Another View of Fusion

Our new guest contributor and talented photographer Ole Ukena has a very unique way of exploring and viewing the world surrounding us. For iHeartBerlin.de he discovered a totally different side of Fusion Festival, far away from the big dance floors and main stages. Enjoy his captivating pictures and his thoughts.

It’s been 4 years since my last Fusion. It’s been quiet a journey with this festival which started in 1997. Like most festivals it started really small and it’s goal is to create a “parallel society” without borders, vacation communism (Ferienkommunismus) as they call it. You can dive in on many different levels, watch acrobatics, learn finnish tango, dance to techno, discover amazing bands from all parts of the world, watch art installations or just get as fucked up as possible and stumble around. The choice is yours. More pictures and thoughts after the jump.

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Just as with reality itself, there’s as many different experiences of Fusion as there are people going to Fusion.
It’s a time where being different seems more normal, for me personally it’s also a time in which to spend some quality time with close friends and their kids.

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

I have gone so many times already that I don’t have the fear of missing out on anything, if the daughter of my close friends wants to hang out with me and draw on the kids space campground I am more than happy to do so. I focused this year more on the smaller stages and performances. I’d had my fair share of techno this year already in Berlin and felt more inspired to discover a different type of Fusion.

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014
As a photographer just from the visual side speaking it is a feast, but also the spirit of playfulness and freedom and karthasis and fuckedupness that surrounds the people seems to somewhat come through. I am not interested in poses but in moments. Moments happen and they are not forced.They emerge from life unfolding in front of your eyes.

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion is a time and space that celebrates creativity and people putting in all their gifts and talents, you can see it in so many details in how the stages and spaces are built. The way the band goes on stage. The way the crowd cheers. The love is in the detail. Everyone’s reception is hypersensitive, smiles are widely spread but so are the hangovers and come downs too. It’s a great playground to walk around as a photographer emerge yourself. I try to become part of the performance that sends back an delayed visual echo of the moments of magic as a reminder of what happened and possibly as an inspiration of what might happen next year.

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Fusion 2014

Text and photos by Ole Ukena

Ole Ukena is a visual artist and photographer that lives between Bali and Berlin. He studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin with Hito Steyerl and Lothar Baumgarten and his photographic works have most recently been shown in the Paris Photo fair (2013) and Galerie Ilan Engel in Paris (2014). He is currently travelling the world and you can follow his journey at: www.eyeofo.com.
Other ways to stay in touch with Ole:

www.facebook.com/oleukenastudio (fb)
www.eyeofo.com (photo blog)
www.oleukena.com (artworks)

Diesen Artikel auf deutsch lesen.

<a href="https://www.iheartberlin.de/author/guest/" target="_self">Guest Author</a>

Guest Author

Author