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KAPELLE BAR – WHERE ART, GOOD COCKTAILS AND MUSIC COME TOGETHER

KAPELLE BAR – WHERE ART, GOOD COCKTAILS AND MUSIC COME TOGETHER

Anyone who knew Berlin in the 90s knows about the small Kiezcafé Kapelle on Zionskirchplatz. Breakfast, brunch, café lattes – there was no end to the weekends here. The café was a legendary meeting place for artists, students and neighbors. In the spring of 2023, the chapel passed into the hands of Katya and Thomas – both work in the Berlin art scene and so the chapel – which will now continue as a bar – will remain a meeting place for those with an affinity for art. Since the hardships of the last pandemic years, they both wish for the same thing: to get back out among people. Since July, they have been taking the plunge and heralding a new beginning with the Kapelle. The vision is clear: to create an inspiring place with good drinks and a varying musical program on Fridays (DJs and concerts). The small bar room is bathed in pleasant black and gold light, the music invites you to stay. On the walls hang works by Berlin artist friends: Above the chapel-like bar area, Anselm Reyle’s light installation of neon tubes shines and watches over the guests, who make themselves comfortable in armchairs next to design magazines and card games.

The menu is impressive – an illustrious selection of white and red natural wines from Italy and France, as well as classic long drinks and cocktails await you: espresso martinis, gin and tonics, whiskey sours, smoked Negronis – one drink after the other leaves the bar counter. And even those who don’t drink alcohol are well catered for here: for example, the Marseille Spritz. The scenery is reminiscent of a large living room. The first guests fill the room. One immediately wants to join them. The music gets louder. Memories of past Berlin nights and famous bars in Paris and New York are awakened. The feeling that one is in good hands here quickly sets in. We stay and I predict: the Kapelle Bar will certainly become a legendary meeting place for artists, creatives and neighbors again.

Text: Milena Kalojanov / Photos: Robyn Steffen

Kapelle, Zionskirchstr.22–24, 10119 Berlin–Mitte; map
Wed–Sat 19–01h

@kapelleberlin

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BUY AND SELL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: EBAY LOKAL MAKES SHOPPING EASY AND SAFE

BUY AND SELL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: EBAY LOKAL MAKES SHOPPING EASY AND SAFE

You know the feeling: you’re cleaning out your apartment and you find the wrong things in dusty corners, you’re cleaning out your wardrobe to make room for the next one, and you’re desperately trying to get rid of your old dresser because you’ve fallen in love with a new one – and most of the time you can’t say goodbye to the things fast enough. For such cases, there is now clearly a solution that makes your life easier: the new buying and selling experience eBay Lokal. You don’t have to worry about shipping, the person lives just around the corner and may come by the same evening – so your old item becomes someone else’s new favorite. And unlike other online platforms, here the price is bindingly agreed upon by concluding the purchase via the eBay app, i.e. the item is paid for immediately online – saving you the hassle of renegotiating when you pick it up. And so that everything is even faster – and especially safer – when you pick up the item: armed with a QR pickup code in the eBay app, prospective buyers can simply show it and have it scanned by the seller. It’s like a digital handshake that completes the purchase – so the entire buying process is secure and doesn’t require cash or other forms of payment, and both parties are protected by buyer and seller protection. The only thing you have to do is simply click on the “Free pickup” option in the app, pay for the item, and then arrange a time and place. At the meeting, the delivery must be confirmed using a 6-digit code or the QR code in the chat of the eBay app. So goodbye messaging back and forth and annoying haggling on your own doorstep: With eBay Lokal, you can easily and quickly get rid of once beloved treasures and grab rare items.

Text: Marie Mayer / Photos: eBay, Luna Schaffron

eBay Lokal

@ebay_de

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BISTRO SPUMANTE – VACATION FEELING IN THE MIDDLE OF KREUZBERG

BISTRO SPUMANTE – VACATION FEELING IN THE MIDDLE OF KREUZBERG

Has it been too long since your last trip to the Mediterranean – or are you dreaming of one? No problem! Perhaps the solution is a visit to Bistro Spumante in Kreuzberg. Opened by sisters Helene and Emma in March 2023, the bistro immediately makes you feel like a passenger on the ferry to the Mediterranean. Because everything is just right: from the white Monobloc chairs and the azure-blue painted floor, to the warmly glowing fairy lights, to the seaside snacks served in red baskets. The mood is one of relaxed chatter, accompanied by pleasant Italo-pop music. The fellow travelers to the bistro are friends of the family business, neighbors from the neighborhood, the curious, and vacationers like me. The destination of the trip might not be clear: Italy, Portugal or Greece? But at Bistro Spumante you don’t have to decide. There are rotating drinks and corresponding dishes from the different countries around the Mediterranean. Sometimes there is Strangolapreti (spinach dumplings with sage butter and parmesan) on the menu, sometimes Parmigiana or Tosta Mista (ham and cheese toast) – right underneath the onion bread. Or would you prefer fresh, salty olives, a portion of French fries or calamari with aioli? I just tried a little bit of everything, because I could quickly switch to vacation mode.

The decision on drinks is easy, as the menu is full of vacation gems. I start my getaway with a personal favorite: sparkling wine on tap – yes, that’s right! – Spumante on tap, delightful. Along with Mediterranean classics like Campari, Ouzo and Pastis, there’s Cynar Spritz, Averna Sour and Frangelico. The vacation mood is picking up. Those who prefer non-alcoholic drinks will be delighted with lemonades, Chinotto Spritz or Peroni 0.0%. Inspired by the warm atmosphere, my ferry heads for Mallorca and I order a Cortado leche y leche, a Spanish espresso variation with condensed milk. And as it usually does, this successful vacation goes by far too quickly. This one only lasted a few hours, but I’m not sad, because I know: I can always come back on deck at Bistro Spumante when my longing for a Mediterranean escape becomes too great. The ferry Spumante leaves on time every day – you only have to be patient on Mondays. Ahoy & a presto!

Hanna Jensen is an architect and a native of South Baden. Berlin has been her home since 2020. She especially loves the summer months, when the days never want to end.

Text: Hanna Jensen / Photos: Sophie Döring

Bistro Spumante, Reichenberger Str.73, 10999 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Tue-Wed 12–23h, Thu 16–23h, Fri 16–02h, Sat 13–02h, Sun 13–20h

@bistro.spumante

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EXPERIENCE BERLIN FROM A NEW ANGLE WITH PUZZLE TOURS BY PLANLOS.IN

EXPERIENCE BERLIN FROM A NEW ANGLE WITH PUZZLE TOURS BY PLANLOS.IN

Berlin – A text message from the year 1888, sent by Empress Victoria. And the first task comes via text message: In the conspiracy between the liberals and monarchists, you are supposed to help Victoria bring explosive documents to safety in order to preserve the legacy of Emperor Frederick III and rewrite history. Armed with your cell phone, start your scavenger hunt with planlos.in between Bergmannkiez and Viktoriapark, through winding backyards and past historical monuments. Guided by mysterious text message clues, you and your friends will discover new places where you will be given tricky tasks that are just waiting to be solved – and you will have to think out of the box! In Berlin, there are currently three different puzzle tours that have been developed by local writers: Explore Tegel from the Borsig Works to Tegeler See with the mission to win the race for world domination – or rediscover the Scheunenviertel in Mitte, while saving Marlene Dietrich’s film career along the way: Here, art and architecture fans get their money’s worth. Whether you’re traveling with friends, colleagues, fellow students, your family or other clever minds who share the joy of puzzling, the puzzles are waiting for you – are you ready to crack them?

Text: Alison Musch / Photos: planlos.in

Planlos.in
You can find the puzzle tours for Berlin here. Solid German skills are required to participate.

@planlos.in

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IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD: ETEL ADNAN AND SIMONE FATTAL AT KINDL

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD: ETEL ADNAN AND SIMONE FATTAL AT KINDL

There are artists whose works you love from afar. And then there are artists you absolutely want to meet in person – because their paintings are so touching, their words so profound and their stories so impressive. Etel Adnan, who was born in Beirut in 1925, is one of them. Though she passed away in 2021, you can still feel close to her and her work at Kindl: the art center is dedicating an exhibition to her, presenting her work in interplay with that of her life partner Simone Fattal. The show “Voices without borders” is designed as a dialogue between the two women: a conversation that focuses not only on their experiences as artists in the Arab world, but more importantly on who they are as people. What connected them was language. Fattal, a ceramist born in Damascus in 1942, worked as a publisher, while Adnan, the grandiose painter and filmmaker, also wrote. After many years in California, Adnan returned to Lebanon in the seventies to work as a journalist for French newspapers. Here she met Fattal, twenty years her junior. The two become a couple, but with the start of the civil war they had to flee. In Paris, Adnan began translating her lived experiences into both a novel and poems, which Fattal published. Later, Adnan discovered leporellos for herself and, inspired by the Arabic tradition of calligraphy, slowly moved away from writing to signs. She transposed her luminous formal landscapes onto paper – but also onto canvas and tapestry. One recognizes basic natural forms in Adnan’s abstract paintings. There are mountains, clouds and suns, observed and experienced between California and France. These are the same forms that one finds in Fattal’s sculptural work. Thus, “Voices without borders” not only opens up spaces that are decidedly feminist and queer. It is an exhibition that tells – of life, of love and connection between two people.

Text: Laura Storfner / Credits: Simone Fattal, The Estate of Etel Adnan / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2023; Photo: Jens Ziehe

KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin-Neukölln; map

Etel Adnan & Simone Fattal: Voices without borders, until 01.01.2024
Wed 12–20h, Thu–Sun 12–18h

@kindlberlin

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