Posts by Yeah Sara:
Frozen Sunshine
January 26th, 2012We’re drowning in frozen sunshine today, and I fell in love, again and again, with the blinding, radiating light that was shining into the U-Bahn car. Everyone carried a little smile on their way to work. Berlin today: as pretty as possible.
Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo
January 24th, 2012
No matter how much of a winter we have (or don’t have) right now: everyone’s come down with the blues. The best cure for a bored night at home is renting a movie, old school, from your favorite video rental store. While there are enough blockbuster stores around the city, I dig the intimate atmosphere of the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. It’s been location hopping for a while now: it used to be at Revaler Straße in Friedrichshain before they got chucked out due to the rising rents, then they spent the last year on Glogauer Straße in Kreuzberg right at the Paul Linke Ufer. They’ve moved again a couple of weeks ago (for the same reasons: too expensive) and added a bar to their inventory of movies. Now it’s movies and parties all you want on Reichenberger Straße (which I can only approve of since I live right around the block).
If you’re into indie movies and a dirty atmosphere, or if you’re just looking for good drinks on a night out, the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo, formerly known as Filmkunst im Roderich, is your best bet. Check it out on Reichenberger Str. 113.
Urban Secrets
January 23rd, 2012
The little urban secrets around the city are what keeps it alive in spirit. Although urban art has had it’s prime time a couple of years ago and is since being used (mostly) as commercial medium, there is nothing as exciting as finding a piece of work that is not put on display quite as obviously.
Now there are many things I could say about my favorite spots or the most interesting pieces I’ve seen so far, but I’ll just let my and Stefans newest find stand for itself: a little hut, somewhere in Berlin, built from old bulk trash with a great view and a lovely atmosphere. I’m sure some people will be majorly thankful when they find a dry and somewhat cozy place to stay in when the weather gets worse. But however you see it, this is a really cool project with a lot of work and thought put into it. Respect!
Prepare for the Launch
January 20th, 2012When I started FindingBerlin.com more than a year ago I thought it would be a diary about my ways through the city. It soon became way bigger than that (thanks guys). As time passed we started having more and more functional issues with the website. It should be bigger and more versatile, and although it all comes down to the pictures, it would be great to have more freedom with what we want to do in the future here.
So: the good news is, we’ve been preparing a new design and a new value package of great things to come along with it. The bad news it: this is not it. This is just the design we’ve chosen to remind us that we should not slack but finally get to working on it. Also, it was due time, my eyes needed a little change.
The first things we’ve done is erase the Blog category. Now every post will be featured on the home page chronologically. Also, we’ve narrowed down the categories – it was way too elaborate. Look around and see if you like it, we’ll soon improve and make it really pretty. Promise!
Bread & Butter 2012
January 20th, 2012Let’s sum up Fashion Week in Berlin: “the press” and “the media” condescendingly raise their eyebrows, yawn and utter something along the lines of “Berlin is not even close to the big players in NYC or Paris” while simultaneously shitting themselves from joy over the expensive presents they were given by the brands PR managers to write about.
I am always quite amused by the discussion of Berlins lack of fashion importance because it’s usually stirred by people who are not important (in terms of fashion anyway). Also, it’s a very German trait to hate your own team instead of perfecting it, it happens in football, too. Anyway: I think it’s funny because people talk shit about this and that brand or this and that party but they still visit every time and they still take advantage of everything they allegedly “hate so much”. I, on the other hand, very much enjoy Fashion Week every six months. I get to see bizarre stuff and meet people outside of my usual periphery. It might not always be “what I do”, but come on, it’s fun – even if it’s not that important. I’m thankful for that piece of change in Berlins bi-annual rhythm. It can’t always be an outdoor sunshine rave…
One of my favorite places to hang out during Fashion Week is the Bread & Butter fair of which I took some pictures on Wednesday. Even if you’re not into fashion, B&B is just always a little event itself, carefully crafted and extremely crowded. As for me, personally, I’m looking forward to seeing half of Berlin walking around in patterned Navajo tribe prints. Now that will just make us wish back the flannels and the big horn rimmed glasses!
THC Piece on Kochstraße
January 13th, 2012One of my favorite graffiti pieces in Mitte is this THC on Kochstraße / Checkpoint Charlie. I used to pass it every day for three months, and every day I’d ask myself: why is this piece so clean? How come nobody ever removed it from these popular tourist attractions?
I don’t know why and I couldn’t care less; I love that it’s there. I’m not sure whether it used to be covered by a street art poster which was removed later (I found a photo of it here), or whether the poster was removed by the sprayer to do the piece…
Gleisdreieck Park
January 12th, 2012Berlin surely might be short on many things – public parks are definitely not among them. From vast Tempelhof to our makeshift home in the summer Görlitzer Park, there’s enough green for everyone to get around. And: there’s another one to add to the list, the Gleisdreieck Park.
I’d never been there before as it only opened a couple of months ago, but it’s more like an adventurous childs dreams than an average park. Basically, it’s got EVERYTHING – yes, I get very excited about these things: playgrounds (from basic to fancy), skating bowls, football and basketball courts, ping pong tables, BMX hills, a community garden, loads of free green space and wild, old tracks of the former stations (Potsdamer- and Anhaltergüterbahnhof). It all makes for an amazingly well planned and beautiful new park to hang out in the summer. Mind you, the park is not completely done yet: “Westpark” is still to be finished next year.
Stefan and I decided to pay the area a visit a week ago and snap a couple of pictures. It’s great even when the sun is not out, so take a stroll while it’s still empty and peaceful and new! Thanks to Stefan for most of these amazing pictures as I lost a ton of mine due to being too careless while transferring my own..
Platform Patience
January 11th, 2012Ever since I started going back to University I’ve been spending a lot of time on various train platforms around the city. While it can be annoying to waste time like that, more often than not, I’ve been magically drawn to the rays of sun that make their way, every now and then, through the clouds and through the ceilings and transparent walls of the stations. Sometimes, that is the only quiet minute of my day, despite being in a bustling city with so many people.
OneBeat Berlin Experimental Sessions #2
December 15th, 2011
Some ideas are plain good. Like creating a filter for the overwhelming stream of information in our time and age. Especially with art and more so music, it’s become difficult to make a living out of it, or at least gain some (local) attention. The creators of OneBeat are a non-profit organisation looking to support Berlins underground music scene. Their aim is not only to be there for up and coming artists, but also to find ways to give to charitable and sustainable projects.
Tomorrow, on Friday the 16th of December, OneBeat Berlin are having a little concert (and gathering) called OneBeat Experimental Sessions #2 and invited their newest Ambient/Electronic producer and artist Kyson. His profile on Soundcloud is quite convincing, so if you’re looking for an intense blast of music from Berlin, go ahead and check it out. The visuals to the show are presented by RTZ23, who is a talented sound and graphic engineer.
Start 20h at João Cocteau, Kienitzer Strasse 98/
12049 Berlin
Facebook RSVP
Parking Lot Decks
December 14th, 2011Kids, we all love us some adventures every now and then. Unfortunately, we rarely find them in Berlin-Mitte. Not because it’s gone stale and boring (some parts have, but every city needs them), but because space is becoming more and more of a luxury. Not many people nowadays can actually afford an apartment or a business in Mitte because competition is high. Not to mention empty, useless spaces.
The sad truth is that those the canvasses of the city that we like to paint on, are getting fewer and fewer amidst the popular districts in general. That makes sense: the more people want to influence and create, the less space there’ll be for creation. And that’s what makes the city so special, right ? That everyone can build something from scratch here and become part of a Berlin culture. Personally, I’m finding myself yearning for emptiness in the city. Places that are not filled with creativity. Buildings that are forgotten and alone and not turned into a new gallery or a new night club.
A good friend took me to a place not far away from his working place. It’s empty because the building is being renovated or torn down or whatever it is they’re doing, which is unfortunate, because Berlin has proven to substitute ugly buildings with even uglier buildings.
My friend and I used the opportunity of the last open day to discover the parking lot in its empty state and stare down on the city we chose to live in. It was a great day with the last rays of autumn sunshine – and what an incredible feeling it is being at the heart of a living city, but nobody even noticing the building you’re sitting on the top of…
Shoe Tossing in Berlin
December 12th, 2011This city is attracted by many people of all kinds. The spirit and the diversity of our urban habitat is like a magnet to many tourists, expats and young rebels who’ve found a place to develop their personalities. But with all the differences to the rest of the world, Berlin shares at least one urban phenomena with other metropoles like New York or London: shoe tossing.
Nobody really knows where the habit of throwing shoes up on electricity lines or trees stems from. There are a couple of grimey uses, like marking gang territory in LA or being a symbol of someones death in other areas. There’s a whole list of suspected reasons and myth-guessing on Wikipedia, but it really leads no where (as for internet research, I’ve tried. Nobody knows). All we know: shoe tossing is a collective habit appearing everywhere in the world. I’ve seen shoes on high wires in South East Asia, in Australia, in the Middle East and in Berlin.
[pullquote author="Wikipedia"]Shoe flinging or “shoefiti” is the practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines or telephone cables. The shoes are tied together by their laces, and the pair is then thrown at the wires as a sort of bolas. This practice plays a widespread, though mysterious, role in adolescent folklore in the United States[/pullquote]
Most people remember the dangerously heavy load of sneakers at Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. The city decided to remove the dangling accessoires from the wires. I was honestly upset. Shoe tossing just seems like the most random thing to do, and so effortlessly cool. It’s refreshingly pointless. People call it “shoefiti” for a reason: just like painting walls, there’s some intense urban symbolism sprinkled with a nice touch of illegality. Is there a cultural worth to it? Why are people motivated to throw their shoes up up wires? Nobody knows. My take: Sometimes what we do doesn’t need a valid reason. It can mean one thing to me and the next thing to you. It’s art and it’s not art. That’s the sort of undecided ambivalence that shapes Berlin culture. For some it’s this, for others it’s that. I hope we’ll never find the source of this tradition.
This (and even more) is what it used to look like at Kottbusser Tor. The city had the shoes removed - and frankly it did look a bit unstable.
Anyway – ever since I read on the subject I started paying attention by taking pictures of the incidents. Guess what? Although the many shoes of the Kottbusser Tor have been removed – one lonely pair has been thrown up there a couple of days later to take back the wire. These are my favorite pictures on the subject, check it out!
Found up high on a parking lot deck - this time around, not just a pair of shoes, a pair of high heels no less. Romantic date gone wild? We'll never know..
Shoes high up between two buildings in Londons Notting Hill. Do some of those still have their label attached?
A random pair somewhere in Berlin Mitte.
Clothes, shoes, whatever - the urban shoe tossing legend is sometimes even part of club and event decoration.. this one was taken at Johannisburg24 in 2010
After the shoes had been removed from Kottbusser Tor, someone decided to reclaim the wires - this lonely pair is staying strong on the premise.
In New York, "shoes on a wire" is a very common concept - so much in fact that the shoes just disappear into the backdrop of houses and scenery.
Brad Downeys most recent installation at Warschauer Brücke - he identified his work by tossing up a pair shoes with his name on them.
These are the kind of shoes you should probably get rid of by throwing up on a tree.
Close, but not really. Nice try though!
Thanks a lot to DefShop from Berlin for sponsoring this post – we had an amazing time putting these pieces together and sharing our love for shoes, whether up on high wires or on our own feet! They were amazing enough to make our readers part of the game, so if you’re into streetwear and hot sneakers, listen up: DefShop x FindingBerlin are giving away two gift certificates for the DefShop Store! To win, all you need to do is tell us why you think people throw up their shoes on high wires on our Facebook status!
First prize: 100€ gift voucher for DefShop
Second prize: 50€ gift voucher for DefShop
You have until Wednesday to participate – good luck!
Michelberger Christmas Forest
December 1st, 2011We love the cozy atmosphere of the Michelberger Hotel in the Winter. On Advent Sundays, the Michelberger transforms into a cozy makeshift Christmas Forest experience. They pull out the good Whiskey from the basement and spend a merry time with their customers and other happy afternooners like us.
While the Michelberger is already quite notorious for their “no noisy tourism” policies (we like that, by the way).What they add to that is a certain little romance for Christmasmarkets (very German tradition, those markets). The staff’s creativity, the interior and the bands they choose for their little shows in the lobby all make for a great visit, even if you’re a local. Although it’s become quite crowded, this is how you spend a perfect Sunday afternoon in Christmas spirit (perfectly decorated). We improvised our seating situation and just randomly scattered across the floor. After all, cuddling with your neighbour should be a requirement for the holy month!
Shopping, drinking, hanging around, lounging and listening to folksy indie rockish kind of bands in candle light. Not exactly the best place to actually buy a ton of presents for your beloved ones, but a good place to take your beloved ones out to – even the little ones.
By the way: if you need more input on where to go and what to do on these frosty weekends to come, we’ve compiled a continuously updated list of special Christmas events around the city. Have fun!
Thanks to Stefan for some of these pictures!
