Watching c-beams glitter in the dark near the Brandenburg Gate.

CTM festival exhibition

2016-02-07T11:00:00.000+01:00

I recently attended the opening art exhibition of the CTM festival at Kunstraum Kreuzberg, a turn of the century hospital turned art space. Each year, musicians and creative people come to Berlin to exhibit and perform their work in the city. The CTM festival centres on music and sound but they also collaborate with the concurrent Transmediale festival and its focus on the visual arts.

The exhibition covered many areas around music, media and the current reality of being creative in this genre. One artist from Mexico, Pedro Reyes presented a large automaton project in the exhibition. Disarm (Mechanized) is a collaboration with Reyes and a media workshop in Mexico city called COCOLAB. The project constructed musical automatons out of guns that were donated through a campaign to rid the Mexican state of Sinaloa of weapons. The idea was to create something positive and useful out of an object of destruction as a commentary on the sale of arms around the world, thus creating an alternate ideology for a society plagued by gun violence.

Each piece created out of discarded weapons represents a version of a musical instrument. In most cases the visual similarity is evident however all are distinctly unique due in no small part to the source material. The percussion instruments had a metallic resonance but the stringed instruments had a fairly traditional sound and the entire ensemble was able to play individually or together in a harmonic style. It had moments reminiscent of digitized, sampled or electronic mechanical notes which were right at home with a Berliner's ear for the alternative techno or dubstep club soundtrack. I can't quite say it was an award winning composition however that was never the goal of Reyes and his team. Its visually compelling while at the same time opening the subject of weapons in our society for commentary (no to mention recycling as a means of disposal of the problematic objects).

The over all shape of each automaton is obviously heavily influenced by the source materials and by the traditional musical shape of instruments. Perhaps its just by chance but I can see shapes reminiscent of H.R. Giger's bio-mechanical work of the 1970's, most famously used in the Hollywood film Alien. No doubt this band would be at home in Giger's Swiss castle home.

Until next time,
Andy

Surreal exhibition

2015-11-27T21:28:00.000+01:00

I recently visited both Museum Berggruen and Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg in Charlottenburg to see two shows. Both collections showcased complimentary work from the early 20th century of experimental and surreal subjects. Artists involved range from the well known, Picaso, Dali, Piranesi, Ernst, Magritte, Man Ray etc too a few lesser known.
A good portion of the work on display at Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg is actually from the Neue Nationalgaleries collection which is now undergoing renovation until 2019. So its a blend of work from influential artists displayed by theme rather than chronological order.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Max Ernst


Hans Bellmer

A discovery for me was the work of Hans Bellmer. Apparently he's known for photography but here he has paintings made with Gouache and an element of chance. A very liquid layer of pigment is applied and further added to with faces or figures pulled out of the resulting collection of shapes.

Hans Bellmer

Here Bellmer has soaked paper (I believe) and pressed it onto a board, massaging it into a collection of folds and wrinkles to begin the shape. On top of this, he has painted white lines to define edges and shadow of the face. Its rather similar to a 3D computer graphic wire frame model that didn't come into existence for another 50 years.
I saw another artists work, in Vancouver I think, many years ago doing similar looking illustrations with clear cello tape on black which produced a great look. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of that artist however I can't help but think that this may have been inspired by Bellmer.

Hans Bellmer, self portrait

Checkout the shows if you're in Berlin as they have many more interesting works. They're on until August 2016 if not longer.

Until next time,
Andy

Bierpinsel tower or Turmrestaurant Steglitz

2015-10-15T19:58:00.000+02:00

On a long ride through the south of Berlin I discovered this landmark tower on Schloßstraße. Situated above the palace ubahn station, it has the location and the iconic shape that stands out and yet its been empty since 2006. With a look this futuristic it looks like the surrounding building are only just now beginning to catch up with its distinct style.
It seems it was developed as a restaurant back in the mid 70's called Turmrestaurant Steglitz, but for various reasons went bankrupt. It has since had many different businesses at the location including bars and cafe's. Its an impressive structure for sure. Its possible it was intended to be another icon for the former West Berlin state and to showcase architectural abilities of the west.

Not only is it on the main street but its also on a large cross street. The building is integrated into the elevated highway and has a central elevator to access this and an adjoining elevated parking area.

The entrance to the elevator from the ubahn exit.

The current graffiti edifice was created in 2010 by a number of artists for a street art exhibition in and around the tower. There's a bit more info here

Apparently needed structural repairs forced its closure and are the reason no one wants to reopen it. Too bad as I'd like to see inside.

Until next time,
Andy

Not so silent exhibition at Delphi

2015-09-28T23:06:00.001+02:00

I recently went to the "Projektionen" exhibition put on by Art van Demon. Art van Demon is a nonprofit organization founded in Heidelberg in 2007 by art students. Now with a Berlin branch, the group put together this exhibition which coincided with 100 years of the Delphi theatre and film production in Berlin.

The Delphi silent film theatre is located in the northern district of Berlin called Weißensee. During the 20's this was the ultra hip cultural location of the city. Great stars of the era like Marlene Dietrich and Fritz Lang are said to have been there at this time. The street Gustav-Adolf Straße had a great many silent film theatres and Berliners flocked to experience the new medium. This was also a film making area of Berlin and films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari were filmed in the area.
The cinema survived WWII but damage later caused it to be closed for many decades. Only recently has a new owner come forward with plans to revitalize its former glory as a new centre for the arts.

It was a treat for me to be in a theatre with such provenience let alone also enjoy a gallery exhibition. The renovations are a work in progress so the theatre still has the feel of having been abandoned. The lights are rather low but well designed to bring out the Art Deco styling from the 20's architecture.

The hall leading to the auditorium with the main lobby behind.

The bar at the back of the main seating area, box seats above.

View from the balcony box seats, on the right is a long seating area with tables.

The Deco design details around the proscenium arch.

Looking back from the orchestra pit.

Up in the balcony was an installation work by Jae-Yong Choi, a cloud of plastic strands spread out over some of the original theatre seats. More of his work here.

During the evening there was a presentation by Matthias Conrady on the subject of film which seemed to focus on zombie films. Unfortunately my German wasn't good enough to follow his thesis but numerous images and clips from various low budget slasher films were shown.

Work was hung around the theatre and on temporary surfaces in the centre. The work here is from Marlet Heckhoff and Masaki Hagino.

Part of the evenings events included an animated film that rotoscoped clips from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and isolated movements from a number of scenes. A film by Will Kempkes & David Dommel.

The final performance of the night was from two dancers, Marisa Akeny and Lukas Steltner in modern dress who created an interpretive dance.

On the main stage was a striking triptych by Felix Wunderlich. The imagery, painting style and application are great and I look forward to seeing more from this artist.

Up in the balcony was an installation by Rimma Elbert. A collection of household items in a small film set like presentation that invited the viewer to participate in the scene.

The surface of the sculpture played off the painted walls of the interior of the theatre

The ladies at the entrance teased about there being a hidden cake in the exhibition. One geometric sculpture hanging on the wall looked like a good candidate and later in the evening it was taken down by the artist Kristiane Kegelmann and promptly carved up for the crowd.

The promise of free cake brought us all running.

It turns out that Kristiane Kegelmann is an accomplished pastry chef who honed her skills at high end bakeries in Austria. This was quite evident when tasting this delicious sculpture. No packet cake mix here, simply top notch Torts with fruit, chocolate and loads of Marzipan. Vielen dank Kristiane!

And in the grand tradition of the smoke filled clubs and bars of Berlin, the evening ended with everyone puffing away at the bar in a scene reminiscent of an opening night at the cinema a century before.

Until next time, Ciao.
Andy

Critical decision?

2015-08-24T02:45:00.000+02:00

I set out one Friday evening to check out a gallery opening. One block out of the apartment and I hit a mass wall of bikes touring through Kreuzberg. This was the July edition of Critical Mass Berlin and having missed all the others since coming here I wasn't about to miss another, I tagged along.

They meet at Heinrichplatz and finish there as well so although I had missed the start, I thought it would be a challenge to make it too the end, how far could they go... So we were a mass group of maybe 500-700 bikes going through the streets of Berlin. The law here says that if a large group of bicycles enter an intersection on a green light then all the members of the group are allowed to follow along even if it turns red so the group is not split up. The law also stated that if you have a large event (protest/parade/march etc) that you should register it with the police so they can close streets and manage traffic. These events have no organizer so the police have no real ability to shut it down unless they commandeer loads of police cars, surround the group and force everyone onto the bike lane. They have better things to do.

We left the east side and headed for Charlottenburg and the glitzy west of Kurfurstendamm. Shutting down Ku'damm was fun and turned a lot or tourists heads. Turning right off of Ku'damm we went under the Sbahn train and up to Charlottenburg Palace. After turning left we passed the Palace and started the long run up to Spandau. Looking ahead up the hill was like watching the life blood of the city, all those blinking red tail lights energetically swimming with singular purpose, be visible to the motorized world, clearing the streets of cars to make our presence known. Conversely, looking back was a sea of white lights as the tail of our human powered group left a clear white trail.

On the way to Spandau in the west we pass an industrial area with the eerie sight of a Nuclear reactor. Now in the darkness it seemed almost traquil when not thinking about the cost of such technology. Surging past this we entered Spandau and went right past city hall to the old Zitadelle castle fortifications. However, before we got that far we hit a large traffic circle (round about). This was a highlight of the trip as by the time I got there it was completely full all around and cars were stopped from entering. A red and white ring running with the soundtrack of peddals and techno from the bike mounted sound systems. I did one long lap before we were directed out and back towards the east.

I've been meaning to head out to Spandau to see the Zitadelle fortification and we went right past it but due to the dark and vibe of the group I missed it, something the size of, well, a castle. As we headed back east we passed the north side of the Nuclear power station. This enormous cooling tower belching steam was now back-lit by a full moon, another moment I wish I had my camera. A few kilometers on, we were "guided" but the police (appearing every now and then) away from the autobahn and back down to Charlottenburg. Following the canal that pairs up with the palace again we headed down to the Zoologischer garten. The natural flow took us through the heart of Mitte, past the city hall and north.

Now entering Prenzlauer Burg we buzzed baby carriages, BMW's and yuppies out for a Friday night cocktail. Along the way Trams were packed with partiers as they watched us flow past the Sbahn and out to Weissensee. From there the route meandered its way towards Marzahn via streets named Allee der Kosmonauten which hearkened back to the Soviet era. Turning west again we headed towards Ostkreuz station and sailed over the bridge to Alt Treptow. I had considering turning back at a few points but pushed on however at this point we were down to about 100 riders. I sensed the home stretch now as we turned right towards Kreuzberg. I think it was about 4 hours later when we arrived in the buzzing Heinrichplatz bar scene. Everyone raised their bikes over their heads in a cheer of triumph for the few that persevered. Each small group or individual melted back into the Friday night crowd to refuel for the August run.

I tried to track the route from memory on google maps and promptly crashed it as there is an arbitrary limit to the number of pins and destinations you can enter. In any event this was the rough route, about 65km:

Ciao
Andy

ArtSpin around Berlin

2015-08-06T00:10:00.002+02:00

So apparently there's an event that started in Toronto called Artspin which is a tour of art spaces and location based performances. Last year a group of organizers brought it to Berlin, I missed that but this year managed to catch it. It was so successful last year that the organizers got a bit of grief from the police as the tour is on bike, about 300 of us. So this year they registered the event with the police and therefore we had a police escort:) The curator for this years show was Emily Perry.

The idea is to tour around a section of the city with artists studios, galleries or event spaces open for the group to visit. This year it was in Treptow and Treptow-Köpenick in the east of the city. This includes a huge abandoned industrial complex that's now home to studios and a gallery.

So it began just outside of the entrance to Insel der Jugend at the far end of Treptower park. To begin there was a beat box artist (Das Friedel) who went through the paces of a beat performance that could have been straight out of a Berlin club dance track. I'm not a musician but it sounded very good to me. You can hear and see more here.

After that everyone followed the lead bike into nearby Planterwald forest as we made our way to the next venue. As we moved out, the prerequisite bike mounted amp and thumping sound track gave us out road tunes. The route took us past the classic abandoned amusement park Spree park. You can see photos of my visit to that here. As we moved past I noticed that there is now a new fence around the place so the city seems more serious about keeping visitors out. We were directed to a large clearing deeper in the forest that was setup as a playground for kids amongst the trees. This was the site for a dance performance by three dancers/performers. I couldn't tell you the story but it was interesting. Their site.

Next we mounted up and with police clearing the way, headed farther east through Niederschoneweide and then over a pedestrian bridge spanning the Spree river to arrive at the former industrial area and Platz am Kaisersteg. Here there was in installation work of stretched plastic around poles by Lukas Adolphi. A short walk revealed the gallery space, G11 carved out of an old factory with paintings, sculptures and films playing in the cellar. I was impressed by some of the work as well as the space. A quick look through this blog will attest to that love of old spaces.

The last stop at this site was at an old crane where a silk dancer, Bronwen Pattison, had attached her fabric to the crane towering above us all. She then gave us a amazing performance climbing up the fabric and repelling down to music. In this arena and with the now setting sun it was a great finish to this location, ending with a great round of applause. You can see some photos on her FB page here.

Heading out from here, we went west, past the old east German radio station building, site of an amazing rave a few years ago. Now the land around the building has been cleared so its far less likely to be used for much. No doubt this site has been bought by developers. We finished the tour down the street at another old factory, partially cleaned up. At this site there was an installation by Graffiti Research Lab. This is a large scale projected image of a digital version of graffiti called Blitztag. They've coded up a custom paint program that interprets your pen strokes with wild colours and smears. The person painting is doing so with a laser pointer on the side of the building, probably 20 metres square. Its quite effective but after a few people took turns painting various things it quickly got a bit "same old thing". It might have been better to play back an animation of previously created images and animations to show what is possible besides your name or a simple face. At least change the colour palette every few minutes.

Just behind this site was the river Spree and a fairly new beach club complete with pool which was the site of the after party. This also featured and an installation by Liquid Sky Berlin.

During this whole trip there were events happening along the way as we peddled, Telephone Based Bike Performance (not sure where this was), Between the Lines, Opera and cheer leaders to keep the pep high.

So if that wasn't enough you can also check out the offical site here:
http://www.artspin.berlin/

Cheers
Andy

Stormy weather

2015-07-25T12:00:00.000+02:00

Having lived most of my life on the west coast of Canada I haven't witnessed too many lightning storms, especially in summer. Berlin on the other hand is chock-a-block with storms every few weeks and its a treat to bike in warm rain (an almost unknown entity in Vancouver). Over the last few weeks I managed to capture more than a few storms on camera:

I see a plasma figure walking through Kreuzberg

Plasma man has found his date for the dance.

Ciao for now,
Andy

May 1st 2015

2015-07-23T18:46:00.000+02:00

A tad late but I did take some photo's of the May 1st events this year. Kreuzberg was packed with parties, clubs, cafes, street concerts and food all making for an amazing atmosphere. See previous posts for more details, 2011 here, 2012 here and 2014 here.

A few people showed up.

BBQ (though some bars look like this on any given night thanks the smokes)

Anyone who was anyone was there.

A few more people showed up.

Sneaking a snog.

Hallo :)

These four girls were part of a large group that photo bombed my camera and then ran off into the crowd. Very... photogenic.

Frank and Ollie both turned up in the same outfit, Ollie was not impressed.

Ciao for now
Andy

The devils in the details

2015-03-27T16:07:00.001+01:00

A group of friends and I went for a tour to the old US listening station at Teufelsberg a few weeks ago. I've been out there before but now its being run by a collective of creative types with tours happening on a regular basis. More here. I was curious to see what has changed. The place has been cleaned up a lot and looks far less like a refugee camp.

The name Teufelsberg means devils mountain in German and its actually a really nice area of Berlin. Its a large collection of rolling hills covered in forest, a few small lakes and lots of trails to bike or walk through, great in summer. Its when walking that you get a idea of how appropriate the name of this forest and "mountain" is. Even with a casual glance either side of the trail, you spot bricks, bits of metal, glass and other construction debris. This was the dumping place after the war for all the bomb damaged houses of Berlin. A mountain of dirt, debris and sad memories is birthing a forest of renewal.

So for our tour of the listening station, we all biked out there and climbed the hill to the front gate. Despite it still being early March it was great weather for the trip. Its getting quite popular and a large crowd had developed by the time we set off.

The first stop inside the perimeter fence was a large building that once housed the mess hall of the site. I didn't catch much of the guides comments as she didn't seem all that enthused about the place or was just tired that day, rather disappointing for a guide. Unfortunately we didn't go inside.

Next up was the main tower complex with the large radar domes. The first two floors are now impromptu graffiti art galleries.

To the left is one of the piles of debris, now covered in people flying kites, model airplanes or hang gliding.

In the shot above is a view over the much larger building, never made it very far inside that one, most curious though. On the roof there is now a large painting of a triangular cat/dog creature. Sadly this is not an improvement in my opinion as there used to be a great drawing of a cosmonaut monkey in that same spot, see below.

Inside the highest dome. It feels much more like a gallery now rather than a abandoned facility as it did before, see below.

The veils of secrecy removed.

The stamp of gentrification

A few shots from years past,

So, for the time being, that is my last visit to the Teufelsberg station. And yes we forgot to get the group shot for the end, next time:)

Andy

25th anniversary of the wall -Lichtgrenze

2014-11-22T12:00:00.000+01:00

Berlin's infamous wall just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the day it all finally came tumbling down. I spent a few hours exploring the installation of balloons along the inner city area of the wall. The project was inspired by an idea from Christopher Bauder and Marc Bauder and the Kulturprojekte GmbH. More info here

The idea is good and the installation looks great at night but suffers a bit by day. Of course the best way to look at this project is from a symbolic point of view and in this regard its effective. In most parts of the city the wall is long gone so this ghostly reminder of what once divided serves to cause one to pause and think of what happened here. At all too many locations, there are memorials for the people who died trying to flee the East. In some places its a plinth or plaque or simply a subtle cross incorporated into a railing.

The big event on the last evening was the release of balloons as a symbolic fall of the wall. I think most were expecting all the balloons to go at once rather than a slow release so it was a bit anti-climatic. There was a light inside each stand so as each balloon left it also left the light and disappeared into the black sky disappointing many photographers :) Considering the incredible speed the wall actually fell, basically a few hours after the news conference, it seemed more apropos to have all the balloons go at once. But that would mean a shorter show for the home audience I suppose...

Later in the evening a sizable number of people were walking home with as many of the balloon towers as they could carry. I expect a few front gardens to have new architectural details, perhaps a few artists will create something with them as well.

Until next time,
Andy

Neukolln public gardens around the Körner

2014-11-15T17:00:00.000+01:00

A few months ago a friend mentioned that there was a nice clean park in Neukolln. Most parks in the former east are a bit wild and well used so the site of green grass without numerous beer bottle caps meant I would need to find this. I never got around to checking it out till early October.

Now, there is a palace in Charlottenburg with a large wild garden called Schloss Charlottenburg. It used to be well kept and done up in the traditional style of each royal family's era. Once small section is currently done up in a very geometric style of royal gardens.

In my opinion, this park in Neukolln is far more impressive than the Charlottenburg Palace park. Built between 1912 and 1914, Körner Park is a sunken garden with a water fall, fountain and at the far end, an Orangery containing an art gallery with cafe. All this in a lower income neighbourhood more know for kebabs and underground bars and clubs. Somehow funding for this park is quite obviously in place, whereas the typical park here is a far cry from this level of maintenance.

Feels a bit like a Parisian park.

A park with enough elevation to have a waterfall, a rare sight indeed.

Gallery and cafe

Apparently the former owner of a gravel pit on the site handed it over to the local city government to be converted into a park (provided it bear his name). Thus the reason for the sunken nature of this park. It was very run down after WWII but in the 1970's was restored and in 1983 the Orangery was reopened. As of 2004, its a listed heritage site.

On a warm day its got a crowd but not nothing like as busy as Mauer or Gorlitzer parks. A good spot to relax, people watch, sketch, read and plan a lazy day over a coffee.

Cheers
Andy

Ostsee camping trip

2014-08-05T17:33:00.000+02:00

A group of friends and I went up north to the beach resort near Ostsee. Its on the Baltic sea so not a super warm Mediterranean type place but still good. Its a little colder (still tolerable) but the beach is huge and very shallow. Its a long curving coast with a few little towns along the way. The full coast spans the German-Polish border and is quite built up in areas. We stayed away from that and followed Linsey's directions to a wild area with long grass and forest behind us on the beach to setup camp.

We took two cars and drove up from Berlin. Along the way were hundreds of wind turbine farms and a few solar farms.

We arrived late in the afternoon and setup camp before it got too dark.

After scrounging for fallen branches, we got the fire started. Some more impressed with the sky than the fire construction:)

Not bad for a bunch of city slickers.

Liam had the bright idea to put tea candles in sand pits and cups to light the camp area.

Idyllic little vacation hamlet nearby. VERY clean place. Every stick and twig was manicured into place on the roofs.

Survivors of the night and the attack of the 50 foot mosquitoes.

The far western end of the peninsula used to be some sort of military base with an air strip, u-boat base and perhaps a launch site for buzz bombs. Now its fenced off and a nature preserve, much better idea.

Over all a great night and a relaxing time star gazing and fire watching. After the morning dip and breaky we packed up and walked about 2 kilometres down the beach to the small town and had lunch at a rather posh Italian place. Linsey and I tried our luck ordering iced coffee... seems to be a foreign concept here. We got a cup of espresso and a glass with ice cubes. Not what we had in mind mate.

Until next time.
AJ

May 1st 2014

2014-06-19T01:34:00.000+02:00

The 1st of May has come about again, right on schedule. I'm posting photos this time around for some of the new things I found. For those curious about the big party, check out the previous posts here and here.

general ambiance

Crossing the street on a red signal, Das ist Verboten!

Ready for a climb but anxious.

This was an amazing setup, a climbing event for kids. A trio of (I assume pro) climbers setup a climbing rope and harnesses on a tree at Marianenplatz. The idea was for kids to strap on the gear and then be challenged to stack beer crates while climbing the stack. Brillant idea and loads of safe fun. Not a chance it would fly anywhere in North America I suspect.

This girl did quite well.

The girl doing the climbing was really....really good, great balance.

However this girl was the champ, they ran out of crates to hand up.

Out of crates, she just leaned back to great applause.

Great fun to watch each tower crumble and all smiles as each kid was lowered to the grass.

AJ

The big Berlin bike bonanza

2014-06-06T15:24:00.002+02:00

Once again the bike protest day hit Berlin this past June 1st. Sternfahrt. Its registered as a protest against car drivers who park in the bike lane as this is the only way the event can go forward with the police blessing. The Police close streets along the various routes and have a police car at the front to clear the way. See the map here

I met up with a group of friends to do the run this year, about 10 of us amongst a total of 200,000. We started from Elmi and Peters place in Friedrichshain and biked north to a starting point along the route that actually starts at the German/Polish border! No we didn't go that far. We waited for about 15 minutes and then the leaders came by...

Polizei leading the protest.

Part of our crew, I think they spotted the camera.

The next check point where more join the tour.

Stretching the definition of "bike" for this event.

Hang on, look at those tires and peddles, this guy is serious about bicycling. He even had a support bike with a trailer in tow.

Entering Kreuzberg, Elmi, Liam and a rare sighting of the orange clad Scottish lass Linsey. Soon to be an orange blur heading up the road.

Entering the centre of Kreuzberg, long delay here for some reason.

Berlin's version of the ipod, bring the techno beats anywhere you need to go, easy peasy:)

Next year she could break the bank with a mobile Lemonaid stand from there.

The amazing section where we go onto the closed autobahn and enter into a long curving tunnel just south of Tempelhof airport.

Amazing to be in there with the sound of shouts and wind but no engines.

Yes that guy is on a scooter!

The home stretch, the entrance to Tiergarten park.

The Victory column is in sight. Elmi and Peter (aka Mr. Chips) lead the way.

This entire ring road in the centre of the park, normally full of cars was now open to just bikes.

After a lap of the column it was time to head for the finish area.

Just a few hundred metres down the road was the Brandenburg gate and the finish area full of food stalls, presentations, music and toilets for the desperate.
g

I think you'll agree, we took the long route from A to B, about 46 km.

The route (roughly)

Earlier in the day we agreed to meet up at an outdoor pub/restaurant in Tiergarten Park so we headed off for a well deserved beer (I own ya one Liam). Feeling a bit hungry we then biked down to the Thai Park for a late lunch at about 4pm. Pad Thai, spring rolls, spicy crispy chicken, sweets, too much to take it all in, must go back for more.

Good weather and a good ride. The only mistake was forgetting the sunscreen...

Till next year, Bis dann...
AJ

Natural History Museum

2014-02-12T21:53:00.000+01:00

Isn't it always the way, when you live in a city with all kinds of tourist attractions you never go or go just once. I've been here for a few years and yet never managed to make the 10 minute trip over to the Museum Für Naturkunde.

A friend and I discovered that we both hadn't been there yet so in early January we mad the trek to check out the old bird.

Whenever the subject of the Museum Für Naturkunde comes up in conversation, the usual comment is, oh the place with the dinosaurs. One step inside and there's no doubt what the star attraction is.

This is the first exhibit inside the front door.

Had to do the touristy thing and pose with Gertie.

Do not touch. Seems obvious but...

Moments before the ambulance was called... :)

There are many other creatures on display here, the usual four legged kind as well as insects and birds. However in one room there was a selection of specimens from the collection of preserved creatures. Some amazing creatures from the deep oceans and more expected realms.

I couldn't see the label on this but looks a bit like a muppet.

Definite air of mad scientist laboratory here.

There are also displays about the process of preserving the creatures and creating molds and dioramas. There's also a place for schools to bring a class for educational days.

This friendly face is next to the area for school kids.

This silver back Gorilla has been in the collection for the best part of a century. There is a separate display for the team that preserved and posed the figure.

This is a good use of a large stairwell. The circular screen slowly descends towards the viewers lying on the couch thing below. The images projected show a cosmic zoom from the big bang to formation of planets and a final fly-in to the museum roof.

The gem room is known for being in its most original state for a classic museum. The architecture and display cases feel very 1900 to my eye. You half expect Indiana Jones to walk through on tour. I'm sure a few films have used this as a location.


Waaay to many examples to photograph, lots of weird crystals like this.

We spent too long in the other areas and had to rush through the gems and minerals exhibit in about 5 minutes. I didn't get a chance to take many shots or to note just what that strange orange crystal was, perhaps some form of Gypsum.

Apparently Knut the famous polar bear was briefly on display here in 2013 and is due to have a permanent place as of later this year. An excuse to go back.

Andy

Art, machines, fire and steam.

2014-01-11T10:00:00.000+01:00

Recently the creative enclave in Friedrichshain called Urban Spree held a group gallery show and retrospective of a collective called Mutoid Waste Company. The show was a selection of work from 24 international artists with the overall theme of robots, mechanical creations and a little steam punk as well.

Pneumatically operated femme fatale with moving arms, legs, neck, head and hat/hair.

Something going on over there.

Outside the gallery there were various installations and sculptures from numerous artists. One was the above fire display. It was a cold night so this was a crowd pleaser in a few ways.

What appears to be a jerry-rigged stage for a fire performance is in fact a mobile fire organ. The stage is covered in stands, lights, cables and pipes. It appeared to be set up to create a light show but instead, flames were erupting from metal stage lights. The flatbed truck was converted into a series of fire mortars that have been tuned to create a musical note. So in the middle is the conductor with a laptop playing notes which are coming from the "lights". Not entirely effective musically but then pioneers need time to tune and develop their creations.

Steam driven kinetic sculpture.

Next to the musical act was another fire based creation. A metal fire stand with this perfectly round metal sphere resting on top. Quite the creation. It was filled with water and rested on circular rails over the fire. The water inside generated steam which escaped through vales and drove it slowly around the fire ring.

Local flora and fauna.

My guess would be Mutoid created this...

Mechanical....orchestra.

This was a curious creation. A mass array of electronic relays and mechanical switches all somehow connected and "controlled" to activate in unison for a few minutes of noise and sound. The end of which was signified but an all together last blast. By which time the room was somewhat smokey with the smell of electrical burning. Copious notices on the walls warned of dangerous electrical currents in the various components. Its at this point that you may notice wires draped across the ceiling... hmmm, lets go before this becomes audience participation.

Specimens nailed down for examination.

Moving inside the main gallery now. Part of the show was dedicated to the amazing group called Mutoid Waste Company. Apparently they started in England in the 80's and patterned themselves on Mad Max and Judge Dredd. They could be considered the European version of Burning Man perhaps. They moved from England with a brief stay in Germany and are still going today and operating in Italy.

I believe the pictures above shows the groups location in Germany where they had access to a huge industrial site with abandoned vehicles, tanks and a Mig 21 aircraft apparently!

There's a video that will give you some idea of what they were doing back then. This was actually filmed in a huge wasteland in West Berlin in 1989. It was an old train station site but had been destroyed and the site left empty and over grown for decades. Its surreal to see buildings I recognize in the background as its now a cool park to BBQ with friends and a beer in the summer. Keep that in mind while you watch this.

There's also a short documentary about their time in England hosted by... Hugh Laurie!

There was a video playing at this gallery event showing raw video that is to be incorporated into a new documentary that will debut in the Berlinale film festival in 2014.

Learning to walk again.

This was one of a series of crazy compressed air robots that could be operated via an old video game joystick (1 Euro to play). The pneumatics were very basic, either closed or wide open so making this thing walk was more like a series of seizures. Loud, looney and fun though.

Great character in this guy.

This dog was one of the better small sculptures. The recycled parts seem to be tailor made for this guy. At least a few of the bits are off an Audi of some sort.

That's all for this week
Andy

Barenquell Brauerei, perhaps the final visit.

2013-11-30T03:00:00.000+01:00

Back in April I went to look around the Barenquell Brauerei abandoned brewery again. See previous visits here and here. I've heard that as of August there's a new fence around the place so perhaps its due to be torn down:(

A strange little room that was visible through a hole in the wall.

Organic duct tape.

Once again this amazing place inspires some great compositions. Lets hope its still around next year.

Cheers
Andy

Wandering #2

2013-11-14T18:51:00.000+01:00

A few more random things I found during travels and events in Berlin:

Lunchtime Concert:
Almost every Tuesday the Berliner Philharmoniker performs a free lunchtime concert for anyone who shows up. It appears to be quite popular:

That was a big crowd for a cold Tuesday in January I'd say. If you'd like to check it out, there's more info here.

Yosemite Sam's place in Berlin:
This is an impressive playground. The whole thing seems to be based on a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon set with everything heavily stylized and toonified. There are some nice details like wanted posters, cow skull, buzzards and cartoon mice in there. Its on Frobenstrasse in Shoneberg.

Beaky Buzzard's German cousin.

Stuff:

Cheers til later.
Andy

Camping south of Berlin

2013-11-09T17:30:00.000+01:00

Back in July my girlfriend and I went camping with a bunch of friends. They found this campsite next to a lake to the south of Berlin. Easy to get to by train and someone from the site picked us up from the train station, very nice. The nearby town is called Dahmsdorf and the camp site is here:
Its a good place if you want to get away from the city and be in a quiet forested area. Germans are not fond of noise in general and it seems our group (about 20) were talking a bit too loud (after 10pm) one evening and the owner got a bit grumpy. We think someone complained but we were not all that loud, no music just laughing. In any event, if you're looking for a QUIET place to camp with a tent near Berlin this could be a good place to consider.

There's a path that (I think) goes all the way around the lake, Grosser Storkower See. That would be a very long walk though. We walked down a dirt road for about 20 minutes with wild forest on the lake side and planted forest on the other. It was hot and sunny so the shade was welcome.

The beach and swimming area at the campsite. Nice water.

One of the residents

Not much in the way of wildlife around other than mosquito's, dragon flies, birds etc. I'd like to find something a bit more rough and wild, perhaps there's still a bit of the Black Forest out there somewhere?

Cheers
Andy

Berlin's Burger

2013-10-26T03:00:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine introduced me to possibly the best burger joint in all of Berlin. As with most great finds its a tiny hole in the wall kind of place with room for three or four to sit inside and picnic tables out on the sidewalk. While you wait inside there's a Super Nintendo to keep you entertained. There's always a crowd and everything is prepared fresh upon your order. So expect a 20 minute wait from that point.
There is a list of menu burgers, chicken, vegetarian etc. However I still haven't managed to try any of the regular menu burgers as they also have a weekly special:

oh my, ya bitte.

This one above is a beef burger with rucola, tomato, house mayo sauce, Camembert cheese, a fried potato patty and schinken (German cured ham). Rather pricey at 7.50 but that's cheap anywhere else but Berlin.

One of our group had the regular cheese burger (4.90), looks good but I'm still thinking about the one above.

This one was called Sergeant Walnut, 50% Lamb 50% beef, aged Parmesan cheese, grilled veggies, Walnuts, Aioli, Pesto Mayo.

On a previous visit the special was a beef burger with caramelized onion, and a slightly sweet cranberry mayo, Feta cheese but the rest is a hazy memory drizzled in fat.

The place is called Berlin Burger International in the Neukölln district of Berlin. Worth checking out if you're in the area.

Cheers
Andrew

Berlin Kulture

2013-10-19T22:00:00.000+02:00

Not long after the May first events in Berlin is the annual Karneval Der Kulturen . You can see more from that in previous posts here but this year we found a park with these guys below.

They had drum sets setup and drew a big crowd.

This guy was in the crowd and spontaneously joined in.

Great sounds and beat had the place jumping. Looking forward to next years impromptu park concert.

Andy

A few faces in the crowd

2013-10-10T04:30:00.000+02:00

Just a few folks in the crowd from this years May Day party on Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg

To each their own.

Like it says, Berlin Hustles Harder.

Caio for now
Andy

The 2nd cat posting, there may be more.

2013-10-03T19:00:00.000+02:00

Ok so I took care of my friends cats recently and while at her place I managed to take a few photos that caught the personality of each as well as their ability to get along (put up with each other):

This is Juan, he's been around the block a few times.

My friend thought he needed a playmate so she found Betty a few months ago:

There was a bird in here, did you see it? Where did it go? I'm hungry, do you have food?

You look'n at me?

10...9...8...7..

If you look carefully you'll notice who is more confident in the frontal assault.

Considering that this is Juan's territory, he's very kind with her. She's not holding back with those claws.

Bad kitty.

Half the time their wrestling matches evolve into mutual grooming sessions... for about 5 seconds, then Betty decides that he's been mollycoddled enough and goes for a take down.

Cheers
Andy

The Brandenburg's and the Obama's

2013-09-27T04:30:00.000+02:00

Back in June US president Obama came to Berlin for a photo op with the Brandenburg Gate. It was quite incredible how much of the city was disrupted by this. All kinds of restrictions on which streets you could use and when, many were closed off completely.

There he is, I think.

Above is as close as you could get to the event. The gate is right next to the large park called Tiergarten and even this was full of fences and police. Behind those columns was the setting for the event.

The US TV networks were comparing this speech to his first speech here in Berlin during his campaign through Europe back in 2008. Back then Berlin and most of the world seemed to think he was a saviour from the extremist right of the Republican Bush years. So that speech had a huge crowd but this one was much smaller. The networks used this as a sign that Europe had soured to Obama. What they failed to mention was that in 2008 it was a public speech by a senator whereas this was a private event for friends.

So the crowd was an invited guest list of politicians, leaders and friends of various descriptions. All hemmed in to the Pariser Platz square. Impossible to fit a similar sized crowd.

Memorial

As you look past Obama on the podium directly behind him was the gate and a long straight street leading to the Siegessäule (victory column). The site of his speech in 2008. Also on the street was the (above) small chunk of Berlin wall with the words "den opfern der mauer", the victims of the wall.

This city has so many reminders of its recent history that I regularly stumble upon. This one for people trying to flee to freedom from an oppressive government. I wonder what will be left behind by Obama...

Andy

Memories of Spreepark

2013-09-11T21:23:00.000+02:00

The happiest place in East Germany.... doesn't have the same ring as Disneyland's motto but a guy by the name of Norbert Witte tried to give this old park an American spin. In the 1960's, Spreepark was built under the jurisdiction of the GDR's Berlin, perhaps to showcase the east's capacity for fun. Spreepark was a very popular place in the heyday of its operation. It opened in 1969 under the name Kulturpark Plänterwald. After the fall of the wall in 89 Norbert Witte was selected to revamp the park and later modeled it in a more western fashion, thus creating Spreepark. A documentary was made to tell this story and there's a trailer here. Or if your German is good watch the whole thing.

There's a video here recorded at the time of renovations. At about the 7 minute mark there are shots of the new mascot to the park, a more terrifying creation I cannot imagine.

For about ten years it was quite successful but eventually attendance numbers dropped and the park went bust. Norbert Witte sent some of the rides to Peru where he said they would be "repaired". Later he and his son were convicted of trying to smuggle 24 million Euros worth of cocaine inside the rides when bringing them back to Germany. The German Government was not amused. The park is now in the process of being auctioned off to pay of old government debts taken out in its name to renovate in the 90's.

If it is sold off then it may get torn down and converted into a housing estate or something. So this tour I took with a friend in June may be one of the last. It truly is a spookily spectacular place now. Everything is over grown and falling apart and yet there are happy cartoon characters amongst the rust.

The tour was rather loosely organized and the group spread out as everyone was taking pictures. I ended up wandering around finding all kinds of things. The tour started at 11am and finished about 1pm. At this point, I handed in my tour vest, its Germany, you must wear the vest. No one said we had to leave so I wandered around until 5pm when some security guy found me. The place was teaming with other tours.

I took a few (hundred) pictures:

The old layout from the day it closed.

The happy face that greets you at the entrance.

Dino lookin stylish with street cred tags.

Giant mushrooms and dinosaurs, it gets weirder the farther you walk.

Everyone getting their vests.

Train Ride:

Yes there is a train that goes around the whole park but its a bit wonky now. The track seems to be levitating over the swamp below but hasn't collapsed just yet.

Train ride with the threat of a dunking in algae and frogs (perhaps a few missing dissidents as well?).

Lots of... character in these old tracks.

Roller Coaster Ride:

10 metres up and its rotten floor boards reinforced with old plywood :)

The ground, saturated with joyous screams, blooms anew.

Not sure what they were going for with the colour scheme.

On the back of that cat head you can see newsprint stuck to the fiberglass which reveals his nationality. These are French papers so it seems the East German rides have a French heritage!

Of Swans and Men:

Apparently there was a daily stunt show happening on this boat with pirates and swashbuckling death defying feats etc. To the left is a pyramid shaped seating area where visitors viewed the show. Now its barely visible beneath small trees, shrubs and grass.

The Swan boats are from some other ride (visible in the videos below) and have been scattered around the park making for some interesting compositions.

Dragon boats... or maybe, Viking?

This one may have developed a leak

The Ferris Wheel:

EVERYONE must wear a vest!

...didn't wear the vest.

It was tempting to go for a ride...

This Ferris wheel has been left to rust for years. So with no oil on the axles and the wind slowly rotating it, this wheel made the most amazingly eerie, creaking, groaning sound. Take a listen here.

The Arcade:

The video game arcade has seen better days. Any hopes of saving that high score on Frogger have been lost.

Some Kind of Car Ride:

A car with a hat... Alice in Wonderland perhaps?

Las Vegas Country -Yes that's its name:

Dinosaurs, Pirates, Vikings, giant swans and.... an old west set. Blends well with the over all... theme?

Fitting image of the financial state of the place.

Old timers washed away like cotton candy in the rain.

Bordering the old west set, off in a corner, there was this strange dome nestled amongst the trees. Considering its made of some kind of weather proofed fabric, its in good shape.

It had once drawn a crowd...

It looks like something out of Dune or an Anime film.

Its very dark inside so I couldn't figure out what it was. Sadly now its a trash heap.

Apparently it was some kind of inflatable theatre but that's an educated guess based on some web info.

Flume Ride:

The flume ride ironically now looks like its set in a Peruvian jungle.

The place where flume boats come to rest in peace.

The hill that this ride climbs was constructed however at the top it transitions into fiberglass rocks...

Hollow mountain, tomb of memories.

The walls echo with bygone screams just before the final drop.

Like something out of an Indiana Jones mine car chase.

Thanks to time and mother nature, this fiberglass rock is looking realistic (well a bit).

Vines looking for any opportunity to climb have made much of the opportunity.

As with so many structures in Europe, there's always a cellar with the potential for tunnels leading to something mysterious. While on the island for the flume ride, I stumbled upon a dark hole (above) surrounded by forest and ivy ground cover. My pulse quickened as I approached, scanning for a ladder or rungs that would lead me down to... a hidden layer for the mascot!? clown dungeon! Nazi gold! stash of Cocaine?....naw just a bunch of pipes about 2 metres down, probably for the flume ride. Norbert's stash won't be that easy to find.

Its interesting to watch this video of the park when it was open. You can recognize some of the rides from above. Its amazing to see how it was and sad that it all came to such an ignominious end. Check it out here.

Video of the park in winter.

Here's my first visit in 2011 when a party event was hosted there. There are loads more Youtube videos here, hard to choose which to view first.

Tschüss.

Cheers til next time.
Andy