Berlin Wall Documentation Centre

The EastSeven Berlin Hostel listed up some cool and interesting activities in Berlin!

We want to keep our guests informed about what is cool and cheap to see and do in Berlin. Some of our favorite low cost activities & events in Berlin are listed down below. In case you want to have more tips and recommendations just book a hostel in Berlin @ EastSeven and ask our knowledgeable staff.

1. Berlin Wall documentation center
this documentation center, completely free of charge, is located at the Bernauer Strasse.
It is really closeby our hostel, it is approximately a 10 minute walk. You can ask us at the reception for directions.
At this documentation center they have  a Tower you can climb up, you should have a look, because  from above you have a clearer view over the Berlin wall (small piece maintained) and the death stripe.
Learn more about Berlins History by paying a visit to this informative museum.

2. Kulturbrauerei
This huge complex of night-time hangouts originally housed Berlins Schultheiss brewery for more than 150 years. By night the Culture Brewery turns into a popular meeting point for determined drinkers, eager to explore the buildings wealth of bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants, or just hang out in the huge courtyard.
3. Dr. pong
the table tennis bar in Berlin. don´t think it is a sports bar  because it ain´t. A lot of youngsters meet here to get together! There is nothing more fun than playing table tennis with over 20 people at once! Beside that there are dj´s playing great electronic music! It is a great hangout!
4.  You enjoy drinking a glass of fine wine? Go to the Weinerei!
great cozy place, it´s mainly students you will find here. getting together to drink really
great wine and philosophize in a relaxed living room-feel atmosphere.
The concept of the Weinerei is quite unique. You ´buy´ a glass, for one euro, and then you
can fill and refill it as often as you like. Also there are little snacks the accompany the
wine. when you leave you can pay whatever you think it was worth.
Don´t go here too late, when the wine is out, it’s over and out!!
Location: Fehrbelliner Straße 57
5. White Trash Fast Food
This is  a famous and legendary rock club. The name already implies it; they also have a fast food restaurant.
Serving the most delicious burgers & fries I have ever had. I can recommend their vegetarian burgers too!
What else to expect at the White Trash, great live music & a great Rock´N´Roll atmosphere!!

6. Organic Market @ Kollwitzplatz
This is how you can spend your Saturday like all the locals living in Prenzlauer Berg. Strawling over the market, buying some things to eat, drinking some coffee or even champagne. At this market, everything is possible! You can even buy clothes and jewelry here, also there are often musicians standing at the ends of the market, playing their songs!! Always a great atmosphere here!!
7.Mauerpark Fleamarket
if you are staying over the weekend you absolutely can´t miss out on the Mauerpark
fleamarket. Held every Sunday from 7 till 16 it is the place where hip & young Berlin and
Berlin-visitors get together. Not only looking for bargains, also it is a social happening where
friends meet over a bratwurst, or watching one of the many spontaneous concerts from
musicians coming from all over the globe.

8.THE BERLIN-HOHENSCHöNHAUSEN STASI MEMORIAL OLD STASI PRISON
The site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (MfS), or ‘Stasi’, has been a Memorial since 1994. Since the vast majority of the buildings, equipment and furniture and fittings have survived intact, the Memorial provides a very authentic picture of prison conditions in the GDR and gives another view of the divided Berlin.
Tours of the prison are usually led by former inmates, who provide first-hand details on prison conditions and the interrogation methods employed by the GDR’s Ministry of State Security (MfS).
It is only possible to view the extensive prison complex on a official guided tour as Visitors require detailed guidance in order to understand the various sections of the prison.
Public tours every Saturday and Sunday, every hour from 10am to 4pm in various languages, but better call ahead to ask at what time it is in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish or Norwegian…
Phone Visitor’s Service: Phone: +49 – (0)30 – 98 60 82-30
Admission:
Regular fee 5,00 Euro, concessions*) 2,50 Euro, Students 1,00 Euro
*) university students, senior citizens, handicapped persons, Berlincard-holder
How to get there:
Take the Metro U2 from the Hostel and go 2 Stops to Alexanderplatz. From here you take the Tram M5 to the stop “Freienwalder Strasse”. The Memorial is then about a 10 minute walk down Freienwalder Strasse in Genslerstraße 66.

9.  SACHSENHAUSEN MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

When visiting Berlin, you should visit some historical sites aswell. for instance the sachsenhausen concentration camp. It’ s not going to be a fun trip, but you will learn so much more about the terrible second world war and its victims.
Opening Hours
15 March until 14 October: daily 8:30 – 18.00
15 October until 14 March: daily 8:30 – 16:30
Entry is for free.

10. Viktoriapark Kreuzberg
Viktoriapark is one of Berlin’s oldest and prettiest parks and offers a great view from the top of Kreuzberg. Have a delicious and cheap vegetarian lunch at Seerose (Mehringdamm 47) and then have a coffee or some ice cream at one of the plenty cafes in Bergmannstraße. Kreuzberg/Viktoriapark @ U-Mehringdamm.

Have fun exploring Berlin without spending too much money!! Hope to welcome you soon!!!

ITB Berlin

Staying in Berlin during this time? Then pay a visit to the ITB Travel Trade Show.
At the ITB you will find information on everything that has to do with traveling. You name it they have got it. From information on  accommodation in Berlin or elsewhere to tour operators, from popular destinations to new booking-systems.
The promoters at the ITB will show you how travelers can make the most out of their vacation. It offers visitors to tour the world in only a couple of hours. If you don´t have any holiday plans yet, visit the trade show and plan your perfect holiday here and now.
Why pay a visit to the ITB? There are hundreds of reasons for visiting this world leading travel show, really! For instance it provides unique opportunities to benefit from the outstanding leading think tank of global tourism and of course it can provide you with business ideas or individual holiday plans!
The ITB is the place to be for trade-visitors. It offers a terrific opportunity for business people to meet business partners and to do business as well. This is the time and the place to learn about new trends, explore new concepts and cooperation possibilities. See how other business partners present their businesses, and get inspired!
But beside this, the ITB gives the visitor an unique chance to explore and discover the world within a couple of hours. How good is that! It will help you prepare your holiday in a perfect way!
The ITB has more than 170000 visitors, including 108000 trade visitors and over 10000 exhibitors from 180 different countries! Exhibitor sales of about 6 billion Euros and an exhibitor satisfaction rate of 92 percent are evidence enough that supply and demand meet at the right place. ITB is the leading B2B Platform of all tourism industry offers.
At the ITB there is a separated hall reserved solely for the following subcategories of traveling:  Youth travel, Ecotourism, Adventure travel, economy accommodation and travel for disabled people.

Now you can imagine how big this trade show is! There is so much to see and learn. Luckily the exhibition area is clearly structured, divided into geographical aspects and market segments. The Messe Berlin is a well experienced exhibition ground, and therefore everything is organized in a professional way. But if you want to prepare yourself before going, maybe you want to check out a map of the exhibition ground, and also find more detailed information on the ITB 2012 just have a look at their website: KLICK HERE.
Other things you will find at the ITB are for instance: Training and Employment in Tourism, wellness, Travel technology, culture tourism and wellness.

Opening hours for Trade Visitors daily from 10am till 6pm. A one day pass costs 36€, but if oyu buy the day pass online in advance you will save a little money, it presell it costs 30€.
We wish you a lot of fun at the ITB! If you need help with how to get there just come ask us at the EastSeven Berlin Hostel reception!!

cleanest hostel January 2012

EastSeven- a very clean Hostel in Berlin

This is our first Hostelbookers Award of 2012, and we are very proud of it!

We would like to say thank you to all the friendly guest who found us through Hostelbookers and who took the time to give us a rating on the Hostelbookers website.  We are happy that you enjoyed it here, and that you appreciated the effort we take into keeping our hostel spick and spam clean.

Last but not least we want to warmly thank our cleaning staff, for keeping up the good work and keeping the hostel sooooo verryyyy clean !!! Thanks guys & girls!

Here is a top 10 of great events and parties for this weekend!

Events in Berlin

1. Finest Friday at Berghain/Panorama Bar

Party starts at midnight, open end! Where? At Berlins coolest CLUB:  Berghain

You ll find Berghain at the following address. 70 Am Wriezener Bahnhof; Friedrichshain; 10243 Berlin
For tonight´s party the damage is  8 Euro.

Here we will present to you the line up:
Panormabar – Finest Friday
Floating Points (Eglo), Red D & San Soda (We play house), Steven Tang (Emphasis), Prosumer (Ostgut Ton)

2. Saturday the 25th of February, party time at PANKE CLUB
HOT SOURCE @ Panke together with Fil video installation
with Sneaky, Benski, Tres & Rokin

Come join us for our joyful reunion throwdown.

Full Source Force in effect!

Cheeky Berlin residents Sneaky and Benski are joined by Hot Source OG members Tres and Rokin who are flying in from Barcelona and Cologne. Both will be armed with their tastiest selections du jour! and all 4 primed for deep dancefloor devastation!

So…..what’s on the menu for the evening?…….Simply, no holds barred, life affirming music for your mind and body. Nu-Skool to Old-Skool.

“Hot Source joins the preverbial dots with impeccable style”
Marge Simpson

AND……….. you can even wig out to the sounds (ninja style) in the backroom with Glow in the dark table tennis!

Doors open: 23.30
Location: Panke, Gerichtstraße 23, Wedding, 13347 Berlin

(Text: Panke Club)
3. Saturday the 25th of February: RECYCLE – Berlin’s finest Drum’n'Bass: HOSPITAL

@ Gretchen Club

The party starts at 23.30, you find Gretchen Club here: Obentrautstr. 19-21, Kreuzberg

BOX1
Netsky (Hospital/BE), Logistics (Hospital/UK), Nu:Tone (Hospital/UK), N’Dee (Recycle/D), MC Mace (Recycle/D)
White MC (Recycle/D)
BOX2
“Sunny Side Up” with André Langenfeld (D)

4. Exhibition @ C/O Berlin–> Ron Galella . Paparazzo Extraordinaire

Last call, exhibition is till 26 February 2012

“If someone says ‘no photos!’ then I try not to take any more. However, before he says that I take as many as I can. That’s the game”. Ron Galella

A paparazzo hunt is cunning, harsh and frequently ends painfully. In the worst case bloodily—including broken jaws and lost teeth. For Ron Galella and his undercover activities, no effort or risk was too great. He proceeded like a detective in order to catch the celebrities in the right moment, patient, persistent, shifty. Whether it was Jacqueline Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Andy Warhol, Sean Penn, Robert Redford, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Mick Jagger or Audrey Hepburn—he managed to get them all in front of his lens. His pictures are snapshots rather than portraits. Spontaneous, not staged, and as a result extremely authentic.

On the occasion of the Berlinale, C/O Berlin will show approximately 140 black/white photographs by Ron Galella.

(text: C/O Berlin)

5. Exhibition @ KW Institute for Contemporary Art

“YOU KILLED ME FIRST The Cinema of Transgression  19.02. – 09.04.2012″
Auguststraße 69
D-10117 Berlin

Karen Finley, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Richard Kern, Lung Leg, Lydia Lunch, Kembra Pfahler, Casandra Stark, Tommy Turner, David Wojnarowicz, Nick Zedd

There will be blood, shame, pain and ecstasy, the likes of which no one has yet imagined.
Nick Zedd

Nightmarish scenarios of violence, dramatic states of mind, and perverse sexual abysses – the films of the Cinema of Transgression that were consciously aimed at shock, provocation, and confrontation, bear witness to an extraordinary radicality. In the 1980s a group of filmmakers from the Lower East Side in New York went on a collision course with the conventions of American society. Transcending all moral or aesthetic boundaries, the low budget films reveal social hardship met with sociopolitical indifference. Sometimes shot with stolen camera equipment, the films contain strident analyses of life in the Lower East Side defined by criminality, brutality, drugs, AIDS, sex, and excess.

Even though the movement has remained largely unknown, the Cinema of Transgression has been a significant influence for later generations of artists.

YOU KILLED ME FIRST at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin is the first exhibition on the Cinema of Transgression.

Entry only over 18 years

(Text: KW Institute of Contemporary Art)

6. Go out for Dinner, there is a fantastic Vegan Food Restaurant closeby our cozy Hostel in Berlin

It is called KOPPS and is located at the Linienstrasse 94, 10115 Berlin
They serve typical German dishes, but everything is vegan!

7.Berlin Wall documentation center

The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central memorial site of German division, located in the middle of the capital. Situated at the historic site on Bernauer Strasse, it will eventually extend along 1.4 kilometers of the former border strip. The memorial contains the last piece of Berlin Wall with the preserved grounds behind it and is thus able to convey an impression of how the border fortifications developed until the end of the 1980s. The events that took place here together with the preserved historical remnants and traces of border obstacles on display help to make the history of Germany’s division comprehensible to visitors.

(Text: http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/)

8. Dance the night away at the Bassy Club

There is Live music and afterwards there are dj´s! Expect great oldies rock´n´roll ,

wild music from before 1969!

Great thing, this club is just around the corner, at Schönhasuer allee 176A.

9.  Go eat breakfast at Cafe Entweder Oder

it is located within walking distance from EastSeven, at th Oderberger Strasse. The serve great breakfast, lunch and dinner too.

10.  Clueless of what to do during the day? Go on a walking tour!!

The Brewer´s Walking tour arranges pick ups from our hostel twice a day, EVERY day.

So just ask us at the reception and we will give you additional information.

Hoscar 2011

We, your hostel in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg,  were voted  number 6 in the category of best medium sized hostel in 2011.

Hereby we want to say thank you to Hostelworld for sending us so many cool and friendly guests from all over the world!!

Also of course we want to say thank you to all the guests that were staying here and voted for us through Hostelworld!! Thanks  a lot!!

Last but not least, thanks to the EastSeven Berlin Hostel Staff for always giving their best, service with a smile!!
We will keep on giving the best we can, to stay a top hostel.

We hope to see you all again, someday!!

Berlin

Here is our personal Top 5 of things to do in Berlin at the Weekend!

1. Berlinale Festival!

This year it is already the 62nd edition of the Berlinale international Filmfestival. The Festival starts on Wednesday the 9th of February and will go for 10 days.
In these 10 days their will be 395 new films broadcasted, all of this films are world premiers!! And of course a lot of filmstars will visit the German capitol!!

To view the festival programm klick here
For more detailed information klick here.

2.Klubnacht – Blueprinted Berlin at Berghain/Panorama Bar  //Saturday the 11th of February//

The most legendary club in Berlin. Go here for a good night of clubbing!!

Line-up /
Berghain – Blueprinted Berlin
23:59 h – 05:00 h DVS1
05:00 h – 06:00 h O/V/R (live)(Ruskin & Regis)
06:00 h – 09:00 h James Ruskin
09:00 h – 12:00 h Sigha
12:00 h – End Marcel Dettmann

Panorama Bar
23:59 h – 04:00 h Clé
04:00 h – 05:00 h Blondes LIVE
05:00 h – 09:00 h Bok Bok vs Jam City
09:00 h – 12:00 h Thomas Schumacher

Sonntags
12:00 h – 15:00 h Mano Le Tough
15:00 h – 18:30 h Ed Davenport
18:30 h – 22:00 h Oliver Deutschmann
22:00 h – 01:00 h Magda
01:00 h – End Nick Höppner

3. Berlin Underworlds!!! Descend with us …

Tour 1 Galerie

Experience the history of Berlin from an unconventional perspective! Since 1997, the Berlin Underworlds Association has been offering regular tours into some of the most important underground structures in the city. Although the majority of our tours are in or near the Gesundbrunnen station in the north of Berlin, we also offer tours in several other subterranean complexes that are otherwise not publicly accessible.

http://berliner-unterwelten.de

4. Live Music at Bassy Cowboy Club
On Saturday the 17th of February The Mokkers + The Purcells (Garage, Rock’n'Roll, Rockabilly, Postpunk)
DJ (club): Johnny No (50s & 60s mashed potatoes, rockin’ soul, garage-beat, rock’n'roll, rockin’ blues)
DJ (lounge): Mohair Sam (wild rock’n'roll, pounding blues, obscure garage, southern soul, new orleans r’n'b)

The Mokkers sind eine All-Girl-Band aus Berlin. Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahre 2007 spielen sie sich beeinflusst vom Sound der 60er Jahre von der Garage hinauf in die Herzen dieser Stadt. Doch nicht nur Garage, sondern auch andere Genres wie Rockabilly, Blues und Postpunk inspirieren die vier Mädchen. Handgemacht, tanzbar, charmant.

The Purcells:
Going into pop 60’s, psychedelic direction lead by inspired melodies, The Purcells deliver powerful rock’n’roll on any of their appearance and laid down on the vinyl, 9 of their gems, as a Mini-Album dealing with love issues, smell of females, generation gaps, wet dreams, romanticism, hard times, guess games and wonder cats kingdom.

5. Visit the Neue Nationalgalerie
Following Exhibition is on from now till- Late 1. Quarter 2013
Divided Heaven.
1945 – 1968. The Collection. Neue Nationalgalerie

After ‘Modern Times. The Collection 1900-1945′, the second instalment in the showing of the National Gallery’s collection of 20th-century art will go on display in November 2011.

Germany’s ‘economic miracle’ and the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Crisis and Vietnam War, Sputnik and Apollo, Kennedy and Mao-stark contrasts, entrenched positions and clear fronts mark the eventful years between 1945 and 1968. Fine art from this period was significantly influenced by the atmosphere of the ‘Cold War’ and the political ideologies connected with it. In art, two major paths essentially separated East and West, the figurative and abstraction. The West held aloft the open structure of abstract or ‘informal’ art as a symbol of freedom. And it was certainly no coincidence that the pop art that followed it arose in the major capitals of the West, where the phenomena of mass production and a rising tide of consumer culture were everywhere to be seen. In the Eastern Block, by contrast, socialist realism became the prevailing trend and a defining basis for all developments in the art that came after it. In all of this, the individual became the point by which all things were measured, artists made the ‘human condition’ the core focus of their work.

Under the title ‘Divided Heaven’ (echoing the novel by Christa Wolf), the New National Gallery introduces us to the key figures from this epoch. In its focus, however, the exhibition deliberately looks beyond barriers, geopolitical and artistic, and concentrates instead on universal artistic ideas, held by both camps at once. At the heart of ‘Divided Heaven’ stand the international disparities: the juxtaposition of styles and art forms, the contemporaneity of the non-contemporaneous.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe..

 
Enjoy your visit to Berlin! Love from the youth hostel in Berlin, EastSeven!!!

Party in Berlin

Here are some  party-suggestions from your favorite place to stay in Berlin, EastSeven Hostel.

Parties on Friday night:

1 White Trash Fast Food

THANK FUCK, IT’s FRIDAY live: MIKE PENNY AND HIS MOONSHINERS ( Country – DE)

Mike Penny and his Moonshiners

Mike Penny & his Moonshiners haben sich voll und ganz dem authentischen
Western Swing & Hillbilly aus den 30er – 50er Jahren verschrieben. Hier ist
alles original: Instrumente, Outfit, Sound und Musik. Mittlerweile sind die
Jungs auch auf großen Festivals wie dem Rockabilly Rave in England oder der
Summer Jamboree in Italien zu sehen. Die erste CD ist 2010 bei Rhythm Bomb
Records erschienen, trägt den Titel: “Don’t start breathin down my neck” und
enthält neben 15 charmanten und swingenden Tracks ein Rezept für
selbstgebrannten “Moonshine”. Howdy & Yeehaw!!

2. Bassy Cowboy Club

Les Decadents (60s Garage/R&B)
DJ (club): Lobotomy (rock & roll, jive, country, rockabilly, 60s garage, exotica, soul, swing)
DJ (bar): Berlin Nocturne (rockabilly, surf, exotica, latin, western swing&pop, 60s r’n'r & soul, teenbeat)

For our debut in 2012 we are taking the stage and raising the roof again at the world famous Bassy Club, the supernova of 60s beats in the centre of the universe. And don’t forget: the world will end in 2012. If you missed Les Decadents, it will torment you for ever while you roast in hell. So don’t be a stick-in-the-mud couch potato, get out your horns and trident, bring your fire and brimstone and come and get roasted at the hottest party before Armageddon.

3. Kaffee Burger

Can You Dig It
DJs Sabrina Golian, Soulkombinat & Mark Hype, mpm records/soulclap! (Soul, Funk, Latin, Disco, Funky Breaks)
Eintritt 5 Euro

4. Berghain Transmediale Party

Berghain CTM.12 | Ben Frost & Mika Vainio | ≠ not equal
CTM.12 | Opium Hum not equal / dj set | Ben Frost LIVE +Shahzad Ismaily & Borgar Magnason | Mika Vainio LIVE | Opium Hum | Morphosis + 785 LIVE | Roly Porter LIVE subtext | G.H. LIVE modern love | Ancient Methods dj set

Parties on Saturday night:
1. Clubnight at Berghain
Berlin’s premier techno club, housed in a former power generation plant near the Berlin Ostbahnhof train station. The building is enormous — the dancefloor 18 metres high and there’s room for around 1500. The main design elements are steel and concrete. The first room at the entrance near the cloakroom displays a 20-30 square meter black & white painting of the artist Piotr Nathan. On the upper floor, the Panorama Bar contains a large-format painting by Wolfgang Tillmans.
Fridays is usually upstairs Panorama Bar only.
Saturday night through Sunday both rooms are open.

2.Voyage Voyage at Salon Zur Wilden Renate
    Salon Zur Wilden Renate/ Alt Stralau 70; Friedrichshain; 10245 Berlin
Cost /     10 €
Line-up /
I:Cube
PBR streetgang
Marcus Worgull
Maxxi Soundsystem
Break 3000
Køster
Dirk Rumpff
Elliver Twist
22Rockets
The Swift

3. Robot Army at Mikz Revalerstr. 99 Tor 4 10245
Line-up /
Robot Army Floor:
H3ADROOM Live
RO
KRIEK
MACK

Crazy Language Floor:
Crazy Language vs. BrainstormLab
DATACRASHROBOT vs. BRAINSTORMLAB Live
RALP Live
XZICD Live
JFRANK Live
HURON Live
AXIOM
Promoter /
Robot Army, Crazy Language

Parties on Sunday night!

1.Ctm.12 Random Noize Musick Matinee: Cristian Vogel, Oval, Thomas Fehlmann at HBC
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Time /     15:00
Venue /     HBC/ Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 9; Mitte; 10178 Berlin
Cost /     12€

Line-up /
Cristian Vogel
Oval
Marc Weiser (from Rechenzentrum)
Shrubbn!!
Transforma (av concert)
Thomas Fehlmann (DJ-set)

2. Kaffee Burger

Black Man’s Cry – All Disco Faves of Sammy, Chris B. or Cruz
Eintritt 1 Euro

Party starts at 11pm

Enjoy your party weekend in Berlin!!!

© Vibek Raj Maurya

 Transmediale 2012 in Berlin, from 31/1 till 5/2. When everything fails;

Incompatibility is the condition arising when things are not working together. Given the current worldwide proclamations of crisis, be they political, financial, technological or environmental, it may seem as if incompatible elements and situations are everywhere, that everything is failing. Ironically, it is the supposedly ever-more compatible media-scape, where everything connects, that render such crises instantly visible. This raises the question if connective media and all-present data collection are even complicit in the production of crisis itself? Where do incompatibilities arise and how are they integrated in a world-order built on the paradox that it is predicated on convergence, but is in fact also constantly leading to divergence?

These are among the difficult questions we aim to tackle at transmediale 2012. With the theme in/compatible, the festival probes the productive and destructive sides of incompatibility as a fundamental condition of cultural production. To be in/compatible means to refuse a quick return to business as usual. It means to instead dare an investment in the unusual: aesthetic, ambiguous and nervous expressions of politics and technology that are contingent with the dark sides of network culture.

The too old and the too new are two sides of the same coin: nothing ever works perfectly.

Since years we have heard about the coming “promised land” of convergent technology, culture and economy as proclaimed by new media entrepreneurs, neo-liberal economists and development experts. Instead of a smooth operation, it is increasingly clear that processes of convergence bring about new tensions in everyday life,economy, politics and technology. Tensions and states of crisis are not contradictory to convergence which is instead a process that should be understood as dependent on the production of the incompatible.

“The media age proceeds in jerks, just like Turing’s paper strip,” Friedrich Kittler wrote, and in this he could just as well have been talking about technological development in general where the production of incompatibilities is central to having any development at all.

The simultaneous monumental failure and global ubiquity of technology seems to move us beyond the polarity of utopia and dystopia. Instead we are entering the blurred environments of the unadapted, monstrous and “uncorporated”. The increasingly unclear tension-states between open and closed, freedom and control, idealistic and commercial are giving rise to a new kind of “techno-cultural uneasy”. The in/compatible in this context is a singular moment of transversal reflection. Artists, hackers and tinkerers engage the imperfect nature of technology. They give it a cultural shape, developing a modular reflexivity that responds to the ever-changing social and economical terrains of the networked world.

transmediale 2012 is an in/compatible being, moving not necessarily forward.

More than a failed operation, incompatibilities lie at the heart of the governance of the inherent differences in network culture. This means that the incompatible is not the outside of networks but it is an internal and constant state of disruption which is necessary in order to enable the “open” state of a never completed system. Capitalism evolves according to the principle of “creative destruction”, as Joseph Schumpeter once formulated it. Allowing for incompatibility is central to the capitalist logic of always being “open to business”, the constant integration of new areas of production. But this does not necessarily mean that incompatibility always leads to co-optation. The in/compatible moment produces a gap in capitalist production, a temporary moment of stasis which may be used to reflect on where we are going, if anywhere at all, and on what conditions.

As an in/compatible being, transmediale 2012 highlights projects and cultural phenomena that saviour this stop in the incessant flow of things and posits it as a moment of tension that allows for a redefinition of our initial terms of engagement. The in/compatible being is one that moves with the particular rhythms of this tension, but not necessarily forward. Contrary to the fear of the incompatible, so prevalent in the age of cloud-computing, the festival raises the question of what happens when incompatibility is brought to the fore rather than hidden away in the dark underbelly of digital culture?

image: Photos of e-waste found on Flickr (2009) by Vibek Raj Maurya
© Vibek Raj Maurya

Text: Transmediale.de
Klick here to view the Programm

If you are planning on visiting the Transmediale and still looking for accommodation in Berlin, don´t look any further! We are a nice and clean hostel in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg and we offer a 10% discount for Transmediale Visitors.  In order to get the discount all you need to do is make a booking through our website and at check in mention the code word TRANSMEDIALE!  We are looking forward to welcome you!!

Käsespätzle

Ann´s blog on veggie food in Berlin. 

I will share some of my favorite places to eat  with you!

As I am a vegetarian, I am always keen on trying new (vegetarian) restaurants. Most of the regular restaurants serve vegetarian food too, so now worries, if you are a vegetarian you definitely won´t starve here !

As Berlin is a big city I will now only focus on eateries that are located close to the   hostel in Prenzlauer Berg .

Located in one of the hippest streets in the district Prenzlauer Berg, Kastanienallee (or among locals often called: Casting allee), there is a small authentic Libanese Restaurant serving the best Falafal in town! The place is called Babel!
Also worth while is trying their Haloumi cheese sandwich, yummie. As in most arabic restaurants they serve tea for free. In summer there is a nice terrace outisde on the sidewalk. From here you have a great view over the Casting allee and all the beautiful hippsters walking down this road!!

Okay, sometimes as a vegetarian you have the urge for fast food, for a hamburger for instance. But the problem is most of the vegetarian hamburgers taste crappy.
I was so suprised as I finally found a great and really tasty vegetarian burger. If you want to try it you should go to the white trash fast food restaurant!!

Since you are ofcourse also interested in trying German food, at first you might think it´s nothing for you since there is a lot of meat involved.
But there is one dish that I really love and it is 100% meatless: it is KÄSESPÄTZLE. It is a kind of pasta like dish, with melted cheese and rosted onions, eat a salat with it and it´s a perfect meal. Try it at one of the nicest traditional german restaurants, Schwarzwaldstube!

Enjoy eating in Berlin!!

Stasi Prison (c) Sulamith Sallmann

Pay a visit to the former Stasi Prison in Berlin Hohenschönhausen, and learn more about the GDR times.

The Stasi Prison Memorial is always worthwhile a visit. You need to keep in mind that you can only visit on a tour. You will be guided through the prison building and outside areas. You will hear stories, sometimes from firsthand, because some of the guides have stayed at the prison themselves.

It is an unique opportunity for you to learn more about the Berlin History while being at a uniquely remained historical sight. A lot of the old furniture is still there, so it offers a really good view of how it was, and what it looked like.

When you get in a sort of creepy feeling comes over you, history gets more lively when you not only read about it but when you really visit the places where it all happened. I got  a really shivery feeling at some of the stories that had been told during the tour.

Thousands of political prisoners passed through this jail, almost all prominent figures who where opponents of the GDR – regime where held prison at Hohenschönhausen.

The location of the Stasi Prison, was in a strictly hermeneutic sealed area, in a military district. Before the prisoners where transported to the prison they where blindfolded an put into a van. Driving and driving for hours and hours in circles, just in means to disorientate the prisoner. As they finally arrived at Hohenschönhausen they had absolutely no clue that they where still in Berlin. To disorientate the prisoners was one of the many methods  the stasi used to get information from the inhabitants of the stasi prison!

This area never appeared on any map and was kept very secretly.

Follow this link for a map of the historical location.

For opening hours: you can check their website for further details and to get information on the various exhibitions that are being held.

Besides the tours through the building they also have an exhibition space, for permanent and temporary exhibitions. All exhibitions encourage and stimulate critical reflection on the forms and consequences of political persecution and suppression under the communist dictatorship.
Opening hours for the exhibitions, daily from 9am till 6pm. There is no entrance fee so you can visit the exhibitions for free!
To check which exhibitions are currently on, follow this LINK

English speaking tours are on every Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30 pm. Tours in German are on more frequent, from Monday till Friday at 11am, 1 pm and 3pm, and on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays every hour between 10am and 4pm.
The cost of the tour is 5€, if you are a student you pay 2,50€.
Most of the tours are being guided by a contemporary witness or a historicist.

Here some information on how to get to Hohenschönhausen, from the EastSeven Berlin Hostel.
Also a map: klick here
To get there you first take the U2 from Senefelderplatz, in direction Ruhleben, get off at Alexanderplatz. From Alexanderplatz you take the M5 in direction Zingster Strasse. You get out at the stop Freienwalderstrasse. From here you can walk there.
If you need help with how to get there, just come ask us at the hostel in central Berlin, EastSeven!