Berlin has turned the page of commemoration. La Gaîté Lyrique offers the best of the 2011 Berlin scene for 5 days.
Why does Berlin occupy such a singular place among all the creative international cities?
That is the question, in the form of a declaration of love for this unique city, that is asked by the program Berlin Next!. What then is its specific identity, in a time when all the great capitals have ended up looking the same in their ostensible riches and their franchised city-centers? Berlin is different, proud of its modesty, rich in its empty spaces, its fragility and a population density 6 times lower than that of Paris!
Shaped by the ebb and flow of history, of which the latest commemorative act, the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, definitely turned a page, Berlin enters the 2010 decade emancipated and relieved. She can look ahead at last.
Beacon City of the international underground, meeting point for the world's free spirits and non-conformists, crossroads of the avant-gardes and counter-culturists, Berlin has managed to maintain and re-invent its attraction and its potential to fascinate the new generation of artists and creators. From post-punk to techno, experimental cinema to the explosion of the digital arts, the esthetics and the disciplines have evolved. But the singular freedom and energy pulsating in Berlin's spirit turn this "poor and sexy" city into the inimitable capital of artistic creation.
It is this European capital of the 2010s that Berlin Next! wants to talk about, far from the low-cost clubbing and Ostalgie's hackneyed clichés, by inviting, in their great diversity, emerging or established artists from the current Berlin scene, but also the most passionate of these visual artists, journalists, writers.
It is they who will tell us about this Berlin turned towards the future, this Berlin of solidarity and insecurity, of folly and ephemerality, of mix and MacGyverism. A city jealous of its freedom, unrealistic and screwed up, effervescent and inventive.
With the artists: Barbara Panther, Jahcoozi, Pantha du Prince, Evol, Visomat inc. + Telematique, Moritz von Oswald, DJ Ipek, Ricardo Villalobos, Vladimir Kaminer, Pfafinderei, Modeselektor, Last Last, Apparat... but also the magazine Groove, the club WMF, Backyard Radio, the Chaos Computer Club...
The Flag graphic designer duo sign the Berlin Next!
