Volokhova studio revisited, Berlin
Some finished pieces in a series called Dolci Lacrime.
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Working on a new piece.
Mould for the top section.
Making the mould for the ‘handle’.
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Flying gardens, Berlin
Cloud Cities, Tomas Saraceno, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, 15 September 2011 – 15 January 2012.
As evocative as this vision of the future is, another exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof—from the past—comes closer to my heart: the mainly early 70s video art from the Mike Steiner Collection called Live to Tape. There’s the totally engrossing documentation of an art theft, There is a Criminal Touch to Art, 1976, and, Made in New York, 1973, a hilarious film about catching alligators in New York’s sewers.
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GDR design, Berlin
I talked to Günter Höhne — a cultural journalist, writer and historian on East German design from the GDR years — and saw a small part of his large private collection.
Definitely something I need to know more about. First impressions are that much of it is well-made, robust, designed to be repaired instead of thrown away, and made with careful use of resources. It also has to be said… a lot of it is very beautiful!
More soon.
See the industrieform-ddr website.
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Garden, Berlin
I visited a neighbourhood garden in Berlin-Kreuzberg called the Prinzessinnen Gärten (Princess Garden). It was wasteland for 50 years until 2 people started it in 2009. There’s a restaurant in it. This was a rainy morning before lunch. Although almost deserted then, it’s well used. I’m going back for lunch some time soon. I love the feel of it. What Derek Jarman said of his own garden: shaggy. They have a good website with a video that has English subtitles.
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Closed bar, Berlin
Something attracted me about the interior of this small bar on Karl-Marx-Allee —presumably closed for Sunday. No idea of its history: Kosmetik Salon Babette?
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xBerlin Haushoch, Berlin
Through the Goethe Institute in Sydney I discovered a magazine called Berlin Haushoch, designed, edited, photographed and largely written by three people: Ana Lessing, Alexandra Bald and Esra Rotthoff.
Each issue covers the people and daily life of one district of Berlin and takes a year to produce.
While all good editors become immersed in their material, the people from Berlin Haushoch go several steps further: they set up their studio in the part of the city they want the issue to cover and work there for a year.
They told me that the name is untranslatable but I haven’t given up yet! House high? Highly? Decisively?..
More—in more depth—on Berlin Haushoch soon.
Issue 3 on Charlottenburg.
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Ideas for better cities, Berlin
Lots to think about a brilliant practice working on the edge of architecture and using public space as a laboratory to discover possibilities.
Love their building and its location on a canal off the River Spree. Also the method of entry. If the orange door was locked the instructions were to phone. So I did, and someone appeared at the top floor window saying, ‘I’m going to throw you a rabbit’. The fluffy bunny had the key in its butt.
To be revisited soon.