podopolog

{ the XLt Kollectiv }

Upcoming XLterrestrial shows w/ 17 Hippies, Speed Caravan + Kobra 36, Dj Shazam…

+ All Together Now (A2N), Die Nächte des Ramadan, Uber LebensKunst, Citizen Kino at Club Der Polnischen Versager, Transient Spaces – Tourist Syndrome, Dub Gabriel, DVA tour + much much more !

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< 1.09 > 20 Years Kulturbrauerei w/ 17 Hippies, Tommy Wosh (MC), RambaZamba Theater + XLterrestrials Kollectiv Vjs…

Note: It’s free after 20:30h ( crazy RambaZamab show in hof ) , but if you want, 20th ceremonies starting at 18:30 ( invites only, but u can try ) … djs + vjs later.

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< 10.09 > Piranha’s Nights Of Ramadan finale w/ Speed Cravan, Kobra 38, Dj Pasha, the XLt Kollectiv, Terakraft ( former members of Tinariwen ) …

< 11.o9 > DJ Shazam’s UrbanKarma night at Tresor w/ XLterrestrials

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< 27.08 > opening 2nite: Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome: Berlin, NGBK

< 27-28.08 > Schlagstrom Festival

< 27.08 > opening : Reclaim Your City at Neurotitan

< 6-11.09 > All Together Now (A2N) – Music industry upgrades camp, congress, forum

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more news coming soon!

{ Schlingensief  (not) in the Volksbuehene }

” i hate theater. “

1960 – 2010 †

The master deconstructionist who would never keep his art within the walls, on a stage, in the cinema, or within reasonable limits…

Long Live The ENFant TERRible von Oberhausen !

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Perhaps it will take some time for the english-speaking press and cultural spheres to fully grasp what Christoph Schlingensief is to the artworld. For the moment there is only a silly AP news wire blurb making the rounds w/ some of the least important facts which reach only as far as to link him to his Bayreuth and Manaus Opera moments, and to call him “controversial… with strong political messages.” Mind you, this is the auteur who was arrested at Documenta (1997) for a project now known as “Kill Helmut Kohl”(plakat). And then intervened in Vienna at the height of the Haider-dämmerung ( think Bushdom w/ slightly more naked xenophobia) with a live TV broadcast of an Austrian-version of Survivor, to vote selected (+ real) immigrants off the island. Staged in the country’s capital, from central square- Karlsplatz – during one of their most prestigious art festivals.

So while the XLterrestrials cannot adequately go into great depth of his life and ouvre which will anyway be better read in Germany’s major newspapers or those who from a far left can specialize in the challenging outer limits… ( links ). …if you can read German…

for those who don’t, these words can only provide a glimpse from just a handful of direct encounters, from his presentation at Berlinale in Hau Eins -2009- [ Xlt plog hier ],  Kaprow City at Volksbuehne – 2007 – [ XLt plog hier ] , and a handful of films.

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{ Hau Eins Berlinale 2009 }

And that is more than enough to feel a deep sadness that Schlingensief’s alien and confrontational genius has been so short-lived. Stolen away from us by a tragic illness (lung cancer), he died at 49.

And we were extremely curious + inspired by his increasing migration from deconstructive to grand-scale constructive Actions, and perhaps it will be Africa who will now miss him most. He had incredible projects underway there. (more).

Today he is being reported with unanimous deep respect as one of Germany’s most important contemporary artists. Something that seems fairly unfathomable in US media culture. It would be like seeing the Yes Men getting their full due in The New York Times just after having had their editorial (warmongering) pants pulled down hard by the pranksters on Times Square… or at The Met.

We’ll try to come back for a greater view, but for now, perhaps he might be introduced (+ begin to be understood) by seeing how much he could provoke even the progressive critics of a cultural magazine like The New Yorker…  and here, try to imagine the elements you don’t get to see from the artist’s own coup d’etat point-of-view. Wagner’s Bayreuth in a still historically knee-deep fascist home turf getting slam dunked through a Lynchian-esque (+ Namibian) freakshow mirror! Exhibit A :  Nausea by Alex Ross.

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And from ZDf ( auf deutsch), a wide-lens overview : Zum Tod Von Christoph Schlingensief

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A quick image gallery:

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And of course his website, blog , and his films at 451 fahrenhiet … AND WE JUST FOUND OUT he staged a piece called ROSEBUD at Volksbuehne in 2001… a looong trail of genius to absorb and investigate!

tbc… as time allows.

{ On the way back from DK, the seagulls dance in the wind currents of the ferry }

Folk & Fæ Symposium

Last week the XLterrestrials participated in a Symposium on a small idyllic island anachronism in the Danish South Sea. Named Folk & Fae, the event was constructed as a convergence of international artists to explore the relationship between animals and humans, while at the same time remixing the classic Platonic scenario in which seven philosophers gathered to consider the nature of Eros.

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{ From Folk & Fae Symposium, this has an eerie “witness to a lynching” effect }

Humanity vs Nature

Just seven months before we were in Denmark to report on the Climate Summit, which one can now conclude leaves its historic + horrible scar upon the future of global politics, populations and entire species. The event was the largest-ever meeting of political leaders to address ecological concerns and revealed quite nakedly that there is no hope of human intelligence arising to meet the necessities of a global crisis in the dim and narrow frame of elected, semi-elected + selected figureheads of various nations, each with their own territories, agendas and power structures.

Coming December nations will meet again, this time in Mexico. But the new scenario may perhaps be that a new force,  platform or agency for collective global intelligence will be required for any form of civilization to survive the imminent challenges that the collision of humanity and nature has in store for us.

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In Retro Paradiso, Micro-Politics + Animal Eros

In a beautiful polar opposite to convention centers, stormtroopers, power ties and G20 puppet fucks, a small circle of friends meet to perform a 3-hour theater + analysis program with all the weight of personal memories, families… wild dreams, hopes and fears regarding our collective future… and the individual desires to reconnect with all our magical planetary relations.

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{ slides from Sara Hamming’s intro to Folk & Fae }

So all this warrants much more of XLt analysis + a praxis route… as we have come to realize that understanding the maligned + brutal relationship to animals might lead us back upon sustainable paths.

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And then one of the XLt dreamed the other night about the micro-political as the macro-solution:

The Seven Samuri Principle (inverted*)

Would it be more strategic to consider:  NOT confronting the malady at its center and its most fortified, but by aligning ourselves into micro-political bodies + entities, and by changing all those locked-in behaviours within a new seductive cellular manifestation ?

An accessible deconstruction of the nuclear family cage, we organize ourselves around the structure of seven colleagues ( with no dogmatic # but a suggested form ) to engage with, as much as possible, and as best suited to the geographic and realtime situations, another existence.

The dream entailed entirely new familial constructs and sexual relations… as if to imagine we were suddenly another species with different co-habitation customs. Afterall the current homogeny of relations serves the colonization well. Time to exit !  And the fenced-in (city) habitats appear to rob us of all the diversity of breathing as creative + communal creatures.

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* 7 Samurai inverted. In an inside-out version of Kurosawa’s ingenius film… we do not seek to invite warriors in to protect the village from the ubiquitous raiding bandits, we send 7 samurai out of the “city walls” to confront the mechanisms which have allowed the loop of parasitical enemies to contain us as such an easy catch. And perhaps it even de-escalates the societal configuration of hunters and prey.

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work-in-progress

tbc…

{ 2 Copenhagen stencil finds, can u find the polysorbate 80 fan ??! }

< 7.8 > Club der P. Versager nite w/ Kruno (Hr) of Gentle Junk, Zeljko (Sf) of Kafana Balkan, Podinski ( X? ) of XLt… Yow! are we having fun Yet ?!!

THis Sat.Nite – East Dance Space Shuttle
at Club der P. V. … mit dj/vj Podinski + special XLterrestrial guest(s)… Could be a once-a-monthly, So PLease come out and say HI and support us cause Mitte nites need some new life, and we might have a schliwowitz welcoming committee, so drop in for a drink … at the very least.

What : eastblok,roma,balkan,dub,d+b,experimental,indigenousresistance,radical world remixers,wild and fluent pianos,euphoric accordions,madly embracing cellos,orchestral blossoms,thrashing beats,and the angelic muses…

+ psychotronic dance experiments + XLt eyebit cut-ups…

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And we’re a wee too tired from our Northside tour to judge the hallucinogenic fx of 2 Copenhagen stencil finds merged into One… whattya think? Guess who lurks in the shadows ? on the b-side ??

tbc…

{ the Baisikeli warehouse, Henrik and Ivan }

Coming soon: The Baisikeli project(s)…

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{ Citizen Kino / pic remix via Leszek Lebrowski via Pigasus Galerie }

< 26.7 > XLterrestrials present a special Citizen Kino* beta test at a secret location in Berlin… monday, July 26. 21:00h.  If you would like to attend, please subscribe to our (infrequent) newsletter by writing to: Pod (at) XLterrestrials (dot) org

Added: Location/ Map HERE ( temporary link )

We’ll be testing out a new psychomedia analysis approach and gathering ideas from participants in order to create a ( von Trier-like ) Digital Dogme – 2010. Not about How to make media, but how we should utilize it, recycle + recontextualize it, and/or defend ourselves against its inherently problematic colonization of realtime.

more on that to come…

Added: Neukölln Mobile Kino write-Up:

*Tonight 9pm: Neukölln Mobile Kino*

> Instead of a regular film, tonight we will present a special night by our friend Dr Podinski of the multimedia team XLterrestrials.

Podinski will play a mash-up of interesting video clips, rare short films, strange images and other fascinating footage, selected from his
multi-terrabyte archive of film files collected over many years.

It is hard to explain, but fascinating to watch, so come along and be part of the experiment.

Also, Mehdi AKA Townes Syndrome will perform a few acoustic songs before the screening.

Don’t forget to bring something to sit on, a sweater for when it gets cooler, some coins to contribute to costs, and an FM radio if you have one. <

What: Multi-media video mash-up by Dr Podinksi, music by Townes Syndrome When: Tonight, Monday July 26, 9pm
Where: Lessinghöhe park, Neukölln. U7 Karl Marx Str.

Dr. Podinski’s write-up Below.

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{ many diagrams + dice rolling by ART01 by Gentle Junk }

< 25-31.7 >  ART01 : Gentle Junk from Croatia and a number of other art networks create a self-reflective artlab as part of TransArt Institute’s MFA exhibition at  Concentart gallery, Kreutzbergstr. 28, Berlin.

< 25.7 > Vernissage : 18:00h

Participants include Stanica M.i.R., Vj Pedro Zaz, XLterrestials, Green Sun, [ + Midia Tactica folks from Brazil, Givan Bela via Net ]  and and … YOU !

A project that examines art operating systems through self-reflection on artistic practices done in last 11 months – from September 2009 to July 2010.

Please join for collaborative public event, spiced with pirate radio, on-line broadcast, social games, linux install party, exchange and swap, loop and feedback.

Exhibition hours: July 26-29,  Wednesday through Friday, 18:00-20:00

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We met Gentle Junk at a MultiMedia Kamp in Labin in 2007? … they did a beautiful LIVE vivesection of an automobile in the old Labin coal mine w/ a live soundtrack by a wonderful noiseband from Italia, (we’ll have to recall the name). They’ve got their hands in all those arts + praxis themes listed above , and always a few xtra tricks up there sleeves.

Added : We all met at the gallery today, and there’s a wicked dice game in the works with an added layer of dr. Podinski’s Over-the-Top artworld analysis, and Pedro Zaz – a MOdul8 adept -  and the XLt’s will be dj/vjing some wild bits.

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:: URGENT :: the XLt FUNDRAISER CONTINUES ! :: We are attempting to organize many shows/projects this summer+ fall, and we desperately need to cover some pretty minor expenses… PLEASE consider helping to keep XLterrestrials on The MOve + Developing Arts+Praxis methods to make another world possible. ::

:: HOW TO SEND FUNDS : Paypal direct is best. Write to pod ((at)) xlterrestrials ((dot)) org for account information or arranging other options. More Info about fundraising + projects :: HERE ::

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INVESTORS WANTED: For a 21st century education and martial arts-like touring cinema program… Rewrite The Culture Code for planetary survival ! XLt’s CiTiZEN KiNo officially hits the streets in September 2010 ! Contact us now!

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{ Man as god definitely plays dice ! }

Dr. Podinski asks: Will the creator of that art piece over there on the wall … will that save us from all those who are playing god ?? Shouldn’t the artists get in the game … and play too ??

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Dr. Podinksi and the XLterrestrials ( aus San Fran + Berlin ) present: CITIZEN KINO

The XLterrestrials experiment w/ interactive cinema which is designed to reboot the part of your head that downloads film + media and make you wonder why you never detected all those brain-colonizing viruses until NOW…

A MUST SEE collection of international shorts and clips to make you wanna act out all your revolutionary impulses in strange or familiar public places !
Rumour has it we’ll show a rare 8mm clip from that famous
Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian guy, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg !

AND We liking working w/ strange themes for each LIVE screening… and TOnight’s Is:

“HOw to GOUGE OUt The Eye of The Cyclops and Other Erotic Tales from The Underground “

AND Did we mention ?? we’re also working on a Lars-Von-Trier-like DIgital Dogme 2010 MANIFESTO for decolonizing the media landscape… and we need your help !

hope you can come!!

dr. Podinski

{ found on the web from Plog knows where }

Topple the word/game order – part 2

Well you may have heard the latest news blip on the Palin Worm. She’s trying to outdo the Great Ex-Communicator-In-Chief, Bushyboy, by inventing words like “refudiate”… and then juxtaposing herself w/ Shakespeare, who might ALSO have coined a few words himself. Very funny, but you have to wonder if there’s a genius scripting this lunatic. She is after all like a remotely operated vehicle…

which is precisely why the XLt would like to add One ourselves to the American language:

( a Sarah) Palindrone , n. 1. a pilotless vehicle that reads the same from left to right as from right to left. Often used for target practice and/or tracking the known unknowns. 2. an opportunistic character self-assassination device, which does not necessarily cancel itself out when deposited in the midst of a mis-(under-)educated public… 3. a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)  for political manipulations !

This reminded us to remind YOU, dear XLT readers that one should be getting prepared for that potentially small evolutionary moment of the 2012 elections…

You might be wondering how to create some campaign/action to go Beyond The Valley Of The Republicrats, a title btw for an XLterrestrial film project that has been in “pondering production” mode since at least 2000.

For sure, the Palin phenomenon is an incredible tactic to herd anyone with any brain cells left into the arms of the Democratic party. Like a good cop/bad cop game you’ll run scared to the nearest comfort zone, and this effectively obscures the fact that any real solution is far outside the ballot boxes, and the pathetic Duopoly (as Ralph Nader called it.)

But lest you think the XLT are Green Party or 3rd party advocates, well that would be about as simplistic and ineffective as buying organic shampoos… as Derrick Jensen once pointed out, that won’t save a single species, nor the planet. It’s a bit more complex than mere elections, but certainly Not beyond the means of an activated population of millions or billions !

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And well nevermind The Palin troll… what a distracting load of crap, and we apologize for dragging you into it… it’s just a starting point for deeper analysis, to inform you it’s time to exit this retarded … + fascist B-movie… trailer…

And meanwhile there’s some happening shit going on locally, and we’ll be posting news about that asap….

{ the Local Community on the Move, Demo Routes }

< 10.7 >  MegaSpree’s Rette Deine Stadt / Save Your City !

Ok, we could say a mouthful about marches from Pt. A to pt. B, but still the efforts to create awareness about Berlin’s ” incredible shrinking autonomous zones” – otherwise known as gentrification – cannot be understated, and ‘@‘-Parades/Demos are usually done with great flair here on the B-sides. And btw, this one’s got several points incorporating at least 5 neighborhoods and a concept to swarm the center.

{ Stay tune, Pics coming }

{ Megaspree 2010 at Alex/Roteshaus fountain }

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News has been coming in from many fronts about a number of important spaces under immediate threat of eviction… Tacheles, Schokoladen (incl. Theater, artist studio(s) + Club der Polnischen Versager ), Cassiopeia/ R.A.W. Temple, and a bit further out related story the MS Stubnitz ship, now in Rostock… etc, etc. We will try to provide a comprehensive view, and what Other actions are on the horizon.

Also today < 10.7 > Brunnenstr. -Haus Project- celebrates 21 years… and next weekend < 16-18.7 > is Schokoladen’s notorious HOffest, 20 Years … dj /vj Podinksi joining the celebration next Sunday nite at Polnischen Versager.

{ Follow the schokiBlog -details on the eviction – and save the living cultures ! }

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Meanwhile XLt takes a trip to the Theater, turned into a realtime movie, which had immense potential for media deconstruction, but all is not well on the creative front…

Is the artworld just too preoccupied with wooing our flailing + shattered attention spans?? which were anyway little more than an appendix-like sponge organ for consuming. Now even the most progressive movements in theater will have succumbed to the tyranny of the eye.

{ Rene Pollesch on a distant Brechtian moon }

This weekend Pollesch presented works in a lunar-like empty Pankow field as part of Volksbuehne’s open air summer program. Our XLt take:  As theater gets more and more to the point, the time for art is nevertheless Very Very Different… While artists play endless conceptual chess games, Rome burns, a Gulf between… And what souls rot at the bottom of our stagnant pools ??! Actions don’t speak louder than words, they topple the word order ! While The Symbolic may just keep their heads above water, but for how long ??!

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Work-in-progress / More to come…

{ Psychotron Gun + Web fodder, XLt remix }

< 3.7 > THis SAturday XLt presents a new version of the ”Don’t Feed the Monsters !” series at the “new” Spuk Kommune, at the historic Rauchhaus in Kberg-Berlin.

Psychotronic Guns + Butter: A LIVE cinematic tour through the seamier sides of mass media manipulations, mind colonization and the escape routes +/or possible happy ending(s). FREE + Voku. at Spuk Kommune, Berlin

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The XLt, an arts + praxis collective from San Francisco +
Berlin + around the block, present “Don’t Feed The Monsters!”

A short synopsis: A media deconstruction + self-defense project
which examines the mediated and colonized landscapes we inhabit in
a high-wired + disorienting 21st century. Via screenings of selected
international short films and feature film excerpts, captured TV +
video + net specimens, we create an educational + public forum, both comic
+ confrontational + erotic, for what we call “a psychomedia analysis session”
in order to get in touch with the social dilemmas generated by an
increasingly telepresent, disembodied + incorporated world. We encourage
a new fleshy community praxis vs. the global download village.

Fresh cinematic bits from Wikileaks, Youtube, international film +
animation festivals and other fragments from the churning Spectacle 2.0 !

SPUK KOMMUNE in Georg von Rauch Haus – Mariannenplatz 1a 10997 Berlin

SATURDAY 3. JULY  -  starting from 20.00 -   free entrance and a FRESH DINNER

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{ On the pre-sale trail of a teratological future }

Slavoj Žižek’s latest stirring article – Unbehagen In der Natur * here in eng * takes it’s cue from Freud’s Unbehagen In der Kultur or Civilization and Its Discontents (in eng.). To decipher it’s meaning + mechanism in the midday summer heat, we sense the challenge of an inverted spelunking trip, attempting to find a jewel in the vast shifting sands and a glittering desert sun. Everything is eye-catching, blinding, or a provocation to think in shadows + negatives + retraced steps. The territory indeed feels evermore threatening, but these words promise anything but a new mirage on the horizon, and at the very least we”ll get a glimpse of how far out we now stand.

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{ a re-spectre of communism at Volksbuehne at 4am }

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We’ll have to let it settle in, but the basic conclusion of restoring a path to Large Collective Decisions was the clear emergency beacon of this weekend’s Idea Of Communism event at Volksbuehne. Surprisingly grounded.

More Xlt analysis coming soon…