A week ago the Berlin club map welcomed its latest edition. Arkaoda opened its doors at Karl-Marx Platz 16. The opening party had a stunningly long-line up including Acido Records and Dynamo Dreesen. Arkaoda is a familiar name for many Turkish expats living in Berlin, the venue shares its name with a famous club in Istanbul, which opened in 1999. Instead of believing the hype, iHeartBerlin took a trip down the U7 to see for ourselves what this bowling alley turned nightclub has to offer.
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by Andy | Clubs, Neukölln, Party
While reading fairy tales as a child I never understood why the girl protagonist was so weak and defenseless and had to wait for a prince to come save her to achieve happiness. At that time I did not understand that society wants girls to be helpless and dependent on men. Even if sexism and inequality between men and women exists in all societies, there are different realities in several countries. But what strikes me the most is the inequality that can exist inside one country, for instance between the countryside and the cities. Take Turkey for instance, where Istanbul is a free and modern city and the countryside still has the mentality of medieval times.
A wonderful but sad description of this circumstance of Turkish society is shown in the movie Mustang by female director Deniz Gamze. The movie was nominated for many awards this past season: the Oscars, the Golden Globes and in Cannes, where it premiered and even won. Nonetheless it was rather a coincidence that I went to a small independent cinema in Friedrichshain called Ladenkino to see this movie. My impressions of this film, after the jump.
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by Claudio | Movies
The Spring is not only the time to redecorate your house, start a new affair, get a last-minute gym membership to prepare for summer time and to enjoy the first warm days, it’s also the time to plan your vacations and trips for the year. Of course we are not all going to be here in Berlin all the time and as we are a travel-eager bunch here we would like to give you a few recommendations of where to go in our Travel section.
Today we have an interesting urban exploring project for you that will lead you on a tour to the amazing European cities of Lyon, Antwerp, Bristol, Copenhagen, Florence, Istanbul, Budapest and Hamburg. Initiated by French footwear label Palladium the tour will follow video journalist and blogger Georgia LA from sbtv and photographer and Instagram genius Emmanuel Cole to these cities who will meet up with local insiders and discover the underground scenes and most exciting places. As you can see the tour consciously avoids the big European metropolises such as Paris, London, Rome and (well) Berlin, and instead focusses on less travelled places that are gaining more interest for contemporary travelers in recent years. We salute these choices and cannot wait to see the findings of the tour that will be published on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all hashtagged with #palladiumexplorers.
On May 11, 2015, the tour will start in Lyon where our explorers will meet the guys from local webzine and visual agency Paperboys who will show them around in their city. The smiling gentlemen in the photo above is one of them, by the way. After the jump you can see a first trailer for the tour and get a first impression of Lyon. There will a few documentary films shot and lots of amazing photos taken. Everyone who is also traveling to or living in these 8 cities is welcome to join the project and give insider tips to our explorers and win amazing prices along the way.
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by Frank | Travel, Videos
photos: Starecasers
Winter holidays in the snow are just not my cup of tea. You won’t find me skiing in Hovden or spending a week in Kitzbühel any time soon. That’s probably because every memory I have of being in the snow consists of having flights cancelled, wet feet, or falling on my butt. But that’s fine, luckily there’s plenty of opportunity to indulge in a short holiday for slothful people like me. For example, I’m perfectly content with taking a city break to look around museums. That’s what I actually did a bunch of weeks ago; I packed my bag, took a flight to the fascinating Turkish city Istanbul and had the time of my life. Read why and how after the jump!
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by Devid | Photos, Travel
Issever Bahri
Beside Berlin, I think Istanbul is one of the most culturally thriving and interesting big cities in Europe. Especially since we have such a huge Turkish community here in Berlin the Turkish culture is something very close to us. To a significant degree we have integrated it into our lives here.
The Spirit of Instanbul Festival is a big event happening on November 2nd 2013 here in Berlin. Starting in the late afternoon and going on until midnight Yeni Raki will turn the Arena at the Spree into one of the most modern Bazaars outside of the Orient celebrating the work of local Turkish individuals and those from Turkey. There will be designers with Turkish origins such as Issever Bahri and Ina Seifert, local Turkish-run delicacy shops such as Knofi and Chocolateria Sünde, a tea bar by Samova, a raki bar by Yeni Raki, mordern dance and music performances and so much more. Find out more about it after the jump.
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by Frank | Events, Fashion, Music
photos: Zeynep Ozdemir
What started as a peaceful demonstration against the destruction of a park in Istanbul turned into a national outcry against police brutality and surpression of the freedom of speach and it became a political scandal of international magnitude in a matter of only a few days. I’ve been following the situation in Turkey now for over a week thanks to many Turkish friends on Facebook who share first hand impressions and media coverage. I’ve read horrible stories of the things happening around Taksim Square and Gezi Park that left me pretty much speachless.
Today I received a letter from a Turkish friend who is right in the middle of it all in Istanbul and I would like to share it here with you. There is not a whole lot that we can do from the distance, so giving our Turkish friends a voice is the least we can and should do to raise attention on the issue. Read about his devastating first-hand experiences from last night’s brutal attack against the protesters that did not only include a German MP from the green party (Claudia Roth), but also defenseless senior citizens and children – after the jump.
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by Frank | Stories
photo: Barre|Noire
All the fashion blogs, magazines and PR agencies are abuzz with the upcoming Berlin Fashion Week that will kick of next Tuesday. This is only half-exciting for the fashion enthusiasts amongst you, because as you know the majority of the events are for invited guests only. Luckily, we have once again prepared a big Berlin Fashion Week Event & Party Guide including many public events. On top of bringing you the best of fashion week in one guide we have put together two exciting packages of tickets for shows and parties for you to win as well as a couple of amazing goodies.
In our packages we have included tickets for the shows and presentations of the labels and shows: Andy Wolf x Superrated, Barre|Noire, Blame, Designer Scouts, Istanbul Next and Romanian Designers. We also have a pair of tickets for the winners screening of the first Berlin Fashion Film Festival, for the opening of Bonnie Strange’s The Shit Shop, the opening party and pre-sale of Wedding Dress, as well as fashion week parties at Broken Hearts Club, Flamingo and Cookies, the Patrick Mohr after show party, the opening party by Dandy Diary & Facehunter and the closing party by Derzeit. Also part of the packages is an amazing piece of jewellery by Mies Nobis, an exclusive limited The Shit Shop T-Shirt and a pair of headphones by Urban Ears. Find out how to win after the jump!
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by Frank | Events, Fashion, Party
