THE AGORA COLLECTIVE

AGORA

Published on Berlin Art Parasites

The city is blooming" says Caique Tizzi, a bearded Brazilian donned in a checkered shirt, obscured by a suede and stylish bomber jacket. Marcela Donato lounges in his lap. These uninhibited displays of friendly affection and the puppy that bounds with excitement from one end of the room to another makes an easy, inviting atmosphere. Caique and Marcela are two of the six figures that have developed Agora into the "project space" that the building finds itself being today. What’s endearing about the pair is that they refuse to adopt a position of superiority, describing the project’s “flat hierarchy” and expressing a frustration at their own “lack of education,” apparently hoping to grow and learn alongside those who come to them seeking something similar. They proclaim that Agora is a “manifestation of what our generation is about;” and perhaps, as a static swarm of people stare into their mac-books in the downstairs cafe, they could be onto something.

Our generation is however much more than that and Agora is fully equipped to cater to its needs. They offer an easily accessible network, acknowledging the presence of a young clientele, unstable and whimsical, seeking a quick fix in terms of building connections for both work and play. They describe the project as an “organic organism” from which “strange bodies are expelled,” sparing them the necessity to ever ask anyone to leave and allowing them to embrace the more proactive inhabitants. We met with one of the latter; Renata Har, who works and lives within the borders of Agora. With feeling, Renata declares “I would never stop coming back, it’s like a home.” 

The softly spoken artist, originally from São Paulo shows us the pearlescent cellophane of her work that drapes gracefully down the window, separating us from the rain outside. She speaks of the trust and freedom that was awarded to her by the Agora community, something which she used to her full advantage in her latest exhibition, occupying the entire top floor, the building’s roof and the sandpit outside. She becomes illustrative of their networking intentions, revelling in an atmosphere where young people roam, liberated from any kind of established code even meeting her gallerist through the project.  

Located in the depths of "up and coming" Neukölln and no stranger to having the term "hipster" used as a casual weapon against them, Agora narrowly escapes falling into the trap of clichéd expat existence by being determinedly forward thinking. They broaden their audience by weaving visual and culinary art as well as adding a Tech and Start up focus to their repertoire. Their programme is relentlessly entertaining ranging from life drawing classes to vintage markets; holding exhibitions as well as weekly cocktail nights.

THE HOMEBASE PROJECT

THE HOMEBASE PROJECT

Published on Berlin Art Parasites

Take a trip outside of your ordinary Berlin perimeters and find the Homebase Project in a sleepy corner of Pankow. From the outside the building is bleak and non-descript, silent aside from the flags which hang out of its large and shabby windows. As I sit with the figure heads of the project, Adrian talks about the drive that forces people wide eyed into the world, far away from where they would once call home. Nikki and Heather sit in silent agreement, for these three expatriates home now is merely a subjective term; a post it note that gradually loses its grip the more places it is stuck. From Argentina, The Netherlands and Seattle these are three of the people that form the Homebase Project as it stands today; more than an "art community," it is three people's projection of home, complete with a fluid, hand-picked family.

The three are realistic, acknowledging that their creative haven will not always be safe as the cloud of gentrification covers more and more of the city each day. Expectant and aware, they aim to combat the negative effects that often come hand in hand with such evolution; acting as a buffer between the local and international community. Their focus falls on the improvement of a home away from home and therefore they emphasise the need to encourage integration. They offer German classes and initiate interaction with Pankow residents, embarking on building relationships not only with the district’s inhabitants, the kindergarten next door but also with the environment, revealing a collective conscience both dedicated and admirable.

Although the dishevelled appearance of the staircase and the completely derelict top floor may give off a squat-like impression, it is in fact all legit; the necessity to make rent being cause for the 1200EUR residency price tag, something which has earned them criticism from both inside and out. As a resident, the artists are awarded a fair sized room in which they both live and work as well as a spacious living area, a library and an atmosphere of social progression which seeps into the minds of artists and visitors alike.

Behind one of the doors off the red carpeted corridor we found Nathalie Lemoine, an artist adopted as a child from South Korea. As she showed us her photographs of the small gold squares, serving as a memorial of the lost Jewish community, found throughout Berlin, she drew parallels between those involved in the holocaust and the huge number of adoptees; each group dehumanized by their identification with a number as opposed to a name.

Further down the corridor we met Miami based artist Franky Cruz whose work dripped with paint and glitter on a background of tie dye and rejuvenation. He spoke to us of his concern with a regurgitation of information, recycling objects that he has either been given or he has found, describing intently that it is “more about the process than the outcome.” When I ask him how the project has affected his perceptions of home he mentions an assignment set by the project in the last few days where he was asked to write a letter home. Yet for him Homebase has not induced a state of nostalgia that I felt permeated my own visit but instead has brought a sense of relief. For him coming Berlin is “kind of running away” but once more the term becomes convoluted for he states he is home; “home is where my studio is.”

INTERVIEW WITH WILL KEMPKES

INTERVIEW WITH WILL KEMPKES
(Published on Berlin Art Parasites)

On a Friday night, as the Berlin air weighed heavy and humid upon us, artist Will Kempkes welcomed us to his ground floor apartment. By 10pm we have arrived in the calm before the storm. A small group of people peer curiously at us around the door of one of the bedrooms, but he tells us he is expecting up to forty more friends to come over later in the night. 

He grabs a couple of beers and we follow him to his studio at the far end of the house. Here, he opens the drawers of a metal cabinet to reveal his most recent body of work. In a series of ink drawings, Will mimics techniques used by a household printer; moving his hand systematically from one side to the other to create images in a linear process. What fascinates him is the incorporation of natural human errors into a flawless technological system. He states “I can work fast like a printer but it’s never the same, I don’t want them to be the same.” He points out, unashamedly, the imperfections in his strokes; “If it is fucked up, it is because I have fucked up”. (Urging us soon after this statement not to gloss over his particular choice of words; “If I say something fucked up you write it.”) 

He reflects the short attention span of a generation dominated by the bright lights of computer screens, with the internet at their fingertips whenever and wherever they want it. His portfolio includes an array of re-paintings, reinterpretations of the work of great artists such as Goya and Rembrandt. Despite my protestations that to draw from the imagination of another is to limit your own creativity, he expresses a fondness of the practical nature of recycling an image as opposed to working from life, retaliating that it is a “limitation sure, but there’s a kind of freedom in it.” For he is not restricted by the model who sits before him, but liberated by the “database of bodies” he finds within the World Wide Web. 

He admits his own impatience, declaring that he couldn’t spend two weeks painting an under layer only to cover it up at a later date. He flips around a huge canvas, which until now has mysteriously had its back to us, on which Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps stands re-envisioned. The horse rears on its hind legs, its eyes white with terror as Napoleon points triumphantly ahead. The shape and stance of both horse and rider mimic that of the original painting yet it is the background that brings it back with a bump to the modern day. He tells us, half laughing, that “actually first I wanted to make a huge picture of a cumshot then put an image on top. So I chose Napoleon.” This is indeed the final result; translucent murky white bubbles float in the sea of garish pink that forms the painting’s background, the picture’s foreground and background working in unison to create an impression that is jarringly mesmerizing. 

With the obligatory "art talk" done and dusted we climbed down the makeshift, wooden ladder to what Will calls the "party basement." As more friends arrived, their arms laden with DJ equipment, and with my notebook tucked firmly out of sight, the conversation took a turn for the more jovial. Will began to loosen up, subsequently unleashing a charmingly brash personality; filthy mouthed yet undeniably likeable. It was Will's brother, Tschoris (aka Blues Wayne) who took the helm as the DJ for the night and the room soon filled with house and techno; the obligatory Berlin soundscape. Soon the space was a sea of people as they swayed entranced by the soundsystem; wide eyed, their nostrils filled with the smell of sawdust.

• Will Kempkes is represented by Anna Jill Lüpertz of AJLART and will be participating in the group show Handlungsbereitschaft at Kunstsaele Berlin 11th August - 2nd September 2012. Opening times: Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 6pm.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY AND THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF LANGUAGE

ROBERT MONTGOMERY AND THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF LANGUAGE
(Published on Berlin Art Parasites)

Yesterday evening, at the opening of Robert Montgomery's Echoes of Voices in High Towers, the sun bowed graciously behind the looming structures at Tempelhofer Park allowing the British artist's illuminated sculptures to burst into bloom in the evening's darkness. Here, as part of Montgomery's largest exhibition to date, were two short poems mounted on billboards, each letter traced with light. The exhibition, held in collaboration with gallery, Neue Berliner Räume, is surely set to be one of this summer's highlights.

Yet this is the tip of the iceberg, alongside the two illuminated pieces in the disused airport, Montgomery's work sprawls across Berlin; three billboards stand in front of the airport's main building and ten more occupy advertising space in the city's streets (see if you can spot them over the coming months!), with ten more works yet to be revealed. At the end of the summer, we will also be treated to an exhibition of his drawings (location to be confirmed soon) during the first Berlin Art Week.

His poems, tinged with romance, address the history of Berlin; a place formed by its past yet liberated by its future. His billboards stand in the street, anonymous and unnamed, white words on black background. They untie themselves from the shackles of ‘art’, allowing the passer by to look upon them through curious eyes, absorbing the words without preconceptions.

Montgomery’s Berlin takeover lasts throughout the summer, so there’s plenty of time to find each piece. For something truly special, we highly suggest scheduling your visit to the Tempelhof sculptures to coincide with the sunset; for here is melancholia at its most beautiful.

• Find three billboards in front of Tempelhof Airport's main building, the two light sculptures in Tempelhofer Park (Main Entrance: Columbiadamm 126) and ten billboards hidden in Berlin. HINT: try starting your search on Yorckstrasse. (Price Rance: €1,000 (for billboards) - €20,000 (for light sculptures)

Antony Crook X Mogwai

For Dazed Digital

The photography of Antony Crook features sublime landscapes; mountains bathed in mist and sea and clouds unified in breath-taking Norwegian scenery. Combined with Mogwai’s epic musical progressions and crescendos through intensity to climax, this aesthetic creates the perfect synesthetic experience. For their new collaborative project, Crook accompanies Mogwai on their Japan tour and documents the journey through a series of photographs.

The images will be displayed this month at the KK Outlet in Hoxton Square, along with Crook's film 'Knock for Knock', also created in Japan. Here Dazed talks to the photographer/ director and exclusively premieres a selection of images from his photo diary.

Dazed Digital: Why did you choose to photograph the band in Japan of all places?                 

Antony Crook: Stuart Braithwaite talked to me about how different their Japan shows are, and how respectful their audiences are. At the moment where their tracks go quiet the audience are silent, and you can hear a pin drop. This always interested me and I wanted to see it and try and photograph it.

DD: Do you feel like your style of photography has a special affinity with Mogwai's music?

Antony Crook: I think it does, I seem to photograph things in a similar way to how they approach music. There is a feeling or point of view that repeats. I think we see things in similar ways.

DD: Why do you think you find the figure of the cyclist so interesting?

Antony Crook: I'm more drawn to the landscape and the idea of traveling through it, partiality a lone figure.

The cycling came from the first film (30 Centuryman) that I did with them and my friend James Bowthorpe, who'd just broken the world record for cycling around the world. Knock for Knock was a development or sequal to this project.

DD: Can you tell us a little about the film that you’re directing in October and where the inspiration for this came from?

Antony Crook: It's called The Hudson River Project. James Bowthorpe is going to travel to New York to collect wood and metal that he finds in the streets and bins of Manhattan, then make a rowing boat and two oars out of it. Take it to the start of the Hudson River high in the Adirondack Mountains, and then row it the 315 miles back to New York. We're hopefully making it into a feature and Mogwai are doing the soundtrack.

'Mogwai Japan: Knock for Knock' will run from 6th - 28th April at the KK Outlet, 42 Hoxton Square

Choir of Young Believers

For Dazed Digital

The lyrics of the track 'Sedated' mention ‘isolation and dreams’ and those are exactly the sounds being emanated from Choir of Young Believers’ new album, 'Rhine Gold'. The first track especially, exudes ethereal solitude, where the vocals float alone into the melancholic soundscape, and it's only after three minutes that a beat kicks in, bringing it back down to earth.

Choir of Young Believers was conceived in the mind of Jannis Noya Makrigiannis but now there are up to eight musicians and friends who join him live on stage to create the theatrical pop music that the Danish group are soon to be so well known for. Echoing the likes of Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, their new album which can be streamed here will be officially released on April 9. 

The Happy Show

For Dazed Digital

The work of Stefan Sagmeister has always tetered precariously on the fine line separating art and design, and the pieces in his latest exhibition are no different. His ten year exploration into the concept of happiness marks its completion with 'The Happy Show', an exhibition held at The ICA in Philadelphia.

'The Happy Show' concentrates on Sagmeister’s own happiness and his attempts to manipulate it using different methods. The exhibition presents his findings through a mash-up of mediums; combining the social data of psychologists and anthropologists with film, print, sculpture, installation and infographics.

Dazed Digital: You have spent ten years exploring the concept of happiness, what inspired you to start the project?

Stefan Sagmeister: I had given a presentation on design and happiness for quite a long while at design conferences. I had found thinking about the topic helpful for my own practice as it forced me to consider the fundamentals and the feedback from the audience was always enthusiastic. Ultimately, most things I do in life have an increased well-being in mind, but I often take all sorts of detours to get there. I was interested to see if it was possible to take a direct route.

DD: You use a variety of mediums within this show, is this done for any particular reason?

Stefan Sagmeister: We chose many mediums simply because we have never worked in them before, so we are not adapted to them, and are not bored by the process. Makes us happy.

DD: You invite us to enter your mind as you attempt to alter its level of happiness through cognitive therapy and pharmaceutical drugs. Do you believe that happiness can increase artificially or that it is a natural state that must evolve independently?

Stefan Sagmeister: I do believe that I can train my mind in the very same way I can train my body. By and large, the longer and harder I train, the better the results. Having said this, I do think it is impossible to reach permanent happiness. UK psychologist Daniel Nettle thinks of happiness as a carrot on a stick, designed by evolution to show the right way, and also designed so that we will never permanently reach it. We likely would just sit around and eat sweet and fatty foods all day and that is simply not in the interest of evolution. 

DD: In terms of your research, was your aim to ascertain a concrete definition of happiness?

Stefan Sagmeister: I am often bored with definitions, in this case though it is such an all encompassing term, that I do think it is helpful to distinguish three different levels of happiness according to time. There is short term happiness like bliss, joy and ecstasy, medium term happiness like satisfaction and well-being and long term happiness like "finding what you are put on this earth for". 

The Happy Show will be open from April 4th – August 12 2012 at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia