A link from Infoshop leads to a Web site called Little Black Cart, which is a combination blog and shopping cart for books, mags, ‘zines, etc. Reading topics include: anarchism, communism, culture, green anarchy, situationist, insurrection, anarchy, autonomism, and surrealism. Here is what they write about Situationists. The Situationists (or Sits) were artists from various countries who formed a group in the 1950s called The Situationist Internationale. They critiqued modern society in its various economic, social, and political aspects. They wanted to bring Marxism up to date, to construct a theory of what was going on in society that was…
Wooster Collective in Berlin
Too bad my SLU study group and I will miss the Wooster Collective meet-up in Berlin and a chance to meet Marc and Sara Schiller, the NYC-based couple who has done so much to advance street art around the world. Plus the students would have loved going to the hip Club der Visionaere; they talked about it all the time. No complaints, though. Our recent trip was fantastic in all respects!!
Hatch Kingdom
Lots to write about our trip to Hatch Kingdom, the only sticker museum in the world, but for now:
Photography exhibition at C|O Berlin
The SLU study group — Kat Dwyer, Bridget Montesanti, and Charlie Reetz — and Spencer and I went to C|O Berlin for a photography exhibition entitled Die Stadt, the City. C|O Berlin is situated in Mitte near the well known Kunst Tacheles alternative arts center. The exhibition included the work of 18 artists from the agency Ostkreuz who for well over a year traveled to 22 cities around the globe to explore and examine present-day urban realities. From the C|O catalog, “The city: cradle of civilization, melting pot of cultures, mentalities, religions, and ideas, and the locus of human desires…
Holocaust Memorial
This post is out of chronological order, but I wanted to share that the St. Lawrence study group visited the Holocaust Memorial last Thursday, adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate. We noted that in a city filled with graffiti on almost every imaginable surface, the block of flat gray stelae that comprise the Holocaust Memorial are kept free of commentary (if one can call graffiti commentary, that is). We’ll talk more about this today with time (finally) to reflect upon what we’ve seen and experienced thus far in Berlin and Munich. Something called the “Degussa incident” refers to a scandal in…
Street art + art fair = an oxymoron
The Stroke 02 urban art fair was disappointing. Aside from its overly commercial focus, it lacked the vibrancy we’ve seen and experienced on the streets and elsewhere. Right from the beginning, we all asked, “Why Munich?” and later learned “that’s where the money is.” The fair itself was situated in a four storey building next to the well groomed Englischer Garten in Munich, which alone seemed an odd and unfortunate decision. The most interesting project was a live painting by 11 artists from Switzerland. They had pieced together a large grid of 80 or so 16 x 20 boards, which…
Alternative Berlin
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At Spencer Homick’s suggestion, my SLU students — Kat Dwyer, Bridget Montesanti, and Charlie Reetz — and I signed up for a walking tour yesterday with a group called Alternative Berlin to see and learn about street art. It was a great way to begin our two week journey — better than I expected, to be honest. Our guide Mark was extremely well informed, not only of the “scene” itself, but also about the ways in which artists engage the community with their work. He discussed street art as much more than mere decoration and/or defacement of the public environment. …
Antjie Krog
We heard back from Katharina Haverich at the Haus der Kulturen, and we’re signed up to read on Friday night. Here is what she wrote: There is a chance that by Friday June 4th (evening) we will be through with Gourevitch (read in German) and Sebald (read in German). The later that day I’d schedule you and your students, the higher the chance we will have reached Krog (read in English). My sense, from what I’ve read so far, is that this will not be performance as spectacle, but rather performance as a form of witnessing. I’ll do more research…
Rules of Evidence at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt
A program entitled Rules of Evidence will be presented at the Haus der Kulten der Welt during the first week of June when I’ll be in Berlin with three students to study street art. Curated by Okwui Enwezor, the project is “the first edition of a new biannual encounter at Haus der Kulturen der Welt that will feature five days of thematic programmes, conceived by a group of international filmmakers, curators, artists and theoreticians. A key component of the encounter is the critical re-evaluation of historical processes in the light of the contemporary moment. Also at stake is the role…
Stroke.02
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Turns out Stroke.02 will take place in Munich the same time I’ll be in Berlin in May-June with three students from SLU. I’m hoping to get funding for all of us to attend. Our Hatch friends will be there, plus many other sticker and street art n’er-do-wells from throughout Europe.