2-5 February
TRANSMEDIALE ever elusive
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
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2 Feb 8-11pm
Hybrid Pleasures: Early Films of Lillian Schwartz
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
Lillian Schwartz (1927) is a pioneer of multimedia and computer-generated art – among many other things, she created 2D and 3D films as well as digital tools to analyse artworks, in a time (60s-70s) where computers offered no friendly user interface and no established software to produce graphics. Such experiments could be considered an expansion of the hand drawing techniques she had been using since she was a child, yet her work has gone well beyond that and managed to bring together fine arts and applied arts, scholarship and technical research in a unique way. A selection of her films will be shown during the (free entrance) Transmediale opening.
2017.transmediale.de/content/hybrid-pleasures-early-films-of-lillian-schwartz
3 Feb 8-10pm
Feeling Algorithms
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
This screening presents a selection of films produced over a large period of time – 1962-2016 –
that “addresses processes in art, music, and the financial market that are not fully rationalizable and the ambivalent longing for communication with non-human entities”. I have an ongoing cross-disciplinary research project about (read: a soft spot for) all things algorithmic, and I’ve already explored a bit the role they play in trading with the help of my friend mace.. Even without such personal reasons, algorithms and man-machine communication have become so relevant, in so many ways and in so many contexts – daily life, state-of-the-art technology, basic research, artistic production – that you all may wanna have a look at these films and take the chance to reflect, discuss and get inspired.
2017.transmediale.de/content/feeling-algorithms
5 Feb 4-6pm
Material Agents
HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
Stan Vanderbeek worked at Bell Labs in the 60s – just like Lilian Schwartz, and like her, although with very different results, he was working on experimental films. He was strongly influenced by surrealist collage (Max Ernst, my big love!) and the cut-up technique of the Beat Generation. The Material Agents screening starts with the beauty of Vanderbeek’s concrete digital poetry, and proceeds with a selection of films that “combines stories of the present and future that examine the conditions of an inclusive concept of subjectivity, and at the same time the potentials of political resistance and economic empowerment in neoliberalism”. It is maybe a bit weird to recommend three screenings in a row but well, this are my personal picks and the full festival program is easy to find :)
2017.transmediale.de/content/material-agents
until 5 February (exhibition until 13 March)
CTM 2017 Fear Anger Love
Various locations
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28 Jan-19 March, 11am-8pm (or 10pm during the festival)
Critical Constellations of the Audio-Machine in Mexico
Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Mariannenpl. 2, 10997 Berlin
Mexico is coming up a lot in the news for not so nice reasons lately, in relation to a certain wall that has been already compared to the Berlin one (1961-1989). I assume the Mexico focus of this year’s CTM exhibition had been chosen before then, yet it’s interesting to see how fast topics and places can go hotter and how cultural events are there to feel, sometimes anticipate that. Also, experimental music has gone more and more international in the latest decades, but this is no reason to stop and try exploring national scenes and their relation with local traditions and political/historical context. I actually wouldn’t mind something like that about Italy as well.
www.ctm-festival.de/festival-2017/transfer/exhibition
3 Feb, 9pm
Elation
Berghain, Rüdersdorfer Str. 7, 10243 Berlin
This is more like a ‘classic’ CTM Berghain night – the rich lineup puts together several levels, genres, instruments and places that happen to correspond to different periods of my life experience as music lover – Berlin, Milano and Den Haag, dance floor and experimentation, Creme Organization and Warp, analog synths and Ableton Live … it even starts as early as 9pm so that I won’t feel too old.
www.ctm-festival.de/festival2017/2017/02/03/berghain_iv-1
4 Feb, 9-11pm
Incisive
Festsaal Kreuzberg, Am Flutgraben 2, 12435 Berlin
Eylsia Crampton has been the talk of the town lately – although she has been active as musician for about ten years already – to the point that some people I know already feel she’s overrated. Yet some others, whose taste I happen to really trust, are completely under the spell of her eclectic “prog” music described as mixing hip hop, psychedelia, electronica and more. I haven’t explored her stuff in-depth yet, but I liked what I’ve heard and I will take this chance to get to know her better during a live performance. No less than a King Britt’s dj set on top.
www.ctm-festival.de/festival2017/2017/02/04/festsaal_kberg