So I’m finally back from good old Belgium. We almost had a private flight back to Berlin, there were only 14 passengers in total. It was quite bumpy due to some thunderstorms over Germany, it was still 29° C when we walked over the tarmac of Tempelhof International. Maybe it was my last flight from Tempelhof, they plan to close it by October 31st 2008. A big mistake! It’s the best airport I know.
I also visited Hasselt where I saw ‘Bridge’ by Michael Cross at Z33.
The Bridge is a series of steps which rise up out of the water in front of you as you walk from one to the next, and then disappear back underneath behind you as you go, leaving you stranded with only one step visible in front of you, and one behind. The bridge ends in the middle of the water, where you find yourself totally isolated and cut off from the shore. You return the way you came. The mixed feelings of peace, isolation, relaxation and fear that the piece elicits are powerful. The project is on-going will ultimately lead to a permanent installation in a lake.
This is probably one of the weirdest art performances I have ever seen: Land Reform carousel.
Eight BMWs, the sponsor of the bb05, drive in a slow perfect circle on one of the lots of Skulpturenpark in Berlin. “This Land Is Your Land” plays on their radios. From outside, the song is heard as a melodic and muffled chorus. The circling cars create an image recalling a shiny auto display, a western wagon train, or an amusement carousel. Every few rounds the cars stop to pick-up and drop-off anyone who wants to go on its circular ride.
In Landreform, the banality of economic determinism drives in a circle around itself upon a ground which will soon be developed with luxury condos and office buildings. People are asked to join the ride. As sung by Guthrie, the land of Skulpturenpark is made for you and me.
Tonight was the opening DMY 2008, an annual design show in Berlin. Thanks to my buddy Watson I had the chance to go to the press preview of the DMY Youngsters exhibition. There were a lot of interesting and nice designs, so I start off with Mesdames Plissées by Petra Wüstling. There are 3 different models of the light object, you could describe it as a plissée skirt lampshade. The different layers and folds make it really interesting.
Today I finally had the time to visit the new adidas concept store No.74 in Berlin. Its name is quite self explanatory … its location is in the Torstrasse 74. At the moment they only have the adidas Y-3 spring summer collection, in May and June they will have selection of adidas Originals. From July on, they will have a wider product range with limited editions and special items related to Berlin. You may also expect a China like market shop interior in the coming months, hence the olympics. Definitely a new spot on my Berlin tour.
For those of you who want to come and visit Berlin there is this new website called berlin.unlike. You can find addresses of bars, shops, clubs, … etc, but also events; it’s an ongoing collection of course. You can add all this info to your own tour. It’s dead simple, you don’t have to register, you can start right away with adding the things you want to visit. Your tour will get it’s own unique id, you may not forget to bookmark it when you want to add anything later (go to your tour and click on settings on the right). You can share your tour with anyone and browse it on your mobile phone, hé it’s hooked up with google maps. Here is mine. Very neat!
The Hoffmann Collection (Sammlung Hoffmann) is a private modern art collection here in Berlin. Erika and Rolf Hoffmann started to collect art back in 1968; although she says that they didn’t decided to do so, it just happend over the years. They moved to East Berlin in 1995 and opened their private home to the public in 1997. The appartment is over 1800 m² and is spread over 3 floors in an old sewing-machine factory. The photo shows the living room, most rooms look more like a normal gallery though. You can visit a part of the collection by appointment on Saturdays.
