November is here. The ground is full of leaves; the sky is full of sun. We witness the most beautiful days of fall, and we should enjoy it while it lasts! 7 days, 7 recommendations to make the best of your time before 3 months of blistering cold.
► Sunday November 1st: The Joyside of Europe @ Lichtblick Kino
Right by the M1 stop Schwedter Str., the Lichtblick Kino is definitely my favorite cinema of the (extended) neighborhood. Screening all at once films classics, movies for children, and documentary films, there is something for everyone in this tiny 32 seat-room. This week’s recommendation of mine is a documentary on a Chinese punk band, on the road of their European tour: “Four Chinese punk rockers on a journey through a strange world – to a “Chinese” restaurant run by Thais, at the hardcore vegan place in Bremen, at the Bavarian emergency clinic, in a small Hessian village, holding an early-morning dream interpretation session at an Autobahn rest area, and playing numerous wild concerts. (…) Joyside from Beijing take you on the road – in their band bus, backstage, day and night, through Europe, for two months. (…) For the four Chinese musicians, it was a dream come true – at last, they were able to follow the footsteps of their rockʼnʼroll heroes! Off to London they went, to the cradle of 1970s punk rock. »
In presence of the director, Lucian Busse, on November 1st!
INFO:
WHEN: 8pm
WHERE: Lichtblick Kino, Kastanienallee 77, 10435 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Schwedter Straße
PRICE: 5€ for students
MORE INFOS:
https://askhelmut.com/events/2015-11-01-20-00-the-joyside-of-europe
► Monday November 2nd: Klangklub Europa @ Sophiensaele
To me, Sophiensaele is a great place to get a new perspective on the “Berliner Bühnenwelt”. The shows only last for a few days, which means that the productions of the theater are always fresh and different. This week, the musiktheater bruit! presents a play between music and performance: “One day, one night, four different locations and one opening question: what does Europe sound like? Musiktheater Bruit!, simultaneously traveled to distant corners of Europe and collected characteristic sounds, objects and images which illustrate the peculiarities and commonalities of the various regions. In a musical theater performance installation, they create a polyphonic soundscape of Europe with the treasures found during their sound excursions.”
INFO:
WHEN: 8pm
WHERE: Sophiensaele, Sophienstraße 18, 10178 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Hackescher Markt
PRICE: 9€ for students
MORE INFOS:
http://www.sophiensaele.com/produktionen.php?IDstueck=1379&hl=en
► Tuesday November 3rd: HAJRA WAHEED: STILL AGAINST THE SKY @ KW Institute of Contemporary Art
This week, if you decide to go to Auguststraße, you could find two exhibitions in one place at the KW Institute and/or the “me Collectors Room”. Located in the same street, both provide good coffee and cheap tickets for students. HAJRA WAHEED: STILL AGAINST THE SKY is a cosmic exhibition in the small room of the KW projects: “Through the optics of violence – to what extent does digital technology realistically convey the textures of a planet, a star, a cosmos, or a gated community? For Waheed this is likely the irresolvable distance between accuracy, truth, and affective experience. Bringing together works made between 2010 and 2015, Waheed navigates in STILL AGAINST THE SKY across personal and public histories via reconnaissance satellites, a scrapbook, drone studies, and the inner life of Saudi Aramco, as it services the world’s hydrocarbon desire. The works in STILL AGAINST THE SKY are earth-bound, while intimately considering cosmic proportions. Using a range of techniques, where found materials from the realm of space research, surveillance documents and unidentified memoirs are re-arranged to signify an altered temporal space and a narrative continuity determined by the artist as storyteller.”
INFO:
WHEN: 12am – 7pm
WHERE: KW Institute for Contemporary art, Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Oranienburger Str.
PRICE: 4€ for students
MORE INFOS:
https://askhelmut.com/events/2015-11-02-12-00-hajra-waheed-still-against-the-sky-exhibition-at-kw-projects
► Wednesday November 4th: Cindy Sherman @ me Collectors Room
If you first come in the me right next to the KW Institute, you’d barely notice that it’s more than just a coffee shop. Yet, if you work through the tables and the bar, you find both a boutique and an exhibition room. The “me collectors room” is currently hosting a retrospective on Cindy Sherman, featuring more than 60 photographs by the artist. Including works from almost all periods of her career, the collection provides a remarkable overview of the entire body of her work. Both object and subject of her work, Cindy Sherman has always been disguising herself in various characters, as an ingénue at the sink in black-and-white of the 1950s, as a gold-blonde ‘Maria Lactans’ with a vacant expression and plastic breast, or as an aging upper-class beauty wearing too much jewelry and too much makeup. The artist became widely known in the 1970s with her black-and-white series ‘Untitled Film Stills’, in which she embodied a range of stereotypical female figures from the 1940s and 1950s, posing in what appeared to be movie stills. Cindy Sherman, now 61, has created an unmistakable and seminal body of work that broke new ground in photography. The exhibition has been curated in close collaboration with Cindy Sherman in person.
INFO:
WHEN: 12am – 6pm
WHERE: me Collectors room, Auguststraße 68, 10117 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Oranienburger Str.
PRICE: 4€ for students
MORE INFOS:
http://www.me-berlin.com/ausstellungen/
► Thursday November 5th : Jazzfest Berlin
The Jazzfest Berlin opens on Thursday, November 5th and lasts until Sunday, November 8th. Constantly questioning the role of jazz in a city like Berlin, the festival keeps reinventing itself since 1964. This year, the Berlin Jazz Fest hosts many bands and Jazz orchestras from various backgrounds, and various degrees of renown. “Jazzfest Berlin begins its second half-century by taking a step into the future and asking the question: what is jazz today, and what will it become? This year’s programme is intended to reflect the continued development of a music whose influence is increasingly felt far beyond its own borders, presenting performers united by a single characteristic: the desire to move forward. Jazz is about many things, and forward momentum is one of them. The 2015 programme consists of artists of many generations and 30 nationalities, with a single shared characteristic: creatively speaking, they are all on the move. They demonstrate that jazz is not really a style, or a series of styles, but a spirit.”
Tickets from 10€ for students, and from 15€ for main stage concerts.
INFO:
WHEN: from Nov. 5th to Nov. 8th
WHERE: Main stage at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Schaperstraße 24, 10719 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the 150 To U Osloer Str., then the U9 to U Spichernstr.
PRICE: from 10€ for students, from 15€ for main stage concerts
MORE INFOS + PROGAMME:
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/jazzfest/jazz15_programm/jazz15_programmliste.php
► Friday November 6th: Improve Theater @ Comedy Café Berlin
Comedy Café Berlin is Berlin’s brand new international, alternative comedy stage. They curate and produce fine alternative comedy shows in English and German. Opened since October 18th, in the heart of Neukölln with a warm bar and café attached, the Comedy Café produces multiple kind of comedy shows: improv theatre, stand up, and also improv workshops for beginners. This Friday, the “Comedy Omelette” is acomedy show combining multiple forms of comedy including stand-up, short-form and long-form improv as well as musical comedy. For all of those who like to start their weekend with a slice of laughter and comedy!
INFO:
WHEN: 8:30pm
WHERE: Comedy Café Berlin, Roseggerstraße 17, 12059 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Schönhauser Allee and the S41 to Sonnenallee
PRICE: 6€ for students
MORE INFOS:
http://comedycafeberlin.com/shows/?view=calendar&month=November-2015
► Saturday November 7th: The Dø @ Astra Kulturhaus
The dø is a French/Finnish indie pop band founded in Paris in 2005. They are currently one of the greatest indie pop band to my opinion. I do not often recommend such big concerts in the Kulturwurst, but this one is definitely my must see of November! “Olivia Merilahit (singer and musician) has vocals that will shatter your heart into a million pieces. She doesn’t ‘touch a nerve’ she smashes it and leaves you with a lump at the back of your throat. Your eyes will tear up, her voice is that spectacular.. Her partner Dan Levy has an incredible array of instrumentation. He plays many instruments throughout the live shows to keep you on your toes.” They play this Saturday at the Astra Kulturhaus, but be quick, the show is almost sold out!
INFO:
WHEN: 8pm
WHERE: Astra Kulturhaus, Revaler Str. 99, 10243 Berlin
HOW TO GET THERE FROM CAMPUS: Take the M1 to Hackescher Markt, then the S75 to Warschauer Str.
PRICE: 21€
MORE INFOS:
http://www.astra-berlin.de/
VIEL SPAß!
– Manon