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.
Please cry for us, Maria
Apart from the auction Mauri started on his blog, we would like to raise awareness to another really cool idea from the Jugend gegen Aids Stiftung. Together with Stefan Strumbel, one of our most favourite artists by the way, they did a real funny art exhibition protesting against the Catholic church. For every new facebook friend they get, a Holy Maria statue will cry one tear. In the end the holy mother will be drowned by her own tears. That’s a good way to protest, and a very good way to find more facebook fans for a good cause. Watch the video with all the details after the jump. read more…
The Weekly Event Guide
Tree and Moon by JR, courtsy of Circle Culture
Most of the time we are used to taking. Take a photo, take some time, take a piss, take the cake, take that. How about this week we do a little giving. And what giving feels better than one that includes taking also? Take a piece of art, give money to charity for instance. Swell! Take this, as well as short films, concerts, gallery openings, workshops, parties and much more, as usual after the jump!
The Mardi Gras Week
This week is all in the name of the carnival, but in our case it’s the Mardi Gras that we will experiencing for the first time on Tuesday. For the rest of the week we have a bit of a crazy Wednesday with the Artstars and It Boys, a very art-filled Friday and fashion-related Saturday. The events after the jump.
We are Germans
After the reinvention of the Dirndl in fashion it was about time to destroy the last stereotype of German traditional design: The cuckoo’s clock. I allready discovered these clocks not so long ago for an older article you might want to read here. The artist Stefan Strumbel has worked out a way to re-design German design icons without loosing himself into senseless pop art. To check out more of this tradition meets comic-kitsch you should definetly visit his upcoming exhibition at Circle Culture Gallery. More details after the jump. read more…
Don’t waste your Love on a Cuckoo’s Child
clocks by Stefan Strumbel
Madhouse Berlin – Therapy Session Nr. 3
You think the Ku Klux Clan is scary? Well, then you’ve never met the Cuckoos Clan here in Berlin. The members of this clan are the scary cuckoo’s children. These people prefer to find an easy way into your nest rather than building one of their own. Tips on how to recognise them, classify them to ensure that us little birdies still get our life-supply of worms and more funny clocks from Stefan Strumbel after the cheep!