Das ist Bauhaus

“Das ist Bauhaus.” said the lady when I put the vase in front of her at the cash register of the KPM store. I have had an eye or two on this piece of porcelain for ages.

The Vase Halle was designed in 1931 by Marguerite Friedlaender. Ms Friedlaender had gotten her Bauhaus Master Potter designation in 1926, when left the school, and moved to, you guessed it, Halle.

I recommend to put another favourite product of mine on the vase: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetic’s Lip Tar. Looks extra good in hot pink (they call it anime). You do not only want to drink out of the vase – you want to lick it all day.

Mario Montez in Berlin

One of the highlights of the Live Film! Jack Smith! festival of the arsenal cinema in Berlin was seeing and meeting legendary underground superstar Mario Montez, who had not appeared in public for 30 years. Mario started his career with the Jack Smith films Flaming Creatures (as Dolores Flores) and Normal Love before becoming one of he first Warhol superstars.
With Jack Smith, he shared a fascination of 1950’s/60’s gay camp icon Maria Montez, who became the source of inspiration for Mario’s drag name.

More:
– Jack Smith on Ubuweb
– Mario Montez on Warholstars.org
– Article on Mario Montez with some pictures by Avery Willard, 1971

Marc Siegel and Mario Montez at the opening of Live Film! Jack Smith!

The next few photos have images from Mario Montez’ scrapbook projected in the backdrop. The first two are Maria Montez movie posters.

Poster by Jack Smith

Mario with White Pussy (Warhol’s cat)

Tony Conrad in conversation with Mario Montez

Mary Messhausen, Mario Montez, produzentin

Tequila Birthday Madness

Sunday, last party night in Berlin at Berghain Kantine. ND’s birthday with a very special tequila bar by Conny and Zu from Amsterdam. After having been to crazy parties for 3 nights before, Sunday was almost impossible… But the tequila brought back our energy.

Monday morning was also the end of Girlscamp Berlin. Mary Messhausen, Toffi, Prancey Girl and myself had rented an apartment together. More on that later. For now, enjoy the pictures below, more after the jump. Even more on flickr.

Packed Sundays

I’m almost on my way. Packing, packing, packing. Hauptstadtfeeling, here we go. My trip to the motherland and other bits of old Europe starts this Friday. And at the end of October, I’m going to meet up with Mary Messhausen, Oliver, Prancey Girl and Toffi in Berlin. There are two exciting events for what is going to be a super extra long (but not very halloweeny) weekend in the capital.

On Sunday, November 1st, I’m going to be djing for my friend ND Baumecker’s birthday at Berghain Kantine. Mary Messhausen will be a hosting as The Juicy Punne. Starts around 9 or 10 pm.

The Wednesday before sees the opening of the Live Film, Jack Smith festival at arsenal. All the Jack classics will be screened. So many events, films and performances, there is barely time for shopping. What can you do? My favourites are posted below & make sure to read arsenal’s press clippings for all the 411.

Mark your calendars for Oliver’s premiere of Purfled Promises, Sunday afternoon, November 1st, 4:30pm. This is going to be one packed Sonntag.

LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World

From Oct. 28 through Nov. 11, Arsenal Berlin presents the event “LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World“. The performances, films and videos, slide presentations, exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and discussions, look at the gender-bending and genre-breaking works of Jack Smith, Andy Warhol and other avant-garde artists of the 1960s, from a number of angles. The work of Jack Smith is juxtaposed with recent works of numerous international contemporary artists. A special guest is the legendary drag performer and underground superstar Mario Montez, who on this occasion will appear in public for the first time in thirty years.

Jack Smith (photo by Helmut Herbst)

Mittwoch, 28. October 2009

18:00 LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World Eröffnung
– Jack Smith (ST315) Andy Warhol USA 1964 4 min
– LIVE FILM! Susanne Sachsse, Marc Siegel, Stefanie Schulte Strathaus über Five Flaming Days in a Rented World
– Der Superstar in Berlin. Ein Gespräch mit Mario Montez
– Lost and Found. Jerry Tartaglia über die Restaurierung der Jack-Smith-Filme
– Jungle Island/Reefers of the Technicolor Island Jack Smith 1967 20 min
– Hot Air Specialists Jack Smith 1970er 7 min
– Song For Rent Jack Smith 1970er 4 min
– Kino-Catering von Gordon W.
– Ausstellungen: John Edward Heys, Michael Krebber, Klaus Mettig, Uzi Parnes, Kristian Petersen, Jerry Tartaglia/ Sean Michael Kirk
Kino 1

Friday, 30.October 2009

19:30 Konzert von Kinky Justice (Justus Köhncke), Im HAU 1, Foyer

20:30 Mario Banana 1 & 2, Andy Warhol 1964 8 min
Mario Montez im Gespräch mit Marc Siegel, Im HAU 1, Saal

21:30 Memory Island, Performance von Vaginal Davis & Chocolate Grinder Collective , Im HAU 1, Saal

22:30 In Erinnerung an Ronald Tavel: Ronald Tavels The Life of Juanita Castro
Performance mit Rainald Goetz, Mario Montez, Katharina Sieverding, Bruce La Bruce, Susanne Sachsse, Diederich Diedrichsen, u.a. , Im HAU 1, Saal

Saturday, 31. October 2009

22:00 Konzert & Performance von Tony Conrad und Gordon W., Im HAU 2 , (Bis 2.30 Uhr, Einlass durchgehend)

23:00 Denial of Death, Performance von Penny Arcade , Im HAU 1, Bühne

Sunday, 01. November 2009

16:30 Purfled Promises, Oliver Husain 2009 10 min
In Anwesenheit von Oliver Husain, Kino 2

17:00 Playing Hide and Seek with Odors
Ein Gespräch über Performance in Film und Video mit Deirdre Logue, Nao Bustamante, Isabell Spengler, Oliver Husain, Moderation: Vaginal Davis, Kino 2

BW in Berlin

Earlier this evening, Bernhard Willhelm showed his autumn/winter 2009/10 men”™s collection at Postbahnhof in Berlin. Inspired by the 1976 winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, the models were put on skiers, horses and other carriage. Some of them looked like they were cast at Ficken 3000 (I’m not judging, just observing).

OK, let’s go skiing. More pics after the jump.
All photos by my (now) bff Sascha Fierce (yes, HE lives in Berlin).

hauptstadtfeeling

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s television miniseries Berlin Alexanderplatz is based on the Alfred Döblin classic 1929 novel of the underclass in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Fassbinder details a mammoth portrait of a common man struggling to survive in a viciously uncommon time. It was first broadcast in Germany in 1980.

RWF had a longstanding obsession with the novel. For instance, in his 1975 movie Fox and his Friends (Faustrecht der Freiheit), the main character played by Fassbinder himself, is named after the Berlin Alexanderplatz protagonist, Franz Biberkopf (Frank Beaverhead).

Remastered in 2006, the series is finally available as a DVD box set from The Criterion Collection with English subtitles or through SZ Cinemathek in Germany.

PS1 in New York is screening the more than 15-hour epic in 14 screening rooms – one for each episode of the film through January 2008.

Further reading:

• Susan Sontag on Berlin Alexanderplatz
• Interview with Ingrid Caven (in German). She talks about her marriage to RWF and how she feels about the Fassbinder Foundation. The interview is followed by a heated debate about how the Fassbinder Foundation manages his legacy.

Fassbinder on Berlin Alexanderplatz:
“Beim zweiten Lesen also wurde mir von Seite zu Seite mehr und mehr klar, staunend erst, dann mehr und mehr beängstigt, so betroffen zuletzt, daß ich beinahe gezwungen schien, Augen und Ohren zu schließen, zu verdrängen also, wurde mir klarer und klarer, daß ein riesiger Teil meiner selbst, meiner Verhaltensweisen, meiner Reaktionen, vieles eben, das ich für mich, für mich selbst gehalten hatte, nichts anderes war, als von Döblin in ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’ Beschriebenes.
Ich hatte also, ganz einfach, unbewußt Döblins Phantasie zu meinem Leben gemacht. Und doch, es war nicht zuletzt dann doch wieder der Roman, der mir dabei half, die folgende beängstigende Krise zu überwinden und an etwas zu arbeiten, was zuletzt, wie ich hoffe, relativ sehr das werden konnte, was man eine Identität nennt, soweit das in all dem verkorksten Dreck überhaupt möglich ist.”
aus “Filme befreien den Kopf”, Essays and Arbeitsnotizen von RWF (#)