Instantanés

45

Today is my birthday. I'm 45. Half of my life some would say, though I'm not sure It will last so long.
Have I done the right things ? ...

Fuchs Elster

The other saturday, we went to see a movie that was only playing this day in original version (movie and me in German, forget it) south of the city, in the new area to be Neuköln. After a 25 minutes drive with the bicycle (we drove very slowly, saturday evening, we must be careful and I like to enjoy the view crossing the park and looking at the people on the street, I know, not recommended when you're on two wheels, anyway ...) and arrived safely, watched the movie and It was already late when we went out out of the cinema. On the way back from another place two weeks before we spotted a bar that a friend talked to us about. She's lesbian so I expected a lesbian bar but she said that it's a nice friendly bar, plus a smoking one which is for me a criteria, even if It is in separate rooms : in summer (sorry, what ?) we can stay outside if we are very quiet (neighborhood complains) but in winter you're happy to have your smoke inside when It's snowing and freezing cold. So because It was on the way back, we stopped in Weserstrasse, a few steps from Hermannplatz (best cheese department ever in the Karstadt store), and entered the Silver Future bar. A lot of people inside (and outside), two separate rooms, smokers and non-smokers, lesbian oriented but a mix of all kind of people there so o problem, we try to find a table. None free. Even at the bar. Hmmm, what do we do ? Well, next to Silver Future, there is another bar ! why not try this one, we'll come back to the first after. I had say to friends I'd be there but they didn't show up and had no answer to my messages, so let's go wild in the adventure. And It was. Surprisingly, next door, the ones who have bags were asked to open it for check. Huu ? what's that ? never happened before. OK, a lot of Americans inside so I guess It's part of the policy. But when you open your bag, they ask if you have any alcohol. Of course not, if I want to go in a bar, It's to order alcohol, not to sell it or drink it from my bag ! Going inside, It's smoking free. Aouch, that hurts, bad start. Not a party mood inside, seems people are waiting for something else, second part of the night ? Again, no table free unless staying at the bar that we said ok because I despertaley wanted to drink my glass of wine now. But taking the chair in the hand, the barkeeper said, "no sorry, we're closing". At midnight ? in Berlin ? a saturday evening ? in a trendy street ? Showin us surprised, she quickly answered : "we're closing the bar but if you wish, you can go in the second room, take the stairs on the left and go down. It will be open in a few minutes. What "it" ? Ready for the adventure (and we were not the only ones), we went down in the very tiny stairway. First door, nothing, second door : surprise : big room with nice lights, sofas and chairs, two bars with one dedicated for fruits cocktails (so funny this idea), and music of the late 20's and 30's. The guy at the desk told us to go in because in a few moments, "It will be packed. Reserve your place because in a few moments, you won't be able to sit anymore". So we did. Two sofas facing each other invited us and I went to the bar ordering the drinks. Waiting for them, I spotted another door that opens frequently to let in dressed people fitting the music. Returning at the people, I shared the info and we decided to stay for a while, waiting for the next event. Maybe a concert ? a circus show ? the wine is good, unfortunately, always non smoking here but hey, I can do an effort from time to time and I still can do the way back outside in case of emergency. The guy was right. In maybe 30 minutes, people were queueing at the entrance and It was packed in the same time. The second room opened and most of the people with no sit went in to ... dance ! The dj this evening played rock music but the one you enjoy to listen : 50's, 60's, not later. He was so happy to share with everyine of us, we could see him smile. And there are fans in the place. We even with big surprise met friends there we never expected to see in such a place. Again, a secret information. We had such a good time, very pleasant place. Music : good, people : good, drinks : good. Weserstrasse 207 in Neukölln.

14th July

Soooooo we had the 14^th of July already, National day for France with all its demonstrations, army lovers, country strength, firemen bal (can’t miss it if you are in Paris), fireworks everywhere (and most beautifuk by the Eiffel tower), France celebrating its Grande Nation ! yep … not here. Forget it.

Instantanés

Summer in the city

I don’t really understand the weather, It’s like seasons do not exist anymore. Following the calendar, we definitely are in summer season end of July but It’s like we are not. I still wear my jumper everyday and It rains since days without break. Or I guess the Earth may have changed its way and we are more on the Asian monsoon side. Anyway, It’s 8:30 a.m and It’s dark outside, I need the office light to be able to see anything and my colleagues agree to say that we had 2 beautiful days of summer last week. We all dream of sun and warmth when we haven’t decide yet to re-start the heating system: We hardly go to the bar lately, not even speaking of terraces and prefer to bake cakes instead or welcoming friends at home for soup dinner. The wind screams at every window, you get the feeling you’re watching a vampire movie and I can’t sleep at night because of the noise of the rain against the roof windows. It’s not summer in the city, It’s singing in the rain.

Présentation de l'exposition Calder au Centre... von centrepompidou

Calder

Today is the 113th anniversary of Calder. He was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing the mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys; tapestry; jewelry and household objects.

All what we've been waiting for

Instantanés

Hacked

Once you have been used to use all those internet and email things, you believe It's for the best for ever and ever. You forgot a tiny thing : those things are vicious. Once you trust them, they hack your account and block it without any chance to retrieve it. Of course with all your files inside and what counts in your life like the address book of family and friends, the email you keep "just in case', your next borading card for the flight, the datas you need for whichever purpose, you know, all the details you live with without noticing you might lose them one day. It just happened to me a few days ago with hotmail. For an unknown reason, the system says someone tried to many times to use my account, but who would like to do that, really ?, and so It is blocked. If I want to re-open it, I need to do the complete process with the password renewed, bla bla bla. Ok, I'll do it. I sure say that after 4 days, It still not works. In the end, the only thing you have in mind is to lose forever what was inside and open a new email address. What a shame. Just in case, save somewhere else what you might use one day. Someone there is spying on you. Big Brother is not very far.

Where is the bar ?

There is a place I guess only a few know in the city. We had the surprise to discover it by chance last year when we came back from the lake one week-end. It's true It's not in an area we ever thought to visit in the city but once you've been there, you only want to go there. The only (but also the main) problem with it, is that you can rent the place and It is often booked. Also the opening times are never the same, so you need absolutely to check the programm on the web before : bar im Waserturm in Hohenschönhauser. But in another way, It makes the bar even more exclusive. Though It is not far from where we live, reachable with the bike within 15 minutes, everyone enjoys the quietness, the peacefulness, the warmth of the place ... and the cocktails. I stay with my Pernod that they serve there very nicely compared to other places in the city. My advice would be not to go too early, have something to eat before (no kitchen there), because you just don't want to leave the place once you sit. The view with beautiful houses, especially the one built by Mies van der Rohe and full of the most exclusive pieces of design ever created, or simply looking at the duck searching for food in the lake, or maybe the mosquitoes which are a bit too agressive past 11:00 p.m. make this place uncomparable. Everyone says It is the secret place where you will find no tourists, possibly only people living in the neighborhood or like us, who know the place. And once you found you had enough of this peaceful solitude, It's time for you to go back "downtown" or maybe pass by the lake Weissensee, nearby, but It's another bar ...

Repeat again

Repeat | Again is an exhibition of exciting new works produced by emerging Australian artist Timothy Kendall Edser opening at Galerie ZERO Berlin, opening Saturday 2 July 2011. The exhibition brings together two series of works, Tension 16 which was a performance staged in Melbourne Australia in 2009 and Repeat | Again a series of watercolours created during his recent residency in Berlin 2010/2011. Edser’s explores the male form and examines society’s ideals of masculinity. Classical Greek and Roman sculpture, captured masculinity through portrayals of lean, muscular, chiselled bodies. In the 21st century, turning on the television or flicking through a magazine prove that even today, society still shares the similar ideals of masculinity as the ancients. Edser studies the poses of classical statues which convey strength, power and a god-like perfection, unattainable by the common man. Edser explores this concept by placing his body; its physicality flawed by society’s standards, into this sphere. Tension 16 puts Edser’s ‘flawed’ body under the spotlight and into the public arena. Edser challenges people ideals of what, and who, is masculine by turning the masculine gaze back onto its self. The basis of Repeat | Again stems from the feeling of awkwardness the artist feels in many of the environments he inhabits. Edser’s tall stature causes him to bump his head on doorways and light fixtures, stub his toes and difficulty in manoeuvring in small-enclosed spaces. The series of works become an exploration of Edser’s body testing his limits and movability. Edser’s art practice is based predominantly on a continuing series of performance installations entitled Tension. The Tension series centre themselves around the artist’s body, its mass and the way in which it interacts within the environment in which it is placed. Since graduating with First Class Honours in Fine Arts/Visual Arts, from Queensland University of Technology in 2002, Edser has undertaken performances in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and exhibited in Milan, Kuala Lumpur and now Berlin. This exhibition brings together two series of works, Tension 16 which was a performance staged in Melbourne Australia in 2009 and a series of watercolours created during his recent residency in Berlin 2010/2011. The Tension performance installation’s which make up one part of the exhibition are a continuing series that centres around the artist’s body, its mass and the way in which it interacts within the environment in which it is placed. The series of performances become a scientific discovery in which Edser tests the limits of the body and creates new hypotheses about movement and endurance. Tension 16 explores and challenges traditional ideals of Beauty and Masculine identity. Muscular, lean, chiseled bodies are classical archetypes that were prevalent in ancient Roman and Greek sculpture, leaving a legacy that still informs contemporary culture. It is into this sphere that Edser places his body, challenging people’s perceptions of masculinity through turning the masculine gaze back onto its self. The series of watercolours produced for Repeat | Again; like the Tension performance series, continue to test the limits of the body while creating diverse modes of visualizing movement. These new works focus on the movement of the body and are inspired by futurist imagery and early studies of movement by Muybridge. Over the past year Edser has had restricted movement of his left arm after recovering from reconstructive surgery of his shoulder. In this time his sense of movement became heightened through his body informing him of exactly what movements he could withstand. The watercolours have become a study into the movement of his extremities; both realistic and idealistic, and explore the notations of the space the body can inhabit. Whilst in reality the body is restricted to a particular level of mechanics, the watercolours explore new possibilities of movement and rotation and create a new series of shapes. Since graduating with First Class Honours in Fine Arts/Visual Arts, from Queensland University of Technology in 2002, Edser has undertaken performances in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and exhibited in Milan, Kuala Lumpur and now Berlin.