SideBySide Studio Newsletter 3

Hallo from Berlin!

Special thanks to MMX Open Art Venue e.V., Upgrade! Berlin, and each panelists in Kunst Apotheke Salon Special Edition: Everyone Is Chinese Tomorrow? We had good turnout, solid discussion and lots interest and feedback, the video documentation will be posted online in near future.

Content:

1. 48 Stunden Neukölln - Message in a Bag, 25.06, Körnerpark Kreativraum, Berlin
2. Art Gets to the People! on 2010LabTV
3. Contexterin in Anti-Jargon online publication

1. 48 Stunden Neukölln - Message in a Bag, 25.06, Körnerpark Kreativraum, Berlin

The project ’Message in a bag’ of ara Berlin-Madrid/Emily Pütter is an art investigation of the situations of visual artists in cities. Some of the questions are: How much art does a society need? Under what conditions do the artists live and work now? The answers are on the bags. Further we see film documentations with statements of the artists and hear poetry by A. Bueno, W. Spyra and I.Frischeisen, on Saturday 26th June, 19.30 h.

At the opening on Friday at 20:00 h, I-Wei Li will lead the discussion about the value of art today in relation to the precarious working conditions with participating artists. The discussion will be in English.

For more information,
www.48-stunden-neukoelln.de/2010/highlights.html
www.ara-association.org

2. Art Gets to the People! on 2010LabTV
48 STUNDEN NEUKÖLLN 2010 - "Komplex650"

In this interview, Dr. Martin Steffens, director of 48 Stunden Neukölln, tells us why it makes sense to organize over 700 events in nearly 340 venues within a 48 hour period this year! From 25-27.06, Friday to Sunday (7 pm - 7 pm), everyone who comes to Neukölln in Berlin will be confronted with an array of visual arts, theatre, dance and performance art, readings, guided tours and parties held at nearly every corner.

Here are some key topics we discussed in this interview:

* Started in 1999 with only 25 venues, how did 48 Stunden Neukölln become Berlin’s largest art festival today?

* More importantly, why is such non-commercial art festival significant for the district of Neukölln?

* Besides artists’ studios, galleries, theaters, and public squares and streets, unusual venues such as parking lot, boat, private apartment, beer brewery, even public toilet have been used for 48 Stunden Neukölln, why and how is this possible for this festival?

* Neukölln is the most culturally diversifed district in Berlin, with over 160 countries migrants, what are the challenges 48 Stunden Neukölln face when working with such culturally diversified inhabitants?

* What is the position of 48 Stunden Neukölln when dealing with the parasitical relationship between culture and regentrification? In other words, what kind of achievements can culture gain or supply in the process of regentrification?

* What is the attitude of the local inhabitants in Neukölln towards the influx of foreigners, especially foreign artists and cultural workers?

* How is current cultural policy related to 48 Stunden Neukölln’s founding strategy?

To listen to the interview, www.2010lab.tv/en/podcast/art-gets-people

3. Contexterin in Anti-Jargon online publication

Anti-Jargon is an online publication of the self-educational group ’notions-terms’ of Deschooling Classroom project (o^o). Terms such as Procedure, Artistic Immunity Potentiality, Contextual Art...etc are being re-defined and discussed by contemporary cultural workers at this platform.

Contexterin = context + er + in, meaning a female person who aims to generate new context each time in her art practice. I use contexterin as my work title as a strategy to provoke other cultural workers to reflect why we create or produce art. For more details, www.antijargon.tkh-generator.net/category/eng/