Lower East

More Dieter Rams

Just passed by a shop full of furnitures designed by Dieter Rams (the famous german Industrial Designer from Braun AG, whom we blogged on yesterday) at Torstrasse, Berlin. (Yes, our pictures are a bit strange; the shop was closed and quite some reflections came from the large windows.)

We later found out that that the shop was a gallery; Appel Design Gallery. They are right now and until 28.07.12 showing a selection of furniture by Dieter Rams.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12AM to 6PM. Link to the gallery

Next step Bauhaus

Last week Lower East facilitated a Bauhaus workshop at Borups Højskole Copenhagen in the Next Step class. The students were introduced to the Bauhaus movement by a presentation and a movie about the Bauhaus school. We followed in the footsteps of the famous Bauhaus designers and the Next Step students created amazing work inspired by the Bauhaus philosophy – starting up with exercises on simple geometrical forms – ending up with great experiments and designs of playful 3-dimensional calendars, architectural sketches, a mobile of Bauhaus letters, cool playing cards, amazing counting books for children, a great multifunctional chair/bench/resting place and a fabulous jumping jack. At the end of the week the students created an exhibition. We had a good vibe in the class in the universe of primary colors – red, blue, yellow – triangles, squares and circles. Thank you all for your great involvement, enthusiasm and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. We are looking forward to seeing some of you this week in Berlin and visiting the Bauhaus Archive with you.

Celebrating Gerhard Richter

Lower East dedicated this weekend to join Berlin’s celebration of Gerhard Richters 80th birthday. Together with our good friend Claus Lembourn we first viewed the huge retrospective exhibition at Neues Nationalgalerie “Gerhard Richter: Panorama”. It was breathtaking. We were thrilled by the way the exhibition was curated and designed and the museum – drawn by Mies van der Rohe – was the perfect framing for Richters works. We didn’t really want to leave the works – even though the sun was shining and spring was all over. The guard let us go and have a coffee and come back again to take a last glimpse on the works. Thanks for that. Here you can watch a movie on the exhibition from the museum’s website.

Sunday we went to Alte Nationalgalerie to see Richters best known series of paintings, the fifteen-part painting cycle “October 18, 1977”. It was created ten years after the events of what is referred to as the ‘German Autumn’. October 1977 marked the culmination of the crisis in West Germany instigated by the terrorist activities of the Red Army Faction (RAF, sometimes known as the ‘Baader-Meinhof Group’). By reproducing in sombre shades of grey the images taken from the press and blurring them, sometimes beyond recognition, he also portrays the young democracy’s paralysis in the face of a threat from within. It was heavy stuff that made us quiet and thoughtful.

After a break we went on to me Collectors Room Berlin and watched the exhibition Gerhard Richter – editions 1965-2011. The exhibtion shows some 150 works from The Olbricht Collection and presents Gerhard Richter’s graphic prints, photographic editions, multiples, editions in oil, artist’s books and artist’s posters. Great space, great exhibition and a good and uplifting way to end our Richter celebration. Check out this film from the exhibition space.

We were blown away. We highly recommend to go and see all these exhibitions.

Take 12 weeks and join Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin

Yesterday Helle visited Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin and met one of the founders and directors of the center, Perla Montelongo, who shared thoughts and experiences – of starting up the center, about working in Berlin, about Berlin’s art scene, about how a dinner can be a great start of an art collaboration and a lot more. It was a great pleasure to meet her. Thank you for you time Perla! Since a big part of Lower East’s clients are in the art world, we have a great interest in and curiosity for all aspects of creating a great exhibition.

Thanks to Susanne Jøker Johnsen, Director of European Glass Context, for connecting us with Node.

Some info from the Node website:
Node was created in order to offer a platform to teach, experiment and investigate subjects related to curatorial studies and contemporary art practices. The Center´s core activity is the Curatorial Residency Program that offers its participants the possibility of expanding their professional and practical experience while deeply immersing them in Berlin’s art scene.

Node is a dynamic space were professional interactions take place in the form of seminars, artist presentations, and other activities that explore the complexity of curatorial work. It also draws together curators, artists, and creative practitioners in Berlin. The residency culminates in the development of a printed publication and the curation of a final show.

The Summer Curatorial Residency 2012 runs from June 5th – August 28th.

Visit the Node website

Visit the Node Blog

Berlin Glas and Swedish Photography

Lower East are having guests visiting from Denmark, Susanne Jøker Johnsen, Director of the European Glass Context 2012 and Dagmar Brendstrup, Executive Director of Glasmuseet Ebeltoft. Together with Glass Artist Ann Wolff we visited the great people at the new glass studio Berlin Glas, Lea, Tim and Phillip. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

After that Ann Wolff took us to the photo gallery Swedish Photography in Karl-Marx-Allee, where we saw a wonderful exhibition of Tuija Lindström and met Gallery Director Dorothée Nilsson. We had a great talk about art and ideas and a good cup of coffee. Last day of the exhibition is tomorrow saturday March 17. The next exhibitions is showing photos by Christer Strömholm from March 24-May 26.

Thanks for a lovely day.

Museum der Dinge, Berlin

Lower East paid visit to the corny museum, Museum der Dinge (Museum of Things) in Berlin, the other day.

Text from their webpage: “Since summer 2007 the museum shows a significant part of its large and rarely exhibited collection of design and everyday culture of the 20th century in an “Open Storage” presentation. On the one hand the objects are arranged in a display of exemplary objects and supply information about the polarizing program of the Deutscher Werkbund and on the other hand give basic information about function, using-history in the 20th century and contemporary product culture.”

On Orainenstrasse, open Friday to Monday. Website – check it out.

Wall add Berlin

Don’t hesitate! Next time u are short of a bathtub, contact Herr Kurt Vandrey.

Britz area Berlin

We went to visit the Britz housing area in Neukölln, Berlin. Architects Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner. Great architecture and a nice place to live we presume. We are not quite sure how many of the buildings are designed by Taut and Wagner, but take a look at the great colours, rythms…..we like it!

Buchstabenmuseum Berlin

Buchstabenmuseum Berlin is a wonderful place, where two graphic designers have made a home for old letters, which have ‘gone out of business’ – NICE!

Visit the Buchstaben Museum website

Our studio in Berlin

Our Berlin studio is placed in the heart of Kreuzberg – we love it here!

Betahaus Berlin

Betahaus is a great creative coworking space in Kreuzberg, Berlin – a good café with free wifi and workspaces to rent. Nice people and good vibe. We work here too now and then. We assume that Lasse and Jeppe from Lynfabrikken i Aarhus must know this place…

visit the betahaus website

Hello from Berlin!

Lower East is for the time being situated in Berlin. Our hopes for this stay is to keep up the good work for our clients, get new & fresh ideas, work on our own projects, meet people (and maybe ourselves?), and experience one of the most wonderful cities around the world.

Love from Lower East – Jørgen & Helle