Jarrar is participating in this year’s 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (on view until July 1, 2012, free entrance) with a further aspect of the project that uses another official sign: postage stamps. In utilizing the Deutsche Post AG service called “individual stamp”, the artist produced stamps for the State of Palestine to be used in the regular mail. More than 20,000 stamps have been sold so far. Used on letters and postcards, they have circulated worldwide. Central element of the design is the Palestine Sunbird. It embodies the wish to create an open, independent country guaranteeing freedom to everyone to carry one’s life in one’s hand.

Jarrar’s passport and postage stamps tell the story of a state-to-be. But reality goes against him and other Palestinians. Instead of continuing again and again the discussion about a one- or two-state solution, using these stamps is a simple gesture that helps to create normality.

Read an interview with the artist by David Miller here.

You can buy the stamps at the counter of the 7th Berlin Biennale. To order stamps please contact fz@berlinbiennale.de. Against a small surcharge, the standard stamps of 0,55 Euro were produced with the “individual stamp” service of Deutsche Post AG and are valid for regular mailing. One sheet of 20 stamps costs 16 Euro (plus additional shipping fee for mail order of 1,45 Euro). Stamps are sold by sheet only.

Certainly not a new approach is the proposed ‘Rewarding Life’s Work’ Law scheduled for 2013, which will force freelancers from the very beginning of their career to pay a fixed tax of at least a monthly €350 into the country’s pension system – a tax that increases with age, but is not related to your income. Needless to say, this will have some crucial effects on Germany’s cultural landscape. We are not politicians, and it’s not that we know the answers to a huge problem, but we do know that a magazine like mono.kultur would not exist if such a tax were in place.

Find out more here, or if you are registered in Germany, sign the petition for stopping the ‘Rewarding Life’s Work’ tax here.

The Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP) calls for the return of 3,300,000 Jews to Poland in order to re-establish the annihilated Jewish community. The movement was initiated by Israeli-born artist Yael Bartana in 2007 and has since spread internationally. It aims to create an atmosphere for a Jewish appearance in Europe. The Jews of today are not the same people who were expelled from Europe—the Europeans of today are not the ones responsible for the ethnic cleansing. This may be the appropriate time to unite again—and change Europe and Israel for the better.

The JRMiP is a response to these times of crisis, when faith has been exhausted and old utopias have failed. The aim of the First Congress of the JRMiP is to ultimately formulate the concrete platform of the movement and collectively imagine the future. The three-day long gathering departs from a letter of the late leader of the movement, Sławomir Sierakowski, found after his assassination, and considers the following questions:

- What should be changed in the EU to welcome the Other?
- What should be changed in Poland to become part of the revived EU?
- What should be changed in Israel to become part of the Middle East?

For the first time since its foundation, JRMiP members assemble, joined by international speakers, to reflect upon particular demands. The movement needs all of you who sympathize with the issues of different Diasporas in general.

Watch the official promo video here.

First International Congress of the Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP) in Berlin
May 11 – 13, 2012
Daily from 3 – 10.30 pm
Hebbel am Ufer – HAU 1 , Stresemannstrasse 29, 10963 Berlin
In the frame of the 7th Berlin Biennale
More Information on the Congress / Program / Tickets

So what do you think of The New Aesthetic?

Die Weltmaschine in Munich
November 23rd – 26th 2011

Max-Planck-Haus
Hofgartenstr. 8
80539 Munich

Since their performance at the Venice Beinnale in 2005, Kraftwerk’s multimedia shows were also seen as a kind of artistic performance.

Within the context of a multi-channel 3D video installation specially developed for the Kunstbau, Kraftwerk will be holding three concerts in the Munich Alten Kongresshalle – which are of course sold out..! To crown it all the after show party is presented by DJ Hell – the German techno icon.

For all those who still do not want to miss the unique exhibition from the godfathers of industrial music, can see the installation from 15 October until 13 November.

The exhibition in the Kunstbau at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Munich will be accompanied by a book:
Kraftwerk 3D- Kling Klang Produkt 2011

After Show Party ‘Elektro Nacht’ presented by DJ HELL
14 October @ Pacha München

Sounds good – it’s the mission motto of THE ICAS SUITE (ICAS: International Cities of Advanced Sound). Founded by Berlin festival CTM, 30 organisations and festivals on 5 continents joined forces to (co-)create projects and foster discourse, and thereby promote artistic development at the interface of music, art, technology and society. During the second Berlin Music Week (7. – 10. September) ICAS-member festivals from Europe and North and South America will present a selection of their work and the most exciting artists in their networks at Festsaal Kreuzberg, Monarch, West-Germany, the Palomabar and the new Blumenbar Club.