Im Fruehtau/pablos Birthday party

Arte Luise Kunsthotel

A Good Night's Rest inside a Work of Art!
Our hotel is often called a "gallery where you can spent the night" in one of the city's most exciting neighborhoods.

We are situated within view of the Reichstag building, the Spree river, Friedrichstraße, Unter den Linden, and the Brandenburg Gate. This is a historical area that has been recently attracting attention with top-flight architecture, both old and new, on both sides of the Spree. The most important trends in politics, culture, media, and science come together here.

Comprising a neo-classical residential palais from 1825 and an addition from 2003, the hotel offers almost 50 rooms, a generous lobby, and an art gallery for holding events.

Our single and double rooms and the suites are not only comfortable, but in the "bel-étage" of the old building they are decidedly expansive. The rooms have a shower or bathtub, TV, free wireless Internet, and-in the new building-even air-conditioning. In the tradition of the "Künstlerheim" we additionally offer a few simple, very favorably priced single and double rooms in the mansard.

All rooms were decorated by a renown artist, whereby the entire room was included in the concept. Thus, every room is an original, and all rooms are only united by the high artistic standards with which the concepts have been carried out. Sculptures in the lobby and philosophy in the stairwell accompany guests en route.

At the reception desk a young, competent team is at our guests´ disposal around the clock. Our in-house restaurant "Habel" offers lovingly prepared German-Mediterranean cuisine, which is also served on the broad terrace in the hotel courtyard in the summer.

This combination of a truly unique location, the inspired manifestation of enormously diverse artistic concepts, and the pleasant urbane atmosphere of our small hotel make a stay at the "Luise" an incomparable experience.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Fritz Club @ Postbahnhof

In Berlin mag es viele Konzertsäle geben – doch es gibt nur einen Fritzclub. Und wo sonst in der Stadt findet man eine Konzerthalle mit ICE-Anschluss?

Den hat nur der Fritzclub im Postbahnhof am Ostbahnhof. Hier sind unzählige Kilometer Kabel und Lüftungsrohre im Innern des denkmalgeschützten Gebäudes verlegt worden, hinzu kam eine Beschallung mit 2 Lautsprecheranlagen sowie eine Rundumbeleuchtung, mit der die Stars des Fritzclub in Szene gesetzt werden können. So nimmt der Club, der bei Bedarf 1200 Besuchern Platz bietet, seit seiner Fertigstellung eine führende Rolle im Berliner Nachtleben ein. Die beiden authentisch restaurierten Postverladehallen des Fritzclubs können separat oder, bei Bedarf, kombiniert genutzt werden.
Inmitten des weitläufigen Areals um den Postbahnhof erfreut auch der Sommergarten die Fans in der warmen Jahrszeit.

Fritzclub im Postbahnhof

Straße der Pariser Kommune 3-10
10243 Berlin
Deutschland

Fon: + 49 (0) 30 - 698 128 0

S-Bahn: S3, S5, S7, S9, S75
Bus: 140, 147, 240, 347, N44

Martin Dammann @ Barbara Tumm

Martin Dammann has mostly been known for his large format watercolours on paper as well as his video works.

A key source for his work often derives from TV or video footage as well as from war imagery or historical archives.

In his new body of work, Dammann combines watercolours and high-resolution reproductions of aerial reconnaisance photographs of the II. World War.

11.11.2006 - 13.01.2007
Op
ening reception Friday, November 10, 7 - 9 pm

Yang Shaobin @ Alexander Ochs

Yang Shaobins works are provocative. They touch the spectator and don’t allow him to remain indifferent towards what is shown to him. Why is that so? What is so agitating, so exciting about his paintings?

Everybody may understand at first sight, that certain illustrations probably can’t be displayed within an ecclesiastic frame.

Hence it was finally not possible to show Yang Shaobins works to the “Ten Commandments” within the space they were actually created for – the church of St. Matthäus in Berlin. The paintings are now exhibited in the rooms of Alexander Ochs’ Berlin gallery for the first time.

No doubt: Yang Shaobins works are provocative. And yet his paintings ultimately reflect exactly what can be seen on the television screens in living rooms throughout the world, day by day. Pictures of violence. Injustice. Frailty. Cruelty. Pornography.

Yet, in the context of art, all of this admittedly gains a special meaning – and becomes a challenge for the spectator.

Yang Shaobin likes to show us the less stunning sides of human behaviour. Unvarnished. We are confronted with our own fallibility. Our vulnerability. This is precisely what constitutes the tremendous provocation, but also the power of his paintings.

The artist works on the substructure of familiar images. We can perceive short-takes from television reports, newscast, but also pornographic scenes. Their original context remains perceptible and gives them a semi-documentary character, at the same time exposing them as products of an artificially created, virtual reality.

In the context of art – and even more so in a churchly sphere – these images initiate something in the spectator, that he arguably wouldn’t have experienced in the same way within his own living-room.

In his early works Yang Shaobin already frequently mediated a feeling of uncertainty and of harassment that he consequently also takes up and makes noticeable in his very personal, artistic interpretation of the Ten Commandments.

Reverting to videostills of television-pictures he shows us human beings in all their fragility and weekness (Untitled 2). In addition, a feeling of loss and precariousness is communicated to the observer in the fact, that the artist deprives him of any image-titles which might serve as an orientation guide. It is up to the spectator to decipher which specific commandment may have served as reference point for each and every image.

Diana Dodson & Reto Leibundgut @ Schmidt Galerie

Vernissage: Freitag, 19. Januar 2007, 19 - 22 Uhr

LOPATA präsentiert „Perisphäre“

Installation

20. Januar - 17. Februar 2007

kuratiert von Elke Kania, Kunstwissenschaftlerin M.A., Köln

Die Schweizerischen Künstler Diana Dodson (*1963) und Reto Leibundgut (*1966) arbeiten in der Ausstellung PERISPHÄRE als Künstlerduo zusammen, beide Künstler sind jedoch auch eigenständig tätig und in der Schweiz und im angrenzendem Ausland präsent. Reto Leibundgut thematisiert in seinen Installationen und Objekten immer wieder die Welt des Wohnens, in dem er Mobiliar/Einrichtungsgegenstände wie Teppiche, Wandverkleidungen oder Ledersofas neu zusammensetzt und mit ungeahnter Aussage füllt. Auch Diana Dodsons Installationen durchzieht die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema der Idylle - symbolisiert z. B. in der typischen 'Rustico'-Möblierung schweizerischer Berg-Chalets - deren "Look" sie aufgreift um ihn gleichzeitig subtil zu unterwandern. Nach dem Wohninterieur wird hier der Blick zum häuslichen Auenbereich gelenkt. Die titelgebende Wortschöpfung PERISPHÄRE setzt sich gleichermaen aus den Begriffen "Privatsphäre" und "peripher" zusammen: Im Fokus des Interesses liegt nun jener unbedeutende Bereich um das eigene Häuschen, der "Umraum" (um nicht zu sagen: Un-Raum), der das private Idyll schützend umgibt: die Veranda, der Hausvorsprung oder der Vorgarten - traditionell gerne begrenzt vom gutbürgerlichen Jägerzaun. Die meisten der gezeigten Installationen und Arbeiten entstehen für die Ausstellung in situ: So stellt eine scherenschnittartige Wandzeichnung aus Holzlaminat eine "Berankung" dar und ein überlanger Jägerzaun windet sich mäanderhaft durch die Berliner Galerieräume auf der Suche nach der "Homezone" (Dodson), vorbei an einer ästhetischen Schindelwand aus gesammelten Kartonboxen alkoholischer Getränke (Leibundgut). In den Gemälden Zaungäste I und II (2006) von Dodson steht ein Polizist in Rückenansicht verträumt vor einem Zaun inmitten romantischer Landschaft, und ein Hochsitz am Waldrand mit merkwürdiger Umzäunung weckt Assoziationen zu Grenzposten. Die Ambivalenz der Inhalte in Kombination mit der malerischen Ästhetik hinterlassen eine Stimmung der Verunsicherung. PERISPHÄRE untersucht die Ambivalenz der Idylle, befragt ihre Handwerklichkeit und ihre Ästhetik, forscht nach dem Installativen im vertrauten Umraum und lotet zugleich bürgerliche Vorstellungen aus, die mitunter mit pointiert-erotischen Anspielungen durchsetzt werden.

Kuratiert wurde die Ausstellung PERISPHÄRE von der Kunstwissenschaftlerin Elke Kania aus Köln. Schon vor ihrer Tätigkeit am Museum Franz Gertsch in Burgdorf bei Bern hat sie sich im Rheinland mit kontinuierlichen Ausstellungen unter dem Namen LOPATA etabliert. Zentral im Ausstellungskonzept LOPATA, begründet in ihrer damaligen Wohnung im 18. Stock des Kölner Ringturm-Hochhauses, ist die persönliche Beziehung zwischen Ausstellungsmacherin und KünstlerIn, wie die persönliche/private Ebene an sich. Auf Einladung der Schmidt Galerie präsentiert LOPATA die beiden Schweizer Künstler Diana Dodson und Reto Leibundgut in einer gemeinsamen Schau in Berlin.
Diana Dodson lebt und arbeitet in Bern (CH); Reto Leibundgut lebt und arbeitet in Thun (CH).

Elke Kania/LOPATA, im Dezember 2006

design by accident, Dover Publications, Inc., NY, 1968 @ Croy Nielsen

Tobias Buche, Ernst Caramelle, Raphael Danke, Ceal Floyer, Karl Holmquist, Dani Jakob, Marie Jager, Alice Könitz, Maria Pask, Daniel Roth, Michael Stevenson, Josef Strau, Danh Vo, Klaus Weber, Claudia Wieser, Christine Würmell

Opening: Friday January 19, 7 - 9 pm
Januray 20 - February 17 2007
Thursday - Saturday 4 - 7 pm
or by appointment : tel. +49 (0) 30 28093696 / mail@croynielsen.de

The exhibition is based on the book 'design by accident' that was published in 1968. An exemplary of the book was sent to each of the participating artists. How they used it for a contribution to the exhibition remained totally open.

The intention of this book is to examine natural forms occurring in ACCIDENTAL EFFECTS that are produced not by the artist, but by elemental forces at work on the pigments - very much like the accidental effects produced at the seashore by the action of gravity, heat, cold, waves, and the action of wind on water, sand, mud, and rocks. (...) In the act of making the various designs and shapes shown in this book, the artist cannot but be impressed by their universal, all-permeating character, how they occur throughout the natural world in completely unrelated living organisms, as well as in inanimate things. Another fact also becomes apparent: No matter how the artist tries to escape from images of real things, the human mind seems to insist on trying to see realistic images in designs that are themselves an attempt to flee realism.
(James F. O'Brian)

RAMONES MUSEUM BERLIN

The Ramones were a pretty cool band. They sounded great, looked good and played fast. When they blitzed you, you were hooked. The Ramones lastet 22 years, they released 14 studio albums and they never had a hit. But to a lot of people, The Ramones meant everything. Ramones Museum Berlin displays more than 300 unique and original Ramones-items from 1975 to 1996, all placed in chronological order. From unpublished photographs to signed posters, promo-gimmicks, setlists and tons of original tour-shirts - Ramones Museum Berlin is a treasure island for every Ramones fanatic.

Rocco Forte's Hotel de Rome

Rocco Forte's Hotel de Rome opened in the heart of Berlin in October 2006.

Hotel de Rome is located on Bebelplatz, off Unter den Linden. It is a conversion of an existing building constructed in 1889 by architect Ludwig Heim (appointed master builder of the government), which housed the head office of Dresdner Bank until 1945. This is one of the few luxury hotels in Berlin located in an original building making use of its full architectural splendour and thereby offering guests an authentic Berlin experience.

The ornate and classical design of the original building has been given a contemporary twist by designer Tommaso Ziffer, who also designed the Hotel de Russie in Rome. Tommaso Ziffer has been assisted by architects Aukett + Heese with Olga Polizzi and her design team at Rocco Forte Hotels.

Hotel de Rome in Berlin has 146 large bedrooms including 72 classic rooms, 29 deluxe rooms, 32 junior suites, nine executive suites, three deluxe suites and a 105m2 presidential suite. Most of the rooms have high ceilings and classical proportions. The presidential suite at Hotel de Rome has a full-length terrace which overlooks Bebelplatz. Most bathrooms have separate walk-in showers and mosaic marble detailing above double ended baths.

The restaurant seats 120 and looks onto a large external terrace which will be used for al fresco dining during the summer months. Our chefs offer a cuisine based on traditional Mediterranean cooking. The bar has a contemporary feel. It features a long bar overlooking Bebelplatz and a colonnaded area with an original mosaic floor. The Opera Court is a grand room with its original glazed ceiling. It is the focal point for coffee and afternoon tea.

The impressive ballroom has a double-height ceiling with a glazed roof and accommodates receptions for up to 250 people. Hotel de Rome in Berlin has five meeting rooms and can accommodate up to 160 people. All have natural light, are equipped with the latest technology, and can be accessed via a separate entrance. The Spa has a plunge pool, steam, sauna and relaxation area, and a fully-equipped gym. The original vault of the bank has become a 20 metre swimming pool. A range of therapies and health and beauty treatments are provided in the six treatment rooms.

Mogadishni @ Artnews Projects

Artnews Projects
presents
MOGADISHNI

From Denmark to Berlin
Exhibition: 12 January – 17 February 2007
Opening: 12 January, Friday, 7-10 pm

Artists: Andreas Schulenburg (D/DK), Benny Dröscher (DK), Fie Norsker (DK), Jacob Tækker (DK), Julie Nord (DK), Lise Blomberg (DK), Randi & Katrine (DK), Rasmus Bjørn (DK) and Trine Boesen (DK)

Curated by Christian Chapelle

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

MOGADISHNI is a Danish based art gallery focusing on young Danish and international contemporary art. The gallery was founded by Christian Chapelle in 2000, starting out as a non-commercial exhibition space under the name The Leisure Club MOGADISHNI, and continuing as only MOGADISHNI when the gallery was commercialized in 2001. MOGADISHNI has played the principal part in placing Valby on the cultural map of Copenhagen by being the first gallery to move into an old, empty industrial building on Carl Jacobsens Vej. The complex today houses 7 contemporary art galleries. In addition, MOGADISHNI has recently opened yet another exhibition space in Aarhus, hereby dividing the gallery into MOGADISHNI CPH and MOGADISHNI AAR.

At Artnews Projects MOGADISHNI will be exhibiting Danish Contemporary Art, represented by works of MOGADISHNI artists: Andreas Schulenburg (D/DK), Benny Dröscher (DK), Fie Norsker (DK), Jacob Tækker (DK), Julie Nord (DK), Lise Blomberg (DK), Randi & Katrine (DK), Rasmus Bjørn (DK) and Trine Boesen (DK).

In spite of quite different expressions, these artists form part of a strong wave of the Danish contemporary art scene in the way that they focus on figurative, narrative, fantasy-based realities - often with a sense of humor. A clear common denominator is that the artists tease the viewer´s immediate perception by depicting seemingly recognizable realms, which on closer inspection reveal that nothing is as it seems.

An example of this sort of twisted reality is Julie Nord (DK), who through her detailed, figurative drawings mimics traditionally-girly, fairytale illustrations. Looking closer her drawings reveal disturbing and queer motifs, that twist the otherwise well known genre.

Rasmus Bjørn (DK), on the other hand, takes his subject matters from a traditional masculine realm, but also leaves the viewer expecting a certain universe and realm to develop, only to soften this.

German born Andreas Schulenburg (D/DK) has always had a sharp eye on the Danish way of living, spotting inherent clichés, practices and prejudices. He is known for commenting on society’s habitual thinking with a large amount of humor, often using felt - a material not traditionally connected with fine art.

Randi & Katrine (DK) transform tourist merchandise, usually considered kitsch objects, into remarkable souvenir collector’s items, thereby elaborating on the contrast of mass production and originality.

Fie Norsker (DK) deconstructs classical landscape painting by integrating kitsch low-status and otherwise unexpected elements when creating her landscapes.

Trine Boesen (DK) ‘constructs’ detailed, narrative compositions with margins filled with collages of tales and symbols of contemporary life, while the eye can rest in the uncolored center of her paintings.

Jacob Tækker (DK) works with video installations, always using himself as the performer, focusing on different aspects of being, such as the human search for identity, emotional conditions and the routines of everyday lives.

Lise Blomberg (DK) opens up to a surreal world in which the forest is often displayed as a scene for mystery and magic, where hybrids of people and animals are hidden as in a subconscious space of remembrance.

Benny Dröscher (DK) is also inspired by the mystique of nature and the forest, which in his universe is dissolved in chaos by a dynamic centrifugal force, yet retaining a compositional harmony and order.

Artnews Projects is the experimental space of the internet platform Artnews.info. It introduces a range of young positions from other cities and countires, who are invited to present their work in Berlin. The exhibition program focuses on diverse cutting-edge practices that are estranged from their usual context and set up in a new enviroment.

Artnews Projects and MOGADISHNI welcome You in the gallery!

Artnews Projects
Brunnenstr. 190
D-10119 Berlin

tel: +49 30 27907810
email: projects@artnews.info
http://www.artnews.info/projects

© Image by Randi & Katrine
Fabricated Garden, installation view at MOGADISHNI, Copenhagen, 2005

www.mogadishni.com

Stephan Balleux + David Leleu @ Beat Galerie

Der Schlaf der Vernunft gebärt Träume / The Sleep of Reason
produces Dreams is an exhibition project that, for the very first time
in Berlin, proposes the meeting between Stephan Balleux (1974°,
Belgium) and David Leleu (1973°, France), two young painters
coming from the Brussels art scene. Borrowing its name from the
title of one of Francesco de Goya’s famous print, which it diverts,
the exhibition »Der Schlaf der Vernunft gebärt Träume« proceeds
into the visual/perceptible field, as well as into the intellectual one.
Through the strong and, at once dreamlike and ambiguous potential
of the presented images, this exhibition absorbs the viewers’ gazes
and minds into a visual experience taking them beyond the boundary
of irrationality, and therefore sinks the spectator into his own inner
mental universe. Very different in regard to the final appearance of
their artworks, Stephan Balleux and David Leleu however share
the same interest for the notion of image, notion that both of them are
exploring through the contemporary modes of its visuality. If painting
constitutes at once for both artists, the starting and the finishing point
of their artistic researches, nevertheless those one find an extension
to drawing, as well as to video.
On the one hand, the Stephan Balleux’s artworks testify of a perfectly
mastered pictorial technique, which makes us plunge us into the
very baroque environment of a mazing visuality, deploying itself until
hyperrealism borders. His work thus makes light of the uninterrupted
presence of the virtual and digital pictures that are so typical from
our contemporary visual culture. Resulting from a traditional process,
the genesis of his pictures is elaborated through successive stages,
leading reciprocally from object to photography, then from photography
to drawing, painting or even to three dimensions video. Hostile to any
set points, Stephan Balleux’s pictures represent many crossing paths
and meeting points between all of those techniques. Showing a great
amount of naïve and Pop sensitivity, David Leleu’s pictures draw
their primary material from every registers of pictures, as for example
mass medias, advertisement or the Internet, and therefore recombine
and mix them with the fields of playful and privacy. His work therefore
gives to these impersonal and »cold« pictures a human sensibility,
and provides them with authentic pictorial and poetic workmanship.
By having recourse, and on the contrary of Stephan Balleux, to very
small, or even tiny formats in the case of his drawings, David Leleu’s
paintings are as many pieces of jewellery, set with thousands details
that invite the viewer’s eye to lose itself into the depth of the tangled
visual levels that constitute these recomposed pictures.

8MM BAR BERLIN

SO. 14.1 ICELANDIC NIGHT OF HORRORS
MO. 15.1 PAUL POWERS [POWERS]
DI. 16.1 THE SOUND OF CONFUSION WITH ICELAND SIMON
DO. 18.1 ELECTRIC BARBARELLA - INDIE
FR. 19.1 HANDSOME YANN - GARAGE, PUNK
SA. 20.1 OLLI 8MM
MO. 22.1 TBA
DI. 23.1 SOUND OF CONFUSION ** HAIRCUTS BY MEG
DO. 25.1 NEWCLEUS - POSTPUNK, GARAGE
FR. 26.1 NAUGHTY NADINEL
SA. 27.1 SNAKEFINGER
MO. 29.1 PAUL POWERS [POWERS]
DO. 1.1 ELAINE UND IHRE SCHWESTERN - 60'S SOUL, BEAT, INDIE
FR. 2.2 GOLBI SURROUND
SA. 3.2 NIC SLEAZY
DO. 8.2 NEWCLEUS - POSTPUNK, GARAGE
FR. 9.2 JOE DILWORTH - SOUTHERN BOOGIE, HEAVY FREAKOUT ROCK'N ROLL

OPEN EVERYDAY, USUALLY
CA. 21.30

The Red/ VIP/ Billiard/ Franz Ferdinand Room is available for rent. write us for more

CLUBS > Bassy Club (Private Cowboy Club)

Philosophie

ein cowboy gibt nicht auf.
ein cowboy wird erschossen.
ein cowboy wird von einer frau besiegt.
ein cowboy zieht einfach weiter.
ein cowboy wird vom goldrausch gepackt.
oder vom diamantenfieber.
ein cowboy findet sein glück.
ein cowboy verspielt sein glück.
ein cowboy ist immer einsam.
aber ein cowboy gibt nie auf! nie! nie! nie!

(k.bender der ältere)

wer sich anständig kleidet mit stil und geschmack hat bessere chancen bei uns einlaß zu finden ....
schließlich geben auch wir uns mühe mit allem....
Hartz 4 look mit schlabber t-shirt und oller hose sind Döner kleider ..
Anzug/Bart/Hut/Tolle/tatoo/Koteletten/Rocker/Punk/Teddyboy/Mod/
Cowboy/Kleid/ Pelz /halbnackt/mit falschem Bart (die damen)/
haarigebrust und porno brille (die Herren)/glitter/glamour/Gangster/
Zuhälter/als Hase verkleidet/mit dicker Hornbrille/riesen Plateau Schuhe/Mini/Petticoat/Bikini/im Weltkriegsoveral/

etc. es gibt so vieles was nett anzusehen ist.....

CLUBS > Rio Berlin

SAMSTAG, 13.01.2007
Chaussee-Straße 106
Ab 23.00 Uhr bis ??

RIO - Verein der Freunde und Förderer zeitbasierter Medienkunst in
metropolitanen Grossräumen - freut sich gut im Jahr 2007 angekommen zu sein
und lädt Euch ein, Teile der super erfolgreichen RIO-Ausstellung in der Galerie
Artnews Projects nun bei uns zu sehen. Wir haben ein paar Arbeiten vor dem
Ausverkauf retten können und in unsere heilige Ausstellungshalle gebracht.
Wer es also bisher versäumt hatte, kann es nun bei uns nachholen:
RIO LOVES ART!
Für das musikalische Rahmenprogramm sorgen folgende Musiker und Künstler!

Live:
- SERVICES (ATOC Records/ New York)

DJs:
- A TOUCH OF CLASS (ATOC Records/ New York)
- JACK TENNIS (Commercial Breakup/ Chips/ Rio/ Berlin)

- THE TEENAGERS (S.L.U. Records/ London/ Paris)
- TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART (Rio/ Chanel/ Berlin)

- Show: VLADIMIR KARALEEV (Rio/Chanel/ Berlin)

Berlin Interactive,Searchable Map

CLUBS > White Trash Fast Food

Helmut Newton Shop

CLUBS > Bangaluu Dinnerclub

THE BERLINPAPER.COM: Just skirting the line between trashy and respectable, Bangaluu Dinnerclub is a toss up. The place offers a varying program: male strippers for women, poll-dancing lady strippers for men, gay parties, and PR events. While we like the idea of trying something new in Berlin, and while the food and drinks are very good, the question remains: should Berlin really be reliving the late 1990’s NYC/London bed restaurant craze?

WALLPAPER.COM: There was a time when the Berlin club scene was favoured for its grungy edginess and derelict dives, but the backlash has arrived. Tired of sitting on beer crates drinking warm beer out of bottles, ‘New Berliners’ want decadent, they want pristine and they want somewhere to flash their smart togs without snagging them on a rusty nail. Mitte’s new dinner club ‘Bangaluu’ is just the ticket for clean freaks on a night out: white carpets, upholstery, curtains and walls reflect the current penchant for snowy hues. 10-course set menus start at 8pm sharp with dainty portions to avoid the danger of soup on the suit, and there’s a smoking ban too. The theme is not new: a blend of lounge, dance and reclining dining – think Supperclub in Amsterdam meets Nektar in Munich with décor a la Hillside Su in Anatalya and you’ll have the mix – but it’s tastefully done, especially the private VIP restaurant upstairs. No more dirty habits and no more grubby clubbers, what ever is Berlin coming to?

PHOTOGRAPHY > Reconstruction by Brian Rose

HOTELS > The Ritz-Carlton Berlin

BLOGS > Five-star Berlin

Berlin is broke. The city's economy is in trouble. But the one business that does appear to be prospering is tourism with five-star hotels falling over themselves to set up shop in the German capital. Clive Freeman tells us why.

GIGS COMING UP IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Newton - Nachtwey - La Chapelle: Men, War and Peace

Museum für Fotografie, Helmut-Newton-Stiftung

3 December 2006 - 20 May 2007

Newton - Nachtwey - La Chapelle: Men, War and Peace

The exhibition "Men, War & Peace" is presented in three parts with Newton’s portraits being shown against a broad selection of works by two internationally renowned photographers.

With his flamboyant rush of images, the American fashion and lifestyle photographer David LaChapelle has been portraying a hedonistic society for more than a decade now. He creates shrilly colourful, ironic and sometimes provocative pictures of the US dream machine. In stark contrast to this, the American war photographer James Nachtwey, with his arousing and shocking series of pictures from the crisis regions of today, makes a plea to our morality; he manages to instill into the photographic image that which is existential in our human existence. The third part of the exhibition is made up of a selection of portraits of men by Helmut Newton. Newton was not only known for portraying women, but also for his photographs of men, characters as different as Heinz Berggruen and Klaus Kinski, Kurt Waldheim and John Malkovich, the Rolling Stones or Helmut Kohl.

Presented by:

Museum for Photography
Helmut Newton Foundation

Simon Starling @ NEUGERRIEMSCHNEIDER

ARTFORUM.COM: In a milieu of quiet Conceptualism, of thoughtful works in spaces so silent that whispering is par for the course, Simon Starling’s latest show heralds a booming departure. A mind-twisting work titled after its fabricator, Wilhelm Noack oHG, 2006, is both film projector and film projection. That is, the film projector itself is a strange work of art conceived of by Starling and produced by the Noack family firm, while the film is a four-minute history of the machine’s maker and makings. It's dark and loud; the clangs and bangs of industry pierce the room, the bass note simply the mechanic purr of the oversize projector, itself a spiraling staircase, shiny and new (very possibly a machine rendered following a mental rendezvous with László Moholy-Nagy and Jean Tinguely). And though the black-and-white film bears nostalgic overtones, it never becomes maudlin. Here, Starling’s abiding fascination with rebuilding what has already been built reflects a Real that goes beyond the ethereality of a virtual production line. If Fischli & Weiss’s Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go), 1987, is a revival of child’s play (two boys left alone with matches), then Starling’s latest production is an adult homage to the aesthetics of the “hard” in a hard-drive technological montage.

Hermann Nitsch @ MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU

ARTFORUM.COM: It's no wonder that Christoph Schlingensief, current enfant terrible of epic theater à la Wagner-era Bayreuth, recently published an apologia for Hermann Nitsch. For a younger generation of artists—Jonathan Meese is another example—performance, particularly Viennese Actionism, has had a revival in the last decade. Nitsch, one of the movement’s principle protagonists, is now being honored with a retrospective at this museum, organized by Berlin’s Nationalgalerie. One of his more infamous concepts is the cathartic, transgressive “Orgien Mysterien Theater” (a mixture of Dionysian/Bacchanalian traditions and medieval performances), an ongoing project he began in 1962. The actions are now an annual occurrence, with large numbers of participants (or, more precisely, actors) at prominent locations like Vienna’s Burgtheater and Nitsch's own castle, Schloss Prinzendorf. “Orgien Mysterien Theater” stringently follows a complex choreography, aiming to produce a Gesamtkunstwerk of intertwined objects, performance, and music. Though some huge paintings on canvas bear resemblance to post–World War II abstract styles like tachism and art informel, the drips and stains are less concerned with aesthetic originality than with the introduction of random elements and an indexicality of actions like spilling and pouring. Red materializes through (animal) blood, as well as paint. This large-scale exhibition, spread over eighteen rooms, is a multifaceted synopsis of Nitsch's work with rich, sacral fabrics and colorful flowers. (Most exceptional are the photo, video, and film documentations of early actions.) In some rooms I could almost smell Catholic incense.