photos: Frank R. Schröder.
The latest dance theater piece The Hunger by Costanza Macras and her company Dorky Park has taken Berlin by storm – and rightly so. This brilliant spectacle not only impresses with a unique cast, but also combines two themes on stage that are more topical than ever: Colonialism and the commodification of the self in the digital world. What follows is an animated review.
photos: Mascha Leskien.
Naked Solidarity has slipped into our DMs and we asked a few questions on the occasion of the release party for their new calendar.
But who and what is behind Naked Solidarity?
Naked Solidarity, founded by activist Mascha Leskien, started in 2021 as a solidarity and photography project. Triggered by feminist literature, the questioning of her own privileges and the confrontation with sexist structures, inspired Mascha to combine her feminism with activism, she explained.
I’m excited to share with you a very special collaboration I have been working on for the past months: Together with my dear colleague Tamara Saphir and the theater company Constanza Macras / Dorkypark I co-curated The Hunger – Symposium at Volksbühne Berlin that will happen from December 6th until 8th. And you’re all invited!
The symposium is dedicated to the world of content creators as it explores the dynamics and depth of social media and its overlap with the world of theater. Having worked in social media for 17 years now thanks to iHeartBerlin this is a project that couldn’t be closer to my heart and closer to the world I have operated in for so long. We invited some amazing content creators from all over the world to bring their content and their talent to the stages of Volksbühne. They will host workshops, do performances, give lectures and join panel talks. The spectrum of genres and topics is so wide – the program really is as diverse as it gets and I can’t wait to share more about it with you.
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Whenever a new post by Alina Rudya a.k.a. rrrudya pops up in my social media feed my heart gets filled with warm thoughts about Berlin. Like no other photographer that I follow, Alina has a way of capturing the city in such a charming, beautiful, often tongue-in-cheek, and always authentic way – it makes me feel really connected, not just with the city, but with her as a fellow Berlin content creator.
For iHeartBerlin’s new feature series in collaboration with Squarespace – the iconic all-in-one website and commerce building platform – we get to meet some outstanding talents in Berlin showcasing the limitless creativity that the city harbors and the endless potential of a strong online presence.
For our interview I meet Alina in one of the most beloved places of the neighborhood we both live in: the famous Mauerpark. It’s a really popular spot to capture good Berlin vibes, but also a beautiful backdrop for portraits. Usually, it’s Alina behind the camera, but today it’s two photographers pointing their cameras at each other while chatting about the job in process.
“You are like the glue between us,” this is how my role was described by one of the artists who came to our very first Creative Community Link event that we hosted last week together with Squarespace. And I’m quite happy with that description and I will be taking this title very seriously.
It was the first time that we did this type of event – a networking event for artists and creative people – and with everything new comes a certain excitement. The idea for a new section on iHeartBerlin that enables people to connect with each other has been on my mind for months now. Squarespace really kickstarted the project for me and made it possible for us to create such a beautiful first edition together with them.
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Together with our partner Squarespace we invite artists of all genres to a networking event for the creative community in Berlin, happening on September 19th at 7 p.m.
We have been hosting exhibitions with iHeartBerlin for more than 14 years now and one of the best parts of this is the joy of creating space for artists to come together and feel part of a community. As artists mostly work alone, the rare opportunities for them to come together as a community are at group exhibitions. We want to use our platform to create more opportunities for them. Our Creative Community Link event with Squarespace is the first step.
The Wilhelm Hallen saw their first ballroom take over last weekend for their Berlin Art Week kick-off and the art was shaking on the walls! The Cuntemporary Mini Kiki Ball hosted by Father Dante Telfar and Princess Joana Juicy Couture was a testament that ballroom and voguing are a true art form. Of course, we were present at the function to capture the hottest moments on the runway. Enjoy!
If you were performing at the ball and want to check if I snapped your moment here is the complete set with lots more photos than here as a download. Make sure to tag us when you post the photos.
Last month was already such a blessing with all the ballroom events around Pride, this month the action continued with an extra special ball happening during the Long Night of Museums in the beautiful hall of the Museum for Communications. Embedded into a very diverse and very queer-friendly program that also included a performance show by Fifi Fantome and her crew the Earthly Delights Mini Ball hosted by Ambrosia and LaQuefa 007 went down. It was all very mini, very demure, very mindful toward the holy halls and floors of the museum.
The message ‘Love Is Stronger’ could not me more important right now as we live in a time where we have to watch videos of Nazi salutes and police violence against peaceful protestors on social media on the daily. It’s the motto of this year’s edition of Rave the Planet – the reincarnation of the iconic Love Parade from the 90s – and the love could really be felt in the street between Siegessäule and Brandenburger Tor this weekend. It’s our third time joining the parade and capturing some of its visitors for you and we really had a great time there once again. The energy and the vibe is just so infectious.
Following our big photo series of the Superheroes Ball from Friday we are already back with another ballroom set from the Colors of Pride Kiki Ball hosted by Gina Angels and Papi 007 at the Social Hub on Saturday.
I was a bit late to the function, but nonetheless I managed to capture some killer performances. The energy was really high, the performers were on fire. Having seen many of these young ballroom members compete over the last couple of years it was great to see their progress – they are more talented and beautiful than ever. It’s great to see how people really grow into themselves with so much grace and confidence. It was also fun to see The Social Hub being transformed into a ballroom arena – the vibe was such a good match to the space.
I’m really proud of this photo set – it’s done with a different much smaller camera from the Superheroes ball and therefore has a different aesthetic but I think it really brought out some other aspects and details of a ball than my usual photos. I hope you enjoy it!