Devil’s Voice – BMX Rider Bruno Hoffmann meets Stranger Things at Teufelsberg
In the lead up to Halloween, Red Bull has released Devil’s Voice, a spooky video featuring Bruno Hoffmann riding at the Teufelsberg. BMX rider Anthony Perrin is trapped in a parallel universe at the Teufelsberg in Berlin – a spooky communications interception station from the Cold War. His friend Bruno Hoffmann, called by mysterious voices, […]
GDR Architecture Models – MODERN EAST. Build Your Own Modernist DDR by Zupagrafika
MODERN EAST. Build Your Own Modernist DDR is a set of 9 paper models of GDR Architecture to cut out and assemble by Zupagrafika. The kit includes includes three examples of GDR Architecture in Berlin: Haus des Berliner Verlages; Kino International; and the Ernst-Thälmann-Park Housing Complex. The additional six models are: Mokka-Milch-Eisbar ‘Kosmos’, Cottbus; Y-Hochhaus, […]
Sunday Documentary: Stranger in a Strange Land – Nick Cave in Berlin
Produced by Bram van Splunteren for the Dutch TV channel VPRO, the documentary, Stranger in a Strange Land was filmed in 1987 while Nick Cave was living in West Berlin. The voice-over is in Dutch but the interviews with Cave, which form the backbone of the film, are conducted in English. As are those with […]
Escape From East Berlin – Swimming across the Spree
The video entitled Swim for your life out of the GDR! on YouTube shows a daring escape from East Berlin across the River Spree near the Reichstag. The film starts with a shot of the river facing the Fernsehturm as the narrator sets the scene and then cuts to amateur footage of the escape attempt. […]
Kotti d’Azur Poster from Muschi Kreuzberg
An adult twist on the design of the classic child’s car play mat, the Kotti d’Azur poster from Muschi Kreuzberg will appeal to the inner child in every Berlin-lover. There are some recognisable Kreuzberg landmarks: U-Bhf Kottbusser Tor; Zentrum Kreuzberg; and the Victor Ash Astronaut mural; and some touches of Kotti humour dotted around. Here’s […]
Verkehrskanzel – Berlin’s 1950s Traffic Control Pulpit
Perched among the trees at a busy intersection on one of Europe’s most famous shopping streets, the Verkehrskanzel, a 1950s Traffic Control Pulpit, is a relic of a bygone era. It is hard to imagine it now, watching the constant stream of traffic at the corner of the Kurfürstendamm and Joachimstaler Straße, but at one […]
Sunday Documentary: The Red Elvis – The Story of Dean Reed
The documentary, The Red Elvis, tells the story of the American folk-rock singer Dean Reed, who emigrated to East Germany in 1973 and became a poster boy for the Communist regime. Born in Denver, Colorado, Reed was relatively unknown in America in contrast to his fame behind the Iron Curtain. In 1958 he signed to […]
THE ANNOUNCEMENT | Rocco and his Brothers
THE ANNOUNCEMENT is an art intervention dealing with surveillance in public spaces by the audacious Berlin art collective Rocco and his Brothers. Given the unprecedented intrusions into the privacy of East German citizens perpetrated by the Stasi, it is understandable that the increase in surveillance and the conflict between privacy concerns and security is an […]
Caglayan Grillhaus – Berlin’s Best Beyti
There are so many Turkish restaurants in Berlin that deciding which one to eat at can be a bit daunting. If I could only pick one, it would be Caglayan Grillhaus in Neukölln. Caglayan is a family restaurant – two brothers run the kitchen and front of house respectively – on Hermannstraße, opposite the magic […]
Berlin – the inner layer by Alex Soloviev
Prickling with tension and loaded with energy, Alex Soloviev successfully conveys the vitality and spirit of the city in his short film, Berlin – the inner layer. In stark contrast to his previous Berlin short, Everyday Berlin (a serene visual poem), a combination of constant movement, fast cutting, clever transitions and a pounding soundtrack gets […]