Adventures in the Bent Grid

in the mountains...

2006-02-16T17:30:00.000+01:00

Well I am finally in Mittenwald, but my internet access in a kiosk in a pub!!!
its raining so i havent see the top of the mountain yet....
Tomorrow hopefully....got some great pics tho...
Its a bit like being in pt. elliot here!...everyone seems to be the average age of 60..
Oh well nice place to retire ;)

If I only knew German...

2006-02-14T20:36:00.000+01:00

Not knowing German is making communicating with others quite difficult. Some people are willing to speak to you and others become agressive if you ask them if they speak English. Restaurant menus are mainly in German, and as a vegetarian I need to translate every word.... so mainly I have been buying food I can see...
So, due to lack of communication, I have continued walking and looking at sights and architecture.. Its sunny!

The Holocaust Memorial was particularly impressive.... a huge expance of tomb like blocks at varing heights on undulating levels. The space is a kind of maze. Its mazelike playfullness (even adults chasing eath other around) and its solemn rememberence... brings upon a schizoid experience that is incedibly effective as a memorial....

walking..west vs east

2006-02-13T22:59:00.000+01:00

I have started to walking around in the daytime checking out various neighbourhoods. Today I went the the biggest shopping centre in the west, which from Australias standard's seemed like the Myer centre and possibly smaller than a Westfield....So, bored of that I went back east to check out Freidrichshain and strolled down the Karl-Marx Allee. This stretch is appaently billed as Germany's first socialist road...It is a massive stretch, with some amazing 19th C apartments...

Here I discovered the biggest op-shop I have ever seen five levels in one of these buildings. The most intricate spiral staircase. On the way to hear some interesting Australian artists talking about their resiencies and art making in Berlin - Transit Lounge, I went further into the trendier area of Freidrichshain, which presented itself with cool clothes shops and a myriad of well priced restaurants and bars....
Its amazing how you can leave Australia and meet and learn about other Austalian artists! Check out Cat Hope's journal on the Transit lounge website for her project The Phone Book..

for Peter ;) ...

2006-02-12T23:17:00.000+01:00

I think I have started using a new language...ginglisch...a bizzare mixture of german and english..

...some stuff in shop windows...

too much partying..

2006-02-12T22:34:00.000+01:00

ok.... I missed the last night of club transmediale due to falling asleep!
hmm...after my trip to Kreuzberg...to the NGBK gallery (great exhibition "Resolution/Dissolution" - images created with blinking lcd lights - and documentation of the Blinkin Lights project) and to the spooky Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (an artists studio residency and gallery situated in an old hospital) ...and accidentally finding myself on the tourist stretch of Unter der Linden.... I was freezing and completely over walking around in the cold.

I think my eyeballs were frozen!

Anyway, I resorted to cooking some comfort food - soup... I got the sleep and wamth I needed..

its real gothic...

2006-02-11T21:04:00.000+01:00

Finally, after staring at it for over a week, I actually went into the freshly snow covered cemetary across the road.... very peaceful...

And on another note there seems to be an abundance of lady bugs in my apartment... I hope that is lucky!

And also ..for the first time last night I was bored of the visuals at club transmediale..... i coulda done better..hmm..maybe next year :)

photos or no photos...

2006-02-10T07:32:00.000+01:00

After a long day of getting lost to find my way - in the process of being sleeted on (at least I have experienced it now!)....and seeing a few exhibitions ....most notably Makroskop an intricate and very subtly interactive prjection on spiralling pieces of canvas and Helmut Newton - A Gun for Hire (he always seemed to get the most sensual out of models - including getting them to take their clothes off).....
I also did the tourist thing and saw Berlin from the god view..inside the disco ball!...Its lego land!

Then later in the evening proceeded to go to the club Berghain-Panorama bar.
After finding it in the back of an industrial estate (an old power station)... I was patted down at the door and had to "check" my camera!..Apparently, Berghain has some select clientele that do not want to be photographed at "play"..... I suppose its a kinda respect... but i don't have any pics... great music and venue... Friendly dance floor crowd as well.
Best comment for the evening was "Australia - the moon is upside down there!"
Many thanks to DJ nd_baumecker for putting me on the guestlist... a good boogie :)

relaxing..

2006-02-08T20:43:00.000+01:00

finally i got to do some clothes shopping and go for a walk...at last the rain has cleared and its stopped being a giant slushy..
the disco ball(radio tower ) is clear through my window...and it sounds like i found the rave station (possibly more techno) on the radio!!!...the disco ball lights seem to be blinkin the the music..no wonder this city goes off!
At last i cooked and ate brocolli...fresh vegetables seem to be hard to find in restaurants...or i havent looked in the right spots!...anyways - on the "gasteliste" at panorama bar tom. nite ;)....quiet night tonite...

transmediale ..last thoughts

2006-02-07T23:14:00.000+01:00

well...its official..i now have conference overload...

Some highlights include..Jean Jaques Perry...playing at Maria...at..oh my god...80 something years old...he still rocks..
I feel soo privilaged....and on the same nite..Felix Cubin...hadn't heard of hime...but was pretty good..

more on transmediale

2006-02-06T10:38:00.000+01:00

ok...got over the waiting in lines now...seen a few interesting paper presentations...and snow falling!

A few papers of note that have interested me Simon Penny on interactivity, and the new art that is created by the process of interaction, also how by creating an interactive you are opening up a platform for the user to "learn"
... Norman White (creator of "The Helpless Robot" - a large box which demands that you spin it backwards and forward) spoke on a panel looking at imperfections and unexpected mistakes with technology and how that informs the artwork. Unfornately, these were the only panels dealing with physical interactivity and the space in between the interaction of humans and artworks.

Shu Lea Cheang talking about her work was refreshing, particularly her dealings with various governments censoring her work.

Then the lecture by electronic music godfather Jean Jacques Perry... he gave us a slideshow about his life which was both informative and amusing. Can't wait for his performance tonight.

The club has presented some crazy acts, my favourite so far being Doddodo from Japan..... She looked bizarre...jumped around on a table triggering various samples - occaisionally say "fuc u" to the pogoing lads in the crowd..they lapped it up!

And I finally got to sit down and eat some food with a group of people!....

berlin...patience

2006-02-04T04:24:00.000+01:00

Well I have finally arrived in Berlin....staying in a great apartment...w-lan rocks!

For some reason patience is a virtue here...after a 12 hour flight from Singapore - Frankfurt, I had a "Race around the world" experience"...Jumped of the flight in Frankfurt and RAN to make my connecting flight to berlin...as I ran I was thinking I hope my luggage is at the same pace as me ..WRONG...on arrival in Berlin the "nice" Lufthansa flight attendant procedes to tell me that my luggage is not on the plane and that I should proceed to lost and found...hmmm..great ...12 hours in the air..from steamy Singapore...my personal hygene wasnt the best :(..

So wait I did at my accomodation in Berlin..for 12 hours before my bag appears...hmm..patience..lucky for w-lan..

Patience supposedly is a virtue and Germans are supposedly efficient...maybe too efficient..
After managing to find my way to the Akademie der Künste...I thought at last!...so poceeded to by a ticket...
"we don't take Kredit card"! ...so cash obtained I returned only to wait in a queue...right, a festival pass obtained..
I thought that should be the end of the queues.....but noooo....each event talk ..even the exhibition...everyone had to line up
to get a ticket..argghh!...and the line for the coffee..arrghh!!

Hitting the Club later in the evening I was thinking...club queue...but to my surprise no!..walked straight in..
The Club made my night...very cool place ... great performances... a room encircled with visuals...
I was in my element ;) ...video footage to prove it (images later)....

music - slick, glitchy and ironic...and the locals lapped it up...

Looking forward to clubland tomorrow nite..

Singapore-strange but true

2006-02-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

ok my stopover in singapore for one day....pristine railway stations...white highrises...extreme multiculturaliasm...
little india..men on street corners....chinatown tourist central....shopping ..tourism..must buy must buy must must buy...
some pics of the extremes..

excited!

2006-01-24T07:03:00.000+01:00

well ...one week to go..... the radical change in temperature should be interesting...
42 degrees to -12 degrees!!!!

looking forward to some stimulating art in the land of cold...