Beck’s wanted to celebrate 20 years of Inspiration since the Fall of the Berlin Wall and put Holler in charge of creating a campaign for it. In addition to the photo exhibition in 4 venues across Australia (see animation in my first post) we juxtaposed images of the past (border guards and Berliners watching the wall being erected) with the joyful, liberal and expressive Berlin of today.
Oppression to Expression
The three headlines show three transitions: “Oppression to Expression”, “Dominated to Liberated” and “Grief to Relief”.
It was time to raise Holler’s tie factor by a whopping 100%. I finally managed to enter the not-so-newly-opened The Cloakroom on Reservoir, locally run by Brisbanite and GQ-Award-nominee Josh McPherson. I can highly recommend his brand “Pistols at Dawn” and the establishment itself. Even if you don’t feel in need of fine shoes, have never thought about tailor-made suits and despise ties in general – there are proper vintage racing bikes and customized lamps to behold.
Josh and Boris from The Cloakroom
The Cloakroom is in 47 Reservoir, cnr of Mary Street and only there till February, apparently the relentless gentrification demands a fine food store to occupy the premises. Josh is seeking new rooms in the same neighborhood – help a stylish man out, folks.
Following on our trip to Melbourne, the Holler creatives ventured outside Surry Hills (gasp!) and into the far northern tip of the CBD. Laneways by George is an initiative by the City of Sydney to bring its historic laneways into focus. A few months ago Holler pitched an idea (together with Arup, SuperCollossal, UTS DAB, the ABC and the Powerhouse Museum) for a series of installations. Sadly it didn’t get the green light, possibly because it proved way too ambitious. Our proposal included covering all the featured laneways with WiFi, connecting the places with an overarching narrative, projecting dynamically onto the walls, bringing historical footage onto the mobile…you can tell, it was the whole digital shebang.
Don’t quite know why we went overboard like this, maybe a desire to catch up with what other cities have done already (did I hear anyone say Melbourne?). Anyway, maybe there are some nuggets of inspiration in it for you – if you can decipher the tiny type.
In the end, the series of installations is worth exploring. Even if the work doesn’t resonate with you – you walk through spaces you didn’t know existed and wouldn’t use (unless you are a delivery man for some of the bars and shops on the high street).
These photos form an exhibition I curated/commissioned for Beck’s. It opens on Nov 1, 2009 in four venues across Australia. Check the Beck’s site for details.For me it is bit of a journey into my own past as well as showing the contemporary Berlin. Most of these places of improvisation, experimentation and creative expression were very much part of my student and early professional years in the always-changing city, Berlin. And since I am German and vividly remember the wall coming down I am celebrating 20 years of reunification, of my people peacefully overcoming such a horrendous monument. Maybe something you start appreciating even more when you move far away.
Beck’s ÜBERSELEKTOR a.k.a. me in this case meets Casey Spooner (before his gig at the Melbourne Festival) and we talk about FS’s creative process, working in New York and who he rates in Australia’s music scene. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischerspooner) Follow Beck’s ÜBERSELEKTOR content through facebook.com/uberselektor
