Good Friday

Spring has been peaking around the corners, with buds on the trees and blossoms on bushes, but winter has been holding out. We have had a strange, cold, week of rain and snow...frequently at the same time. Today there was sleet and hail, but a few days ago snow fell like big fluffy cotton balls. The ground too warm for it to stick but it was a beautiful sight to see.



-----

Last Thursday, we went and checked out the new exhibition at Daimler Contemporary Art, Classic: Modern II. Again, insightful to the history of modern art in Germany. It was a show of post-war abstraction focused on Germany and specifically the Kunstakadamie in Stuttgart during the 40's and 50's. There were even a couple of videos by Willi Baumeister, a teacher of great influence at the school. He made videos that were shown like news reels, before the feature movie in major theaters. These videos meant to educate the public about this (then) new development of 'abstract art'.



-----


more fakeytecture

------


"View in 1986 from the west side of graffiti art on the wall's infamous 'death strip'" from wikipedia

Last Sunday we headed over to an opening at Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum. This is a really interesting project space ran by 5 artist/directors. Essentially, the empty lots that make up the Skulpturenpark is undeveloped land in the center of Berlin. This land was part of the 'death strip' between the Berlin Wall and the East barricades, an area where many were shot down trying to flee to the West.


'The Single Room Hotel" by Etienne Boulanger

The Skulpturenpark has a continuous rotation of projects and events in these lots. One long standing and fascinating project is 'The Single Room Hotel" by Etienne Boulanger. This box sits on the corner between two of the central lots and is inconspicuously covered in signs like a regular billboard tower. But, one only needs to duck under the edge and climb a narrow ladder to find themselves in a compact but comfortable 'hotel room', complete with working shower and composting toilet. This room is available to rent for only €30/night...


Daniel Bozhkov (in maroon shirt) with Kebab stand

However, we visited Skulpturenpark last Sunday for a different project...the opening of Daniel Bozhkov's Sigmund Jähn Park and Kebab Stand. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first German in space, Bozhkov renamed this section of the Park after Sigmund Jähn and invited a Kebab stand on the premises. The exhibition runs 7 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes- the duration of Jähn's flight. There was a life-sized sculpture of the astronaut, billboard paintings by Daniel and an audio track by conductor Yotam Haber (which combined among other things NASA Voyager sound recording, Beethoven's 'Turkish March", and German car commercials). There are many other aspects to this project, including a surveillance camera, that require too much length to explain here, but the cultural intertwining that happens in the project speak as much about the location's history as its present tensions. I also knew Daniel from Skowhegan where he is the fresco instructor and a continual source of inspiration to all who meet him...so it was great to see him while he was in Berlin.

-----


Bauhaus-Archiv

Yesterday, R and I went over to the Bauhaus-Archiv located on the south-side of the Tiergarten. We weren't sure what we would find there but it was a great installation on the Werkbund Exhibition in Paris (1930) by the Walter Gropius (Bauhaus director) and colleagues. The original exhibition was based around a modern German design- a vision of modern 'high-rise living'. It was five themed rooms, 2 of which were reconstructed for this exhibition at the Archiv. Among other things, the proposed apartment complex contained a communal area complete with bar, library, pool, and dance floor.


original model for the Bauhaus Dessau (1929)
...which R and I hope to visit sometime this spring