Posted by Petra Zlatevska on November 2, 2010
You ain´t nothing but a hound dog if you have never been to 3 Schwestern Restaurant in the kiez where bohos, Turkish immigrants and bobos (bohemian bourgeois) converge and thrive. Kreuzberg´s toxic mix of students, artists and lefties coupled with the dirt cheap rent in either the 19th Century apartments or 1970s pre-fab blocks housing the majority of the gäste arbeiter (temporary workers mostly from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and Portugal) has resulted in an area that is more social symbiosis than suburb.
It is only fitting that 3 Schwestern (three sisters) should be located in the grounds of a former 19th century hospital, the Bethanien, which was a squat in its former incarnation. During the 1970s, local activists took over the site to protest its being sold to private developers and led to massive clashes between the riot squad and the squatters. This raid was immoralised in the song 'Rauch-Haus-Song' by German band Ton Steine Scherben. In the end, the activists won with the promise from the city’s council that the building would be used for social and artistic communal projects, since becoming the Kunstquartier Bethanien. It houses ateliers, art initiatives and the brand new 3 Schwestern restaurant downstairs. The recently renovated upstairs area is a gallery space staging regular exhibitions, with the most recent one playing host to the group exhibition of young Australian artists A Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes (White).More...
3 schwestern, kreuzberg, rauch-haus-song, ton steine scherben, a perfect day to chase tornadoes
Posted by Petra Zlatevska on August 24, 2010
The darling of the Prenzlauerberg coffee scene, Bonanza Coffee Heroes pays the ultimate homage to the humble flat white. Buying a decent cup of coffee is like a game of Russian roulette in this country (and city) but Bonanza owners Kiduk Reus and Yumi Choi are leading a major caffeine coup to overthrow the rule of the drip coffee filter. More espresso bar than café, Bonanza offers only seven styles of coffee (ranging in price from €1.70 for an espresso to €3.30 for a doppio), with the flat white taking pride of place. There are also freshly baked goodies such as New York cheesecake or Oma’s berry cake. So seriously do the owners take their coffee that adorning the wall is a manifesto of sorts explaining the process from bean to cup. According to Choi, “coffee is like wine”. The coffee beans – sourced from Ethiopia, Sumatra and Brazil- take centre stage.
As though in a twenty-first-century apothecary’s lab, almost all of the Bonanza floorspace is occupied by the roasting and grinding machines, large vats of beans and a bean roasting quality chart. Produced with a Synesso Cyncra - the Rolls Royce of coffee machines - the coffee here is excellent, perhaps not surprisingly given there are only three of these machines on the continent. The interior design is minimalist chic with unpainted walls, vintage furniture pieces and light bulbs dangling from their cables. In its prime position on the creative pilgrim’s route from Mauerpark to Kastanienallee, Bonanza Coffee Heroes will delight Aussies in dire need of a flat white fix and will ensure that devotees from all over the world are never far from a quality cuppa.
Bonanza Coffee Heroes
Oderberger Straße 35
10435 Berlin Germany
Mon – Fri 8:30am – 7pm and Sat & Sun 10am – 7pm
Transport: Train U2 Eberswalder Straße; Tram M1 Eberswalder Straße or M10
Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark
preziauerberg, bonanza coffee heroes, kiduk reus, yumi choi, synesso cyncra
Posted by Petra Zlatevska on August 17, 2010
A Nevada boy at heart, photographer Just Loomis´career has taken him to New York, via Milan. In between photographing shoots for Harpers Bazaar and snapping various music icons, including Madonna in the early 80s, he met the man who would take him on as an assistant and, in the process, became a life-long friend: Helmut Newton. Spanning more than thirty years, Just´s body of work- ethereal portraits of characters that embody the hopes and broken dreams of the American way of life - are now published for the first time in As We Are by Hatje Cantz. In an Australian exclusive, we talked to Just about what inspires him and his work as he shares some of his personal archive with us. Check out the gallery Just hand-picked exclusively for Kluster.
Covered: Working with Helmet Newton, understanding American history and observations of Australia.
Petra Zlatevska: As We Are documents more than just 30 years of your career accomplishments – a career producing images that reflect the Zeitgeist of American society. June Newton was quoted as saying, “No one is doing Americana like Just”. Do you consider yourself a photographer naturally drawn to capturing American subjects and themes or an American photographer simply photographing images and people?
Just Loomis: That´s a great question, I think the latter. I lived in Europe for four years (during the 80s). Since moving back to the US from Europe, I came back and took a lot of photographs of where I live. So obviously those are American photographs. However, I don’t consciously set out to do an ‘American photograph’ - I don’t do that. I am simply drawn to things that I see and that I connect with. I recently took a to Paris and other parts of Europe and I realized that despite the years I lived in Europe and this recent trip, I don’t know a lot about living there or about European culture; it is a culture that truly isn’t mine. I have a greater understanding of American history, American people and children, how children grow up and the things that they go through. I feel I understand this better than what European adults or children experience. We have a different set of issues we deal with here in America and I am very in tune with that.More...
just loomis, helmet newton, as we are