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News from Berlin

Celebrating French Culture in Berlin

May 21st, 2014
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News from Berlin – On May 20th, the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy dedicated an event to celebrating the importance of the French artistic community and culture in Berlin. On this occasion, the Institute opened its door to the public, and invited various French artists living in Berlin to participate in a panel discussion, and to present their artwork.

The event started out with a panel discussion bringing together ten participants, each of them sharing their insight and point of view on what being a French artist in Berlin meant. They all acknowledged that the particular atmosphere and situation of Berlin allows for more creativity and freedom of artistic expression than in most other cities. Some artists mentioned their worries that Berlin was rapidly changing, notably due to the important phenomenon of gentrification, leading to a certain standardization of the artistic production, and to the shutting down of many mythical alternative places, such as the Tacheles Kunsthaus for example. The role of the criteria and standards that must be respected to access funding for the arts was also mentioned as a contributing factor to this trend.

After the lively discussion, performances were given to allow the public to have a glance at French culture. Mélinée and Christophe Bourdoiseau, both composers-interpreters of Chanson Française, performed songs of their own composition, before a contemporary dance performance by Philippe Rives allowed for a completely different and more untraditional insight on French artistic production. After the different performances there was a reception that gave participants a taste of France with quiches lorraines and other French pies, while Gael Baisson, a French DJ living and working in Berlin kept up the atmosphere with some techno music.

For more information on the artists who performed and the participants in the panel discussion, see the following links:

Mélinée: https://www.facebook.com/pages/M%C3%A9lin%C3%A9e/161527410547072

Christophe Bourdoiseau: http://christophebourdoiseau.com/index.php

Philippe Rives: http://www.philippe-rives.com/EN

Gael Baisson: https://soundcloud.com/gaelbaisson

Théatre la Ménagerie: http://www.lamenagerie.org/fr/

Cirque Karaculi: http://www.karakuli.org/fr

Mathilde Lafabrie: http://mathildelafabrie.blogspot.de/

Thierry Noir: http://www.galerie-noir.de/index.html

Katherine Gache: http://www.saatchiart.com/katherinegache

Adrian Garcia-Landa

Natacha Boroukhoff: http://www.francais-du-monde-berlin.com/

News from Berlin – Berlin Global