Kultur
The Stroke.02 preview, full of all things striking
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The bar on the Erdgeschoss was almost finished, the workers looked tired, the artists were nowhere to be found; there was rubble and empty bottles everywhere and from time to time someone showed up at the improvised reception desk to get a 3-day pass or maybe a press kit. The emptiness and lack of commotion felt very intimate and tantalizing.
The former Federal Bank office building in the Sederangerstrasse is a wild sight: it somewhat resembles a living, breathing landscape, a great big monster with a (drum’n’bass roaring) garage for a mouth, winding circulatory terraces and 4 storeys of empty, labyrinthine stomach, very hungry for people.
I was introduced to a guide and then given the chance to explore this vast space at my own will. According to my guide, the ground floor and the spacious garage will be hosting the 3 parties, which will most certainly unfold unto the cobblestone yard, drag out to the small biergarten on the 1st floor and hopefully reach the beautiful, luxuriant roof terrace on the 2nd.
We climbed the narrow stairs to the first floor, which was full of painted cardboard boxes, piled up to form cityscapes and other symbolic urban sites. This floor will be hosting the Urban Avantgarde special exhibition, curated by Intoxicated Demons’ Marko Schwalbe, who is one half of the team responsible for the whole event. The other half is Raiko Schwalbe, a Münchner for the past 10 years and also the managerial mastermind behind the project.
The works on display here belong to prominent writers and street (as well as gallery) artists from all over the world. My personal favorites are the pieces by the charming duo Herakut (Ma’claim’s Akut and the lovely Hera) and Case (also a member of the photorealistic writer crew Ma’claim). The greatest part is that you will actually be able to see all 4 Ma’claims plus Hera in action – they were invited to show off their mad styles in the live-painting sessions.
Also featured in the live-painting category, an upcoming Brazilian artist who goes by the moniker (or very cool last name of) Claudio Ethos and who is a true master of (surreal) style, especially when it comes to fine details on a very large scale. He will certainly grab your attention and probably so will the Swiss artacks gallery, in case they show up with the most fresh writers of the moment, the Schwarzmaler,15er crew from Bern.
On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor there are countless compartments of different shapes and sizes, hosting 55 (or maybe even more) galleries from all over the planet, (although most are from the German-speaking parts of the planet.) Most of the artwork wasn’t there yet, so the photos are quite inconclusive (and spoilers are never welcome, are they.)
Unfortunately all these rooms (recently deserted offices, some of them still have small kitchens inside) were empty of artists. Mainly because they were all gathered in the Multispace on the 2nd floor, where a conference was being held. The second floor is definitely the most interesting of them all, as it contains both a glasshouse cinema and some 150 square meters of LEGO playground. I learned that the ‘marketplace’ will also be here, as well as a comfy lounge and who knows what else, these people are just full of surprises. Also, word to the aficionados: the LEGO project is interactive, so you can build anything you want, on any scale you want it.
The organizers are expecting around 10.000 people and they will most surely have them, the place is a real-life Wonderland; Stroke.01 gathered 7000 and who knows how many will be swarming through STROKE.03, which will be held in Berlin this October.
All in all, the building looks great and it’s been obviously spruced up for the Messe: (a funny-looking) carpet flooring, the fluorescent tubes built into the ceiling on every floor and an exterior metallic staircase all look like serious investment. This should certainly pay off during the next three days, especially if the sun gets the chance to shine between these sessions of torrential rainfall.
Don’t miss out on the representatives of the Polish new school of painting and illustration, Chazme, Morten Andersen, Christopher Logan, (all three of Intoxicated Demons fame), on this amazing, amazing illustrator whose impeccable work was also featured in the preview exhibition, Sepe, as well as my personal favorite of them all, CONE, represented by the Münchner Firstlines gallery.
Check out the Stroke.02 website and their facebook for more info.
And see you there tonight.
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