Asphalt Grün

Abandoned Christmas Trees of Berlin
Video-Installation 2007 - 2010
December 11-15, 2010

Plattenvereinigung, Peter-Behrens-Halle, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, 13355 Berlin, please click here for a map.

Free entrance. Opening hours.

Daily 14:00 - 20:00 (Monday and Wednesday until 21:00)

Vernissage Programme

11th of December, 19:00 - End
Joana Bërtholo, Reading, Between You and Me
Jochen Thermann, Reading
Raphaëlle Pacault, Live Violin
Natalie Tiranno, Live Saxophone
Ayako Toyama, Dance

Special programme

13.12. Talk on Alternative Art Spaces 19:00 - 21:00
Please register at site.specific.ideas(at)googlemail.com
Invited speakers
Dimitri Hegemann, Trafo, ehemaliges Kraftwerk Mitte
Jochen Küpper, Stattbad Wedding
Claus Asam, Plattenvereinigung

Partners

The project is supported by the Alumni Programme of the Hertie Foundation.
Other partners: Plattenvereinigung, CinePlus, Haupt, the Romanian School Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., Volkslesen.TV, the Romanian Cultural Institute, SpottedbyLocals and Apeiron Films.

Installation short description

How did it start? Three things happened beginning of 2007 after seeing for the first time the abandoned Christmas trees lying around the streets of Berlin.

One is poetry. I was struck by the lyrical spectacle of the abandoned trees, a common landscape for a fragmented city like Berlin, from Reinickendorf until Köpenick, from Spandau to Marzahn.

Second is invisibility of our every day environment. I was struck by how invisible and unimportant the trees have become for the Berliners very shortly after Christmas.

Third is curiosity. I became curious where were the trees headed, as nobody in my visual arts school back then could answer this question. After getting in touch with the Berliner Stadtsreinigung I found out that there are only two main groups of people calling and asking about the trees: people complaining a tree was not collected in time from their street and second, schools - children ask what happenes with the trees and teachers don't know what to answer.

And this is how my four winters of filming through all the Berliner Bezirke begun. The displayed installation builds up on elements of poetry, story telling and epic theatre and is taylor made on the architecture and symbolistic of the Plattenvereinigung. Just as the latter, which is built out of concrete panels stemming from eastern and western Germany, the installation brings together videos from eastern and western Berlin and seizes the symbol of reunification.

After all, the building is planned for the public space and will be placed somewhere in Berlin in 2011, but will spend this winter in the Peter-Behrens-Halle - a wonderful analogy with a Christmas tree.

Natalia Irina Roman

Plattenvereinigung short description

Plattenvereinigung is a research and communication project designed to develop sustainable ways of acting and a sustainable culture. It unites people from science, education, economics, craft and art and works. As a medium and a meeting place, Plattenvereinigung creates a building made of recycled East- and West-German precast concrete. Thus it deliberately connects history with the current discussion about sustainable urban development, architecture and consumerism.

The buildung is an object for studying and a work space for training, seminars, talks and workshops, research, theatre and art projects. Pieces of once visionary architecture from East and West and the current practice of urban reconstruction trigger multiple thoughts about future ways of living and the challenges of a post-fossil future.

The project is supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and by many dedicated and well-known partners and sponsors (www.plattenvereinigung.de).

Robert Huber

Team

Natalia Irina Roman (Concept & Video Installation), Diana MÍrza Grisco, Sonja Stössel (2010), Mélanie Petton (2009), (Project Assistance), Oded Littman (Vernissage Artistic Consultation), Stefan Haupt (Technical Realization), Ioana Niculescu (Logistic Assistance), Christian Gralingen (Graphic Design).

Vernissage Artist Biographies

Jochen Thermann, *1974 in Bochum, writer and dramaturge. He deals with literary, dramatic and historical topics, writes essays and stories, explores backgrounds and analyses culture. Jochen has received a PhD for his thesis on "Kafkas Tiere" and has worked as a dramaturge for Deutsches Theater. He works for Deutschlandradio, writes texts on art and is one of the inventors of Philosophical Football. Based in Berlin. www.HarrasBureau.de.

Joana Bërtholo, *1982 in Lisbon, writer and researcher. Represented in Portugal by the strongest publishing group, her last novel, "Dialogues for the End of the World", won a recognized award. Her next book on shadows will be published at the end of 2011. The ones before that are all sold out. Meanwhile dwelling with a PhD on the Creative Process and The Invisible. Based in Berlin, with octopus arms in Lisbon and Buenos Aires, permanently looking for the next address. www.unscratchable.info.

Natalie Tiranno, *1978 in Frankfurt am Main, musician and teacher. Since she was little she was interested in music and plays the flute, the piano, fagot, saxophone and drums. After graduating from High School she studied romance studies and historic ethnology. Today, she works as a teacher for German and Italian. When she isn't working she plays in several bands. Based in Frankfurt am Main.

Raphaëlle Pacault, *1980 in Paris, violinist. Studied the violin at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. After a few years as a full-time musician in several orchestras, she decided to study baroque violin at the Universität der Künste in Berlin in 2009. She plays in contemporary and baroque ensembles like Capella Vitalis Berlin, Ensemble Sans Souci Berlin as well as Spira Mirabilis, and, together with the musicians from the European Union Baroque Orchestra, she founded the Orchester New Century Baroque. Based in Berlin.

Ayako Toyama, *1982 in Tokyo, dancer. She studied ballet and contemporary dance in London and worked for the Richard Alston Dance Company, English National Opera, Tanztheater Eisenach and Tanztheater Bronislav Roznos. In July 2010, Ayako moved to Berlin to work as a freelance dancer.

Oded Littman, *1978, in Rehovot, Israel, theater director. Graduated a Bachelor of Theater Directing in Kibbutzim College, Tel-Aviv. Worked as theater director on the free scene in Tel Aviv, and as a theater, acting and directing teacher. Interested in the meeting point of performance and theater and trying to escape what he knows. Today a student of the MA of theater directing at ZHdK, Zürich. Based in Zürich.