Last week Berlin saw the second European edition of the No Commission international series of events by music producer Swizz Beatz’ The Dean Collection and BACARDÍ. For three days the mega event took over the Kraftwerk Rummelsburg with a large scale exhibition of over 30 artists from all over the world and big parties with international and local acts such as Major Lazer, Alicia Keys, and Noah Becker’s band Bakery playing live.
I had the chance to go to the opening last Thursday and I have to admit that I was pretty blown away by the size of it. I hadn’t been in the location before, nor could I really picture how the mix of art and music event would really play out. But the set-up looked great. It was so grand, and despite the apocalyptic rain on that day the huge venue was packed.
The exhibition took up the first half of the space with huge black and red walls set up at different angles giving the huge artworks a perfect background to shine. I liked the art that I saw, very expressive and colorful, different genres, different media. A really wild and stimulating mix. In the lower level there was also a smaller exhibition with limited edition prints for art fans with smaller budgets. So far, over 3 Million Dollars have been generated from the sales of the art in all of the other editions that happened since last year, all of which go directly to the artists, without any commission to the organizers or agents. I sure hope the Berlin edition has also added a bit to that proud sum.
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by Frank | Art, Party
Imagine an art fair or an exhibition where all the proceeds of the sales go directly to the artists themselves without any commission for a gallery or agent. What sounds a bit like a utopia for artists is the reality of the international event series No Commission (linked to website) that will come to Europe for the second time during their world tour to make a stop at the Kraftwerk Rummelsburg in Berlin. And we have reason to be excited about this as the opening event on June 29 is going to be quite spectacular with Major Laser playing live and tickets available for free!
But who is behind No Commission? The initiative was founded 18 months ago by Bacardi and music producer Kasseem Dean, a.k.a. Swizz Beatz, as a platform to support upcoming and young artists. In this short amount of time they could generate sales for the artists of over 3 Million Dollars during various exhibitions all over the world. That’s quite the amount – and apparently that’s only the beginning. With each edition a new set of artists will be introduced into the No Commission family creating an ever-growing network of creative minds and incredible talents.
The support of upcoming artists has been on Dean’s agenda for a long time now which is why he started The Dean Collection in 2014 which is not just a private collection but a platform to discover and experience amazing art.
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by Frank | Art, Events
Berlin is supposed to be the capital of electronic music. However, some of the most interesting German DJs and producers are actually not based in Berlin, but in Hamburg. I am of course talking about the Diynamic crew, about artists such as Solomun, H.O.S.H., Stimming, Kollektiv Turmstrasse and David August. All of them will be playing at the Watergate Open Air next Saturday. If you have ever seen Solomon or Kollektiv Turmstrasse live, you know that this is a party not to be missed. We are giving away two tickets after the jump.
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by Jens | Music
Photo: Andrey Dallmann
It took so long, but Spring finally arrived in Berlin. And this means that the season of open air parties has started as well. Stil vor Talent are celebrating their party early this year on May 12 in Rummelsburg. We are giving away two guest list places after the jump.
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by Jens | Events, Music
Every year around the beginning of September the Berlin open air scene starts to celebrate their summer goodbye parties. The experts in orgazining and curating magical open air parties and open air decoration, Bachstelzen, waved a big goodbye to the summer 2012 with an amazing music and art festival one week ago. Far away at the distant Rummelsburger Bucht they opened a secret Love Motel where you could book a room per hour. Each room was set up in a different style by an artist. Some more romantic, and some more sexy-nasty. I had the permission to take some photos and was really impressed by the details and the effort they put into it. The festival taking place around the hotel itself was quite relaxed. Saturday we had the pleasure to listen to a secret gig of our friends Bonaparte. Sunday at the big rave party we danced until the sun came down. A perfect goodbye party for a not so perfect summer. See some impressions after the jump.
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by Claudio | Art, Party
Two week’s ago Cookie, owner of the famous Cookies club at Friedrichstaße, invited to a very special open air party at Rummelsburger Bucht. Calling it an island was a bit of an overstatement, as it clearly was not an island. Nevertheless we arrived there on a boat and set foot on a little oasis with ice cream, BBQ, drinks, art and music in a relaxed picknick atmosphere with young and old rejoicing on the grass and enjoying the view over at the Spreepark. Some impressions of the party after the jump.
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by Frank | Party, Photos
This weekend might be a little low level when it comes to parties. What? You came all the way from I – don’t – know – where to party in Berlin and you don’t have a Fusion – ticket? Dude..such a shame! Let’s try to find you a few places, that might be a little less frequencied than usual, but still promise fun, right after the jump:
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by Suz | Party
Even with a storm-warning we love open airs on Sundays so much that we didn’t care and took a little trip to Kraftwerk Rummeslburg to the Reisen macht den Kopf frei- Festival. What we found was a nice party oasis of bassy music and lovely people. And my company wasn’t bad eather. So it’s true traveling frees your mind at least on a hot Sunday like it was today. Enjoy some impressions after the jump.
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by Claudio | Clubs, Party
Soukie & Windish
With the amazing Immergut festival on the last weekend, the festival season in Germany finally started. I have to admit that I am not really a festival guy: freedom, independence, campfires, vodka, canned raviolis – that’s all great, but being on a festival also means camping and using dixie toilets. And I absolutely hate both.
For all of you who are just as snobbish as I am, that there are also some festivals in Berlin: the Berlin Festival in September and Reisen macht den Kopf frei (“Traveling frees your mind”) on this weekend. More about the later after the jump.
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by Jens | Party
