Tagged: Berlin
At The Movies
Zoo Palast- Kino
The beautiful and elegant Zoo Palast Cinema (Charlottenberg), dates from the 1950’s and was restored to it’s former glory in 2013. It opened in 1957 and was home to the Berninale and many international premieres.
Bücher vom Flohmarkt
Kleistpark
Lee Miller im Martin Gropius Bau
My drawings from the Lee Miller exhibition
On a Sunny Afternoon
Buchgeschäft in der Haupstrasse und Kliestpark
Wilkommen! The Girl Is Back In Town
So I’m back again, in beloved Berlin, a short but wunderbar stay. I always feel like I can breathe in Berlin and come away full of inspiration and with tired feet.
Arriving at my friend’s lovely flat, I collapsed on the sofa and looked up at the blue Berlin sky through the window.
Schöneberg
BerlinBerlin – Wednesday July 2nd- London
33 Minutes – 245 Images – 18Pages
BerlinBerlin- a performance/lecture about my time in Berlin, was presented in London this week at the Swedenbourg Hall in Bloomsbury, followed by a conversation between myself and the writer Michael Bracewell.
Danke Schon to Michael and to Nic at Artquest and to everyone who came along.
I hope that I can bring the performance to Berlin soon and would like to turn it into a publication.
Feenschlößchen – (a magic place)
The Renaissance Theatre is the only, originally preserved building that serves as evidence of the flourishing theatrical life of the 1920’s in Berlin. It is the only surviving Art Deco theatre in Europe.
Originally the building served as a clubhouse to students offering such things as fencing and snooker which then became a cinema in 1919. In May 1922, whilst still a student, the young writer Theodor Tagger visits and decides it could make “a very pretty little theatre”. He wanted to show contemporary theatre and very famous actors came to support Theodore because he was so crazy in his ideas.The theatre was still quite small and narrow, and though it was a success artistically, it wasn’t doing so well commercially. He decided ‘’very much remodelling is necessary’ and when it reopened he handed it over to his friend Gustav Hartung. Theodore went on to become a successful dramatist working in the Weimar Republic under the pseudonym of Ferdinand Bruckner. His play “Krankheit der Jugend” (Sickness of Youth) enjoyed great success at the Renaissance in 1928 under his successor although at this point the true identity of Ferdinand Bruckner was still unknown.
The transformation of the building began in 1926 by the renowned theatre architect Oskar Kaufmann. Kaufmann, the “Sorcerer” and ruler of “architectural magic,” manages this magic trick in just 5 months” and the theatre opens on January 8th 1927 in the art deco style with elements from the Rococo and Expressionist periods. The auditorium is an ideal example of Kaufman’s invention of the intimate theatre. He wanted people to have a cosy, welcoming feeling- this was important for the actors as well as the audience. He said he wanted to build from the root to the flower at the top, the flower or bloom, being the auditorium. When you enter the auditorium you really cannot help but be over-awed. Completely pannelled with pink rosewood, the dress circle’s back wall is a huge, exquisite inlaid work by the artist César Klein, with designs from the Commedia dell’ Arte and Antoine Watteau’s “Fêtes Gallant”. As you leave the auditorium , your sadness at having to leave is reflected in the image of Pierrot at one end of the design and in someone crying at the other end.
In 1933-1945 The Nazis took over the theatre. On 27 May 1945, the first theatre performance in the destroyed Berlin took place at the Renaissance Theatre. It still attracted big name actors, who saw that their ‘ Home’ had survived and it was one of the big stages of the 1950s and 1960’s.. A comprehensive restoration of the theatre has been going on bit by bit, most recently returning the lobbies and entrance hall to their original colours and silk wall fabrics.The theatre is now a listed building and it continues to stage contemporary productions.
WORDS 3 – TRANSITION
Berlin is a city of TRANSITION- Everybody Comes and Goes
ARTQUEST INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST LUCY POWELL
Within the first week of my arrival in Berlin, the NewYork Times declared, “Berlin Is over!”.
What? Ive only just got here!
I have been having a Wunderbar time, taking millions of photos, going on long walks across different parts of the city, visiting galleries and museums and particular spots pertinent to icons of popular culture, meeting people and most of all finding myself liberated in being able to take it all in and work in a studio whenever I want. So this news is a little startling at first glance, but the more I talk to people who have been here a while, Berliners and artists from other countries who have been living here for a number of years, Im getting a similar vibe….
“There are a lot of stranded artists in berlin”
Have people tended to get lazy?
Are the Fat Cats from overseas cashing in?
I first came to Berlin in 2000, on a trip organised by what was then known as, ‘The North West Arts Board’, when the Arts Council was regional. I had been in Liverpool for many years and coming here was great. The city felt really alive, so much was going on, there was a definite energy, it felt like anything could happen. People were opening up their front rooms as temporary restaurants and gigs and clubs in strange and brilliant places that may not be there if you tried to return the following week. This was way before practically anything in London became a‘Pop-Up’. Visiting again 5 years ago, I was quite shocked by how much building work had gone on, for example Potsdammer Platz was almost unrecognisable. I remember in particular where Checkpoint Charlie is – turned into some sort of disgusting tourist spot where I saw white trainer and track -suit clad Americans posing for pictures and the lovely 1920’s cafe, Adlers, turned into some horrible plastic, boring new place.
The area I am staying in, that I’ve already talked about a little in my previous post- Prenzlauerberg- has changed immensely. Milchof studios where I am based, has been here for 12 years. It is in fact one of the last buildings and set ups of its kind in this area and they want to hang on to it.Almost opposite is a new housing complex , the first ‘Gated Community’ in Berlin. What do you really need a gated community for in Berlin though? Nothing happens! Who can afford to live there? This is the general consensus I have heard.
We are in the East here. When the wall came down everybody left, so this is an area that was former squats and cheap rent. When people left others moved in.One of the last punk parties went on here before the police came. Now its mainly recognised as the area of slow moving bicycles, small children and cafes a go go. The same thing happens in almost every European city-I’ve seen it for myself in Paris, Dublin and London- wherever artists initially move to because its cheap, eventually others come, pushing up rents, opening trendy cafes and shops that initially you think great, i can now buy a decent loaf of bread and sit outside with a decent pint in my local area, but generally most of the original community have no interest in or can afford such things and once its hit say, VOGUE – its all over and the artists move on, usually getting forced to move further and further from the centre of town or to a new city all-together.
How is this affecting Artists in Berlin?
INTERVIEW – Lucy Powell.
I know Lucy from our BA college days back in Liverpool. About 19 years ago Lucy moved to Berlin, so she has seen a lot of changes.
INTERVIEW: http://www.artquest.org.uk/articles/view/3_months_in_berlin_2014
LUCY’S WEBSITE: http://www.lucy-powell.com
NY TIMES ARTICLE: http://www.dw.de/berlin-is-over-but-so-what/a-17492413
WORDS 2 – Artquest Interview-Sonntag
Kerstin Honeit and New York Cheesecake
Sonntag
As part of the remit for my being in Berlin, Artquest have asked me to do some interviews about life as an artist in the city. In the first week I arrived I met April Gertler and Adrian Schiesser at an opening/launch party. Whilst chatting we discovered a co-incidental link with Peckham and a love of good cake and they invited me to Sonntag.
I shall explain.
At the heart of projects they are both engaged in, lies Sonntag. Described as a ‘social sculpture’, Sonntag began life as an idea in Adrian’s head when he first moved to Berlin three years ago. It was difficult to get an apartment and to furnish it and he didn’t know that very many people. He ended up with what might be described as a small 60’s granny flat, inherited same decade furniture and a beautiful tea set containing 35 plates. When he met April the idea for the project finally got realised. An artist is invited to do something in the apartment and April and Adrian set to work on baking the artist’s favourite cake. This is done with the utmost care and dedication to getting everything right. On the 3rd Sunday of the month the flat is opened up and the public are invited in to view the work and engage in conversation over tea and cake. A small courtesy charge is asked to cover the cost of beverages and the ingredients for the cake, which one is more than willing to give.
I arrived with an old friend who lives in the same neighbourhood of Schoneberg, a neighbourhood that I immediately took a great shine too. It feels like an area where real people actually live if you know what I mean: people from all walks of life, working, shopping, drinking. One feels a real sense of place. There is not so much new building here in the West, it seems to have stopped somewhere in the mid 80’s. There are all kinds of living spaces from grand old apartments behind big old doors to many different types of housing blocks and flats. There are plaques on walls and walls where plaques should be. As well as being the place where famous writers, musicians and actors once lived there is every shop imaginable – not to mention famous bars and music venues – in one mighty long high-street. For instance, I was told by a local that “This shop is quite famous you know, it is selling only suitcases” and there is an Apple store that actually only sells apples not computers, mainly because so many people use apples in cake baking.
I love it.
So, talking of cake again…
We partook in some fresh Peppermint Tea and New York cheesecake which just hit in all the right places and was utterly delightful. The work of artist Kirsten Honeit fitted so perfectly in this whole context. Myself and my friend got chatting to different people and had a throughly lovely time. Such a different experience to turning up at some gallery on your own, not knowing anyone and trying to get to the bar.
Sonntag = one of the nicest Sundays I have had in a very long time.
Note: Kerstin Honeit presented MOTIVES? THAT’S AN UGLY IMPLICATION an installation relating to her work-in-progress TALKING BUSINESS at Sonntag – 16 February 2014 ( see above Image)
The Next Sonntag in Berlin : 18th May, Schiesser, GossowstraBe 10,10777Berlin
Next International Sonntag : 5th October, Peckham, London
Link: http://sonntagberlin.tumblr.com
Lucienne In conversation with sonntag:
Lucienne In Berlin 