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CTM.12 – Festival for Adventurous Music

27. Januar 2012 in Art, Berlin, Events, Festivals, Music by Paul

From the 30th January to the 5th February, various venues across the city will be hosting concerts, exhibitions and discourses as part of CTM.12 – Festival for Adventurous Music and Related Arts. This is the thirteenth edition of the Festival, and as always the CTM is running in parallel to and in cooperation with transmediale – Berlin’s festival for art and digital culture (25 years old this year – happy birthday guys!).

Here’s some more on CTM.12:

In addition to a comprehensive music program at HAU, Berghain, Passionskirche, Gretchen, Kater Holzig, .HBC and Horst Krzbrg, a discourse series developed in collaboration with the philosopher, psycho-historian and author Andreas L. Hofbauer will address the festival’s theme by pursuing questions concerning art, theory, and music.

Ghosts Off the Shelf is an exhibit created by the curator, art critic, and architect Thibaut de Ruyter at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, and explores the artistic use of the exponentially growing capacities of technical archives and their “inherent ghosts”. The exhibit opens on 27 January as part of Vorspiel, a comprehensive partner program within which a number of independent Berlin art, music, and media spaces will present their activities.

Full programme and loads more stuff on the official website: CTM.12

Exhibition in Berlin – Helen Mirra

5. Januar 2012 in Art, Berlin by Paul

Mirra 03

Helen Mirra
Field Recordings, 7 x 5000 Schritte, in Berlin (Allee der Kosmonauten) 4 August
Detail / detail
Öl auf Leinwand / Oil on linen, 2010
80 x 170 cm
Courtesy the artist

The exhibition “gehend: Field Recordings 1-3” is taking place currently at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, which is just around the corner from The Circus on Auguststraße. The concept behind the artist Helen Mirra’s work is interesting, because she creates not in a studio, but during walks which she describes as “paced printmaking”.

The pieces currently on show are prints and rubbings made during hikes in Berlin, Bonn and Zurich, and here’s some more about the exhibition from the website:

“In the realm of artistic positions that deal with principles of nature and classification, Helen Mirra’s works hold a particular position. Rather than idealizing nature, they hover between processes of scientific experimentation on the one hand and calligraphic meditation on the other—a combination that produces a great sense of both melancholy and measure.”

For this exhibition she spent a month in each of the three locations, and spent almost every day walking. Every hour she would make a print of the ground before transferring this onto linen, collecting seven such prints a day. Melancholy and measure… perfect for a rainy Berlin day such as this one. The exhibition runs until the 29th January.

Circus Blog 2011 Review Part Two – July to December

21. Dezember 2011 in Art, Beer, Berlin, Berlin Wall Anniversary, Books, Christmas Market, Circus Apartments, Circus Hostel, Circus Hotel, Circus News, Design, Events, Festivals, Film, Football, History, Media, Multitude, Music, Photography, Review of 2011, The Kitchen by Paul

2011reviewparttwo

Okay, so we reached the middle of the year yesterday in our review of 2011 via Circus blogposts, and as the cold wind blows outside the windows of the office here on Rosenthaler Platz it is hard to picture those warm and sunny days of barbecues in the park where we left things, but we will use the power of the blog and an ability to link to take us back to the recent past…

July. The Women’s Football World Cup got serious as we reached the knock-out stages. Germany, as always, were great hosts of the tournament, but they fell foul on the pitch to a surprise defeat at the hands of the eventual winners Japan. Here at The Circus we made a film, brought Dandy of the Grotesque into Fabisch, and began our tours to Kreuzberg with Jim Hudson whilst Jule and the other Jim took people to explore Marzahn.

Into August and Rani delivered the first designs for the new cafe and lounge at the apartments, whilst Sasa and the gang began the long process of deciding what special things would be served there. Berlin commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall with a series of different events and exhibitions around the city, whilst we met a 70 year-old on his birthday who had been born in the very building that now houses The Circus Hotel. Meanwhile Andrew was having a weekly struggle with the weather, Toga was off to watch his team at the Olympic Stadium, and Sandra was getting “in the mood” with her plans for new apartments. It all seems so long ago…

In September we met Carl Oskar for the first time when he popped by the hotel for a visit, but otherwise it was work, work, work, work, on the Circus Apartments. Meanwhile, we were checking out the international literature festival, and many of our guests were gaining our complete admiration as they took on the Berlin Marathon course. As we moved into autumn a friend of ours published a book on a subject close to the hearts of the English-speaking staff members of The Circus – beer – whilst Preston ran a special photography tour for the festival of lights and Digel waved to passing members of the St Pauli football team on Torstraße.

Into November and we hosted the inaugural meeting of the Berlin St Georges Supporters Club down in Goldman’s Bar, began our new fundraising campaign with our friends at Multitude, celebrated Thanksgiving in the Circus Cafe and drank our first glasses of glühwein at the Berlin Christmas Markets.

And so we reach December and the end of 2011. Sometimes December can be a calm and quiet month at The Circus, but not this year. We had a film crew come by the hostel to make a special clip for our website (coming soon!) but mostly we were getting the apartments ready for launch, which we did last week.

So as Christmas and New Year’s Eve approaches, we reach the end of our special review of 2011 (part two), and we would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone – guests, staff, partners and friends – who have been with us during 2011 and the next year of the Circus story. In 2012 the Circus will be FIFTEEN years old… who could imagine what would have happened when the doors opened on that first 40-bed building close to Friedrichstraße.

Ah, enough of the nostalgia. See you soon.

Circus Blog 2011 Review Part One – January to June

20. Dezember 2011 in Art, Bars, Beer, Berlin, Books, Circus Apartments, Circus Hostel, Circus Hotel, Circus News, Circus Talks, Design, Events, Fabisch, Festivals, Film, Football, History, Hungry Jared, Media, Music, Our Neighbourhood, Review of 2011, Rosentage, Slow Travel Day, Stuff We Like, The Berg Gallery by Paul

2011reviewpartoneIn amongst all the excitement of the opening of the Apartments last week, we missed the second birthday of this lovely blog, and so we thought we would use the chance to not only say “Happy Birthday” to ourselves, but have a look back at a year in the Circus through our blog posts. Now quite a lot of things have happened to us over the past twelve months, so we have decided to split this into two and begin with the first six months of the year.

In January we launched our cooperation with the ZeitzeugenBörse for our series of eyewitness history talks, which are still continuing each month in Fabisch, and we have a very special treat and surprise on this topic coming up in January…so keep your eyes open! We also recieved the happy news that The Circus Hotel had once again been selected for the Tripadvisor Traveller’s Choice Awards, voted for by people who have stayed with us at the hotel and a wonderful achievement for the second year in a row. Later in month Judith and Lisanne took some guests on a special Long Night of the Museums Tour, whilst Jared started on his mission to eat around Berlin.

February might be the shortest month but there was lots going on, especially as the Berlinale was in town. We also prepared a very special welcome for a very special friend of ours.  March was completely packed, with a renovation of the Circus Cafe just in time for all the different events of our Slow Travel Day, including tours, film screenings, a pop-up bookshop and much more, whilst our small Kunstbox at the hostel became host for the Pictosplasma festival. Over at the hotel Marie Jacobi brought Rapunzel to the tower, where she still sits…

Into spring and we welcomed the Berg Gallery to our Kunstbox, celebrated Hertha’s return to the Bundesliga, and continued our obession with you know who. As the weather continued to get warmer the fun and games carried on, with a visit of Gino the Clown to the hostel, we sadly waved goodbye to Konny as he left the Circus (we still miss you), and made the first announcement of the new Circus Apartments.

As the summer arrived we headed up onto the roof of the Circus Hotel for yoga sessions, and worked with our neighbours on the Rosentage neighbourhood and cultural festival. We reached the halfway point of the year with Lisa hosting “Europe’s Most Awesome Barbecue” in Mauerpark.

Phew…and we are only halfway there. Part Two of the 2011 review will be on the blog in the next couple of days…

Apartments Art by Billy

31. Oktober 2011 in Art, Circus Apartments, Circus News, Design, Streetart by Paul

As we continue to work towards the opening of the Circus Apartments we thought we would give you a quick update on what is happening and a look at some of the things we have been up to. There have been a couple of delays on the construction side, which means we will be opening the new house in the second half of November.

One of the things that we have been doing is bringing in different artists and designers, chosen by Circus designer Sandra Ernst, to bring their creativity and inspiration into the apartments themselves. As you might have seen here on the blog, Lebanese architect Rani al Rajji has created the design for The Kitchen Café & Lounge on the ground floor. Elsewhere in the building, we have Marie Jacobi, Luc Massin, Rafael Scovino and Fehmi Baumbach making their own unique contributions through wall paintings, picture prints, light installations and collages.

From England we Billy, a street artist who is creating murals in some of the apartments. You find out more about her work on her website but here is a short film of her in the apartments during the artistic process. Over the next few weeks we will be bringing you more of these snippets as we approach the opening, so you can get a sense of how the apartments will look and the thoughts and inspirations behind the process.

Long Night of the Museums – 27th August

22. August 2011 in Art, Berlin, Circus News, Design, Events, Festivals, Film, History, Museum, Music, Photography, Stuff We Like by Paul

museumsTwice a year the museums of Berlin open their doors long into the evening to show off their spaces under the cover of darkness, often with special events and performances to mark the occasion. This coming Saturday is the summer edition of the event, and 105 different venues are taking part. Before we pick a few things to look out for, here are some practical details:

  • Combi-tickets which get you admittance to all venues cost €15. This also includes the shuttle bus network which is laid on between the different venues, and all other public transport on that evening until 3am. So it is a pretty good deal…
  • You can buy tickets from all participating venues but also from BVG ticket machines, so if you want to get it in advance, check out the ticket machine down on the platform of the U-Bahn station at Rosenthaler Platz.
  • The “central meeting point” for the event is the Kulturforum. Here is the starting point for all the shuttle bus routes, a number of different museums, and they are also hosting a programme of live music, wine tasting, some performance installations and a Twitterwall (no, us neither).
  • The website for the Long Night of the Museums is in German, but if you scroll down you can download the English guide as a pdf, which includes an overview of every single thing going on around the city.

Right then, you know where you are going and how to get a ticket…but how do you possibly choose between 105 different venues? It’s not such a long night after all… Anyway, we’ve put together a sample of some things that look interesting to us, but we would definately recommend you download the English language guide from the website and make a plan for what you would like to see.

Five Things That Caught Our Eye

German History Museum

The DHM is one of Berlin’s best museums, exploring as it does over two thousand years of history in extraordinary detail. It would be impossible to see everything in one go, even with a long night, but at 6pm and 9pm they are offering summary tours in English of their collection.

Film and Television Museum

At Potsdamer Platz, just down the road from the Kulturforum, the Film and Television Museum has a great exhibition on the history of, well, film and television. There is also a special exhibition going on of cinematic storyboards through history, from Hitchcock to Spielberg.

Martin Gropius Bau

Each year the Martin Gropius Bau hosts around twenty exhibitions that are almost always well worth checking out. This Saturday you will have the chance to see wood-cuts and painting by Hokusai, as well as photographs from Budapest, Paris and New York by Andre Kertesz.

Computer Games Museum

Alongside the permanent exhibition covering the history of computer and video games, there is a special performance on Saturday from 10pm-2pm by London’s gwEm and Aachen’s Microwave Massacre, who will be making music from the computer game theme tunes of the 70s and 80s with a modern twist.

DDR Museum

The DDR Museum explores everyday life in East Germany, and for the Long Night of the Museums they will be playing top hits and forgotten gems from the GDR music scene, as well as serving up classic food and cocktails…what, no bananas?

U-Bahn Exhibition: Ost-Berlin vergessene Mitte

27. Juli 2011 in Art, Berlin, History, Our Neighbourhood, Photography, Stuff We Like by Paul

weinmeister1Just down the street from the Circus is the U-Bahn station at Weinmeisterstrasse, which is home until the 7th September to an exhibition of photographs from the artist and photographer Sabine Peuckert. The pictures document the neighbourhood around Weinmeisterstrasse, including streets close to the Circus such as Rosenthaler Strasse and Linienstrasse, during the East Berlin period and were mainly taken around 1980. Just a quick look as you get on or off your train makes you realise how much the neighbourhood has changed in the intervening thity-odd years.

You can see more of Sabine Peuckert’s photographs of the neighbourhood on this page on her website, and if you have a spare couple of minutes whilst you are in Berlin, jump off the U-Bahn at Weinmeisterstrasse and take a look.

weinmeister2

Exhibition in Berlin: Starving Artist Super Star

22. Juli 2011 in Art, Berlin, Events, Stuff We Like by Paul

dorothy1dorothy2

Above: Ancestral Research (Dorothy 1 and 2), Daniel Kingery, Oil on Ink Jet Print, 2010, (c) Daniel Kingery

The images above are by a Berlin-based artist who is an old friend of The Circus, Daniel Kingery. Daniel is one of the artists brought together by the Curatorial Project Group of the Free University in Berlin to present the “Starving Artist Super Star” group exhibition. The exhibition is concerned with exploring the artist’s identity in relation to historic artist’s roles and clichés, and brings together the work of the following artists from around the world:

Frank Arndt (D), Alex Auriema (USA), Mehtap Baydu (TR),Thorsten Brinkmann (D), Rebekka Deubner (F), Mark Emblem (GB), Künstlerkollektiv IOCOSE (I), Thilo Jenssen (D), Daniel Kingery (USA), John Kleckner (USA), Terje Nicolaisen (N), Mithu Sen (IND), Emeli Theander (S), Philip Topolovac (D).

The exhibition opened at the beginning of July, and we checked it out last weekend and found it extremely interesting…there is still a week to go so if you fancy a trip down to Kreuzberg, you will find the exhibition at Archive Books on Dieffenbachstr. 31. The exhibition is open daily from 2pm until 7pm.

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