Make Some Noise and Save Your City

Make Some Noise and Save Your City

Our city is changing. As long as we’re loud enough, it can change for the better.

My body is still sobering up from excessive new years celebrations when I leave my apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee on this frosty Thursday morning. I might feel like trash, but stepping through the elegant row of columns guarding the gates to the monumental ‘Stalin-palaces’, I live in, just gives me something grand each time.

I’m on my – semi-thought-through – mission to keep it that way: I’m buying my apartment! – I’m 25, I just finished my studies, and my savings got me as far as a new MacBook… Turning around the corner to Ostbahnhof, nervously fiddling with the pile of signed documents in my right hand, I ask myself: Have I gone mad?

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Blogfabik Celebrating its 3rd Anniversary Party

Blogfabik Celebrating its 3rd Anniversary Party

It’s already been three years now that iHeartBerlin is part of Blogfabrik, the fun content creator community and workspace in the heart of Kreuzberg. It was a great three years and I am still super happy and proud to be part of it, surrounded by like-minded people from the digital world and the lovely Blogfabrik team that supports us all every day.

On Thursday our second digital conference – the Content Creation Week – came to a close and this was also the perfect moment to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of this unique and amazing place. We were really happy that so many of you came to have a drink with us and dance the night away. Special shout-out to the party baby that came in the early evening to break the ice on the dancefloor. We can already see him being a future Berghain regular…

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The Watching Eyes at Kottbusser Tor

The Watching Eyes at Kottbusser Tor

For a few weeks now a quite special installation has been gracing the Kreuzberger Zentrum at Kottbusser Tor. Hanging from the balconies of the apartments you can see black and white close-ups of the eyes from the residents of the building. The installation wants to give a face and a voice to the people who live there and who are under threat to be pushed out of their homes due to the usual real-estate nightmare that’s going on in the city. I think it’s a good idea to protest the developments in this way because for those real estate investors often the people are just numbers on paper, their lives and their stories don’t matter to them, mostly because they are invisible to them. But they are real people and it’s about time that all the real estate sharks are faced with the reality of them. They are watching you now!

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Imagine Berlin as a Vivid Holiday Paradise

Imagine Berlin as a Vivid Holiday Paradise

illustrations: Bruno Pinto da Cruz

In our ceaseless hunt for cool Berlin art, we stumbled upon a project we loved and thought we’d share with you:  Berlin-based digital illustrator Bruno Pinto da Cruz’s ISOMATIC. ISOMATIC is a sequence of architectural drawings, transformed by Bruno into illustrations, unveiling the scenery in different colors and shapes. Among other projects, our eye was caught by his awesome Kotti illustration, the beginning of a series that is going to focus on Berlin’s iconic neighborhoods. Kotti, through Bruno’s eyes, becomes playful and flooded with color; a little Sailor Moon-y looking, which made me love it extra much. Of course, it’s not the first time Kotti becomes an artist’s muse: In the past, among others, Kotti has served as an inspiration to illustrator Nicola Napoli, in his creation of various illustration series, as well as a toy carpet by Muschi Kreuzberg.

In his latest artwork he totally remodeled the Ku’damm area around Bikini Berlin, the zoo and the Memorial Church including water slides and zeppelin. How fun!

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Playing at Kotti: A Game Carpet of Kottbusser Tor

Playing at Kotti: A Game Carpet of Kottbusser Tor

We already enjoyed the illustrated version of infamous Kottbusser Tor by Nicola Napoli a lot. But now there is a new illustration out there by Vidam, created for Muschi Kreuzberg in the style of a game carpet for children. Apparently it is actually going to be available to order soon on their website.

As child-friendly as the carpet might appear at first sight, the devil is in the detail: It’s probably a nightmare come true for every Prenzlauer Berg mom to see their kid play between syringes and dog poop, but hey, that’s just the reality of Kottbusser Tor…

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When Kreuzberg Becomes Your Home

When Kreuzberg Becomes Your Home

Kreuzberg, photo: oktober bay / CC

I love Kreuzberg. Especially the area around Kotti because it is really special and it reminds me of Exarhia, a neighborhood in Athens that I used to live in. At Kotti you can find everything and everyone. It’s like Babel. Sometimes it can be really, really overwhelming, but that’s its beauty. And while everybody seems to mind their own business, it feels that each and every person is more present than ever. That’s how strolling around Kottbusser Tor feels like.

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Fortschritt Karibik – A Magic Theater Box at Kottbuser Tor

Fortschritt Karibik – A Magic Theater Box at Kottbuser Tor

I remember being quite surprised when my literature teacher told us in school that the friendship between Robinson Crusoe and Friday had a big “Gay” Factor. It is one of the things that are so painfully obvious that you don`t notice it.

Experiencing the theatre performance Fortschritt Karibik at Vierte Welt you will have a large amount of this painful “of course, how could I don’t see it” moments. Both pieces are about the situation in the Caribbean after the earthquake or furthermore the “European” commercialised fantasy of their situation. Even if the topic is rather serious, it does not mean that the pieces lack in humour. In contrary: inside the small theatre inside the Kreuzberg-Center of Kottbusser Tor, a magic box will open in front of you charmingly showing you what kind of self-complacent shitty attitude we have towards the human catastrophe in the Caribbean. I definitely recommend you to watch the piece not only for the stunning performances of sisters in crime Tatiana Saphir and Tamara Saphir but also because of the multitude of experiences and perspectives you will get with just one theater ticket. Photos, dates and a funny/crazy Trailer after the jump.
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K.O.tti – An Interpretation by Nicola Napoli

K.O.tti – An Interpretation by Nicola Napoli

On Friday young artist and visual designer Nicola Napoli opened his first solo show at the CLUB and the turn up was amazing! So  many people followed his invitation and made this a really great opening. At his show that will still be on display until September 4th he did not only show his famous Berghain artworks and other nightlife related pieces, but also a very new and amazing illustration called “K.O.tti” depicting Kottbusser Tor. It is actually his most amazing work so far perfectly capturing the contemporary Berlin Zeitgeist like nothing I’ve ever seen. I bet this one will be in history books about our time some time in the far future. In his panorama of the popular hotspot in the center of Kreuzberg he combines all the different worlds that come together here: The Turkish shop owners selling fruits and Döner, the junkies at the corner being zoned-out, the young hipster kids with their transparent tops, the Swedish tourist with their instant cameras, the African drug dealer spreading some magic feelings, the Burka-wearing Muslim ladies and other random folks stumbling by. It’s a fantastic interpretation of this unique place in Berlin. And this is only the start as Nicola is planning to create these panoramas for other districts and popular spots too. I’m certainly looking forward to see more. Meanwhile you all should head over Nicola’s webshop and order the beautiful hand-signed and numbered limited prints of his pieces. After the jump a closer look at K.O.tti.

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