Berlin Interviews - Book Launch

15.08.2019 / 19:00 – 21:00

Nowhere are the openings as full as in Berlin. Nowhere else is there so little left over for artists. This dichotomy characterises the art city Berlin. Yet, artists from around the world decide to live and work here. Moreover, many remain, although they had never planned to. Is it artistic, personal or political reasons that keep them here? Are the free spaces of the former walled city still tempting, or are factors like freedom of expression more important in the meantime? What kind of art is created in a city that often does not itself know what it stands for?

The journalists Birgit Rieger and Claudia Wahjudi carried out discussions with sixteen artists who have moved to Berlin from different countries at different times. From the British Fluxus pioneer, Ann Noël, who came forty years ago, to the young performance artist, Dachil Sado, who fled from Iraq, from the sculptor Monica Bonvicini from Venice, who became familiar with coal stoves in West Berlin, to the sound artist Emeka Ogboh from Lagos, who brews a special Berlin beer. In the book, they tell of challenges, expectations, coincidences and chances in a city that has changed more rapidly than any other in the 30 years since the fall of the wall.

Authors:
Birgit Rieger, studied sociology and communication studies, is a culture journalist and freelance editor for the arts section of the Tagesspiegel. There, she is also responsible for the annual Tagesspiegel Kunst magazine. She has carried out many interviews with artists both in Germany and abroad, but also with people from completely different contexts. She has lived in Berlin since 1998, having moved there from Regensburg.

Claudia Wahjudi, studied Germanic studies and political science, is an art editor for the Berlin Zitty magazine and editor for the Tip magazine. In addition to these activities, she writes for the Tagesspiegel and Kunstforum International, among other publications. She has been teaching in the culture journalism programme of the Berlin University of the Arts since 2004. Various publications, incl.: Metroloops. Berliner Kulturentwürfe, Berlin 1999. She has lived in Berlin since 1984, having moved there from Düsseldorf.

Berlin Interviews
Birgit Rieger and Claudia Wahjudi
in conversation with Ryszard Wasko, Ann Noël, Monica Bonvicini, Else Gabriel, Nina Fischer, Maroan El Sani, Mathilde ter Heijne, Karin Sander, Omer Fast, Loredana Nemes, Ming Wong, Aykan Safoğlu, Hanne Lippard, Emeka Ogboh, Dachil Sado, Fernando Bryce,
with a greeting by Clara Hermann, Akademie der Künste
21 x 13.5 cm, 107 images
German, 350 pages
Argobooks, EUR 19.80
ISBN: 978-3-942700-92-4

Chance Berlin? Discussions with sixteen artists
With: Ann Noël, Mathilde ter Heijne, Birgit Rieger & Claudia Wahjudi
in German, English

admission free

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