08.10.2012 Band in a Van

08.02.2012 Ars Electronica: Impetus + Movement

Floor (2007) / Cantoni/Crescenti

Cool happenings by ARS Electronica and the Volkswagen Automobil forum in Berlin.

The spotlight is focused on a balancing act between self-determination and disenfranchisement. In it, the cityscape as an example of a living situation that is as real as it is construed becomes a laboratory for the development and testing of innovative strategies and approaches. Here, prizewinning works of art open up spheres of association ranging from philosophical reflection to the real life pursuit of self awareness.

07.14.2012 Neues Museum: The Green Head and the Golden Hat

I was supposed to go to the Neue Nationalgalerie, but by the time I pulled myself out of bed, I had to change my plans (because it was closing) and I went to the Neue Museum instead. (Not the same)  I think the alternate name for the Neue Museum is the Egyptian museum, and although the title says the Green Head and the Golden Hat, I did not see either artefacts. But! This has been the most amusing museum visit yet!

06.29.2012 Hamburger Bahnhof: Anthony McCall, Qiu Shihua, Morton Bartlett

Hamburger Bahnhof has a new exhibition in town called Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture. In reality it takes more than five minutes to experience the whole space but that's okay. I put off this visit in celebration of Jo's visit. She's an art/museum-aholic too so I said I'd wait until she gets here so we can check out the exhibition together. If we planned ahead we would also be going to the Jack White concert together, but that didn't pan out.. Nonetheless, I went earlier than her so I checked out the other exhibitions first.

06.27.2012 UEFA Semi Finals

Helloooo, look who's here! Jo's back and she packed a friend with her for a weekend in Berlin. We grabbed dinner and headed for the fan-mile for the semi-final game, but as you would know, Germany had won every game except/until this one. So unfortunately, everyone left as a mopey crowd.

06.26.2012 Me Gallery Collector's Room, Selim Varol Art & Toys

If you think you're an avid toy collector, this guy's collection will seriously make you think yours look like a peanut. Selim Varol's got almost everything. I say almost because he's missing a few pieces like the hunting animals (IWG Rocketworld), and the cat space man (sentry), and anything friends with you (wish come true), and a lot of Japanese ones. Arguably, he's mostly into the North American/European urban vinyl toys, and he holds the current title of kid with the most toys so you have to hand it to him, his collection is still super awesome.

06.25.2012 Olympiastadion

 going for gold.

I never really thought much about the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. It's sort of far off on the side of the Bahn map and it didn't pop up on my "Quick! Come visit me!" radar. Plus, with the O2 Centre, who comes here anyway? I didn't even know the Olympics happened in Berlin. So how did we end up here? It was in the Wallpaper* city guide, and of course, it included a really nice picture. Enough to persuade me to go and take a a look and add more photos to my collection. 

06.24.2012 Teufelsberg, the abandoned spy station

Teufelsberg

This too has been on my list for a while now, but I didn't want to do this alone. Teufelsberg is an abandoned spy station sitting on top of a decomposing building fenced off from the public (like the abandoned theme park). There are no dogs, or real security guarding the area but just in case there was, I wouldn't want to be caught (or scammed) for trespassing in a language I didn't understand. And of course there are the regular perils of stranger danger and being alone if I happened to fall in a dark crumbling stairwell because I didn't read the warning signs in German...you know, all sorts of peculiar safety issues that would make me wary. This had all started since I found out about this place while stalking a friend's facebook profile and she had these gorgeous pictures of a sunny day on the top of this wreck. After that, I dutifully did my research and then we packed our bags and brought the essentials: food, water, camera, and a bicycle. 

06.23.2012 Arrival Teddy

Guess who arrived by airmail today!! I don't have a picture of the actual mystery guest, but he walks through those gates and holds the camera for the next ten days. Anyway, this is just a preamble post for the following (much more exciting) posts, nothing particularly profound happened but I still have a story to share..!

06.17.2012 BMW Guggenheim Lab, Aedes Berlin: FutureCityLab

BMW Guggenheim lab

Do you recognize this "building"? I wanted to go here when I was in NY, but I totally ran out of time because I spent too long trying to figure out what I wanted at uniqlo (surprise) So I'm happy that it has moved here. The BMW Guggenheim lab is a travelling lab experiment to create collaborative solutions for urban living. What's funny is that the lab originally wasn't going to make it to Berlin because the neighbourhood (Kreuzberg) it was landing in became terribly upset and protested and shouted threats and so the lab became totally intimidated and worried about their safety. One of the few things that the people of Kreuzberg hate are tourists and gentrification, and the BMW Guggenheim lab influences both those things. (exposé) In the end, they found an alternative location (an already gentrified neighbourhood), and situated themselves here. (P-berg)   

Studio Tour

 
intro

At the place I work at, there are three companies sharing the space. Triggerhappy and VCCP, both dabbling in media of sorts, a cool crowd nonetheless. My morning routine is wake up, run to the bus (or ride my bike), walk into the building, say hi to the receptionist on my right, grab a jug and a glass, get water, say "morgen" to people in the kitchen, and head then head up the stairs into our office and start my work day.

Something I learned...

Saying goodbye with a kiss on each cheek is really warm and affectionate. Sometimes I stick my hand out when I meet a person, but I would much rather hold you near and greet you like I know you, friend.

and some friends back home may find that creepy.

03.18.2012 Things that begin with the letter T

Today I happened To come across Three Things That began with The letter 'T'. It's not Terribly exciting, but I Thought it was a nice coincidence so I decided to do a post about it. 

03.17.2012 Out of the woods, Grunewald Forest

what does it mean? what if I'm already walking in the opposite direction of the arrow?

Little red riding hood, where are you going?

There was an article about this "event/installation" where you would go into the forest and find music, and download it into something that can read a USB (typically, a laptop, what else?). The music is hidden in logs and marked with a neon yellow marker, and you are given a map. Not too difficult, right?

03.10.2012 Otto Weidt 's Workshop for the Blind, graffiti

 In a graffitied back alley somewhere on Rosenthaler Straße...

03.07.2012 B-Flat Lounge

Heard about these open jam jazz sessions (free!) on Wednesday nights at B-Flat Lounge and went to check it out. It's a bit weird to be at a bar/lounge by yourself. I definitely papered myself to the wall and felt like people were looking at me. Anyway, I wonder if people actually go with their instruments to jam on stage or if this is planned.  

Berlin 2012