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.

Legendary Koi Klub is back – we’re so pleased.

This might all change now that I noticed Bernd Kuchenbeiser – the man who signed our popular issue #26 on ECM and the accompanying app for iPad – and his A Book A Day Tweet, where he, quite literally, proposes one art or design book a day. Now trust us, this is someone who really knows what he is talking about – Bernd is an avid collector and connoisseur as far as design is concerned – after all, he was the first subscriber to mono.kultur, long before we were offering any such thing. So if books are your poison, you might want to make this a daily stopping point.

With gentrification swapping back with full force into the Western districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln that had been pretty much left to their own devices for the past 20 years, and Kreuzbergers being a historically belligerent lot, our neighbours complain about rising rents, the many apartments turned into holiday flats, drones of European youth roaming the streets in search of the next Berlin party. While there maybe some valid questions or issues, surely this can not be the right answer.

So just to say, we think it’s great. The more the better. Not only do bring tourists a not inconsiderable amount of money into our poor but sexy town, but more importantly, they bring the cosmopolitan and international spirit that Berliners have always envied the larger metropolises of London, New York or Tokyo. The visitors we see, we see them go to our local stores, bars, clubs because those are the places we go. Was that not meant to be a good thing?

Germans love to travel – we’re particularly set on finding hidden, local spots, and we adore it when we feel welcome. So shouldn’t we be welcoming ourselves? Germans love to work or study abroad – so what could we possibly have against foreigners wanting to study or work in Germany?

To me, just that fact that Berlin should have this attraction to foreign youth to want to come and live here, to learn the language, is kind of amazing. A thing one couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago, when Germany was probably somewhere among the bottom five on the international hipness scale.

So anyway, us being Berlin as well, we say don’t you worry, none of it is true.

I have a strange fascination and fondness of all things mystical like star signs and oracles (all with a longing to want to know what my future might hold?) so it comes really as little surprise that I’ve recently signed up to get forecasts of my future from the fabulous Miranda July of mono.kultur #16.

“This is an oracle like any other oracle, like the I Ching or astrology or Tarot cards – a technique for divining your future. The only real difference is that those are very old methods and this one is very new. But there was a first day for Tarot cards too, and the best friend of the person who invented them felt just like you do, suuuuper skeptical. (Especially since the Tarot card inventor kept saying things like “Oh, that card’s not quite done yet” and “I’m gonna change that part”.)” And please also note, “This service is only available for a limited time, i.e., I can’t really see doing this for the rest of my life. Occasionally you will receive the same future again. This probably means you didn’t really take it to heart properly the first time. It is no less true when it comes again.”

I’m also exited to see her new film The Future.

Koi Klub at CHB.
Remember, Think, Talk and Act for the Future of Japan
Wednesday 13.4.2011 / 18h – 23h (Live performance will start exactly at 20h)
featuring Aoki Takamasa, Takehito Koganezawa, Yumiko Sato, Takeshi Nishimoto, Fujita Masayoshi, JUTOJO
Donations to: Civic Force

Collegium Hungaricum Berlin – Haus Ungarn
Ungarisches Kulturinstitut
Dorotheenstrasse 12
10117 Berlin

Close Eyes to Exit
Exhibition and Launch by Le Gun and Bare Bones
Opening 01 April 2011 / 18h
02 April – 18 April 2011

Red Gallery
3 Rivington Street
London EC2A 3DT

If you find yourself in Melbourne, Curtin House is on my list of places to definitely visit. Everything about this inconspicuous six-storey building exudes cool. Curtin House is home to the Cookie bar and restaurant on level one, live music venue The Toff in Town on level two, and on level three you will find one of my favourite bookstores, the Metropolis book store (which stocks mono.kultur) alongside one of my favourite fashion boutiques, Someday (which stocks the likes of Bernhard Willhelm, Cosmic Wonder, Original Fake, BBC, Bless and a comprehensive selection of PAM). On level six you’ll find the offices of web developer Tundra and publisher Barrie Barton’s Right Angle Studio and on the very top his rooftop cinema. And this is all just a sample of what you will come across in Curtin House.

Curtin House
252 Swanston Street
Melbourne 3000
Victoria
Australia