An Artist Talks with Paula P'Cay, 24.11.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Paula P'Cay is an amazing singer living and working mostly in Europe and Russia. She has a strong personnality and gives alot, she is a generous person and believes in life. She believes in herself, that everything is possible also, she is confident that her singing brings joys to others. She is very happy to have the priviledge to share and live from her artistic work.

She left home at a young age and has grown from her experiences. Her life was not easy, she has been through relationships, break-ups and love stories, alike many women today. Her fans in Russia are mostly woman, they can easily relate to her. She feels, she represents independency and liberation. "In Russia, women are still very locked into old wife/husband patterns" she says.


Her personal story has filled her voice with gracefull emotion and feeling: she has a strong and powerfull vibration, she has the soul from deep inside her heart. Since her childhood, she has always been singing, it makes her feel good, alike a prayer or a meditation. She loves mainly house music because of the possibility to express positive warm feelings. She is currently writing new songs of her own, and collaborates with many producers, who send her tracks to work on. On stage, she likes to perform, mixing both cover versions of hit songs and her original songs together. She confides to have a deep admiration for Ella Fitzgerald, she learnt English, whilst reading her songs. She has a huge collection of her recordings. 

 

She has been working in Russia recently, where she is becoming more and more famous, and has been lucky enough to sing in pratically every city there. Her life is made of travel, she sleeps in hotels, and spends many hours in airports. She likes to meet and connect often with musicians also on the road waiting in transit. Her usual day at home: she wakes up late, reads and writes her emails, checks her facebook and then still in bed, she starts to write songs. She is focused on what she does and can work up to 7 or 8 hours in a row, just to get the lyrics, the tone and the feeling right. She is ambitious and perseverant...


She shared with us one of her latest recordings, a demo, " No Longer Lonely". Wow !!!! I recommend you search for it as soon as it comes out !!! It is a hit !!!




It was a nice moment we shared and to finish Paula sang us one of her favourites, she has many:-)
 "The man I love", it was beautiful.

www.paulapcay.com

An Artist Talks with Berlinimportart, Exhibition "Koffer", 16.11.2011, Forum Factory, Berlin

The talk took place inside the gallery Forum Factory the day after the opening on the 16th of November 2011. 

Artists Alejandra Borja, Jana Taube, Pascal Brateau, Aurélie Pertusot, Maria Jose Ambrois, Masayo Kajimura, Li Koelan, Ariel Lomanno, Ana Matovska, Peggy Sylopp, Gretta Louw, Nadja Milenkovic, Sebastian Seitz,  Alain Rivière and Sabia Khan were there to exchange about their work and interpretation of the theme "Koffer". 

Also there to share their impressions Tanja Dickert, a culture manager and Claudia Baricco, a film festival organiser.

Many shared the feeling of travel and memories, as if they were taken from one city to another. Strong ideas around identity and social recognition seem to be a center point for others.

The theme was carefully chosen by both Alejandra and Jana because of their representation of the suitcase. Their mixed-media installation combines collage, photography and light. The work is a  series of photographs of a female figure in different unexpected positions, inside the delimited space of the structure of a rectangular column light box.

Jana sees the work as a re-collection of different and changing moments of life, alike memories stored together inside our minds. The theme is obvious to Alejandra. To be a Columbian means to have specific national identity and experience. She shares, for instance, how she has to go through a special search in customs, because of the reputation of her country. The "Koffer" is also a close-up on prejudice and specific social behaviours.

Pascal Brateau and Aurélie Pertusot worked as well together for their installation.  Both artists combined together technique and savoir-faire. Aurélie sees her work as an imginary city. The ideal city, the one she pictures inside her head. In fact it may be her hometown, a place where she has lived for years, and it became a root influence to her production. Pascal concentrated on the form of the wooden box, containing the mirrors and reflections of this urban landscape. He sees the suitcase as a memory from the past putting into perspective the future. It is a direction.

Ariel Lomanno took a part of himself, a part of his roots, and piece of the family history, using in a very sincere way, the old suitcase he inherited from his grand-father. This suitcase was his first ever, and followed him through his first studios and was also his first furniture. It has been following him along the years and has equally a story in his past and a story in his future. In the present, the installation is showing this authentic old suitcase, and gives us a view upon the artists intimacy and secrets.

Masayo Kajimura presented her video installation and shared her idea around the theme. For her essentially , suitase means memory, movement, as well as, migration of populations. She is a Japanese artist born and living in Germany. Her mixed culture gives her the oriental sens of detail and occidental vision and understanding of conceptual works. She uses mixed media techniques from the past alike Origami and confronts the present with video images, trapped and shown inside a cut open old leather "Koffer". Her work is close to poetry and she is aware of this.

Li koelan with her performance/installation wanted to explore the notion of travel along with the sens of national belonging. The little bags of earth, symbol of where we come from, were collected from different countries. She invites the viewer to attach on her silver coat with a safety pin a little sample of earth. The viewer becomes an actor of her performance and she leads the game. One after another the little bags of soil are attached to her. Finally she takes the coat off and lies it on the ground aside a sort of collage map ressembling a body. The work  brings into light a certain meditative and contemplative aspect to the theme "Koffer". She explores this universal notion of mother earth.

Maria Jose Ambrois chose to set inside the space of three suitcases her memories , delicately embroided. She likes to remember her childhood and her Barby dolls. She still collects them today and are a very central point of her works. She likes the theatrical side of these suitcases, and tries to bring the viewer into her intimate world and discuss with him: What is in your suitcase?

Ana Matovska presented a series of drawings, each drawing is itself a sort of suitcase.  Placed thoughfully side by side, they are to be viewed as a series of transformations, relating the complexity of situations in our lifes. The feeling around the diversity of characteristics and possibilities is her interpretation of the theme. She choses to transcribe into an abstractive form her "Koffer", that appears to be almost organic and alive. 

Gretta Louw is an Australian artist born in South Africa. Unlike the other artist her national identity is not so clear. She puts into her suitcase something a little different, she explores behaviour and human psychology. She is trying to escape from prejudices, such as: skin colour, nationality, social background  or education.  

Peggy Sylopp amazingly presents her "Koffer" as if it where without boundaries. The tool of media art art allows her to play with architectural compositions and constructions that play with the infinite and the tiny. She puts into contrats elements and plays with them. In her Koffer there are dancers, voices and words. This very singular angle gives a mystical aspect to her work.

Nadja Milenkovics and Sebastian Seitz work mostly together. Their idea was to construct from Nadja's drawings. She leads into a direction and then Sebastian gives the light and brings and new perspective to the drawings that become multi-dimentional. The "Koffer" is a compound of thoughts and images one carries in our heads. Along the days and the years, we collect them, and keep them together. For this installation, the couple shows them hanging in display to be seen and exposed to others. The Koffer is a result of all our experiences and feelings. It is an abstaction of the physicallity of the moment that has disapeared, and has been frozen in between reality and dream.

Alain Rivière chose to explore a myth: Pandora. Why is Pandora a Koffer? Because the body of the female is set as a shrine, a precious space of unknown and wonder. The artist is fascinated by the female body and praises it in a beautifull way, showing a series of photographs of the worshiped Pandora body. You cannot escape the reality of the myth and you follow his story, one photograph after another. Alain likes to bring out the humanity and mystery out of the body. The skin becomes the walls of this human Koffer, a suitcase full of sensuality and desire.

Tanja Dickert, kultur managerin was very impressed by the quality of the works presented inside the exhibition from the Berlinimportart artists. She felt that the theme was widely explored in very different ways by a vast range of divers media and concepts. She liked the theme, as it allows to get closer to the artists, and brings a certain form of intimacy into the artistic production.

Claudia Baricco was also satisfied with the exhibition. The media works attracted her attention and she saw the challenge set by the theme "Koffer" inside the media of video, as a way to express travel, migration, transformation and development. All the works fit together as a whole and the quality of the curating was also underlined. She enjoyed the experience and the possibilty to hear the artists share their different point of views and ideas.

The exhibition was successfull with many visitors and the talk was a moment to explain the work Jana and Alejandra have both achieved inside the new born Berlinimportart organization. The choice to curate with a precise theme and push the artists selected to their best, is a long process. Alejandra and Jana are both dedicated to this project and continue to improve the platform that recently changed from Neukoelnimports to Berlinimportart, to be able to intergrate artists living and working in Berlin.

The talk was very intense and instructive , artists were able to connect with eachother in a different manner than before, thanks to the space and the selection.

Jana and Alejandra concentrated on the quality of the "Koffer". :-)

www.berlinimportart.de

An Artist Talks with Andrea Colletti, 13.10.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Andrea Colleti is an experience painter living and working in Berlin. His mixed origins, Italian Father and English mother, gives him an unusual personnality, a cocktail of latin and saxon culture. 

He has been painting mainly abstract compositions with an amazing skill, alike a patchwork,  placing and using his own vibrant colours. He sees the painting as a language to communicate and plays with textures. He likes to test and experience to see what the result of his work is. Searching brings him to make mistakes that lead into another path and widen his perception of painting. Andrea likes to pour and drip and squash and layer and glue, he follows his instinct. Amazingly he still discovers new possibilities on the canvas today.

He has recently started to do quick portraits with the use of a window. The subject sits behind the glass and he traces the lines he sees. I played the game and sat in front of this window. Andrea continued to explain as he was drawing, that this has been a way to make a little money, as it is not so simple to survive from his art.

He has been working in the Kunsthaus for a long time. He experienced many changes in the house and has grown from this time. He has discovered other artists and discusses with curiosity any topic.

Andrea is a passionate man, who likes to reinvent his work every day. He works today in his home studio and comes regurlarly to the Tacheles to play bass and share emotions. His paintings can be seen in the Welt Urlaub on the ground floor. He is generous and had pleasure talking to the audience that stayed and listened with great interest. He knows how to captivate with words and explains easily what his ideas are about art.

" Everyone has an individual experience in front of a painting. Everyone is unique" he says.

It was an exciting moment.

An Artist Talks with Louey Moss,28.09.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, berlin

Louey Moss is an African American living and working in Berlin since 20 years. She is from New York, where she grew up: She has always sang since her young age. Her brothers and sisters sang as well, her father was a musicain, and her mother a pastor. 

So I childhood is full of Gospel memories and singing in the church. This special feeling after performing with her family in those times remains untouched. She has learnt to play the piano and the guitar and the drums. 

She likes to write her own songs and melodies. And her composition are full of feeling and rythm'n blues. Her singing is amazing, as she reexplores the Jazz repertoire, and interprets her original cover versions of classics, such as Sommertime for instance ...She is a strong believer in Mankind and Humanity. She is aware of the great possibilties an artist has, to reach out to the people and bring them hope.

The wants to transmit her energy and passion for life. She says: "Dreams do come true, you must believe in them yourself first for them to come true".

She likes to encourage the youth, who approachs her and give them friendly advice.

She discovered the Kunsthaus Tacheles a couple of years ago and has recently been playing jam sessions downstairs ground floor in the Welt Urlaub Gallery space. She sings and brings the audience in from the street to enjoy beautifull musical moments shared also along with other singers and artists coming through the Kunsthaus.

She likes the Kunsthaus Tacheles because it stands for freedom of expression and brotherhood. She feels it is important to defend any type of artist. For her The Kunsthaus Tacheles is a place for artistic discussion and networking. She has chosen to support the Kunsthaus and bring more musicians. She plays on mostly Thursdays and Fridays: Please come and visit us. The Kunsthaus Tacheles Oranienburgerstrasse 54/56, mitte, Berlin. It was a very nice talk.

An Artist Talks with The Kominas, 22.09. 2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

This was a night to remember. For me discovering this band playing live on the first floor of the Kunsthaus Tacheles was a revelation. I could not believe my ears and was so impressed by the quality of the sound produced by two guitars, a bass and drumms. 

They are smooth and powerfull, all at the same time. And watching them move together on the stage is fascinating. The guitars are like floating in the air, alike moving on a wave. I was beautiful to see and incredible to feel the strong energy flowing from them. It was inspiring.

I must confess, they played a little stupid during the interview, and I had a moment of hesitation, wondering what the hell I was doing here, with these Pakistany American Beatle Rolling stone stars ...

But I managed to see how dedicated they are to their music, it is their life and it is very easy to understand how much they have invested in this project. They have been working hard and improve always again and again.

Imran, Sunny Ali, Basim and Saeed aka The Kid are close like a family. They are all very attractive young men, looking and feeling confident inside the group. They are aware (I check myself on other interviews...was not so sure that night!) of the social political system in the US. Bassim says "I am a product of the American Public school system "with a touch of irony. " Fortunately I have good friends". He lives with Imran, who shares his flat with him.

Nothing is easy still, the competition is hard, the music production is so intense and vast. And they know this, but the mix of cultures, the singing in Hindi and Penjabi, as well as English, gives them a special vibration.  Suprisingly this punk rock intergrates the 70', 60' and even 50' influences. The beats and rythms are  extremely divers and you just can't stop dancing.

They know their luck to be playing and touring in Europe, it is quite an adventure. They were so pleased to play in the Tacheles it meant alot to them. They love underground stages, somehow it must fit to their groove. I really do hope they will return soon here. I was so happy to discover four young great artists, it was an amazing Berlin night. They said it was "the most honest interview they had given", I am flattered. Please come again!

An Artist Talks wth Jaesun Windsor, 22.09.2011, kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Jaesun is a young ambitious hip hop producer, he is a song writer and raps his texts with a Canadian twist. He describes the scene in his country as very active.

He is going to collaborate with another artist producer to finalize a first album, for which he will prepare a tour in the North of Canda. He is experienced in event organization and has many helpful contacts in the club/concert scene.

He has always listened to hip hop since he is 13 and qualifies himself as a bad boy. He likes the social and political impact that some good rap texts can have, and has an admiration for this form of expression. He also sees the superficial side of this hip hop production.  But still he feels it is positive, since it has opened the possibility for different social classes, to reach out to the people.


Jaesun is curious and has enjoyed discovering the Kunsthaus. He came through with a bunch of tourists and he came to my studio. That is how we met. He talks easily and enjoys communicating with strangers, he has been traveling through Europe since August. I took him around the studios in the Kunsthaus Tacheles and he was amazed by all the artists he spoke with. "He had no idea that places like this exist" he says, "He has had so much fun!"

Jaesun likes life and you can tell: He is enjoying every minute of his time and follows the flow. He knows how to trust his feelings and instinct. He is fast and clever and likes to suprise. Let's hope his album is a good suprise...

We were lucky after the interview to hear The Kominas a punk Pakistani American band from New York playing on the first floor of the arthouse that same night. The talk was easy going and relaxed. I had a nice time.

An Artist talks with Ashleigh Wilson, 15.09.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Ashleigh Wilson is a ballerina and dancer from South Africa. She moved to Europe, Germany and she came first to Dresden then 8 months ago moved to Berlin.

She discovered her passion for dance at the age of 18, which pushed her into the challenge of working 12 hours a day, to catch up time. As we know, most classical dancers start training at a very young age. Nevertheless her talent and qualities have allowed her to become a professional dancer, and Ashleigh has recently joined the Fehrnseh Ballet from Berlin.

She likes to discover new techniques and experience collaborations. She says: "they expand her possibilities as a dancer". In this respect, she is always watching other dancers, live or on dvds or on youtube... She has a good physical memory and intergrates moves very fast. All this  hard work is to improve always her dancing. She is very ambitious and would like to achieve something with her art.

She has developed a strong attitude towards the tough environment of ballet, where competition is very extreme. Alike most dancers, she trains a daily minimum of three hours and works on choreographies.

She recently performed in the "We Support Tacheles" party and also in the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin.

She explained how hard it can be in the ballet class and how much she has been working to reach her goals. She has many dreams and lives her life open to opportunities and exchange. She shared important moments of her life in South Africa, where she helped the disadvantaged and believes in change and improvement of life conditions there.

This has taught her determination. And she develops it with the practice of  buddhist meditations. She hopes to feel compassion and understanding towards those who are not as fortunate as her. She would like to grow from this stay in Europe. She has a clear view of the world and is curious about everything. 

She discovered the Kunsthaus Tacheles because of her performance and really loves this space. Today she comes regularly to dance with friends and dancers. She always tries to support, with her smile and charm, whatever she believes in.

To conclude the interview, she performed in the New Gallery in the Kunsthaus Tacheles, with her friend dancer, met in Dresden, George Hill. They both put together the choreography in two days, and she chose the South African National Anthem.

She is faithfull to herself and to her country... It was a suprising moment.

An Artist Talks with Salomea Genin, 25.o8.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Salomea Genin was born in 1932 in Berlin to Polish-Jewish parents and fled the Nazis with her family to Australia in 1939. In 1944 she joined the Eureka Youth (Young Communist) League and in 1949 - the beginning of the Cold War - the Australian Communist Party. In 1951, as a delegate to the World Youth Festival in East Berlin, she became convinced her calling was to help build an anti-fascist state in the newly-founded German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

In 1963, after a nine-year struggle to immigrate, she finally settled there. Twenty years later, she realized that she was living in a police state, one in which she had willingly participated. By 1985, psychotherapy and writing a book about her family enabled her to find the strength to go into political opposition and build a new life, even before the Berlin Wall and East Germany itself were dismantled in 1989. ( from www.salomeagenin.de)

I was very happy to great Salomea Genin, "a Jewish woman of the world", as she calls herself. She is a woman with an incredible life experience. She shared with us in two hours, some of her memories and even gave us the priviledge of a few Communist songs, that she interpreted with emotion. I must confess, I cried.

She has grown from her experience and shares. She brought us wisdom. She is fortunate to have thought over her past and transformed her suffering into generosity and talent. She is currently writing a fourth book.

She has perspective and insight over human behaviour and political regimes. She actually found herself comparing the nazis to the stasis, and discovered how they ressembled each other. She found out how people get trapped inside ideas and obediance towards hierarchy, leading to horror and blindness.

She has also forgiven... And she has forgiven herself. Salomea has found peace inside her heart. She says "I realized that the only way to bring peace around you, is to find peace inside yourself ".

She discovered again the Tacheles, and told us she came when she was 18 to a club downstairs in the twenties. There was a big cinema inside the theater. She was excited to visit it again. She saw that the Tacheles was still alive and that artists work here after all these years.

For those who do not know Tacheles means "speak the truth " and that is precisely what Salomea Genin does. It was a very moving talk.

video coming shortly

www.salomeagenin.de

An Artist Talks with Frank Schulz, 08.09.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Frank Schulz is alike a poet and his photographs recreate new dimensions, new territories and imaginary worlds.

He came very simply to the talk, friendly and kind.

He is very modest in his expression and seems very focused on his work.

He lives and works in Berlin where his studio is, behind the gallery, who shows his work in Freiedrichshain,  Boxenhagenerstrasse.

He likes to sale to an audience different form the big galleries. His works are editions of a 100 allowing him low prices. He likes the experience of meeting the buyers, some even save for months, to be able to buy one of his pieces. He finds that moving and smiles.

He works also on commission. And one of these clients is a famous Berlin clubs.

I particularly like a photograph with a sky view and flags waving from the top of a city with antennas on the roof of a small building. I can't help but remember pictures, I have seen in the press about the American flag on the moon.

His very accurate technique of the panorama photography is amazing. And the illusion of these unusual expansions, lead us into new realities, and redimensioned landscapes open up doors inside yourself. Alike a maze or a hidden path, you follow, discover and explore. With your eyes you go up the stairs and along corridors and through wide open spaces. In that respect the works can be interpreted like stories or tales around urban culture. He particularly likes the graffitied walls in Berlin and the old empty warehouses.

He took photographs of the Tacheles staircase and constructed an amazing black and white composition. He likes this free art space, it reminds him of the Berlin spirit, that it impersonnates since 22 years. He has a show in a Gallery on the 4th floor right, where you can see some of his works.

Please come and visit and take a look.

It was a nice talk.

An Artist Talks with John Blue, 18.08.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

John Blue is an American musician living and working in Berlin since 4 years. He likes the feeling of the city and is lucky to work for film production and theater for whom he produces music.

Tim and John Blue in the Kunsthaus Tacheles

He likes to work in a team essentially with his brother Tim. "Working and composition together is one of most intimate relationships", he says. He is self-taugh and can brillantly play the cello and so many other intruments that I cannot name them all. He is curious and likes to explore always new intruments from other countries and cultures, and works with them until he can master them perfectly.

 He produces and plays live sets of experimental music and is extremely creative. He has a very charming personality. He is joyfull and knows that he is fortunate to be living from his music production. He is extremely hard working and likes to create and push his work to perfection. He searches, goes back and forth, turns things upside down, he uses electronic sounds of course, but does not define his production as electronic music.

Tim, John and Axel

One of his first sound tracks took almost ten year to finalize, so he is patient and can be very dedicated to a project, if he believes in it.
He produced sound for films directed by Paul Rowley, the film title is "As Latháir". And John has also worked for the director Wilhelm Hein for his movie "Material Film", for instance.


He likes to play live also for theater production, of course this type of work is slightly different.
He is  working with the Arsenal and it is an ongoing project named 'Living Archive' that will be a performance and music composition using samples from early sound films.
John Blue has experience and has mature vision of his work. He enjoys sharing his passion for music and seems very excited to be a musician. He is not focusing at the moment on distributing his music. So curiously he has no label or albums released. He is in another dimension.

Axel

 He played live downstairs in the Kunstkonsum with his brother Tim and invited a friend Axel to join in a second part. Many people gathered and listen with pleasure to the set. We really shared a nice moment.

www.arsenal-berlin.de/kino-arsenal
www.myspace.com/johnbluemusic  

An Artist Talks with Lars Van Core, 11.08.2011, kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Lars Van Core is a German artist born in Bavaria, living and working in Berlin since ten years. He is a painter, photographer and writer.

He has been influenced by electronic culture and says he is a raver. The most important part of his work relates the themes involving techno parties and techno culture. He paint dancers, women and men having fun, he likes to bring joy with his works and liberation.

For him the best Djs are here in Berlin and he always remembers to party. He believes in love and people, and wants to share this spirit of freedom with others.

The photographs are taken in the night scene as well, and are mostly fast shots taken in unusual moments. Some remain figurative and others take another direction as he transfigures them into colourful abstractions. His process is individual for each work although this same concept of liberation comes through both photos and paintings.

He has recently started to write short stories based on the acquaintances  he has made in Berlin. He is interested in unusual characters and the Berlin urban lifestyle. "I am an Est Berliner", he says and even though the wall is gone, for many, it still means alot in terms of culture, especially for artists. He has a conduct a way of being and remaining open with strangers. He has certain values and wants to be able to share them.

He likes the Tacheles Kunsthaus because it is still a place for freedom, where techno culture still means something. A place where exchange and discussion are possible like nowhere else. Here You don't need to queue in a line, or fill in some papers, all you have to do is come and talk. The Kunsthaus represents a way of life and has kept a strong feeling from the Est times. He is active and helps in the Electrocult non-profit organization to give his support to The Tacheles.

He is an idealist and is politically engaged, although he does not trust politicians, who are for him, lost in compromise and corruption.  He thinks it is vital to preserve Berlin and its specificities. All the city of Berlin is under the pressure because of profit-oriented developement and restructuring. Berlin has something unique for him, a true spirit, that he really wants to fight for. 

He shows his vision in his works and is true to himself, and remains a simple easy going man. It seems like he is floating in between a certain nostalgia and today techno beats.

It was a nice to meet :-)

AN Artist Talks with Dr Motte, 11.08.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Dr Motte kindly accepted my invitation to my modest talk although he is very busy, and I am very grateful.

Of course many articles have been written about the Artist Dj Dr Motte, Matthias Roeingh, who created the Love Pararde in 1989. He has an international career and reaches out to the people , he is politically involved in the society and takes part regurlarly in demonstrations, for causes he finds just.

But Matthias is also a man of sprituality and has a master he follows. He meditates every day and uses this personal development, as an engine, to keep all the clarity needed to enterprise different projects such as Praxxis, his label and electrocult, a recently founded non-profit organization devoted to electronic culture, and also music production and still finds time and energy for live sets all over the world.

He is very open and kind, and likes to encourage young artists. Today his preference goes to producing music in collaborations with other Djs. He likes the energy and dynamic it generates. Meeting and discovering are also an important part of his life.

His relationship to the Kunsthaus Tacheles is a very special one. He came at the very start and was djing downstairs in the seller, where one of the first Tacheles' clubs was founded. Things have changed of course, here in The Tacheles, but Dr Motte has remained faithful to the free artspace and has regularly organized parties in the Golden Theater Hall. On the 3rd of September, he will play in the "WE SUPPORT TACHELES "party with the ELECTROCULT non-profit organization. He feels it is vital to save the Berlin culture and the Kunsthaus Tacheles is definitely a part of it, and must be preserved.

My experience meeting him was warm and encouraging. He tried to explain to me how great the process of printing vinyls is. And he is really fascinated by this type of technology. He reads alot and remembers to share his knowledge with his close surroundings and shows us some books . He seems to like to teach and gives advice very openly, he told me how, for instance, I should try to meditate and free my mind. For him his spirituality and faith are based on controlling the mind and letting it grow. The process engages you into letting go of unnecessary beliefs, that way on you, and go for happiness.

He carries a strong positive energy and has a good sens a humour, "I like to be naughty and my girl friend too" he says imitating the Indian accent in English and makes me and the public laugh. He is a  comedian and an entertainer,  he can go on talking without interruption and talk about  any subject you could think of. He sometimes jumps away from a question, because his mind has led him somewhere further than you thought,  and comes back with your answer, after taking you along another path. He is full of suprises!

Please come to the party (03.09.2011) and support Tacheles and try to go to  Electrocult events, you may get lucky and get a chance to meet and talk with him. Don't be afraid he is really tip top cool :-)

	http://www.drmotte.de http://www.praxxiz.de http://www.muzicr.de http://www.electrocult.de
	http://facebook.com/doctormotte

An Artist Talks with André Nell, 28.07.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

André Nell, also known as Dj Nellski is an artist living and working in Berlin since 3 years. He discovered his passion for music when he was 13 years and ever since has been playing music and now mixing sound. He likes electronic music and the Kunsthaus Since april 2011 he work as technician, editor and of course as DJ for the worldcultureradio multicult.fm in Berlin.

He has started his own radio show called 'alandala' that has been launched on Juli 22nd, 2011. It is on every friday at 8pm and it is sending alternately live and reruns from the Marheinekehalle in Kreuzberg. He likes to produce the music himself but also works in collaboration with other djs, depending on the style of electronic music.

He likes to mix Gypsy music with electronic beats as well as Balkan music too. Take a tour and listen to tracks on his web site.

www.nellski.com

An Artist Talks with Barbara Fragogna, 21.07.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Barbara Fragogna is an Italian artist and curator, living and working in the Kunsthaus Tacheles. She has her solo exhibition in the New Gallery, named "Enough is Enough".

The theme of the exhibition is human relationships and the process of falling in love. These themes are present in her paintings, drawings and installations.

There is continuous movement in all Barbara Fragogna's works. She  inspires  herself with psycho-physiology, and for her, there is no difference in between the mind and the body, and I quote "De unione corporis et anime" (Hugues de Saint-Victor), and quote " liber de spiritu et anima" ( Alcher de Clairvaux). Both these medieval artists have the same perception as Barbara, that the mind and the body have no borders. 

Also themes from Medievale love, explored in litterature,  alike  the "Roman de La Rose" and its theories about love, are explored in Barbara's works. The series of letters, hand written, remind us again that a lover is not really in love with anyone, but infatuated with his fantasies and pours all over the loved one, her or his desires.

Other myths, such as Narcisse are reviewed, with a nice Mirror Object, hanging in a corner, originally with concieved with a sound track "Enough is Enough"  from Barbara Streisand to listen to with the illusions of are own reflection.

The self-portrait is explored widely in different dimensions, in painting, through abstractions and figurative compositions, and also, a precious moment, an individual video object placed carefully aside an orchid flower, another romantic alive object. A flower to pick? The video is a piece made in Italy in collaboration with a friend artist. Together their imagination joined, resulting in an emotional impact that gives both a romanesque and mysterious image... 

Please come and see the show is still on...

www.barbarafragogna.blogspot.com

An Artist Talks with Dr Motte/ Ellen Dosh, Dr Motte Booking, 15.07.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

The talk was a special event for the anniversary of the one year of An Artist Talks. The feeling was great, and we had special performances from Lady Gaby   (Roumania/Australia) and sound by Alain Ledezma (Mexico).

Guests were interviewed and asked to shared their experience and knowledge about DR Motte and the Love Parade. It was really very exciting...

Ellen explained how she met Dr Motte, who is today her partner. They have just founded the Electro Cult e.v. and are very active in the techno scene. They have been bot very active, also in  "We Support Tacheles" events, that Ellen and Dr Motte organize. These parties help to gain funding for the Stiftung Tacheles, and all the Electro Cult team participated the last demonstration very passionately. 

Dr Motte has been very present in The Tacheles since the beggining of the Art House, explains Linda Cerna, the Public Relations of the Art House, who kindly was present to testify and share her knowledge of the past history of the Tacheles with Dr Motte.

Last but not least, I, the interviewer, ended up answering Linda Cerna's questions about my own talk. I had pleasure telling my experience since I have been developing this project for the Kunsthaus Tacheles and artists here. And I also had a good time sharing these unique moments, and will go further next year with more guests... And hope to have soon... to view all the talks from one year... in a loop...Patience please, it is coming .-)

Dr Motte will personnally answer questions next week, so more infos to come...

Please check : 

www.drmotte.de/

An Artist Talks with Johnny Amore, 07.07.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Johnny Amore is a German artist living and working in Berlin. He is a photographer and a performance artist.  The performances  began with readings of original poems he wrote and shared in public spaces, dressed in a white suit with a white hat. He does not call himself a performer though. He remains aware of his artist status. Is he an artist? What is an artist? He has, in any case, a tremendous talent for talking, and has certainly the rare performing qualities of the stage performer: the presence, the voice and the gesture. In many ways, you can easily mistake him for a famous actor... Could be one of his next performances?

Johnny Amore at An Artist Talks part one

He has a great presence and sens of humor. He describes simply the way he develops his ideas and process of working. The photography began with a series of self portraits, and today he is preparing portraits of performance artists. He knows many, and naturally, has opportunities to take pictures, after or before their performances.

Johnny Amore at An Artist Talks part two

 

He has been working since his Super Heroe theme with Finnland, a country where he feels comfortable and fits well. He confides, that he has a special relationship to Finnland, since his childhood. He went on holidays with his parents to visits friends. Later he discovered there, a great performance scene, and today still, he works with Finnish artists.

The performance "7 for the price of 1" was a series of 7 performances, done travelling from Germany to Holland, with a crew of artists, the performers were from Finnland. He tries to explored the concept of creating value, and investigates the perception of value of performative art, and how to create value within the performance...

He seems always very joyful, although the themes he choses are very serious. He is now on his way to North Hampton, England, for an exhibiton, he is taking part in.

Check out :

www.the-superhero.blogspot.com

www.johnnyamore.de/ -

An Artist Talks with Bruno di Martino, 30.06.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Bruno di Martino is a French artist living and working in Berlin. He worked as a dancer and actor in the Opera de Paris in his early years, and then found himself creating paintings. Little by little, this became his main media, although he does today many bas-reliefs and sculptures. He works have been shown in the Grand-Palais de Paris and he was awarded a prize from the Comitee of the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2006 for one of his sculptures. This sculpture is visible soon in his studio in Berlin in the Tacheles.


He likes to take the viewer into his fantasy stories and tries to recreate feelings and transmit energy of life through the ornements. He is often seen as a Barocco artist, but has many influences coming from antique Rome to futuristic Mangas.


Most of his sculptures follow the same path and with three dimension take you into theatrical scenes of life and tales of the future. He is preparing an exhibition and is working in his studio.

He has created 6 Buddy bears, one for Unesco and another for the city of Berlin, one of them is still visible today on the Kudamm, in Berlin.


Also Bruno is always very  friendly and easy to talk with, so if you go by the Kunsthaus Tacheles this summer, do no hesitate to drop by.

An artist Talks With Irene Pascual, 16.06.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Irene Pascual is a painter, a performance artist and a curator from spain. She lives in Berlin since 2004. Her studies are :

2004-2006     Stage Design studies in Universität der Künste (Berlin)

1999-2004     Graduate in Stage Design in Institut del Teatre (Barcelona)

1994-98        Graduate in Art History from the University of Girona (Girona)

                     Fine Arts studies in Escola Massana (Barcelona) and E.M.A.  School of Arts (Girona)

Irene Pascual Performance

Today she divides her times into different artistic activities, such as painting, performance and curatorial work with the Glogauair residency program. She has organized last year a performance festival in Berlin named "Home Sweet Home ", where she gather international artists to show their works within the Werstatt der Kulturen in Neukoeln.

She says organizing takes alot of time, of course, and time spent painting, is reduced. But never the less, the challenging experience of reading, selecting and chosing artists and art works, has improved her vision of art, and her own personal artistic direction . Often working for or with others brings her to reflect upon her creative process and she discovers more about herself.

Irene Pascual painting

She says, she is more involved in performance art at the moment, but she still continues to paint with great talent and has shown her work around Europe. In the present time, she likes to use different medium, to give better impact and visual effect to the works. Whether it is performative or formal painting art,  she likes to share her experience. 

Please check her web page and discover more about her work.

www.irenepascual.com
www.glogauair.com

An Artist Talks with Dylan Bakker, 24.06.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Dylan Bakker graduated from the University of arts of Wellington New Zealand, with a BA in film.  He does not take himself too seriously, and is trying though to structure his work more and more, since he has come to Berlin. 
He came to the Kunsthaus Tacheles after meeting a Japanese painter Kurihara, with whom he does performances called "Böse Bohnen", also Vj Chuu and Andreas.

And has developed many projects, such as the streaming event with the organization he created, Simultaneon.
He does performance, screen printing, installation, video, sound and film. He likes to work different medias all at the same time to keep the process of creating flowing from one to another.
He works often with a team, for films and sound. He likes to stay open to new opportunities and discovers he likes to direct. Recently he experienced directing for the stream event, done in the Kunsthaus Tacheles.

He will be showing his work in collaboration with two other artists, this coming september in Berlin at Gallery M. Please check out the links and the facebook events soon.


www.ustream.tv/channel/simultaneon-live-stream -

www.simultaneon.wordpress.com/

An Artist Talks with Victor Landeta, 26.05.2011, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin.

Victor Landeta comes from a family of painters. His grand-father, his father and him are painters. He has studied in London graphic design and moved to Berlin a couple of years ago to  build experience.

He has developed his talent within the field of graphiti. He lived in Bilbao in Spain and has also travelled alot with his sister at first, then alone, and recently with his partner.

He finds his inspiration in foreign asian cultures and beliefs. He documents his research with photography and uses them to create his characters and portraits. His use of mixed media techniques are a mix of both painting and printing layered together, to create new effects inside the landscapes and portraits.

His family supports him to help him go through this period of creativity, until he finds a gallery and structures himself. Alike all young artists, it is a difficult choice to find a way to support your work and have a family life.

He also works on a organizational level and creates events with artists in Berlin, mostly musical events, often in the Kunsthaus Tacheles in the Goldener Saal Theater. The parties are called "Underground Society " check out the Kunsthaus program for up coming events.This organizational experience  has been very successfull. 

Victor Landeta has also started to work as a vj, through the graphic design study and has work with several djs and groups.. He has worked with Dj Trauko, A guy called Gerald and also vjed in a performance festival in the Werkstatt der Kulturen, last year called "Home sweet Home" with the group Egypt 77.

An Artist Talks with Toby Tam, Shanghai Special, 08.05.2011, Ailing Foundation, Shanghai.

 Toby Tam paints mostly and has produced a series of human figures approaching sometimes female gender such as series "Madeleine" a female character he created. And sometimes the figures he paints ressemble Chinese shadows, and you cannot always tell them a part from female or male.

He says "that does not mean so much" and "why would this be so important?"

His work is about identity and fitting into a space. He sinks into a moment, a woman holding a knife, or is it a man? The viewer is led into a story, he ignores the beggining and the end. Toby sets his characters into a wide white space, maybe they are lost, or searching for a new way to exist ? After seeing his works you are taken into his world. You cannot leave it.

 As I go further into the discussion, it is clear that this world, he describes though these tiny persons,  is his own world and experience. Toby shows how his life, his social background and his artistic views can be in confrontation with his environment.

 The miniature is a fabulous way to emphasize, as much as monumental, that many Chinese contemporary artists have explored. Toby concentrates on the essence and the detail. The subject becomes alive because of the viewer looking into it. 

This energy the spectator gives to the characters is important. Toby is like the puppeter, who plays with these figures.He likes to make us react and rethink our position and place in society.

 Toby is shy though, and remains very humble, as he  explains his motives. Being an artist is just being himself. Toby has recently participated the "In Between" event, and has performed in Studiorouge Gallery, in Mogashan lu, on the 21st of May 2011, and in the BM space Taopu, on the 27th of May 2011. He  experienced travelling from one character to another, using his own face to paint, over and over again, recognisable gender details. He will be showing his works in the coming year, in the Studiorouge Gallery space, in Shanghai, China.

 Both videos of performances will be accessible soon on the you tube. A short piece of the interview will also be available to watch.

An Artist Talks with Jose Maggallanes, 07.04.2011, Tacheles, Berlin

Jose Maggallanes is a Trash artist. He has been working with metal and plastic recently, and constructs sculptures and also collage paintings.

He comes from Mexico and his Grand father taught him the basics in building. He is mostly experimenting new directions, since he has come to the Kunsthaus Tacheles. He searches to express the beauty of the waste and finds it rewarding to use this type of materials, easily found here in Berlin.


He survives with the sales of his scuplture and continues to produce new works. He will try to prepare an exhibition, as soon as he has enough works and feels ready.


His work is influenced also, by a long stay in the U.S.A, were he worked as a graphic designer. So he does not think his sculptures are so close to the Mexican art, but closer to the consummer society problematic, he experienced there.
His problematics and process are more occidental in a way, he says, when explaining about the sculptures.


You see some of his works here just stop by the Kunsthaus and take a look.

An Artist Talks with Matthew Weiss, 14.04.2011, Tacheles, Berlin

Matthew Weiss is a wonderful violin player. He learnt to play as a child and his father played as well. He used to listen to him play folk and developed at taste for this type of music and combines them with  a classical repertoire in his own compositions.

He loves to improvise and follows the energy of other artists  and the spaces he performs in, to generate new sounds and melodies.

He has left the music school, he was working in for 10 years. 

Now he spends most of his time improsiving his own musical projects and will take part in a theater play this summer in Hamburg. He is most of the time still in Berlin and has composed for the dancer Jadi Carboni artist from the Neukoelimports. He played a part recently in the Musical "House of Dreams" a production from the Kunsthaus Tacheles.

He records also for groups and you can hear his violin on many tracks from the group Egypt77, for example on the soundcloud. He follows his inspiration and has changed the way he thinks music and his role as a musician. He does not like the term of artist and likes to be just someone and connect with his environment.

He has become more mystical in the way he makes his choices and frees himself from any stategy of success or social recognition. He does not play for these reasons, he likes to share moments and live new experiences with people.