUSE 3.0

Promoting Recycling Through Art. www.projectreuseme.com

Building on the success of last year’s REUSE 2.0 event, en.v announces a third and more elaborate installment of ‘REUSE’, under the patronage of Zain Telecommunications Company, Kuwait’s leading mobile telecommunications provider.

REUSE 3.0 will be hosted at The Avenues, Parking Lot D9, from the 7th to the 9th of December and will feature a dynamic mix of original artistic works by professionals, artists, students, and youth in general. The exhibition will be open to the public from 6pm to 9pm in addition to an allocated time for primary school student trips during the hours of 9am to 1pm.

About REUSE
REUSE is a 3-day exhibition whereby community members come together to recreate innovative design solutions in the realms of shelters, furniture, sculpture, artwork and more from scrap found around and about Kuwait.

OBJECTIVES
Culture & Youth
To incorporate the various roles that different sectors of society play in recycling and sustainable living and give youth ready access to information regarding environmental sustainability and its importance in daily life.

Social Responsibility
To raise awareness, serving as a means for dialogue and action amongst the private sector and the community.

Environment
In accordance with en.v’s ethos towards environmental responsibility, Reuse will be devised, executed and introduced as a “carbon neutral” event. Ensuring environmental concerns are addressed during every phase of the initiative as well as offsetting all damage done to the environment through investing in “green” projects after a carbon footprint audit is completed.

For more information please contact:

REUSE
Tel: +965 2252-4614
Fax: +965 2252-4615
Email : reuse@envearth.com
Web: www.projectreuseme.com

Zain
Tel: +965 2464-4444
Fax: +965 2464-1111
Web: www.kw.zain.com

The en.v Initiative
Tel: +965 2252- 4614
Fax: +965 2252-4615
Email : env@envearth.com
Web: www.envearth.com

REUSE 3.0

Promoting Recycling Through Art. www.projectreuseme.com

Building on the success of last year’s REUSE 2.0 event, en.v announces a third and more elaborate installment of ‘REUSE’, under the patronage of Zain Telecommunications Company, Kuwait’s leading mobile telecommunications provider.

REUSE 3.0 will be hosted at The Avenues, Parking Lot D9, from the 7th to the 9th of December and will feature a dynamic mix of original artistic works by professionals, artists, students, and youth in general. The exhibition will be open to the public from 6pm to 9pm in addition to an allocated time for primary school student trips during the hours of 9am to 1pm.

About REUSE
REUSE is a 3-day exhibition whereby community members come together to recreate innovative design solutions in the realms of shelters, furniture, sculpture, artwork and more from scrap found around and about Kuwait.

OBJECTIVES
Culture & Youth To incorporate the various roles that different sectors of society play in recycling and sustainable living and give youth ready access to information regarding environmental sustainability and its importance in daily life.

Social Responsibility
To raise awareness, serving as a means for dialogue and action amongst the private sector and the community.

Environment
In accordance with en.v’s ethos towards environmental responsibility, Reuse will be devised, executed and introduced as a “carbon neutral” event. Ensuring environmental concerns are addressed during every phase of the initiative as well as offsetting all damage done to the environment through investing in “green” projects after a carbon footprint audit is completed.

For more information please contact:

REUSE
Tel: +965 2252-4614
Fax: +965 2252-4615
Email : reuse@envearth.com
Web: www.projectreuseme.com

Zain
Tel: +965 2464-4444
Fax: +965 2464-1111
Web: www.kw.zain.com

The en.v Initiative
Tel: +965 2252- 4614
Fax: +965 2252-4615
Email : env@envearth.com
Web: www.envearth.com

Fotoforma +21 , human in time and room

Open from november 5 to november 29.

Official web site : fotomuzejs.lv

No stranger to controversy, WK Interact keeps upping his ante. For his newest show “How to Blow Yourself Up” at L.A.’s Subliminal Prjoects. He moves away from spray paint into multimedia work. Playing on ideas of the apocalypse. he takes them for a turn by presenting impending death as controllable by the believer.

論争への他人無し, WK Interact 彼の賭け金を持ち上げ続ける. 彼の最も新しいショーのため ” How to Blow Yourself Up” at L.A.’s Subliminal Prjoects. 彼はマルチメディアの仕事にスプレーペンキから移る. 啓示の考えで遊ぶこ. 彼は信者によって制御可能ように切迫した死を示すことによって回転のためのそれらを取る.

Bottle member Sean Williamson has been proactive in arranging a space for Bottle members to exhibit in at the beginning of December. A relatively new space Reigate Art Gallery is positioned just off the high street (map). I will post more details about work being exhibited in the middle of November. In the mean time check out Sean Williamson’s illustrations on his site: www.seantwcartoons.com