Art
Alicia approached me last year at the Berlin Festival and asked me if I would be willing to model for a photo series about bearded guys she was working on. I was quite curious about the project so we exchanged contacts and she sent me some of the photos that she had already done. I really enjoyed them and was happy to be her next special beard portrait. As if she would have guessed that I had a sweet tooth I became her first edible beard. While the other guys before me got decorated with flowers or confetti or minituare figures, my beard was frosted with cream and sprinkles. As fun as it looked, it was a sweet mess and a nightmare to clean. But I think it was worth the trouble as the photos came out quite fun. Enjoy more creamed beard shots of me along with my beard monologue after the jump.
by Frank
on May 2nd, 2013
in Art, People
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I immediately noticed Steffen in the subway with his perfect beard, dark hair and blue eyes. When he got out at the same station as I did, I knew I just had to ask him about taking his picture.
We had to take a romantic portrait for my photography class at university. Instead of capturing the gesture of giving someone flowers, I wanted to photograph a beard decorated with flowers. Since beards are kind of en vogue right now I decided to turn the idea into a series afterwards. That’s how Steffen’s portrait became the first in a row and still remains of one of my favorites. Some more photos from this shooting along with Steffen’s beard monologue after the jump.
by Frank
on April 18th, 2013
in Art, People
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It is impossible to take the S-Bahn or the bus in Berlin without noticing the graffitis of Kreuzberg grafitti crew THC. You might have not actively noticed if you’re not into graffiti art, but their works and the three letters T H C are everywhere, not just in Kreuzberg. THC belongs to Berlin just like the Fernsehturm or the Döner, being a group of guys, born and raised in a Berlin of the 90s, influenced by Hip Hop music and the fast changing city. For the exhibition Almost Legal at Backyard, THC is exhibiting for the first time ever inside a room, all legal, a new experience for them and for us. To keep it underground they will premiere a video showing the work process of a piece, on the streets and barely legal. Cause may the rents go high and the streets go pretty, this is still Kreuzberg 36, right?! More about the group exhibition and the other artists taking part after the jump.
by Suz
on April 17th, 2013
in Art, Kreuzberg
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all artworks: Lorella Paleni
When I stumbled across the flyer for today’s exhibition opening by Lorella Paleni I was instantly in love with this Italien artist based in Berlin. I love how she combines very rough and urban textures and backgrounds with natural elements like animals and plants. Her paintings are beautiful and mysterious at the same time, you instantly wonder what the characters portrayed are experiencing in that very moment. Get lost in her artwork after the jump and don’t miss her exhibition at Kunsthalle HB55 at Herzbergstr. 55 opening tonight at 19h.
by Frank
on April 12th, 2013
in Art
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For the second part of our series The Berlin Experts we talked with gallery owner and curator Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer who co-founded the Circle Culture Gallery with Dirk Staudiger in 2001. Circle Culture is one of the leading galleries for contemporary art specialized in artists who draw their influences from street art, avant-garde design, pop-art, graffiti and other genres that go beyond traditional forms of art. For over 10 years Johann has maintained the urban attitude of the street in his gallery at Gipsstraße in Mitte, bringing his exceptional exhibitions also into a second location in Hamburg, several international art fairs worldwide and to recurring pop-up exhibitions in unusual spaces. Enjoy our interview with one of the most interesting personalities of our city about the art scene of Berlin after the jump.
by Devid
on April 11th, 2013
in Art, People
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photos: Dadara
Nowadays, in a society struggling with collapsing banks, financial crisis, and a constant need of money from our governments, we are becoming more and more involved in exchanging processes on a daily base. We all know that governments don’t want to spend much money on art, and would rather keep spending it on banks that will later ask for money by the government, thus creating a nonsensical never-ending circle.
Relying upon these harsh truths, a few years ago the artist Dadara built a new concept-bank, the Exchanghibition Bank, aiming at promoting a new way of dealing with money, exchange and art. I’m speaking about a physically travelling bank booth which pops up at all possible places, from cultural spaces, urban environments, to isolated deserts.
The project explores the value of money and art, in relation to the values of the customers, offering the chance to visitors to exchange their money for pieces of arts that resemble money, which are basically original paintings converted into beautiful banknotes of Zero, Million, Infinite, Love and others. It’s obviously not real money, but that’s the whole point of it: the ‘cool’ bills seek to confront the visitors with the dilemma of wanting them simply for their aesthetic value, or because they are actually worth money. More about the project and it’s appearance here in Berlin next week, after the jump.
by Devid
on April 8th, 2013
in Art
2 Comments
photos: Alicia Kassebohm
“I’ve been wearing my beard for about seven years now nonstop. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Actually, the effect it has is completely secondary to me – overall my beard gives me safety and protection. In fact it feels like a pair of fluffy socks or a cuddly pullover: though it is not essential, I feel more at ease and peaceful with it.”
Photographer and visual designer Alicia Kassebohm has been working on her ongoing photo series Beardicted now for over a year making very special beard portraits of interesting men. Every beard is unique, that’s why all of the portraits have an individual styling. For iHeartBerlin she let’s the men behind the beards speak about the fetishized extra hair in their faces. Enjoy the first part of our new series The Beard Monologues with Sascha from FluxFM and more photos after the jump.
by Guest Author
on April 4th, 2013
in Art, People
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photo: Martin Kippenberg, Ohne Titel (aus der Serie Lieber Maler, male mir), 1981.
One thing that always annoys and bores me about (modern) art is a lack of humor. In my opinion, there are too few exceptions like Maurizio Cattelan. In Germany, it was most importantly Martin Kippenberger who shook things up in the art world. Right now, Hamburger Bahnhof presents an extensive exhibition of his work. Get more information and check out a preview after the jump.
by Jens
on March 18th, 2013
in Art
2 Comments
These photos are quite unusual in two ways. First of all, when do you ever see proper photos from the inside of legendary Berghain? Right, almost never, as it’s strictly forbidden to take pictures there. And secondly, what’s with the petting zoo? Is this what’s going on there in the days between Tuesday and Thursday when the club is not open?
What it actually is are some stills from the short film After Hours by Steffen Köhn and Phillip Kaminiak that you can currently see as part of the exhibition Kultur:Stadt hosted by the Akademie der Künste until the end of May. It was the first time that the owners of Berghain let someone film in their precious club, but I guess no-one would have said no to host a film shooting with cute animals. Enjoy some more photo stills and the details of the exhibition after the jump.
by Frank
on March 16th, 2013
in Art
2 Comments
“To collect photographs is to collect the world,” says Susan Sontag in her essay On Photography. With digital photography and web applications like Instragram this statement seems even more concrete and even more dangerous. The constant creating of images is also an attempt to depict a subjectiv reality. The camera and its voyeuristic function is the theme of the dance piece “Schau mich an und lächle” at the Theater im Aufbauhaus. Based on Susan Sontag essay the Kinetic Dance Company explores the power, beauty and brutality of photography. Find out the dates and the address after the jump.
by Claudio
on March 14th, 2013
in Art, Theatre
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