So the page has now been updated and there’s a link to the gallery, where you can see the results!

In continuous evolution…
From the series: Visions of humans

Structurally recyclable, basically disposable is funded and supported by Stiftung Menschenwürde und Arbeitswelt.

As promised, here are a few photos of the preparation and the vernissage that took place on the 5th of March in the ACUD Galerie in Berlin.
The exhibition is composed of two parts, the installation (downstairs) and the full portraits accompanied by the texts (upstairs).
This is what the downstairs installation looks like (photo taken before opening for the first time):

The ACUD Galerie is part of a larger cultural complex, which also contains a cinema, a theatre and a club. I find it a very charming place.

Especially now that the weather is nicer and more people hang around.

But let me go back to the actual night of the vernissage. It was fun, a very dear friend of mine travelled all the way from Geneva to be there, I got to see some friends and most of all, we drank some very good wine and ate lots of cheese.

In this photo, you see Christian, my significant other. Without his help, this project would not even have made it out of the planning phase.

Here you can admire me (err, sort of) in a very interesting discussion with a couple of guests.

And finally, my favorite activity: trying to figure out what people wrote in the guestbook.

The Neues Deutschland has published a review about the exhibition! You will find it in the Berlin-Kultur section of the newspaper at page 12 and also here (in German).

The exhibition in Berlin runs until the 26th at the ACUD so you have a couple of days left to come see it.

“Unfair and unbelievable!” are the words I have used the most today, along with the display of a sorry face. I know times are tough for everyone, I know times have always been tough in the arts an culture scene in general, but sometimes I still manage to be unpleasantly surprised.
The Weinmeisterhaus, the culture centre for children and young people in the Weinmeisterstraße 15 in Berlin Mitte will be sold. The house has a long history dating back to 100 years, but it is since the end of the 1990s a centre for cultural education of children and young people.
Besides workshops (ranging from dance, theatre, music, photography, video to clothing design), there are also “open” spaces, such as the darkroom and a “white room” (equipped with top of the line scanning and digital manipulation equipment). All is for free, in a very pleasant and inspiring environment.
I haven’t been living in Berlin for a very long time and I don’t get to go to the dark room as often as I’d like, but I have spent some time there. It’s not too common to see so many young people coming to the dark room to work on their pictures, and it is priceless to be able to work in a relaxed environment.

Not to mention that, from my own perspective, it is very hard to find free (or almost) public dark rooms in Berlin. There are a couple of labs, that however charge insane prices per hour. Hardly any photographer I know could afford that. Yes, being a poor artist is an annoying stereotype.

Why would the district parliament close down such a great facility? To be short, it has to do with major cuts that the authorities are going to implement (in line with the federal government’s (stupid) policy in a time of financial recession). The Weinmeisterhaus is only one of the numerous examples of cultural or art centers that will be hit by the budget cuts in Berlin, and thus will have to close down.

If a space like the Weinmeisterhaus is not deemed worth saving, if a space like that, where creativity and curiosity are encouraged, where cultural programs are successfully carried out by a group of dedicated people, why is anything else worth saving? It might sound like an extreme question. But really it is not.