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Today David Walker’s first major US solo show opens in Robert Fontaine Gallery in Wynwood, Miami. For the exhibition entitled Swapping Souls With Strangers David Walker made 12 new large scale pieces – amongst a 2.5 m tall portrait of me – and 8 text pieces. He works freehand without the aid of brushes, stencils or a projector, and approaches the traditional subject of portraiture with the contemporary visual language of urban art and graffiti. “I am drawn to the idea of creating a beautiful portrait out of components that are associated with ugliness, there is some odd poetry in that,” David Walker says. The exhibit will be on view through 31 May.

www.artofdavidwalker.com
www.robertfontainegallery.com

After an invitation of director Andrzej Raszyk and chief curator Paz Ponce Perez, I have joined the network Berlinerpool. Berlinerpool is a continually expanding arts network and mobile physical archive of international artists, curators, art managers and art venues in Berlin. Through its three main features (database, professional arts network and project development platform), berlinerpool is committed to the preservation, accessibility, spreading and making of culture.

www.berlinerpool.de

The Dutch magazine Het Vermoeden published an article about our Colouring Books for Grown Ups. Besides a four pages article full of images and colouring plates, the readers of Het Vermoeden are offered free postcards when they order Colouring Book No. 1.

www.hetvermoeden.nl

Flow Mag International, the magazine for paper lovers, crafting and positive psychology published an interview about publishing coloring books for grown ups. You can now buy the magazine online at www.flowmagazine.com and in several stores worldwide. The coloring books can be bought from www.coloringbookforgrownups.com.

On January 2nd the Meerburgprijs was awarded to initiatives that involve themselves with the arts and culture of Katwijk, a former fishermen’s town at the West coast of the Netherlands where I grew up. The book project about my grandfather, artist Bas Haasnoot who passed away last year, was nominated and won a prize of 1.000 Euros!

The Piet Bakker Prijs 2013 is won by Mark Schevers! Every year the Piet Bakker Prijs is awarded to a graduated student from the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Utrecht Academy of Arts (HKU). The award commemorates the ideas and thoughts of my father, who was director of education at the HKU Faculty of Visual Arts and died in a car accident while in the United States for work purposes in 1995. Nominated were Ingmar König, Ewoud ten Hove, Manon the Jong and Mark Schevers.

Tonight the event Vielfalt ist Freiheit (Diversity means Freedom) takes place at Pariser Platz. The original statements of thousands of young Berliners against racism and intolerance will be projected at Brandenburg Gate. Violinist Daniel Hope will perform a medley of Berlin 1920s musicians and witnesses Margot Friedländer, Inge Deutschkron and Coco Schumann will be interviewed. I’ll be at the reception in the Academy of Arts which I’m coordinating.

Today we have distributed hundreds of transparencies with the surface equaling a football field for the Shop Window Campain this weekend. Through this campaign, more than 120 Berlin merchants and retailers will commemorate the pogroms of 1938 and make a statement against intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism.

The book KRISTALLNACHT? Bilder der Novemberpogrome 1938 in Berlin is now available and consists of the only 28 existing pictures of the Night of the Broken Glass in Berlin. Written by Christoph Kreutzmüller and my colleague Bjoern Weigel it tells the story behind the pogroms between November 9th and 13th 1938. My contribution is a little translation of a few articles from the Dutch news paper.

Today I have done a photo shooting for my friend and artist Maria Hinze. In collaboration with Lena Huyoff (Lesole) she designed a series of clothing called Fernzeichen. They took me to the old building of Artitude Kunstverein around Schlesische Strasse.

Today I flew to Prishtina, Kosovo, for the opening of MAKE.A.MATCH, a series of exhibitions curated by Katharina Schendl. With the financial support of the Dutch Embassy in Prishtina, she invited me to come over and write a text for the upcoming catalogue about the complete series of MAKE.A.MATCH. Tonight ‘Trapped in Motion’ by Dren Maliqi, Matthias Krause & Paul Philipp Heinze will open at the Gallery of the Kosovar Ministry of Culture.

Tonight the exhibition ‘Denn alles was den Gesetzen des Verstandes und deer Vernunft widerstreitet, ist freilich unmöglich’ opens in the project space of Meinblau e.V. I’m pleased that the amazing artists Fiete Stolte, Maria Barnas and Keren Cytter accepted my invitation to join the exhibition. If you’d like to see Show Real Drama at HAU – Hebbel am Ufer there are still tickets available for tomorrow!

Tonight at HAU – Hebbel am Ufer you can see ‘Show Real Drama’ by Keren Cytter. The theatre performance watches two actors working on their show reel. The distinction between acting and real life remains unclear. ‘Show Real Drama’ is part of the exhibition at Meinblau that will open tomorrow. There are only a few tickets left!

This evening at 7pm the grande opening of the second edition of Berlin Art Week takes place in the Auguststrasse in Berlin Mitte. The street will be closed for traffic. Instead, galleries, cafes, bars and restaurants open their doors. KW Institute and Me Collector’s Room will open new exhibitions and on the street you can enjoy performances by Hush Hush, UNMAP and Acid Maria. Free entree.