Until the 5^th of February, the Kunstbibliothek presents the work of the graphic artists Hans Hillman and Jirí Salamoun in an exhibition entitled I Dreamt I Was a Dog That Dreams. The organizers of the exhibition borrowed the name from a book by Hans Hillman to characterize the type of humor used by these two great artists that work with dreams, that metamorphosis that causes the unexpected.

The interesting thing about this exhibition is the introduction to the imaginative worlds of these two great graphic artists, who are halfway between dreams and reality. The exhibition invites the viewer to be part of this work and calls us to find fun in that space that lies in the path of the exhibition. Are their works a perfect mimesis, or just the sensual appearance of the exterior images of things, as the lexis described by Plato? Discovering this is the task of every spectator in this fantastic transit through the imagination and creation, which bring us together Hillman and Salamoun.

Hans Hillman was born in 1925. He was known for his film posters from the middle of the last century. His early start as a graphic designer, began while a student at the University of Kassel with his participation in a contest that couldn’t win, but which puts him in his particular showcase that blends art, design and avant-garde aesthetics conceptuality.

In his own words, the beginnings of his career occurred in a devastated Germany. It was only in the post-war that movies came roaring back and the film club was created, where he participated in his first movie poster contest. From there he continues to works for the best films in the world.

One of his best-known works is the graphic design for the poster of Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. The black and white poster only have two guns in perspective and the name of the movie at the bottom, but the graphic force, which it has, makes the ideological background of the film understandable.

Jirí Salamoun was born in 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He was an illustrator, graphic designer and creative, he became famous for his comic works as Figure Maxipista, for his participation in the cartoon that became a bedtime TV series stories and wrote several books. Between 1961 and 1989, he designed about twenty film posters. In 1990 he directed the graphic illustration section of the School of Applied Arts in Prague.

Salamoun used the color palette without any complex, his works are reminiscent surreal colorful, naive and full of images that break expressiveness of traditional graphic design rules of the 50’s and 60’s in his country, whose concepts were traditional in forms and background. Salamoun was an avant-garde in the graphic design work, who expanded beyond the traditional media.

For more information http://www.smb.museum/smb/kalender/details.php?objID=24922&datum=16.11.2011+00:00

Nancy Guzman

New Year is a good time to take a few days off and if you stay in apartments in Berlin you will be able to enjoy the best of this beautiful city.

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Translated by: Hans
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Post Hardcore, Metal Hardcore or Screamo whatever the exact classification of music it is, the truth is that one of the most admired bands by teenagers who enjoy the new hardcore is “Alesana”. It is an American band formed in Baltimore in 2004, which has leapt from the garage of one of its member’s house to the most famous stages in the world.

Alesana’s history dates back to the first notes and compositions that two of its members, Patrick Thompson and Shawn Milke, who performed in the garage of a house on Aliceanna Street, from which the name of the band was inspired. After these first steps in music, in 2004 the vocalist Dennis Lee, drummer Daniel Magnuson and bassist Steven Tomany joined the band, and they recorded their first EP “Try This With Your Eyes Closed “. After this first work, fame came very quickly for these guys, later they added a new guitarist and embarked on creating their first album with the label Tragic Hero.

With its three albums, Alesana has obtained good positions in Billboard magazine, in addition to good reviews, especially from its latest work which incorporates a classical string trio. The concert on the 23^rd of January at Columbia Club in Berlin, is even four times better as Alesana will be accompanied by three other bands: Iwrestledabearonce, We Came as Roman and Glamour of the Kill (do not mix it with Glamour to Kill, which is another band). The event starts at 7 p.m., price as well as all necessary information you can find on the website of Columbia Club.

For more information visit: http://www.c-club-berlin.de/events.html

Luz Obscura

One of the winter evenings will be heated by the energy of four bands in the Columbia Club. Rent apartments in Berlin and shout with all your strength together with Alesana and others.

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Translated by: Hans
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Fernando Paterna

To visit Berlin at this time of year is a spectacle, yes do not forget to wrap up well before going out. apartments in Berlin is a very good choice to live for a few days in the Germanic capital and enjoy its charms.

Translated by: Marc
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The relation between performance and Germany has been long and fruitful, at least from the time of the Bauhaus, which, regardless of the pioneering work, later developed by Oskar Schlemmer- whose importance as a theoretical-practical and especially through the development of its mechanical ballets could hardly be exaggerated- we can attribute the institution of the first year of performance in an art school in 1921.

And not as a mere anecdote or eccentricity but, as an essential aspect of the interdisciplinary plan of study of the legendary school that originally attracted to the city of Weimar: artists, designers and architects such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Alma Buscher, László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Gropius, Ida Kerkovius, Lothar Schreyer (the expressionist painter, playwright and member of the Berlin Sturm group to oversee the first scheduled performance courses, faithful to the proverb that says “the work being performed on stage is a work of art ” or the mentioned Schlemmer among others.

With such background, it isn’t surprising that the performance festival Tanztage in Berlin, which celebrates its twenty-first edition in the German capital between the 5th and the 15^th ofJanuary, at the Sophiensäle (http://www.sophiensaele.com/ kalender_2.php) enjoys such as excellent reputation.

Tanztage was founded in 1996 at the instigation of Barbra Friedrich and Benjamin Schlälike, with the intention of offering performance and contemporary dance young artists the possibility to develop their work on stage. The objective behind the festival was to create a scene that could gather and publicize performance artists to budding of the city, since this form of artistic expression doesn’t often have advertising or broadcast media.

With the appointment of Peter Pleyer as artistic director in 2008, the festival gained a new boost to expand the number and variety of its proposals.

The history of performance art, performed live by artists who build their own definition of it in practice, speaking to us from the early twentieth century’s avant-garde, in an open environment that offers endless variables and has attracted artists, who by one reason or another, felt that the established art forms are somewhat limited, especially the ones regarding the possibility of expressing their art directly to the public. Anarchy, deterritorialization and the inability to be well defined are typical characteristics of an art that makes use of indiscriminate and free literature, poetry, dance, theater, music, painting, architecture, sculpture and audiovisual media.

Paul Oilzum

The wide varied and often interesting Tanztage’s program is an excellent way to become aware of how ductile and challenging this art form is. If you rent apartments in Berlin during January, dare to be surprised by the young performers in the city.

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Translated by: Hans
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When in 330 BC the troops of Alexander triumphantly entered Persepolis, the fabulous capital of the Persian Empire which was ordered to build by Darius I, they must have found it difficult to acknowledge what was before their eyes.

On one hand, while they went up the wide, infinite rather, steps of the Gates of Xerxes, they were aware that they were taking possession of a symbolic object which was to justify all the Persian military campaigns, “the most hated city in the world” were the words of the feared Macedonian leader about the place that he’d come to destroy to avenge the distant memory of the Persian looting of Athens which had taken place fifty years before.

On the other hand, it’s not hard to guess that they probably felt totally astounded by the unprecedented wonder that they were facing. Every detail of the plains and the rooms of the royal palace (where they knew that up to 10,000 court members used to gather to welcome the Persian new year), was a witness of incommensurable wealth and glory, as well as magnificent engravings with golden decorations who used to astound the ambassadors from over 35 countries (including far away India, that they didn’t know that they would fatally go towards) which had queued up in those same rooms not long ago to present their valuable offering and receive blessings in exchange by the great King Darius and his God of Wisdom. To summarise, everything which has come to represent  Asian luxury in our imagination.

Nothing of it, however, could prepare them for the shock in the face of the magnitude of the treasure, which they found intact due to the precipitated escape of Darius III. A lavish treasure which went further than words could explain which would finance the campaigns of Alexander beyond the known world, just as he was told by his master Aristoteles when he was only a boy.

The surrender without resistance of the city, the fact that it didn’t make sense to destroy something which was now theirs and their usual strategy of always trying to win over a conquered population are reasons which don’t help to understand the near total destruction of Persepolis, ordered by Alexander a few months later, despite that classic sources have already aired the impulse to avenge what happened the previous century in Athens. What’s true is that, since then, one of the most legendary cities of ancient times were reduced to the regrettable condition of ruin and exposed to a wayward and accident prone destiny (thirty years, Islamic fundamentalists tried to obliterate what was left of it with bulldozers) despite the work of abnegated archeologists such as the members of the Teheran Departement of the German Archeological Institute, which was founded fifty years ago.

Regarding this anniversary, the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin has organized an exhibition until March 4th (http://www.smb.museum/smb/kalender/details.php?objID=31882) dedicated to the story of the trajectory and archeological findings (from the stone age to the Qajar dynasty) of the Institute in Iranian territory in the last five decades.

Paul Oilzum

It’s a thrilling exhibition which cannot be missed if you rent apartments in Berlin even if you’re not a big fan of archeology. It’s one which will create lasting hobbies.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Berlin is characteristic for having a community who is well aware of the goodness of recycling, especially now that global warming and the crisis make people look for creative ways to adjust spending. Hence that it has 100 vintage or second hand shops and many flea markets in the city, where you can buy antiques and used things at cheap prices, from clothes to electronic products  as well as interesting furniture and decoration objects.

Kleidermarkt is undoubtedly the best known second hand shop in Berlin, not only because it has three stores but also because it’s the best stocked one and it sells clothes by weight. Yes, you’ve read it properly, a lot of the clothes are not sold by units but instead you can take all the clothes and put them on scales and they’ll tell you how much they cost. In any case, a kilo of clothes costs 14 euros and, on Tuesday mornings, they have sales of 10 euros per kilo. They also have some designer labels and objects which can’t be bought by kilo, but still at a good price considering the quality and the exclusiveness, such as extravagant glasses and East Germany collectors items.

In the area of Mitte you can find a dozen second hand shops. Made in Berlin is one of them and it has all the vintage styles, with posters on the walls and thousands of clothes of all types hung from parallel bars awaiting a new owner. Him and her can leave with all their best 60s, 70s and 80s clothes of the best brands, but the style of chic recycling which is worn today. It has wonderful clothes made of leather and wool as well as shoes, bags and accessories which will leave you in the most pure fashionable style of the great cities and at affordable prices. This shop is located on Neue Schönerhauserstrasse 13.

Immaculate Heart is a vintage clothes shop which you cannot miss if you’re in Mitte. Nothing is random there, because its owners make a selection of the products to guarantee quality. There are all sorts of clothes, shoes, accessories and jewelry which you won’t be able to resist and you’ll end up getting your wallet out. Its address is Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse 28.

Also, there’s the second hand store Anasti-Luxus and Shop which sells Miu Miu, Furstenberg, Yamamoto and Cavalli clothes as well as accessories. TO buy shoes from the 20s, 30s, 50s and more, Calypso is for you. But there’s nothing like Tenderloin, which has the best and most beautiful of 70s fashion and it’s close to Hackescher Markt. But if you want variety and quantity, Garage is the ideal store for prices, where you can buy anything you want. It’s on Ahornstrasse 2.

Nancy Guzman

Don’t waste time, rent apartments in Berlin and make a tour around the most incredible second hand shops and come back with your new vintage style, which is trendy today in all big cities, and make the most of collaborating with recycling.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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A sign of rebellion, obsession, fashion, a radical move or just decorating taste, tattoos have evolved and today have become for many symbols that tell the story of their lives, the body becoming a kind of diary , a notebook where we write the names of those we love, our musical tastes, football teams with whom we sympathize, and much more, as many types and number of tattoos on the body that we  can have.

Perhaps one of the most tattooed persons we have is the famous “grandfather of a thousand tattoos,” a 69 year old man that has not left any part of his body without being  tattooed. For this man, named Tommy Wells, tattoos are more than an art, it is a way to reinforce your identity and tell your story. His last tattoo was done on his head, where he still had some space, in honor of his recently deceased wife. But not only normal characters of our daily life think this way, Johnny Depp himself said that each tattoo on his body is a page of his diary, and it is not the only one celebrity who thinks this way, the renowned Trussardi house designer , Umit Benan has tattooed the signatures of his parents, their birth dates and even the date of her first fashion show, aspects that remind him each day where he comes from and where he is are going.

Tattoos, as many may know, have different meanings according to the culture to which they are associated with , they are so old that they have been found in Egyptian mummies and other ancient civilizations of the world, but today, in our Western societies and in the global world we live in, they acquire different meanings for the bearer. Leaving aside all the negative charge that  can be based on social classes, distinctions or certain social circles that prohibit or otherwise, who use them as negative  identifications (mafia, prisons, etc..), Common people do them as a decoration motive  or to count and do not forget some fundamental aspects of their lives, this is the case of tattooing as a “diary”, where the body, which by itself without the use of tattoos, tells our story, our course, our current position according to the multitude of information displayed on it, it then becomes a real diary, the book of our lives.

To write events or information about our life seems to be the next step in tattooing today for the lovers of this ancient art. Show everyone a part of your personal history. Fad or not, the fact is that who takes the decision to write on his your body has to know it will be permanent, and as Tommy Wells said, “it will accompany you to your grave.”

Luz Obscura

In Germany diary tattoos are booming, so much that the Werder Bremen goalkeeper has tattooed his naked wife. Rent apartments in Berlin perhaps you will dare to get that tattoo you have had for a long time in your mind.

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Translated by: Marc
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Until the 9th of January 2012, the Martin Gropius Bau Museum in Berlin exhibits ‘Side by Side Poland – Germany. A 1000 years of Art and History’. The exhibition is organized by the Berliner Festspiele, financed by the Federal Government Commission for culture and media and the Polish Ministry of Cultura and National Heritage.

The exhibition is presented in a parallel way at the Royal Castle in Warsaw and in the Martin Gropius Bau Museum in Berlin, and they frame the interest to revise the real borders and the art and creation borders, which are of the interest of both the EU Council and the Polish Government.

The curator of this interesting exhibition which revises a common history which surpasses borders is the Polish art historian Anda Rottenberg, who was the director of the National Gallery in Warsaw for many years, as well as the curator of the Polish exhibitions in the Venice, Istambul and Sao Paulo Biennials.

This exhibition made up by 800 historical pieces and contemporary art objects mark a turning point in the history of the two nations which have lived very cruel, rapturing and dividing moments, such as the invasion of Warsaw in 1939 by the Nazi troops and then the Cold War with the Berlin Wall which separated Europe in two. Through it we can clearly see the relation between both nations during 1000 years of history.

The exhibition is spread around in 19 spaces and it has 22 chapters which are ordered by themes in order to help the understanding of the relations between Poland and Germany. The exhibition begins with the historical story which shapes the relations between the two countries with the arranged marriage of the Polish prince who would be King Mieszko II with Richeza, daughter of the Count Palatine Ezzo, which would enhance his power and domain in 1025. This union for State reason, made Richeza become Queen of Poland and it consolidated the ties of interests and politics between Germany and Poland in the 11th century.

It continues with the arranged marriage of Landshut, Duke of Bavaria, with the daughter of the Polish king Casimir IV, Jadwiga, in 1475. This arranged wedding had the aim of uniting them against the expansion of the Turkish Ottomans. For this purpose, the Krakow embassy made the arrangements and the Prince of Brandenburg, Albert III, compared the wedding with a mission of a divine fate and the result of Christianity and the empire.

It’s inevitable to deal with the Second World War and its tragic consequences, not only for those who were transported to the concentration camps and the resistance of the Warsaw Ghetto. but also because the end of the war lead to the Cold War and the division of the world, where Germany was divided in two and Poland became part of the socialist block.

To show the Second World War and the suffering of the Poles, they will present the film ‘Kanal’ (1957), made by Andrzej Wajda.

For more information:

http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/11_gropiusbau/mgb_aktuelle_ausstellungen/polen_deutschland/mgb11_polen_deutschland_1000jahre.php

Nancy Guzman

‘Side by Side Poland – Germany. A 1000 years of art and history’ is a great exhibition which cannot be missed, so rent apartments in Berlin in good time and make the most of enjoying interesting proposals in restaurants and underground cultural activities that the city offers which is the modern trend in tourism.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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And the end of year is here ladies and gentleman! At this stage of the year, I remember when my grandmother used to say “This year has flown by!”. And it’s true, it flew by, but there are still a few days left of good parties and, especially, good festivals, and what better place than Germany with its lively capital Berlin for that.

These are two end of year festivals which celebrate a new edition in Berlin, the Neuwerk Festival and the already famous Christmas Ball festival, both with excellent lineups to celebrate Christmas and New Year. The Neuwerk, which this year is coming on strong, will take place on the 26th of December at the Fritzclub in Berlin, with this year’s selected bands being: VNV Nation, Nitzer Ebb, Suicide Commando, Diorama, Haujobb, Reaper and X Divide, and the entry price is low at the moment so I recommend that you buy anticipated tickets and make sure of renting your apartment in Berlin, because the Neuwerk will move onto Christmas Ball quickly, because there are barely three days in between one another.

The Christmas Ball is in charge of beginning the dark celebration of the new year in Berlin, and it brings a lineup to light up the night and begin to dance until January 1st. The bands that will shake the night are: Hocico, Front 242, Combichrist, The Klinik and Solitary Experiments so, therefore, as you might have imagined, there’s no rest. Also, after the festival, like tradition says, carry on partying with the best DJs. The ticket price is 35 euros and the doors will open at 5.30pm at Huxleys Neue Welt, at Hasenheide 107-113, 10967, Berlin-Neukölln. I just have one more piece of advice left: start preparing the trip, rent your apartment in Berlin and celebrate Christmas and New Year in the German capital!

Luz Obscura

Rent apartments in Berlin now! The year is ending and you can’t be left out of the celebrations. Start with Neuwerk Festival and carry on with Christmas Ball, and then… well, that’s just part of the surprises which await you this December in Berlin.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Although the „Gemäldegalerie” (Old Masters Paintings) has probably the most important and most valuable pictures of Berlin, it’s not too well know among the visitors. The reason may be in it’s location – close to the Potsdamer Platz, at the so called “Kulturforum”.  But most of Berlins famous museums are concentrated on the Museuminsel (museums island), the Old National Gallery, the Old and the New Museum, the Pergamon Museum and the Bode Museum – all in buildings that have their own history and are pieces of art themselves and on top of that some of them like the Bode and New Museum have been renovated with much time, effort and expenses so their recent reopenings were highlights in the art world and drew the attention to this space.  Also the whole area around –  “Unter den Linden” – was planned (18. /19. century) as a center of  art and knowledge. So apart from the museums island the nearby Humboldt University, the Staatsoper and the first public library next to it  – founded by Frederic the Great – belong to this complex.

The Gemäldegalerie was also a child of it’s time: just before the wall came down – in1986 – the competition for a new museumsbuilding that should contain the old master paintings was held and the construction continued during the process of the reunification. 1998 this modern building opend it’s doors. From the outside nearly unvisible is the inside with it’s clear proportions and the quiet elegance stunning. There is huge empty hall in the middle with columns and a fountain based on the geometric elements that are also used to create a clear and calming atmosphere that is the perfect surrounding for the enjoyment of the art pieces.

The Rooms are located in a centric circle around this main hall so that two wings are created that go in chronological order starting with the oldest paintings at the entrance and end up with the 18.century at the other side. What is even more astonishing is that we have the south alpine tradition starting with Italy on the left hand the north alpine tradition on the right hand so that there is not just a chronological but also a geographic order what makes the orientation really simple.

And the art pieces are a feast themselves. They have masterpieces of Giotto and Botticelli, Caravaggio and Canaletto but also Lucas Cranach and Rogier van der Weyden or Rembrandt. In quality – although not quantity – this museum is to compare with such as the National Gallery in London or the Prado in Madrid. The smaller size is more an advantage since one has at least the feeling might be possible to see the main part in one day, but the biggest advantage is the lack of tourist – so one can enjoy all the treasures almost alone.

Mara Maroske

Enjoy some of the most important old master paintings like Caravaggio’s “Amor” in an almost private atmosphere together with all the other museums of Berlin. So don’t hesitate to rent apartments in Berlin and meet also its vivid contemporary art scene.

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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