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TRAVELING THROUGH THE DESERT: A VISIT TO CHRISTOPH NIEMANN’S STUDIO

TRAVELING THROUGH THE DESERT: A VISIT TO CHRISTOPH NIEMANN’S STUDIO

Still no vacation in sight, but you’re itching for a trip somewhere new? Then let Christoph Niemann send you to the desert. The Berlin-based illustrator and artist – known for his illustrative work for Zeit Magazin and the New Yorker, among others – invites you along for an exhibition featuring his travel sketches. He has been on the road in the California desert and in places many of us know but may not have visited: Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley – to give just three names that instantly spark an absolute wanderlust in me. But sometimes the mental image of a place is almost better than the reality. And every now and then, someone else’s image of that very place – in this case Christoph Niemann’s view of the California landscape – is better than any pale memory: namely, luminous, fleeting, and delightfully out-of-focus in watercolor aesthetics. So, if you’re ready for a little trip to the west coast, head to Mitte – and if you want to bring a souvenir home: his pop-up store is right next door and features his books and prints for sale. Happy Traveling!

Text: Nina Trippel / Credit: Christoph Niemann 2023

Studio Christoph Niemann, Schröderstr.2, 10115 Berlin–Mitte; map
01.–02.06.2023 16–19h & Sa 11–18h. The pop-up store is right next door.

@studiochristophniemann

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DISCOVER UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES & BERLIN MODERNIST HOUSING ESTATES ON GUIDED TOURS

DISCOVER UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES & BERLIN MODERNIST HOUSING ESTATES ON GUIDED TOURS

Did you know that there are eight sites in Berlin that have UNESCO World Heritage status? There’s Museum Island and the Prussian Palaces and Parks, but also six modernist housing estates which have held the distinction for over a decade. The housing estates were built between 1913 and 1934 to alleviate severe housing shortages. Star architects Bruno Taut, Walter Gropius and Hans Scharoun (architect of the Berlin Philharmonic) rapidly realized new urban models offering affordable and modern housing with lots of light, air and sun with beautifully blooming gardens and green parks. The idea: offer an alternative to Berlin’s old buildings with dark courtyards and toilets in the stairwells. The housing estates – Hufeisensiedlung in Britz, Gartenstadt FalkenbergWohnstadt Carl Legien in Prenzlauer Berg and the Waldsiedlung Zehlendor – are still sought-after residential properties today, and not only for architects and designers. This includes the author Ben Buschfeld, who himself lives in the Hufeisensiedlung (architect: Bruno Taut) in Britz and runs the ‘Taut’s Home‘ museum there.

Taut’s house can be rented and is preserved in its original condition. This weekend, Buschfeld, who works as an architectural mediator and expert on 1920s architecture, is offering guided tours of the four of the six housing estates. These are considered Berlin’s most important contribution to international architectural history, both politically and in terms of design. They offered groundbreaking housing solutions for Berlin and provided answers to the highly topical questions of how we want to live and what politics can do for people. A worthwhile architectural walk with a lasting impact.

Text: Milena Kalojanov / Photos: Ben Buschfeld

Guided tours with Ben Buschfeld:
Hufeisensiedlung Britz (02.06.) from 17h
Gartenstadt Falkenberg (02.06.) from 10h30
Wohnstadt Karl Legien (03.06.) from 15h
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf (04.06.) from 10h30

You can register for a tour by emailing tours@buschfeld.com. Minimum number of ten participants. You can find more information here and here.

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BY NATURE: JULIUS VON BISMARCK AT THE BERLINISCHE GALERIE

BY NATURE: JULIUS VON BISMARCK AT THE BERLINISCHE GALERIE

The reciprocal relationship between man and nature has always preoccupied the artist Julius von Bismarck. In his new exhibition, with which the Berlinische Galerie reopens today after a three-month closure for renovation work, he combines his studies of nature with biographical questions for the first time: an oversized cloth with drawings of a water surface leads visitors into the show. It shows the so-called Bismarck Sea in the Pacific Ocean and symbolizes the wide circles Bismarck’s family history draws in the German colonial past. Climate change and its consequences are also omnipresent in the work. His new series “I like the flowers” deals with the colonial practice of the herbarium, in which dried, pressed plants define the space as sculpture. The work is reminiscent of houseplants with which we decorate our homes. It is also to be understood as a commentary on the exoticizing representation with which some places in this world are stylized into places of longing.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a life-size giraffe and a scaled-down version of Bremen’s equestrian statue of Otto von Bismarck. Like the children’s toy of the spinning figurine, both figures are composed of individual limbs that allow the figures to collapse in on themselves and rise up again. All of the works are thus connected by the question of how man deals with nature, and which plants, animals and parts of the earth he considers worth protecting and which he does not. With his exhibition, Bismarck provides us with refreshing food for thought, allowing us to take a critical look at the Anthropocene without lecturing – always aware that in the end it is nature that has the upper hand.

Text: Laura Storfner / Credit: Julius von Bismarck; alexander levy, Berlin, and Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124-128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map

Julius von Bismarck: When Platitudes Become Form” 26.05.–14.08.2023 Wed–Mon 10–18h. Admission 10 Euro/6 Euro reduced.

@berlinischegalerie

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THE WHOLE WORLD IN THE TIERGARTEN — THE HKW CELEBRATES ITS REOPENING

THE WHOLE WORLD IN THE TIERGARTEN — THE HKW CELEBRATES ITS REOPENING

June is the time when everything feels brand-new. And, accordingly, the HKW – the Haus der Kulturen der Welt – celebrates its reopening (02.-04.06.2023) with “Acts of Opening again” (just in time for the turn of the year of the Yoruba calendar). The new artistic director and chief curator, Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, former founder and artistic director of Savvy Contemporary, will give the opening address to launch the weekend and the new exhibition “O Quilombismo”. Although the term “exhibition” probably doesn’t do the project justice at all. “Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies” is the subtitle of the event/s, which in addition to the group show also includes a publication, a research project, workshops and performances. Here’s what’s shaping up for the weekend: Performances of all kinds! Participatory, sound-based and installation-based – there will be cookingconcerts and DJ sets. There will be guided tours of the exhibition, screenings, keynotes, book launches, children’s disco and walks. Visitors are invited to participate in all kinds of programs. Literally. Admission is free for the entire weekend (however, due to capacity constraints, advance registration is requested). In addition, visitors are encouraged to contribute to a joint show with creative gestures from all genres. Everything is new in June. The preview of everything that will germinate, grow and blossom in the new HKW tastes fresh, big, open and very worldly.

Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Roque Boa Marte, Heather Mull / Credit: Carol Barreto, Vanessa German & Diana Ejaita

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin–Tiergarten; map

Opening 02.06.2023 beginning at 16h. Admission is free the entire weekend.

@hkw_berlin

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TWO HARD HEARTS FOR ART — THE GROUP EXHIBITION “HARD HEART” BY SPOILER AKTIONSRAUM AT THE GRAPHISCHES ZENTRUM

TWO HARD HEARTS FOR ART — THE GROUP EXHIBITION “HARD HEART” BY SPOILER AKTIONSRAUM AT THE GRAPHISCHES ZENTRUM

The Spoiler Room is known for many things, including: high-quality group exhibitions and catchy performances, but also its unusual architecture, penchant for poppy graphic design, and – oh well – its location in Moabit. From May 26 to 29, 2023, the exhibition “Hard Heart” will be on display in the beautiful low-rise building, the Graphisches Zentrum, at Besselpark, right next to Akkurat Café (and our new, sweet offices). Friday evening (26.05.2023) starts at 19h with a performance by FMKF, and from 20h the opening begins, supplemented by music and celebration from 22-00h: as we may know, both guest hosts are good at that, too. The exhibition is open the whole weekend from 14-18h, including Pfingstmontag and a second performance on Sunday evening. The list of participating artists is long, including names like Anat Homm, Lulu McDonal, Lena-Elise Aicher, Daniel Hölzl and Björn Streeck. Incidentally, tickets are required for both performances. You can get them here or directly at the door.

Text: Hilka Dirks / Photos: Lukas Städler / Credit: FMKF, Spoiler 

Graphisches Zentrum, Besserst.13, Berlin–Kreuzberg; map

Hard Hearts 26.–29.05.2023. Opening 26.05. beginning at 20h. Performances on 26. & 28.05. at 19h. Exhibition 27.–29.05. 14h–18h.

@spoiler.zone
@frankamarlenefoth 
@akkurat.cafe

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