...gives you almost enough time to cover the whole of the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art
I visited Berlin this weekend and caught not only a glimpse of summer, but also three out of four biennial venues.In KunstWerke (KW) in central Berlin: Norwegian grand old man Pushwagner showed his graphic novel about an overcontrolled , bourgeois and violent society where everyone wears the same costume and takes the same sedative at night.
The novel, "Soft City", was created in the late sixties in collaboration with the late author Axel Jensen - truly one of the greatest writers I read during my formative years. His universes are not unlike those of another favorite of mine, Kurt Vonnegut. But where was I?
Pushwagner and author Axel Jensen about 25 years ago
Beautifully installed, the lines of the vitrines repeat the artist´s.
Funny how the characters always say "chau!" (sic) when they leave.
Another KW room that made an impact was Tris Vonna-Michell´s entire room of projections. Hard to reproduce in photographs, as the walk through the big, dark room, steadily changing from the new slides that came on and the many soundtracks sneaking up on you from still new speakers, constituted much of the experience.
Photo of Hariton Pushwagner and Axel Jensen: Dag W. Grundseth via Aftenposten.no. Other photos: JNW. Content courtesy of the artists!
