into the pill - Issue 11

Berlinerpool

video by: Luis Fernandez,
color PAL 6:05 min, 2004
 
The video shows the famous police group from Berlin who has specialized in acrobatic on motorcycle.

***
For berlinerpool answered Sencer Verdaman.
Interview by Vassiliea Stylianidou for Into the pill.

1.When was your space founded? Tell me about its goals, direction and character.

berlinerpool was founded in 2005 and forms a continuously growing communication and documentation infrastructure for art workers. We connect artists, curators, alternative art spaces and groups and all other working in the field of art with one other, supply useful information and help them reach a wider public.

Our aim is to develop this infrastructure into a system that supplies all complementary activities for artists that they have to perform in addition to their creative work. We perceive the main deficit as being in the field of communication, which is why we are creating a communication platform.

2.What are your areas of focus and research?

Complementary activities for artists such as public relations, marketing, research as well as activities surrounding self-organized structures, so-called artist initiatives or alternative spaces.

3.How would you describe the artistic reality in Berlin? How would you integrate your space within it?

Berlin has a fast growing, if not booming, art scene. The huge number of artists is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Berlin is a great meeting point. The city offers almost endless opportunities to make new contacts, find cheap studios and inexpensive production opportunities, maintain a relaxed lifestyle and enjoy plenty of entertainment. Artists can reach a wide public easily since it is attracts many visitors to art events.
On the other hand, artists suffer from insecure and unpaid working conditions, stiff competition and can encounter difficulties in keeping up with a very dynamic art landscape, where a lot of action is accessible only to insiders.
Furthermore, artists are instrumentalized by a system that uses any occasion to create new economic values - by increasing the price of real estate, or by creating a unique tourist hot spot, for example.
The city is also gradually becoming an international center for commercial art,
of which only about one percent of artists can profit. On the other hand, there are several relatively new business forms such as artist hotels, which present themselves as residencies.

4.What would you change about the artistic reality of the city?

Berlin needs better communication networks,
better job opportunities, more serious and independent presentation opportunities, more financial support and investment in art, especially in infrastructures.

5.Do you pursue collaboration with local state institutions? What is your experience in that area?

Since the state does’t support artistic infrastructures, we haven’t had any close relations with the local state for a long time. For about half a year we received funding for one person of our five-person team from a cooperation project of the European Community and the local state.
One of us has a supported position from another country. Three of us are working unpaid.

6.Do you pursue other local or international collaborations and joint projects?

We receive our only support from international and joint projects.

7.What form of curatorial action do you propose?

We publish an internet magazine and realize art events such as talks and exhibitions.
We contribute to an alternative printed press project and also an international digital art guide.

8.What form of cooperation between artist and curator do you investigate?

We present our member artists to curators, help them with their research and also invite curators in order to work with our member artists.

9.How do you fund your space?

berlinerpool is mainly run by volunteers.
We collect participation fees from our member artists and art spaces in order to finance basic expenses such as an office and database programming.

Berlinerpool

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