Unscene Berlin

Bad Santa street art in Ostkreuz There are dozens of Christmas markets (known as 'Weihnachtsmarkt' in Germany) in and around Berlin where a person can sample fine chocolates, buy luxurious doilies and perch on outdoor stools under a gas heater while sipping hot cocktails.  I am not  going to talk about any of them in this entry.  No - this entry is about the kinds of places Santa goes after a hard day of waving at tourists to dwell on more pressing themes like gentrification, greed and Guantanomo Bay, while chugging a Sterny.  There is a reason why he wears red and black after all, and it's not to please his corporate masters at Coca-Cola. Read on for a shortlist of the places that Santa goes to when he feels like stuffing a lump of coal in some capitalist's stocking... They can't afford Christmas turkey dinner, so the organizers of the Cult of the Personality: Commercial Christmas Special at Food/ZMF are going to 'eat the rich' instead.  Every prod...

Photograph by Sebastien Oppetit April has been a weird month for parties. On the one hand, longer daylight hours have taken the shine off the idea of partying inside of clubs.  On the other hand, the ever-encroaching rain clouds and chilly winds have dampened any attempts at outdoor raving.  Like the good weather, Berlin's party spirit seems to have been on holiday leave since Easter, leaving people like me free to catch up on their reading, to see their friends, to see exhibitions... anything and everything except for 'avin it large in the mud (or sand or whatever).  No one seems to mind; there will be plenty of time for rabble-rousing starting on the first of May, after all.  Ah, the first of May.  I can clearly remember cycling through the city just before dawn on the second of May last year.  Except for the odd late-night party, Friedrichshai...