street soccer vs. parkour

remember parkour? the FIFA STREET3 Game features a viral video of street soccer player from mexico. for sure not everything is real but FX.. anyway: a challenge for all those soccer or parkour fans to do it real!

Mustafa Maluka - the message

our good friend Fusi has sent us this invitation for a very interesting exhibition by Mustafa Maluka, a very talented and multiskilled artist who beside painting is also involved in several other cultural projects, as for instance with music. he was in fact the very first to organise a grime-time event in south africa and the connection to this subculture movement turned out to be one of the very reasons for why he actually decided to move to berlin.
however i don’t want to indulge on his other projects…

here is the invitation to the exhibition and an introduction to Mustafa´s work:
















the exhibition presents a series of new works by Mustafa Maluka, each of them unfolds a reflection on identity and culturally defined differences.

Mustafa Maluka´s portraits combine reference to graffiti, hip-hop and pop culture. the majority of maluka´s paintings take their point of departure in editorials and advertisements from magazines to which he has a special affinity.
he develops his portraits through several layers of colour, enabling the depicted persons to appear as characters with their own personality- ostentatious, cool or spirited.
Maluka´s “invented heroes” hint at personal stories, including those dealing with formation of identity. discussions concerning cultural identity and migration are of central importance to Maluka´s oeuvre. his works examine how his own personal experiences tend to differ to those born and raised in a different social, cultural or political context. the experience of being an outsider from the so called “cape flats” in cape town and later being an outsider in a foreign country has had an important impact on Maluka´s work. thus, it has resulted in the critical and subversive strategy, which is characteristic of his artistic practice.








Maluka was born in cape town in 1978. in 200 he moved to amsterdam where he studied at the de ateliers post-graduate art institute. in 2004, Maluka returned to south africa and won the tollman award for visual arts. since 2006 he has lived and worked in berlin. He has exhibited in asia, Europe, the united states and south america (the 7th sao paolo biennial). furthermore, his works were included in the 2006 group show, “what lies beneath: new art from south africa” at the galerie mikael Andersen in Copenhagen.

*text by Galerie Mikael Andersen




the exhibition begins saturday 2 of february at
6-9pm and ends the 8th of march 2008.
at Galerie Mikael Andersen
Auguststrasse 50 b - Berlin mitte












and here a link to Mustafa´s pictures of the legendary boombx party and one of his personal blog.

jahcoozi at the CTM 08 opening night

at the opening of club transmediale at maria am ostbahnhof last weekend, Jahcoozi performed their first gig of the year.

Sasha Perera, front singer, appeared on stage wearing a huge white tunic with a red thunderbolt drawn on it, symbol of their latest album „blitz´n´ass“.






at one point during the performance, she took off her lightning robe and with my great surprise she was wearing a very special shirt i gave her last year: our ARM TROTZ ARBEIT shirt representing the minimum wage campaign!















the reaction of the audience was hilarious, when they read „working poor“ on Sasha´s shirt, some couldnt help but laughing...it completely hit the spot and although this caustic remark was filled with irony, the problem really affects many of us... and they know it.










nevertheless the contrast of being in a club having a great time and being reminded of some serious problems bearing upon our society, can´t but be funny.

however thank you Sasha for your support to the cause...im sure that many people didnt have the chance to see it yet and i think it was a great opportunity to reach also those who usually leave home only after dark. besides, now we also have it mentioned in the „berliner zeitung“.





















* some pics are taken from berlin.nachtagenten
you´ll find more of them on their website.

soni-riot at hobnox evolution contest

the hobnox contest 2008 is on!

hobnox is a cutting edge platform for independent creative culture... which really is the kind of area we love to be involved!



for this reason Anna, our resident video artist, decided to take part in it with her creation soni-riot, (im sure that most of you heard about it already, maybe from a past entry on our blog ). So, we would really appreciate if all of you could take part in the voting process...of course take your time to watch all the videos, we don´t want to influence your choice, although it would be great if you could particularly pay attention to her breathtaking work. you will have to register to the site though...it only takes few minutes and it really is worth doing it. you will find soni-riot under the category: urban culture.

the first three winners for each category will be invited to the hobnox evolution festival which will take place here in berlin on the 28th of february.

STREET ART IN SEOUL: circular saw bench

i just walked in seoul/korea from one meeting to another and saw this: a circular saw bench made by some construction workers! and it really reminds me on the art of allan wexler.

they did by accident a truly nice piece of street art out of their construction materials. showing how you can make normal things abnormal and slightly irritating. even they use it just for one job and afterwards it will be disassembled again.

allan wexler is doing it for art purpose. i just can recommend everybody who is interested in architecture and design art to see thru the artwork of this crazy american architect!

NYC Mission Report

so finally im back in the container.... it has been an incredible experience being in New York; the BLN/NYC dialogues exhibition was a great chance to meet lots of interesting people both from New York and Berlin; and of course an opportunity to explain in real person what PLATOON actually is, since many seem to be confused at times about what we actually do in here.







out of the many people i met i would like to mention few of them whom i partcularly enjoyed meeting... like Prem Krishnamurthy from projectprojects, who designed the exhibition itself and will hopefully also come to Berlin to repeat the magic...but design is just one of his many qualities...he is also a terrific dancer, his crazy moves on the dancefloor were definitely infectious...and it didnt take long until everyone followed the good vibes....also thanks to Tommy and Inga (2raumwohnung) who kept submerging us with delicious beats.






a special thanks goes to Lutz Knospe, DAZ´s project manager, who was our contact person for the preparation of the exhibition. it was really nice to meet you there. and also thank you for the way you curated our project over there. we appreciate it very much.





a big thank you also to Samuel Lahoz photographer of the event who also works for the uglyplanet mag, and was very kind to send us some pictures of the night.

i also had a very pleasant interview with Morgan Campbell, a journalist of metropolismag. (click on the images to read an excerpt of the interview).










not to mention the berlin crew, who like us traveled all the way there to represent their projects. and brought with them that particular berlin vibe which totally blended with the scene in NY.
i was in fact very pleased to meet Ana Salinas, one of the architects responsible for creating the Badeschiff, although she kept pointing out that she does many other projects which unfortunately tend to be overlooked by others because of the badeschiff hype. i had lots of fun with her and her journalist friend from Granada...whose name, im sorry, slipped off the backdoors of my mind...it was a quite demanding party after all... and not just because of the neverending flowing wine.












another very interesting encounter was with cilean architect Ignacio Iratchet from nbbj, a high end award winning new york architecture agency. what actually connected us was our commmon passion for Iraqi-British deconstructivist architect zaha hadid which was featured in a parallel exhibit on the upper level. there i also saw again this shipping container project...uniqlo containers, designed by LOT-EK...and you know when containers come into play somehow it always fascinates us PLATOONIES.









however, the biggest thank of all goes to our friend and new PLATOON member Jungwon Suh, who hosted me in his splendid apartment on the 38th floor in the heart of manhattan. thank you so much Jung, i really had a great time with you...and what a view!












from his balcony one can enjoy the most fantastic postcard view of NY! and what a buzz...the rumour of PLATOON being in NY echoed across the ocean, reaching South Korea where Tom is still setting up PLATOON.seoul. apparently some friends of Jung told him they saw PLATOON in seoul again...and when he told them PLATOON was also strolling around NY...it suddenly felt like PLATOON is EVERYWHERE!.

All the Best
M.

FAT B

berlin with its ideas for urban vitalisation doesn´t have to hide behind new york.the exhibition clearly shows that.
but the opening at the the center for architecture nyc was a surprise and a great pleasure.









first there was a parade of vips, media and interesting people-
















































-and than the party went on. no long speaches, no stupid standing around. a dj played tech-house music and all visitors felt in the mood to party. that really was the best way to celebrate the opening of this fantastic exhibition.













between all the many people, kristien ring, leader of the german center for architecture.
















and the security, so elegant and stylish in their long black coats, kept reminding me of the matrix.
















and last but not least, actually one of the best, platoon friends 2raumwohnung who performed their dj-act and really rocked the dancefloor until the very end.






























next year the dialogues will take place in berlin.
new york, we can't wait, you are more then welcome!

Berlin/New York Dialogues: building in context

..and whilst the lads are hopping around asia, me and Heidrun will have to attend an exhibition in NYC where PLATOON is being featured within an architectural context.

Berlin/New York Dialogues explores the radical transformations in these two vibrant cities and how urban development & regeneration is affected by social, political economical and cultural processes.

Chelsea and Mitte will be taken as a case example and their similarities be compared so to visualize the topic in context.

PLATOON will be presented under the section: community activism; other topics will be: culture as a catalyst, gentrification, alternative use of open space and legislative intervention.

for the grand opening at new york´s center for architecture we´ll be also pleased to enjoy 2raumwhonung performing in a live dj-act. which always reminds us to when they played on our old-PLATOON.area back in the days.


the exhibition, on view November 8, 2007, through January 26, 2008, is organized in collaboration with the German Center for Architecture (DAZ), and is presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall as part of the Berlin in Lights festival.

so, if you happen to be in the area....come and check it out!

Center for Architecture,
536 LaGuardia Place, West Village. New York