Nako Berlin Transmediale

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site seeing
My first visit to berlin and I was deeply impressed. Maybe is the history, maybe is the city trying to remake the history, I don't know. It is easy to sense progress struggling against recession, but in the end, the charm and inspiring scenario are the ones speaking louder. I wasn't expecting to like that much, but in the end a couple of days extras wouldn't sound that bad.

Ups and downs in the group (only proving, again, that big groups don't work for trips like this), but we manage to do somethings together. Here, some pictures of the first day of site seeing, which included sony center (amazing, but boring), pieces of the wall, holocaust monument, the dome over the parlament building, first beers and our ass kicked in table football.

transmediale (and a snap of c-base)
The whole point of coming to berlin, but probably not the best. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from: media art? digital culture? plain art? Well, for sure a lot of politics. The sense of disorientation was all around, not to mention the terrible organization system (as Luke Hearn would say, what's the point of having so many tickets). My extended critic to the Transmediale will soon be done for the Critical Practice report, I'll link it here for more details. However, if you want a interesting analysis, check Armin's review (http://www.mazine.ws/node/230).

club transmediale - maria
As any other contemporary cultural scene, a club had to be there... Well, I liked Maria as far as space goes. As for the presentations, well, let's say the crowd was interesting. First day I went (opening night), a unbeareble deep (or hard, I don't know the difference) house, second day, Jean Jacque Perry, who I am not criticizing because of his history, but..., and third day a unbelievable performance group from London, if I remember the name I'll post it later. I can only believe they were joking, and that was the performance.

But with friends it is always fun, specially when they love to critic (cheers Luke and Jim). Attention in the pictures for the first official record of Casio Crew.

lovely dinner
How let Karel order?! The food wouldn't stop coming. Nice thai (?) restaurant. For the record: the girls Ilan invited didn't come for the Takeaway party! Actually, none of the girls we invited.

takeaway rules!
I must confess, I didn't think there was going to be a party at the beginning, but suddenly... Interesting conversations with the guys from Plymouth and interaction with the "locals". The speeches could have been rehearsed though. Congratulations for the organization, let's hope the festival is a success.

for the memory

potsdam
We visited FHP, school where Reto Wettach (space base design workshop tutor) lectures and the reception couldn't have been better. Retto was waiting for us, in the snow, at the tram stop. The short walk through was enough to impress (and upset) us with the structure. The students have access to all the equipment, including 3D scanners, 3D printer, printing workshops, everything. For me, this information only makes me even sadder to know the ma students have very little support at Ravensbourne, literaly outsiders. Apparently FHP doesn't have much tradition yet, but with the investments (they have individual researchers working in different areas, such as psychology and game design) they are making, it might become an important school in europe.

The students received us really well. Not only did they make the presentations in english so we could understand but also offered us beer (after this trip, I had to stop for a while) and snacks at the end. As far as the projects go, they had many different levels of concept and development, maybe because they have different levels of courses (BA first year up to MA), which I am not sure I agree. In my opinion, the rythms and concerns are totally different, they should be dealt with different methods. In addition, I sensed technology was pushed a little to hard on the projects and there was lack of background support. But I understand the timing was different. And maybe that is me, trying to run away from my design background (too concerned with usability and interfaces), towards more deep conceptual issues. This is what this MA is all about for me.

hamburg bahnhof
The highlight of my experience in berlin; one of the best museums I've been lately. After some disappointments in the transmediale, it was amazing to step into this 4 hours experience. Joseph Beuys, Sol leWitt, Cy Twombly (Luke doesn't like the crayons, hahaha), Richard Long, Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Rachel Whiteread, Warhol, Damien Hirst (I try not to like him, but the project was really good), John Cage....