Saturday, October 6, 2012

CROATIAN DIARIES # II: AKC Medika / ZAGREB

Scenes and impressions from a phantastic night at AKC Medika in Zagreb yesterday. We were enchanted by this huge squatted place and the nice and lovely audience that filled the concert room for live performances of ZARKOFF, LE CHOCOLAT NOIR, NORA BELOW and POPSIMONOVA.

Rear Window






Getting Closer 




Soundcheck

Amazing visuals by VJ FLOYD

 At the soundcheck of ZARKOFF

Nikola (Zarkoff), Nora and Saša (Zarkoff)


NORA BELOW (above) and POPSIMONOVA (below) during soundcheck



Le Chocolat Noir, Popsimonova & Nikola (from Zarkoff) checking the sound




Live


ZARKOFF live


LE CHOCOLAT NOIR live


Pic by Nora Below

Pic by Darko Vaupotic



Thanx so much for this striking music and visuals in the Grey Room of AKC Medika.
A perfect night! ♥

Thursday, October 4, 2012

CROATIAN DIARIES # I: Live Performances in ZAGREB

A part of our Berlin Style! It! Takes! team including Nora Below and me recently landed in sunny Zagreb following a nice invitation of our Croatian friends Popsimonova and Zarkoff. In the context of the Style! It! Takes! project and POST PRODUCTION, a new multilateral post-industrial project started in Croatia, we want to work together in the next days on projects containing fashion, music, sub-culture, photography & videos, socio-political topics and much more.
After having a phantastic video & and photo shooting yesterday in an abandoned industrial site (videos will follow) this is our first public action in a Zagreb squat: 

Live Concerts with Style! It! Takes! artists in Zagreb, Croatia -
5. October 2012

Line Up:

ZARKOFF
Sisak (Adriatiko Records, Black Leather Records)

Zarkoff  - Departed (CD, 2012)

LE CHOCOLAT NOIR
Zagreb (Discopanonia)

Le Chocolat Noir operating (Photo by Mali Div)

NORA BELOW
Berlin (Bpitch Ctrl, Bomb Boutique)

 
Nora Below - Self Portrait (2010)

POPSIMONOVA
Sisak (0,5 Releases)

Popsimonova in a blue dress made by herself


at the squatted
AKC MEDIKA - Siva Soba (Grey Room)
Zagreb, Croatia

Facebook-Event
 http://www.facebook.com/events/441353012582048/


More about POPSIMONOVA & ZARKOFF in this blog

POPSIMONOVA & ZARKOFF review:
http://style-berlin.blogspot.com/2012/07/stylish-records-by-popsimonova-zarkoff.html

Video and photos of ZARKOFF performing live with dancer CLEA CUTTHROAT
(FRAULEIN KINK performance at Style! It! Takes! July 2012):
http://style-berlin.blogspot.com/2012/07/clea-cutthroat-performing-with-zarkoff.html

Introduction POPSIMONOVA: 
http://style-berlin.blogspot.com/2012/04/blog-post.html

More about NORA BELOW in this blog

Video and photos of NORA BELOW performing AMF KORSETS at Style! It! Takes! July 2012:
http://style-berlin.blogspot.com/2012/07/nora-below-meets-amf-korsets.html
http://style-berlin.blogspot.com/2012/07/nora-below-performing-amf-korsets-part.html

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

AFTERHOURS II: Elke Graalfs painting walls

Already in the morning hours after the first Style! It! Takes! night (see my first Afterhours post for this) it has been somehow clear that this project should continue. So there have been many afterhours, meetings and conversations in the weeks and months after the event.

Schon am Morgen nach der ersten Style! It! Takes!-Nacht (siehe meinen ersten Afterhours Post) war klar, dass dieses Projekt weitergehen sollte. Es gab also eine Menge Afterhours, Treffen und Gespräche in den Wochen und Monaten nach dem Event.


A fine one took place in the studio of artist ELKE GRAALFS in Neukölln. The relatively empty place with its huge white walls, combined with great music playing from the little blaster, drinking coffee and eating Mum's delicious Lemon Cake has been a perfect place for getting the head fresh & free for new ideas for all tomorrow's projects...

Eine schöne Afterhour war im Atelier der Künstlerin ELKE GRAALFS in Neukölln. Der relativ leere Raum mit seinen großen weißen Wänden, gepaart mit großartiger Musik aus einem kleinen Blaster, Kaffee und Mamas leckerem Zitronenkuchen waren der perfekte Ort, um den Kopf frisch und frei zu kriegen für neue Ideen für künftige Projekte...


In July, Elke had been on stage at the Style! It! Takes! performance of musician and artist NORA BELOW and fashion designer LOUIS FLEISCHAUER / AMF KORSETS. On this summer afternoon she was doing her art and I could watch her painting, while we were talking and listening to the music. Mum's delicious Lemon Cake not to forget. (^.^)

Im Juli war Elke bei der Style! It! Takes! Performance der Musikerin und Künstlerin NORA BELOW und des Modedesigners LOUIS FLEISCHAUER / AMF KORSETS auf der Bühne. An jenem Sommernachmittag war sie wieder mit ihrer Kunst beschäftigt und ich konnte ihr beim Malen zusehen, während wir uns unterhielten und Musik hörten. Mamas leckeren Zitronenkuchen nicht zu vergessen. (^.^)

Pictures by Magenta Netzwerk (Summer 2012)



Elke Graalfs painted by her colleague Nora Below:
Elke Graalfs portraitiert von ihrer Kollegin Nora Below:

 
Elke in Iceland by NORA BELOW (Acrylic on canvas, 0,90 m x 0,80 m, 2010)



A 'finished' one of ELKE GRAALFS' amazing works:
Und so kann es aussehen, wenn ELKE GRAALFS' faszinierende Kunst 'fertig' ist:


Elke Graalfs: »then climb into bed and turn to dust« (acryl/wand,decke 2009)


Obviously things are never finished, so here's what can happen with / to this art, too:
Natürlich sind Dinge niemals fertig. Was (mit) der Kunst auch passieren kann:

       

eine performance mit der malerei »schnee von gestern«:
ich bestreue einen sessel durch ein sieb mit puderzucker. dann sauge ich den sessel ab, um ihn wieder bestreuen zu können...
(Elke Graalfs @ Galerie Crystal Ball – Kopfüber)

Elke Graalfs beim Beseitigen der Arbeit. Kunst ist eine Bereicherung, keine Geldanlage.

Traditionally, clothings, fabrics, stitches, patterns and fashion play a big role in Elke's art.
These are wallworks with reflections about coats, below enlarged to an installation:

Kleidung, Stoffe, Maschen, Muster und Mode spielen in Elkes Kunst traditionell eine große Rolle.
Hier Wandtapeten mit Reflexionen über Mäntel, unten zur Rauminstallation erweitert:

      


Elke Graalfs: »oT«
acryl/papier/ausgerissen + tapeziert
265cm x 132cm
2010



  Elke Graalfs: »over the hill« (acryl/papier ausgerissen + tapeziert, 2011)