Thursday, March 4, 2010, posted by kvr.
As an interview magazine that also is involved in running a fashion label, a photography studio and in hosting a range of events, the new experiment by the German independent publisher Blumenbar is just our cup of tea: in an attempt to attract the so-called ‘Generation Internet’ to the written page, Blumenbar opted to bring the latter to the playgrounds of the former by hosting their Literary Nightclub Hardcover. The second installment will have actors of the renowned Gorki Theatre reading from Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary as well as from I am Airen Man, which is involved in a considerable stir in the German literary world, being copied in parts by the 17-year-old wunderkind writer Helene Hegemann. Nothing groundbreaking so far, except that the reading will take place at the excellent WMF Club in Berlin, leading up to a regular Friday night when words are replaced by beats.
Literary Nightclub Hardcover
12. March 2010 / 20h00
WMF
Klosterstrasse 44
Berlin
Note: The readings will be in German
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, posted by kvr.
Kaleidoscope magazine have invited Adam Szymczyk, curator of the Kunsthalle Basel and the Berlin Biennial in 2008 as well as staunch supporter of mono.kultur, to curate a one week film program at their project space in Milan, ‘addressing the present urban condition and reality of built environment, contemporary artists mine the mythos of modern architecture, its promises and conflicted legacy.’ There’s some great work to be seen, including videos by Cyprien Gaillard and Gordon Matta-Clark.
Architecture and its Discontents
A Film Program curated by Adam Szymczyk
04-13 March 2010
Kaleidoscope Project Space
Via Masera (in front of n. 10)
Milan
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, posted by rh.
More great news from Ken Baumann: He now owns and operates a little publishing company called Sator Press. Congrats!
Monday, March 1, 2010, posted by rh.
15 years, 70 issues - that should be ample reason to celebrate. See you tomorrow night at Civilist.
Saturday, February 27, 2010, posted by fr.
Another real pioneer amongst those for electronic music plays not tonight but March 5th, yeah, in Berlin. After having been sold out there are again tickets available for this most possibly amazing concert. You may check out his website here.
Saturday, February 27, 2010, posted by as.
The Illusionist is the latest animation from Sylvain Chomet, the man who directed The Triplets of Belleville. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last week.
Some notes:
1. It is based on a screenplay that Jacques Tati wrote 54 years ago. The screenplay is believed to have been written as a message to the daughter that Tati abandoned, though Chomet’s film (somewhat controversially) doesn’t focus upon this aspect of the text.
2. The story follows an ageing magician who struggles to maintain an audience against the competition of the burgeoning rock and roll scene in Paris and London in the 1950s. He travels to a remote isle of Scotland and makes an impression upon Alice, who decides to follow him into a new life. Alice believes that Tatischeff is a genuine magician, and the old man goes to great lengths to preserve that fantasy.
3. At the screening, Chomet rejected the suggestion that the film was in any way nostalgic. But since the vision of Scotland in the late 1950s is rendered so lovingly in old school pencil and watercolour, and considering that every thing of beauty in the film – from magic tricks to innocence – is slated for destruction, I am not completely sure I can take the director’s word for it.
4. Chomet isn’t interested in letting his characters tell their own stories. The film is essentially without dialogue, and one of his primary characters is (distractingly) simple. Instead the director invests energy in the detail of the world they inhabit, and allows that world to define their roles. For example, Chomet shows the destiny of the gentle protagonist – the illusionist – by sending a ragged cast of ventriloquists, clowns and other performers sliding into desperation, and out of view, as the film progresses. The film’s consolations are found in its aesthetics rather than in character growth or triumph: magicians may not truly exist, but there is magic in the shadows on the walls, in the play of light on a lonely mountainside, in the gestures, postures and physical comedy of all people.
Saturday, February 27, 2010, posted by uk.
BBC 6 Music stands alone in playlisting intelligent, challenging alternative music. Getting rid of it would be a travesty. Read more here.
Thursday, February 25, 2010, posted by uk.
Beach House are playing at cosy Roter Salon in Berlin tonight. This Baltimore based band is a mono.kultur favourite, as previously seen here, here, here, here and here.
Roter Salon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, 10178 Berlin. Starts 10 pm. www.roter-salon-berlin.de/
Thursday, February 25, 2010, posted by uk.
One Place, an installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, is currently on show in London. It features hundreds of old glass windows taken from East Berlin building sites.
Chiharu Shiota, One Place, is at Haunch of Venison, London until 27 March.
Thursday, February 25, 2010, posted by ub.
On March 3rd, the second album Cosmogramma by sound phenomenon Flying Lotus will be released. We don’t know what it sounds like. But Warp comforts us with 3 non-album download tracks.
The first track on Cosmogramma is titled Clock Catcher, and our more frequent readers won’t be able to ignore the direct reference to our recent series Time & Sound here on mono.blog. So, the least we could do is a little blogging.
However, next week Flying Lotus will play in Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Athens and London.
(Thanks for bringing this up Renko!)
