barbie does the biennale

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ah, so...

the berlin biennale party post.

but first, a word first about the biennale itself:

disclaimer: i am the first to admit that i am no expert on the berlin Artworld (nor any art scene for that matter) but whatever i do have to report to you comes from solidly reputable sources.

this year's biennale was called 'When things cast no shadow,' and was curated by Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic. it aimed to "bring together artists from different generations and nationalities in an exhibition by day and night that aims to trace the diversity of art practices today. eschewing a singular theme, form, or temporality, and determined instead by a critical engagement with artists' processes, 'When things cast no shadow' could be said to take the form of an open structure in five movements without a plot."

[ha! without a plot, indeed.]

the day part of the biennale took place in four venues and included mostly newly commissioned works by 50 artists, and there were also nightly events.

so...

i was going to write a clever and incisive description of the biting reactions that i have observed in relation to the overall tone and quality of the work, but i decided to make a comic instead (click on it to enlarge):



but as i said, i'm no expert - and if my comic appears a tad cynical, let me say that with all my heart i do believe that we all want to be moved, and i sincerely lament the fact that the work seemed to be lacking in this respect.

if you would like a humorous description of a couple exhibitions, here's a candid conversation that i overheard between two of my favourite artists reviewing the work that they had seen on the first day of the biennale:



okay. 'nuff said. on to the parties.

so for those of you who are familiar with this city, you already know that berliners LOVE a good pah-tay. combine this innate tendency with the thousands of international jet-set partiers that the biennale brought to town, and you get the makings for one crazy weekend.

i've documented short bites of the two days of parties (with a few pics of the recovery day for good measure) so that you can really get an idea of what it was like. i tried to capture as much of the 'atmosphere' as i could, and happily the visuals i was able to record turned out quite alright.

what i couldn't capture as successfully was the feeling of being smushed up against a bunch of strangers for almost two days straight. i cannot count how much alcohol was spilled on me during this time (i am beginning to understand why people in this city wear so much black) but it was actually lots of fun.

i present this story to you in 12 part(y)s:

(as usual, these are very short videos - only one is longer than 40 sec.)

BARBIE DOES THE BERLIN BIENNALE

DAY 1

party(y) 1: the bar



party(y) 2: the ballroom



party(y) 3: the hands



party(y) 4: the funk



party(y) 4a: clara with a c



party(y) 5: the nightcap



[sleep]

DAY 2

intermezzo: the dinner



party(y) 6: the negotiation



party(y) 7: cookie's



party(y) 8: um, where to?



party(y) 9: we're going where?



party(y) 10: the mall



epilogue:

so after all of this, i wanted to sleep for a very long time. and i developed a strange aversion to people. and alcohol. and lay in bed entertaining myself by making up german fortune cookie messages like, "you will soon achieve absolute knowing" or "nietzsche says: god is dead and you killed him".

anyway, later on sunday evening i ended up out for dinner with some extremely cool people - two very well-known fashion designers, as well as some curators and artists who were in town for the biennale (and the parties, of course).

we went to a restaurant called 'grill royal' which was extremely luxurious (in a berlin sort of way). i ate some very very yummy argentinean steak with four different kinds of homemade ketchup (blasphemy? perhaps...but it was sooo good.)

the restaurant was also interesting in that it had a bunch of charming but strange rooms, which inspired this impromptu photoshoot:









on the way home, six of us tried to squish into a tiny european car and i got two fingers slammed in the door. boy, does that hurt - plus it took about a minute to figure out how to get the door open again so that i could extricate my fingers from their uncomfortable situation...

michelle and mike were so very kind and got me some very fancy ice from their hotel which prevented any serious damage. but i will always make sure to be more vigilant when it comes to such closing automobile doors, especially after so many bottles of wine.

and on that note, i must get ready for games night # 2 at the funny farm! tonight i will be trying my "hand" at bridge for the first time...ha ha ha.

by the way - BEST LINE OF THE WEEKEND goes to the fabulous michelle, who, when asked at the mall party whether we were on the guest list pushed her way past the large german bouncer and with a lovely english accent responded:

"honey, we ARE the guest list".

(t-shirts are in the works. obviously.)

until next time,

eclectic electric barbie