60 times B(a)erlinale!

The Berlin bear roars in the windy nights from the 60th edition posters. All the movies represented at the film festival during the past sixty editions are written down, in chronological order. Circle your favourite ones…

Modern times at the Neue Nationalgalerie

Photo: spreeinsel.de

Mies Van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie is the absolute modernist beauty of Berlin. Maybe the only museum that commends to be circumnavigated before entering. It is almost impossible to head for the exhibition: the pavillion wants to be embraced by a promenade around it.

After the Thomas Demand exhibition, in March the temple of glass and light will display works from 1900 to 1945: modern times…check he exhibition details here.

The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery), the famous “temple of light and glass” designed by Mies van der Rohe, houses a collection of 20th century European paintings and sculptures. Ranging from early modern art to art of the 1960s, the collection includes works by Munch, Kirchner, Picasso, Klee, Feininger, Dix, Kokoschka and many others.

© SMB, Nationalgalerie, Foto: Jens Ziehe, 2001

bauhaus is a fact of life

After Berlin, it’s New York’s turn to host the bauhaus exhibition, at the MOMA. Projects, maquettes, furniture, paintings, sculptures, interior decoration, fabrics, graphic…

Bauhaus liberated the modern world from the decorative overload of Jugendstil and Art Nouveau. In Germany, it introduced lightness after the heavy Historicismus Prussian style of the early 20th century.  “The school opened in 1919, the year that the Weimar Republic introduced democracy to Germany, and ended in 1933 when the Nazis seized power. The remnants of the Bauhaus were then divided between three archives: two in its first homes of Weimar and Dessau, on the Communist side of the Iron Curtain, and a third on the other side in West Berlin” - comments the New York Times.

In Berlin bauhaus is a fact of life. Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalsgalerie pavillion on the Potsdamer Strasse. Zehlendorf’s villas. Altglienicke’s Garden City. And countless factories, fire brigade stations, power stations, stadiums: bauhaus is ubiquitous.

Bauhaus hunt is a good excuse for a Spring Grand Tour across Weimar, Dessau, Jena, Erfurt and why not crossing the border over to Brno, home to one of Mies van der Rohe masterpieces: Tugendhat house. “The Glass Room” a recent novel by Simon Mawer set in the legendary house, could be your ideal travel companion.

Bauhaus projects who never saw the light in Berlin include the plans for Alexanderplatz and the new buiding of the Reichsbank both by Mies van der Rohe. If you want to explore them further, a carefully curated selection of books on bauhaus, Berlin architecture and art and crafts movements in Germany awaits you in the living room.

The Berlin Fashion Week is about to start!

Fashion: an important part of Berlin’s past. Impressive department stores, visionnaire couturiers, iconic photographers.

But also the key to a bright future: Berlin’s Bread and Butter, the new designers and Berlin’s Fashion Week but also the recent Techno Luxury conference hosted by Suzy Menkes are the green shoots of a new era for Berlin’s couture. And photography. Full of raw energy. More info here.

“From January 20 – 23, 2010 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin will showcase an exciting portfolio of designers in the German capital. Among the first names to be announced are ALLUDE, Anja Gockel, Arrondissement Aq1, CUSTO Barcelona, .DIMITRI by Dimitrios Panagiotopoulos, Hausach Couture, ic! berlin, Kilian Kerner, Marcel Ostertag, Mongrels in Common, No Ifs, PerretSchaad, Lena Hoschek, Rena Lange, Sam Frenzel, SCHUMACHER and Strenesse Blue. BOSS Black und JOOP! will show offsite”.

Source: mercedes-banz.fashionweek

Magic winter atmosphere

Magic winter atmosphere in Berlin in these days…skis and sledges appear in the parks and it’s fun for everybody, adults included! This is the view on the park from our street this morning…

We wish to our Guests, the ones who visited in the past months, the lucky ones who are here in Berlin now and the future ones a wunderbar 2010 full of health and exciting projects!

Getting ready for the Berlinale, in style

The Berlinale Film Festival will run from 11 to 21 February 2010. Why not getting ready for the magic movie atmosphere by visiting some of the best local cinemas in Berlin? Astor Lounge is one of these. Founded in 1948, the movie theater was revamped in 2008 and offers a unique movie experience.

No greasy popcorn here and cramped leg room: the magic of the silk screen and comfort of attentive service…welcome to the Opera of movie theaters! Wardrobe, champagne and excellent seating. Going to the movies should be a pleasure, shouldn’t it?

This year the Berlinale turns 60. What were your favourite movie moments? Did you meet the love of your life while waiting in line in front of a cinema? send your stories here…

Photo: www.Astor-filmlounge.de

Romy in Berlin

Oh, forget Sissi for a moment! Romy Schneider was much more than that!

The Kinematek dedicates an exhibition to Romy Schneider, it starts on Dec 5th…

The exhibition will document the eventful career of Romy Schneider, who by the late 1950s no longer wanted to be Sissi, and by the 1970s was a celebrated star of French cinema. A large number of unknown photographs of Romy Schneider, her film partners, and family from the 1950s and 1960s will be on display from the collections of the Deutsche Kinemathek. The exhibition will also present loans from private individuals and institutions from France and Austria.

source: Deutsche Kinemathek

Winter glamour

It may be cold in Berlin…but the Kinemathek at Potsdamer Platz is even more welcoming in the winter. And Marlene is Schöneberg’s most famous child…

in November…be Berlin

November will be a very exciting month in Berlin! The 20th-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall will be celebrated with a giant domino game …

A 33,000 people flash mob will gather at 8pm on November 9th along the former frontier between East and West…

Twenty years of clubbing in the changing city and its ClubLegenden at ewerk and Café Moskau…

And many other events …will be worldwide, be berlin!

Photo: Britannica, be.berlin, ewerk

An Autumn full of colors in Berlin

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall will be the highlight of this Fall. But there also other good reasons to visit the city in October. The linden trees show their golden leaves. The Festival of Lights covers in bright colors the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag Building and the incredible contemporary architecture of Berlin.