Every year since the beginning of time (1998), the two Berlin districts Friedrichshain (fhain) and Kreuzberg (xberg) fight an anarchic battle right in the middle of Berlin’s Oberbaum Bridge, for the title, King of the Bridge.
The Bridge, considered as one of Berlin’s landmarks, links the two districts above the Spree and separated East and West during the GDR times.
To win, you need to push you opponent back to its district and in 2013, Friedrichshain clearly dominated the fight.
Another abstract sculpture can be seen beside the Universal Music Headquarters in Berlin, a chaotic arrangement of crowd control barriers (which were highly charged symbolically in the turbulent inner-political atmosphere of the former West Berlin) with a shopping cart on the top.
The sculpture, named 13.4.1981, was designed by Olaf Metzel in 1987 as part of Berlin’s 750th anniversary celebration called “Sculpture Boulevard” and was first erected at the crossing Kurfürstendamm / Joachimstaler Platz, six years after a violent demonstration took place at precisely the same crossing.
The Christian Democrat mayor at the time, Eberhard Diepgen, declared the work to be “a pile of junk” and called for an immediate removal. Then, after 14 years, the sculpture was erected again, but this time beside the Universal Music Headquarters, with a wonderful look on the Spree.
Every year, the Oberbaum Bridge, which connects Berlin’s districts Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg over the Spree, becomes a meeting place for artists and those interested in art. Yesterday, over 100 national and international artists exhibited their works, ranging from established painters, sculptors and photographers to the less well known.
It’s winter and ice skating is pretty common at this season, so I took my skates and went to the Jannowitzbrücke in Berlin-Mitte. One of the national broadcasters, the rbb, created there a wonderful ice rink… on a ship, swimming on the spree.
A Hotel designed for musicians located directly on the banks of the river Spree right beside Universal Music and the MTV Headquarters. The nhow Hotel Berlin is really a special kind of architecture.
nhow stands for a new generation of hotels: offbeat, lively, dynamic and with a local flair that simultaneously has worldwide appeal. nhow centers on music and design and is the only hotel in Europe offering two professional music studios.
The Phoenix, a Mural in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, Wintersteinstraße 20, near the Spreekanal, painted by the Artist Gert Neuhaus, was created back in 1989.
Since April 2004, the MTV-Germany headquarters are located at Berlin’s Osthafen (East Port) (which lies along the Spree in Friedrichshain.), right beside Universal Music and Hugo Boss. The main building was put under a monument protection a couple of years ago, but MTV has found a way to “pimp up” the boring-looking terrain.
Swimming in the Spree is refreshing but also dangerous, so if you don’t want to miss out on that experience, you must be inventive.
The Summer has finally arrived in Berlin with temperatures around 32°C and people enjoying the sun on a relaxing boat trip on Berlin’s famous river, the Spree.
For the 8th time, Sandsation is back in Berlin with over 20 sand artists (called carvers) from all over the world (You may remember last year’s event). This year I had the chance to see the artists live in action.
But, what kind of sand do they use?
Well, the sand has been compressed into a material much like a soft sand stone, it also has a little “silt” content, so it wouldn’t work with normal beach sand.