photo: Nonothing.
Pornceptual is launching its fourth magazine issue FUCK 2020 – a sentiment many of us can relate to – bringing us inclusive pornographic artwork by over 100 contributors from 33 countries and 5 continents.
Without a doubt, the pandemic has had a profound impact on our relationship with intimacy, human touch, and sex this past year. Through the lens of pornography and art, FUCK 2020 explores such topics by providing a platform to artists whose voices are not always heard, especially as the threat of online censorship continues to grow.
“Although turbulent, last year was historic, but sex was not always part of the narrative,” wrote the Pornceptual editorial team. “We can’t let these stories be forgotten, in particular the ones of marginalized sexualities.
Read on…
by Aisha | Pandemic, Photos, Products
photos: Pornceptual
Their art made you gasp, their parties made you sweat – and always left you craving for more. For almost 5 years the Berlin collective Pornceptual has been disrupting the worlds of art and porn; first Berlin then the world. But don’t you think they’re out of breath, after half a decade, they are only sharpening their teeth and getting ready to fight: Fittingly, their freshly launched third magazine is called “Guerilla”.
Over 50 visual artists are featured in “Porn Guerilla”, well-known names such as Erika Lust appear alongside young queer and feminist artists from all over the world. Styles, subjects and explicit depictions vary, but throughout the work is connected by themes of unconventionality, struggle, and fight, using erotic art as a tool of resistance against oppressive power structures and censorship.
Read on…
by Andy | Art, Party
photos: highsnobiety
Last week we had the pleasure to experience the launch of the brand new Men’s Magazine by AXE at the temporary AXE Kiosk in Neukölln. With the event AXE fully embraced the style of the district and made the party inside (and of course in front of) a Späti. Instead of a fancy bar you could just get your drinks from the coolers, and instead of a fancy flying buffet they had typical Späti candy and what we Germans like to call “Stullen”.
The event also brought together a lot of the creative people involved in making the magazine: Albino model Shawn Ross came over from New York, Dressedlikemachines blogger Willy Iffland who is one of the cover models, as well as best-selling author Michael Nast. The magazine is exactly about these type of guys, those that do their own thing no matter what, and you will see photo stories, portraits and interviews with them and a couple more.
Read on…
by Frank | Party, People, Products
photo: Christian Werner
Independent print magazine projects seem like a relic from another era. Of course print magazines look great as accessories on Instagram pictures and on our coffee tables. But is there still the habit of READING things on paper? Well maybe the habits are changing but the curiosity and the openness to a diversity of experiences is not. So even though I think more and more people will read and consume all kinds of content on digital surfaces, others will still cherish the experience of reading on paper. Maybe it is the crisis of print publishing that pushes journalists and makers to think of magazine concepts that dare more than ever and explore new possibilities.
aviv is a new magazine made in Berlin that dares with something really unconventional. Printed in Hebrew and German, the bilingual print-magazine focuses on literature and the arts and wants to renew the relationship between the two languages and cultures. For me, having been in love with languages and their power of identification all my life, this project is a good example of building creative bridges. Publishing from a young and autonomous perspective, the founder Hanno Hauenstein and his co-editor Itamar Gov focus on less illuminated content between these languages, and highlights the underlying historical and political complexities. I think that especially here in Berlin such a project is very important to create a dialogue between Israelis and Germans living here.
Tonight on Mai 13th aviv is celebrating the launch party of their first Issue at Berghain Kantine with numerous acts, dance performances and a reading. Don’t miss it. Some impressions of the magazine and the two creators after the jump.
Read on…
by Claudio | Products
photos: The Hundert /Irene Wissel
About 5 years ago Jan Thomas arrived in Berlin with a plan to do “something big” here. His professional background was marketing but his main interest was the thriving startup scene in the city that he didn’t know much about at that point. He started to write about it on his small blog called “Berlin Valley”. While writing, analyzing and reading other blogs and media, he learned very quickly how the scene works, what its problems and needs are. He went to all kinds of events, where he met a lot of people and collected their business cards. After a year he had a large pile of cards lying on his table and Jan began wondering, how he could use all of his new contacts on his blog. First idea – ask the ten most important players he knew to write their statement on the Berlin startup scene. It should be simple but interesting. Yet he struggled to narrow the group down to ten, so broadened the number of participants to fifty and then quickly to a hundred – the concept of the Hundert began to take shape. From this simple idea a new magazine completely dedicated to the startup scene in Berlin was born and the first issue came out in October 2013. Since then 6 issues of the Hundert have been released, with currently 4 editions a year.
We spoke with the editors of The Hundert about the advantages of Berlin as a base, how to start a project, how to network and how to find investors. Read our interview in a new edition of The Berlin Experts after the jump.
Read on…
by Olga | People, Stories
photos: Christoph Neumann
Yesterday it finally happened: After months of secrecy and hard work from so many people involved we finally pressed the publish button on a new exciting project: The Blogfabrik. We’ve teased on this new place a few times but now we can finally share it with the world.
Together with a group of over 30 other digital content creators iHeartBerlin.de moved into this amazing new space that is funded by media distributor Trunk and located in the heart of Kreuzberg at Kottbusser Tor. On the one side Blogfabrik is mix of a co-working space and a multi-functional area that serves as a photo studio and an event space for workshops, exhibitions, screenings, dinners and anything else we might be cooking up there. On the other side Blogfabrik is meant as an expertise hub for content creators such as bloggers, photographers, filmmakers, etc. where we can get together, share ideas and knowledge and make projects together.
One of these projects is the new online magazine Daily Bread that we all have been working on for the past months. In this magazine we will all share our experience and insights of our lives as content creators. It will reflect the topics of all our individual blogs, magazines, Instagram and Twitter accounts, but it will also grant a look behind the scenes and give us the opportunity to talk about things such as business, innovation, and observation – all stuff that we would normally not talk about on our own sites. More about the project and some impressions after the jump.
Read on…
by Frank | People
Berlin has a new paradise for magazine lovers: Soda Books. Perfectly located right at Rosenthaler Platz at Weinbergsweg the elegant and minimalistic store opened earlier this year with an exquisite selection of the best magazines and books in the genres of design, fashion, lifestyle, art, travel, interior, food and so much more. You’ll find international classics such as The Gentlewoman, Dazed & Confused, Metal, Purple Fashion and Another Magazine, but also new and more rare titles such as the travel and lifestyle magazine Cereal, Le Petite Voyeur, Toilet Paper and Das Wetter, and of course also local publications such as OE Magazines, Sleek and 032c. You can tell that the people behind this place have an admiration for magazines already by the store design as the titles are presented like pieces of art in a gallery. Some impressions and the details after the jump.
Read on…
by Frank | Books, Mitte, Shops
The LGBT culture in Berlin and the community behind it is probably one of the most diverse, lively and interesting scenes in Germany and probably also in Europe. No other city has such an active and beautiful queer subculture. And by culture we are referring not exclusively to nightlife but of course to art, theater, dance and literature. In all fields there are strong queer voices living and working in Berlin and this is quite the inspiration for all the young LGBT people coming here. For some these voices are maybe even too strong, calling it all a “Gay Mafia”. I am not so sure if this Gay Mafia really exists. For sure there is a community here who can be supportive in certain aspects for some artist. But being gay or LGBT doesn’t make the community of Berlin automatically love and accept every artwork you produce as we might have seen in the recent case of Dries Verhoeven.
One strong voice in the LGBT community is the monthly city magazine Siegessäule which is distributed free all over the city. Since the last edition we are collaborating with them on a new city column that comes out every second issue. Since the magazine just turned 30 we really want to congratulate them and to do so, we compiled a collection of the covers from 1984 until today. Also there is an exhibition at the Schwules Museum about the Siegessäule and tomorrow there will be a guided tour with gay filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim showing you around and telling you more about it. After the jump you can find the sometimes trashy, sometimes provocative but always fun covers of the magazine. We’re looking forward to another 30 years!
Read on…
by Claudio | Entertainment
The cutest magazine of Berlin is back! The guys behind Dodo Magazine who have given us the amazing costume workshop at last fall’s I HEART BERLIN Halloween event just published the secod issue of their awesome creativity magazine. Filled with illustrations, photos and texts from many international artists and authors the new edition is dedicated to the topic of time, hence the double cover with “Present” and “Future” on it and the brilliant idea about the time capsule. After the jump you can get a little sneak preview of this new issue and see a lovely animated trailer. Order a copy from the limited edition here. I’m super excited to flick through it myself.
Read on…
by Frank | Art
The Flairettes
Combining fashion and interior design makes a lot of sense. That’s probably what the makers of Flair fashion & home had in mind when they ventured into the world of publication. The Hamburg based magazine that recently transitioned from print to online is one of those charming young publications that wants to make a difference – away from a glossy high-fashion attitude toward a more approachable and natural one. From home stories, over interior design treasures, to beauty tips and fashion news – Flair has it all, from girls for girls.
My favorite part of the magazine are the travel stories by the two adorable girls Louise and Karolin a.k.a. the Flairettes (name inspired by Travelettes, huh? 😉 ) They are jetting around the world from Paris, London, New York, over Puerto Rico, Rio de Janeiro, to Lissabon, Johannesburg, and Budapest. They’ve been everywhere, sharing their experience in words and beautiful pictures with great recommendation from their trips. Let’s hope their journey, as well as the rest of the magazine will keep up the good work! Some impressions from the Flairettes after the jump…
Read on…
by Frank | Fashion, Travel
