Wandelism: old garage turned into street art exhibition

Remember The Haus? Well this year it's not a house, it's a garage and it's about to be torn down. For two weeks only (initially one week), an old car repair garage has been taken over by 90 local and international street artists and transformed into an urban art gallery. 

The title of the exhibition, Wandelism, is a play on the words Wandel (which means change in German) and vandalism. The aim is to show that Berlin is still colourful and wild. In a city that is slowly becoming too expensive for artists, Berlin's artists need to find their own spaces. 

Spread over 2000 square metres, 15 rooms, 2 halls and a basement, the art-work is certainly very colourful and varied. Just don't forget to look inside the toilets!

A feast for the eyes: if you enjoy photography head for City West

Helmut Newton Foundation

For many tourists and Berliners alike, the area next to Zoo Station is most readily associated with the eponymous zoo, the aquarium, the Bikini shopping mall and the Gedächtniskirche (or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church if you prefer). However, over the past three years this has become Berlin’s temple of photography. In 2014, the C/O Berlin gallery moved from its location in Mitte to Amerika Haus, on Hardenbergstraße, just around the corner from Jebensstraße, the location of the Museum of Photography. The latter houses the Kunstbibliothek’s Collection of Photography and the Helmut Newton Foundation. In December, these venues opened their doors to two exhibitions showcasing vintage prints from the pre-digital and pre-Photoshop era of the 1960s and 1970s. While Joel Meyerowitz was a pioneer of colour photography, Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton broke the conventions of fashion photography.

Fashion Revolution

The exhibition showcased by the Helmut Newton Foundation is called Guy Bourdin. Image Maker / Helmut Newton. A Gun For Hire / Angelo Marino. Another Story. For the first time ever, the iconic images of the two revolutionary fashion photographers, Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton, are presented side by side. Bourdin and Newton were the star photographers of French Vogue and worked for the most prestigious fashion houses. With their provocative and ironic images, they transformed fashion photography in the 1960s and 1970s. In the words of Shelly Verthime, curator of the Guy Bourdin Estate: “For the first time it was about the image – it was beyond the fashion”. The advertising images for Charles Jourdan shoes are particularly intriguing. Finally, the snap-shot images recently taken by Newton’s former assistant, Angelo Marino on an iPhone, should be seen as complementary to the exhibition and present a view on contemporary photography. 

Colour revolution

Joel Meyerowitz

The exhibition featured by C/O Berlin from December 2017 until March 2018 was dedicated to legendary street photographer Joel Meyerowitz. In the 1960s, when artistic photography was exclusively conceived in black and white, Meyerowitz was one of the first photographers to recognise the power of colour. At the press tour of the Joel Meyerowitz . Why Color? Retrospective, the photographer explained: “Colour added content and a richness of detail to an image that could not be found in a black and white photograph”. The C/O exhibition is focussed primarily on the vintage prints in black and white and colour from the 1960s and 1970s, leading up to the present day. Starting from scenes of New York street life, the exhibition included pictures from the European car journey, which Meyerowitz defines as the time he “came of age” and the Cape Cod studies on light. As the only photographer to be granted access to Ground Zero, the pictures of the aftermath of 9/11 are particularly striking. The exhibition ends with a series of portraits and Still Lifes, Meyerowitz’s latest endeavour. In case you missed the Berlin retrospective, the autobiographical photography book Joel Meyerowitz: Where I Find Myself has just been released.

Trying to make sense of the German election

If you happen to be in Germany at the moment you will no doubt be aware that an election is imminent. Wherever you look there is an election poster. The placards are everywhere, literally everywhere. There are around 200,000 posters in Berlin alone.  

Satirical party "Die Partei" and the Linke

Now if you spend most of your time in a child friendly, environmentally friendly, organic loving, tolerant, multicultural neighbourhood like Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, you might be mistaken in thinking that this election is business as usual. Wherever you look you see SPD (social democrats), Grüne (greens) and Linke (left) placards. There are a few CDU (centre right) posters and even fewer FDP (free democrats, i.e. free-enterprise, pro-business) ones. But if you look closer you will spot some very disturbing AfD (extreme right) posters, some ridiculous ones of Die Partei (a satirical party) and many other smaller parties, such as the Pirates, the Marxist–Leninist Party or the Ecological Democratic Party. 

Workers of all nations, unite!

The truth is that in Germany the SPD is expected to get only 22% of the vote. Frau Merkel's party is expected to gain just under 40%, while the openly racist, anti-immigrant, anti-EU and anti-islam AfD could become the third biggest party, with a 10% share of the vote.

Martin Schulz. Time for what? 

Let's start with the SPD.

Martin Schulz was initially hailed as the candidate that could seriously challenge Angela Merkel, but now nobody in Germany expects him to win. Is it because his ideas are too similar to Merkel's or because nobody knows what he stands for? Or is it simply because nobody can challenge Mutti Merkel?

Mutti

This brings me to Angela Merkel.

I still struggle to comprehend why so many Germans love Angela Merkel. Even traditional SPD voters are considering voting for her. I assume its is because she is seen as a reasonable and sensible figure who will grant stability and prosperity. After all, the message is clear: "Successful for Germany" and "For a Germany in which we live well and gladly". Even my five-year-old wants Angela Merkel to win because in his words "she's done some good things and made some good decisions". Although he could't give me any concrete examples, it made me wonder where he'd heard such statements. In the Kindergarten? At the playground? From his German family members?  

AfD not so popular in Prenzlauer Berg

Finally, the AfD: where do I start? Has anyone seen the posters? How can they be allowed to voice such racist slogans? All their posters are nationalist and in bad taste, but the worst one in my opinion shows a pregnant woman with the slogan: "New Germans? We'll make them ourselves." This party is expected to enter the German Parliament and could be the third biggest party in Germany on Sunday. This is a scary prospect. I sincerely hope that once again (as has happened in recent elections elsewhere) the opinion polls are wrong.

Craft beer, vegetables and shipping containers at Gleisdreieck park

BRLO BRWHOUSE: a unique venue for craft beer

It was the last Sunday of the Berlinale: a fairly bright, albeit windy, day in February. After our first film at Zoo Palast we had a gap of a couple of hours before our next one at the Berlinale Palast, around Potsdamer Platz. So my husband and I decided to go for a stroll in the Gleisdreieck park. 

Gleisdreieck in German means triangular junction. At the end of the second world war, the railway area around Gleisdreieck became a wasteland. Over the years a rich vegetation developed. Thanks to strong public involvement, the abandoned area was successfully converted into a park, which opened in 2013, and has since become a very popular spot for Berliners. 

As we looked for somewhere for a bite to eat and to take shelter from the wind, we stumbled upon a rather odd but interesting looking construction. From the outside all we could see was a series of dark grey containers stacked on top of each other and a rather large white writing. Intrigued, we decided to have a peek inside. 

We were immediately greeted by an enthusiastic waiter and we decided to stay: we had found a true gem. It turned out that BRLO BRWHOUSE (the name of the place) is a brewery and restaurant with a great selection of craft beers, as well as tasty and innovative veggie dishes. Whether fermented, smoked, pickled or salted, the vegetable is the star of the menu at Brlo. For those who cannot live without meat, there is also a selection of regional meats, which are cooked in the smoker.

Core beers, new creations and selected others

The actual brewery is separated from the restaurant area by a glass window and a large panel where the beers are listed. The regular beers (or Stammbiere in German) are Helles, Pale Ale, German IPA, Porter, Berliner Weisse. The bar also stocks many new creations, as well as beers selected from local and international breweries. The house beer is priced at €3 for a small one and €4.5 for half a litre. The €15 menu includes a vegetable main, a side dish and something "on top" (for example "dried and puffed vegetables", "mixed pickles" or "German Kimchi"). 

The unpronounceable name BRLO is the old Slavic word for Berlin. Brlo is the brainchild of three friends with a passion for craft beer. Initially conceived as a brewery, BRLO BRWHOUSE is currently home to a brewery, restaurant, bar and beer garden. (When I visited the place last February the beer garden was still under construction).

The venue is unique: it is made of 38 shipping containers and, as indicated on the website, "the modular nature of the structure means it can be quickly disassembled and reconstructed anywhere in the world". As it so often happens in Berlin, the current location is temporary so a new home will soon be needed. Make sure you get there before it's too late!

A bracelet in memory of your origins

From vintage buttons to Zeit Magazine.

It all began in 2011 with the idea of selling jewellery to raise money for the Tsunami relief fund in Japan. Kerstin, a young German architect with a passion for art and design, started creating necklaces using vintage buttons and colourful microbeads. She founded primaofficina together with her friend Jana. The handcrafted jewellery displayed in a boutique in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin caught the attention of a journalist, who published a picture of one of these necklaces in Zeit Magazine.

World Cup fever 

The two working mothers had little time to invest in their business; they needed someone to support and promote primaofficina with fresh ideas. Inspired by the football World Cup of 2014, Kerstin's husband Fernando came up with a simple new product that was attractive not only to female customers: a bracelet for football fans. The bracelets were available to buy online and the very first order came from a Greek girl living in New York.  Even after the end of the World Cup, the requests from the competing countries continued, along with enquiries from countries that had not participated in the football tournament. The majority of these were from Central & South America and Eastern Europe. 

A bracelet in memory of your origins

Syria special edition

During the following year Fernando was surprised by the growing demand: there were many requests for bracelets representing African countries. As the demand for more nationalities grew, he decided to include all countries from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The new collection initially conceived as a symbol for football fans worldwide soon acquired a whole new meaning: cultural identity, roots or nostalgia. Fernando decided to call the collection "In memory of your origins". 

The biggest request is for Syrian and Palestinian bracelets 

Palestine 

What is interesting to note is that although half of the sales are to the US, the requests are not for US bracelets; a clear sign that the US is a country of immigrants. The majority of the demand is for Latin American, African, Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries. Perhaps not surprisingly, these days the biggest request by far is for Syrian bracelets, followed by Palestinian bracelets. In Eastern Europe, most of the sales are to Ukraine and Albania. Fernando, an Italian national living in Berlin, says “This has nothing to do with nationalism, rather with nostalgia for one's roots and the awareness of living a new life experience in another country”.

As this story shows, today the concept of cultural identity is alive more than ever.

The bracelets are available to buy online on DaWanda and Etsy.

Jewellery carefully crafted by hand

Touring the Haus - temporary urban art gallery in Berlin

On a wet and windy Saturday morning in April we emerge from the Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn station. Clutching our umbrellas we walk along Tauentzienstrasse passing KaDeWe and dodging the crowds of tourists and shoppers. As we turn into Nürnbergerstrasse we spot a long queue of locals and tourists undeterred by the rain. They are patiently waiting in line to enter the building at number 68/69. 

From the outside it is a grey and ugly construction. What is all the fuss about? - one may ask. The only giveaway is the rather large and colourful graffitied H sprayed on the facade. This is no ordinary building. This is The Haus. For eight weeks only an old bank in the heart of the west Berlin shopping district has been converted into an art gallery. Each of the 108 spaces, including the toilets, corridors and staircases, have been turned into unique works of art by 165 local and international urban artists. 

We are called into the building 10 minutes before the start of our pre-booked tour. After paying the ticket and leaving our coats, bags and mobile phones, we are welcomed to The Haus. Our guide, a member of the art collective Drink and Draw, tells us how the project began. The property now belongs to investors who will tear it down and replace it with luxury apartments. But before the building is demolished at the end of May, the developers have agreed to hand over the keys to the street art group The Dixons. It was their idea to turn the building into a temporary art gallery. 

Our tour lasts two and a half hours and takes us through the five floors, where we see works by Case Maclaim, Stohead, El Bocho, Emess, 1UP, Herakut, Klebebande, Insane51, Rotkaeppchen & Goliath, Nick Platt and Paul Punk, just to name a few. Our guide tells us anecdotes about the building, the rooms, the artists and their work. He also points out different styles and techniques. Every room is unique. Some rooms are extremely colourful, others are dark or have black and white patterns. One room has been turned into a forest, while another was entirely decorated using a black marker pen. Some artwork was created with tape, while other rooms feature lots of paint. By the end of the tour we feel like we have been through a magical journey.

If you want to avoid the queues I strongly suggest booking a tour online. The cost is €10 per person (€4 for children) and will make the visit all the more interesting. Please note that photography is not allowed so put your phones and cameras away and enjoy the experience with all your senses. "The Haus was created to be destroyed" so make sure you get there in time. 

  

Berlin's biggest problem: dog fouling

Forget unemployment, rising rents, gentrification, air pollution, the "new" airport that will probably never open... the biggest problem in Berlin is the dirty pavements (or sidewalks if you prefer US English). Walking along the pavement without looking down every few seconds to check for dog mess is a hazard. Going for a walk in the park, especially if you dare to leave the main path, is like playing Russian Roulette with the soles of your shoes. Everywhere there is dog mess. Because Berlin may be full of children, but it is also full of dogs and rude dog owners. 

Some people are trying to tackle the problem with "no fouling" signs. The picture below was taken outside a Kita (children's nursery). It reads: "Children play here. This is not a toilet for dogs". I have seen similar signs near flowerbeds. Urban gardeners are clearly facing the same problem. Over the past month my son and I have stepped in dog mess three times.    

According to the website Bußgeldkatalog 2017, the fine for dog fouling in open spaces in Berlin is €35, while the fine for parking your car without a ticket for up to one hour is €15. Now I have a suggestion: Berlin is full of people working for the Ordnungsamt patrolling the streets day and night to check whether car drivers have paid the parking ticket. If half of these people started patrolling the parks and pavements and handing out fines for dog fouling, we might notice some improvement in the cleanliness of Berlin's pavements and paths and the council might even end up making more money. Berliners what do you think? 

How is this problem being tackled in other parts of the world?