Following the spirit of our Exploring Berlin series we want to look at another district today and show you our favorite places there. This time we chose the one that we are surrounded by the most as our office at Blogfabrik is located right in the middle of it. I’m talking about Kreuzberg of course, probably one of the most popular districts of Berlin at the moment.
People who come to Berlin just love it here. It’s buzzing and it’s relaxed at the same time. It offers everything from delicious food, compelling art, pulsating nightlife and cultural entertainment. But apart from all of that Kreuzberg is particularly good for one thing: Just hanging out and having a good time. So we drove around in the past days dropping by the most beloved hang-out spots of the Berliners and snapping some photos for you. By the way all of the photos in this feature have been taken with the new Sony Xperia Z5 smartphone (versus the Z1 or my SLR that I normally use) which is being presented at the IFA these days. But now let’s dive into our favorite places in Kreuzberg.
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by Frank | Bars, Cafés, Clubs, Galleries, Kreuzberg, Restaurants
Recently Berlin-based artist duo Various & Gould have revealed a street art scavenger hunt as part of the Backjumps exhibition opening at Kunstraum Bethanien. We absolutely love this idea, combining art with an interactive game and making it an experience that goes beyond the traditional gallery visit. What the artists have prepared for this hunt is an illustrated version of a short story by Polina Soloveichik that has been divided in 6 parts that are being spread out along a route in Kreuzberg. With each illustration you will also find a part of the story (in German, but with a QR code you will be able to get a translation in English on your smartphone). It’s about three construction workers named Maik, Paul and Jörg and the secret about some abandoned construction sites. The works will were revealed in conjunction with the opening of Backjumps. You can get more details on the Various & Gould website. With the hashtag #PublicTale photos and comments about the project can be tracked on Twitter and Instagram. After the jump you can see photos of the street art pieces.
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by Frank | Art
The first weekend of May has been notable not only for Labour Day, but for art in Berlin as well. For the 11th time 47 galleries (this year) opened their doors from the first until the third of May.
Among this year’s highlights were definitely the large scale sprayed paintings by Katharina Grosse, who inaugurated the new exposition domicile in the St. Agnes church of Johann König. Her bright colorful art is characterized by her demolished paper bits spray technique, as you would normally know from collages. One could not have filled the great room on the first floor of the church any better. Along with other art pieces on the ground floor of the concrete church Jeppe Hein’s mirrored chrome balloons with colorful strings on the ceiling were much admired too. More impressions after the jump.
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by Alicia | Art, Photos
Taking a bike ride through Kreuzberg is a wonderful experience. Watching the multitudes of ethnicities creating their own vibe and vivacity in the streets, cafes and bars recharges you with an amazing energy. A place where a bike ride is always recommendable is the Kunstquartier Bethanien situated in an abandoned Hospital at Mariannenplatz. I was asked by Bettery Magazine to write about the multitudes of amazing projects going on in this building. The article series we contributed to was dedicated to the topic Recharge Berlin with Design. I choose to write about Bethanien because I can see how this wonderful exterior and interior foster creativity day by day and it shows how well historic sites can be used. Read more about it here. I also recommend the article by our dear friend Simone from Frizzi Frizzi about the Photoautomat. Thanks to Bettery Magazine for the opportunity to contribute.
by Frank | Kreuzberg, Stories
The sun is burning down, there’s no clouds in sight and if you’re lucky you spend the day near the lake, in the park or at the pool. It usually seems a great idea to end a lazy summer’s day with a movie, but no-one really wants to go to a cinema venue with four walls and a roof. Open Air Cinemas are clearly the better option. Ideally a cinema underneath the stars and in the worst-case a cinema with an interruption due to rain, but hey: Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Around the corner from my house there’s Freiluftkino Kreuzberg. In the courtyard of Kunstquartier Bethanien they set up a massive screen, a decent projector and hundreds of deckchairs. Every night one film from their really great selection is shown, beginning at dusk. It’s a great chance to catch those films of the past few months on the big screen again.
So for all you Open Air cineasts out there: a couple of recommendations for the next weeks.
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by Lia | Movies
Arnold Newman, “Pablo Picasso. Painter. Vallauris, France. 1954”
The art week starts, less dingy and more militant than the last one, with capitalism killing love, and it ends with a deathly poets’ battle at Volksbühne. In the meantime, two outstanding photography exhibitions crystallize to be the weekend’s highlights: Candida Höfer presents bombastic still lifes, and C/O Berlin dignifies Arnold Newman‘s portrait shots of the creative elite in a large retrospective. Additionally, Allan Kaprow – the godfather of “happenings” – is reanimated and there is a group show at Künstlerhaus Bethanien that sorts out the black market of translations. Get all the information after the jump…
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by Anna-Lena | Art, Misc.
Juli Holz
This Saturday a new party is born: TGA. But this is not only a party, it’s way more then that. It takes place at the amazing Bethanien at Mariannenplatz, a former assylum that has been used as a space for art and projects now for many years.
The evening starts with a BBQ dinner accompanied by a piano concert. After that there will be a fashion performance that leads over into a party with Juli Holz live and DJs Justus Köhnke and many more. As this event is made by one of the makers of La Mansarde you can expect something excellent. More details after the jump.
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by Frank | Party
To try out new restaurants is more of a couple thing. Single women don’t eat anything anyway until they caught a new man and single men do not understand why they should spend so much money for food if they can still eat a lot cheaper at the snack-bar at the corner where it always tastes best. Okay perhaps it’s not always like that. But the little kick of the new thing can be enjoyed far better with the loved one than with friends or relatives. Visiting the Three Sisters will be a kick that I’ll save for later for a while. In morbid Casino of the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, this restaurant opened its doors to visitors not so long ago. If you are ready to engage with new stuff then you will find the address after the jump.
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by Claudio | Kreuzberg, Restaurants
