In the exhibition Solo for … Dan and Lia Perjovschi the ifa gallery Berlin presents two artistic positions that combine image and text in very different ways, respectively commenting upon current affairs from their own approaches.

Dan Perjovschi responds with his spontaneous, stylised, almost comic-like drawings to current socio-political conditions. Daily, Weekly, Monthly is a retrospective of Dan Perjovschi’s magazine works. His political, social and cultural news are always highly topical, depicting human society of the 20th and 21st century in a humorous and critical way.
Dan Perjovschi (born 1961) participated in the exhibition Erste Schritte – Rumänische Kunst der 90er Jahre (First Steps – Romanian art of the 90s), presented by the ifa galleries Berlin, Stuttgart, and Bonn in 1993.

Lia Perjovschi’s large-scale installation Knowledge Museum Kit is an imaginary project of ideas for an interdisciplinary museum, a base project for those who want to know what should be known. Creating imaginary contexts, the artist raises existential questions and reveals unexpected connections. The interplay of image and text evokes an endless mind map, where text fragments and image material are interwoven in associative structures.
Lia Perjovschi (born 1961) participated in the project Balt-Orient-Express presented by the ifa gallery Berlin in 1996 and subsequently shown at the Romanian National Gallery in Bucharest and the Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna.

Today the Bucharest-based artist couple participates together or individually in renown international exhibitions like the Venice Biennial or at the MoMA New York.

Solo for … Dan and Lia Perjovschi

Lia Perjovschi: Knowledge Museum Kit
Dan Perjiovschi: Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Dates. 03.02. – 15.04.2012
ifa Gallery Berlin
Linienstrasse 139/140, 10115 Berlin

In cooperation with the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee:
06.02.2012, 7 pm
Lia and Dan Perjovschi
Lecture: Double Experience – life and art from dictatorship to democracy
(Lecture in English)
Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz
Gustav-Adolf-Strasse 140, 13086 Berlin

Photo: My Yourope, 2010, Bucharest for project intervention at E.U. Parliament Strasbourg, France, and insert in Revista 22 Bucharest, Romania (detail), © Dan Perjovschi

A little teaser by our friend Kangding Ray, who will be performing material from his excellent album Or at Berghain tomorrow evening, as part of Club Transmediale’s Raster-Noton night, which are always a treat, featuring new lecker material from the likes of Byetone and more. Don’t say we didn’t tell you.

Don’t miss genius comedian/musician Reggie Watts on his first ever Berlin gig this Sunday at Festsaal Kreuzberg.

He achieved international recognition with the Singing Lesson (I) at the 2002 Frankfurt Manifesta and with Repetition at the 2005 Venice Biennale, a powerful metaphor of our regressive democracies in which the state of exception has become the rule, according to Benjamin’s terms, which Agamben has made famous. Artur Żmijewski is curating the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art which is to open soon (April 27 – July 1, 2012).

Artur Żmijewski continues the artist-talk series HUMBOLDT MEETINGS, to which Christoph Hochhäusler (12 December 2011), Angela Schanelec (10 January 2012), Anne Tismer (31 January 2012), Harun Farocki (NEW DATE:  7 February 2012), and Thomas Ostermeier (15 February 2012) have been invited to open discussions at the Department of Art and Visual History at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

The dialogue series is organized by Régis Michel (Rudolf Arnheim Visiting Professor 2011/12) and Katharina Lee Chichester

HUMBOLDT MEETINGS III
Invitation to an open discussion with Artur Żmijewski
Podium guests: Charlotte Klonk and Piotr Piotrowski
Tonight, January 23, 2012, 8 pm
Humboldt-University of Berlin
Dorotheenstraße 24, Room 1.101

With the kind support of Carolin Behrmann and the students of the seminars

HUMBOLDT MEETINGS is realized by the Department of Art and Visual History at the Humboldt-University of Berlin.

Which reminds me of a little happy encounter with Another Country bookstore in Kreuzberg, where I wanted to depose of some English books. The owner, a rather eccentric Englishman, separated them studiously into different piles, with Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho making one pile of its own. The owner told me what he would pay me for each pile, then said, ‘And for this, you will have to pay me one euro,’ pointing at Psycho. ‘Some books are so evil that I cannot sell them at my store, so I burn them in my backyard. This is one of them and it will cost you one euro.’ I thought it was a fair price. This is the reason why you should always go to local stores, since they are still run by humans, not corporations. Talking about politically correct.

A few weeks back, we asked Kim Hiorthøy, Oslo & Berlin dweller, late blooming electronic musician & MPC wizard, shape shifting renaissance man, prolific graphic designer (for Rune Grammofon et al.), director, artist (who might want to see this in quotes) and art world defier, author, and self-proclaimed amateur for life, to redesign a cheesy Berlin postcard for us. This is what he sent back, saying, “just don’t ask me what it means.” We didn’t.

A very nice and sobering fashion shoot seen in the current De:Bug issue, proves us that ‘Hipsterism’ nowadays isn’t that spectacular anymore: Unhappy Hipsters. It’s lonely in the modern world.

Photography by Gene Glover