Author Archive
Last Rays of Sun
A weekend exploring the nooks and crannies of Oslo, catching the last rays of sun (and a moon) before the long Norwegian winter sets in.
And last but not least, a memorial for the 92 killed in Oslo and Utøya’s 2011 terrorist attacks:
“…og storst av alt er kjærlighetenand” [translation: …love conquers all]
Sepia glory
At the Neukölln Flowmarkt today I came across a worn old photo album. Inside were pages and pages of tiny square photos from what looked like the 1930s-60s, showing the history of a middle class German family in all its sepia glory – from weddings, birthdays and Christmases, to children playing, fancy dress parties and drunken celebrations. Most of the photos were not high quality but the images gave me an intense feelings of nostalgia and intimacy. How did these precious memories end up for sale at a flea market? The images below – simple snapshots from a Sunday stroll – were inspired by this old album.
Come join the exciting Cambodian festival I’m working on! We’re seeking creatives, curators and volunteers for Our City Festival, taking place across Siem Reap, Battambang and Phnom Penh in January 2014.
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”
— William Shakespeare (1609)
More photos from Autumn/Fall/Herbst in Berlin
Where the sweet birds sang
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”
— William Shakespeare (1609)
This prickly article is actually quite entertaining.
“By 2010, Californians were serving eight-euro huevos rancheros to Parisians wearing Aztec-printed pants, while Danes dressed in shapeless black sacks sipped lychee Bionade. Spaniards cooked enormous paellas at the streetside markets, and enterprising Brits did vintage arbitrage, buying eighties silk jumpers in the flea markets of the Turkish and Arab neighborhoods in the south, then selling them at a premium in the hipster and tourist neighborhoods in the north. Last November, the New York Times Magazine published an account of an Australian in Berlin who had to leave because he was just having too much fun to get anything done.”
Just received this special email:
“Hello Michelle,
It a pleasure for me to see your pictures, especially the ones of Berlin. Winter & autumn seems to stay cold and windy. To be honest, they remind me with melancholy of the short time I lived in Kreuzberg. I miss so much this time of freedom and exploration. What a special city, no? So, I just wanted to write to you this email, only for sharing my emotions about Berlin. If one day, you pass by Brussels, it will be my pleasure to show you my city.
Mlle Bérénice Dartois”
Visualized
Last weekend I took photos for Visualized Berlin, a conference bringing together some of Europe’s most innovative information designers and data artists. Here are a few photos from this very engaging event.
Can’t believe it – I won my case against the King of Bureaucracy aka the German Pension Fund. The €5000+ bill that randomly arrived in my letterbox 18 months ago has been completely cancelled AND they are paying all my lawyer fees. Miracles happen!
Tomorrow night at Boiler Room!
If you’re in Berlin next weekend, join us at Supermarkt for our WORKAROUND Conference on new forms of work, alternative models of self-employment and the evolution of freelancing.
Exercise in Portraiture
This weekend I photographed Berlin’s Visualized conference on information design and data visualisation. I took the opportunity to take portraits of the participants and organisers, an eclectic group of Germany’s most innovative information designers and data artists. The backdrop to these portraits is a gorgeous work from Raban Ruddigkeit’s Ramix exhibition. Portraiture is an area of photography I have not explored much before, but I’m now thinking of ways I can further experiment with this form.
Berlin Art Hack
After a summer hiatus in Sydney and Vancouver, I was happy to spend my first weekend back in Berlin reacquainting myself with the city’s thriving art scene at Art Hack Day Berlin and its culminating exhibition Going Dark, hosted by the awesome guys from LEAP and co-presented by transmediale.
It was great to see so many members of Berlin’s art community out in force to support this event (over 500 I would guess), showcasing 20 works from 50 artists, all on the theme ‘Going Dark’. My favourite works were of the participatory variety, including the DARK LEAKS two-part installation where audience members typed their darkest secrets onto a computer on one side of the exhibition, whilst a tiny mechanical duck-like creature announced these (often bleak) confessions in a monotonous English accent in another room. Jeremy Bailey’s performative intervention, in which he auctioned off 5 of the exhibition artists’ Facebook profiles, was also a highlight.
The only downside to the evening was the fact I broke my 10 year McDonald’s fast by eating part of Kim Asendorf’s installation THERE WILL BE BURGERS. I’m disgusted in myself and can’t get the taste out of my mouth. I guess I was swept away in the victorious moment the installation was liberated from the plinth to the people. But never again.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Berlin Art Hack concept expanded for its next incarnation as part of transmediale in Feb 2014. Berlin: it’s so great to be back!
So chuffed to have been selected as one of 45 participants in the European Festivals Association (EFA)’s 2013 Atelier for Young Festival Managers, this October in Beirut. Excited to have the opportunity to be trained and mentored by international festival royalty including Robyn Archer, Rose Fenton, Nele Hertling, Jonathan Mills and many more.
Image: Beirut by Spencer Platt, 2006 World Press Photo of the Year
A Week in Crete
A well-needed dose of Mediterranean sunshine and ocean after the long Berlin winter.
Transit
My 32 hour journey from Pflügerstrasse, Berlin to Boyce Rd. Maroubra, Sydney (via London, Singapore and a lot of bad plane food).
