What's on in Germany: May 31 – June 6

This Week's Highlights: Football photography in Berlin, Japan Day in Düsseldorf, and English theatre in Munich.

BERLIN


Galleries/Museums


No Dice: 100 games / 100 photos

No Dice magazine’s talented photographer, Ian Stenhouse, has been to over 100 football matches in Berlin over the last year. An exhibition of some of his best images will double up as a No Dice’s Issue 3 launch party. Stop by to find out why it’s called the “Beautiful Game” and pick up your copy of the English-language mag covering the German capital’s footie scene.

Price: Free entry, No Dice issue 3 costs €5
Location: Babette Bar, Karl-Marx-Allee 36
Times: Tuesday, June 5, 8:00pm till late
More Information: Event info on Facebook


Helmut Newton – White Women/Sleepless Nights/Big Nudes

A portrait of a lady. Sky-high in four-inch heels. Skin, smooth and milky white. The great German-American photographer Helmut Newton composed some of the 20th century's most iconic shots of women. Fashion and nude images from his first three books White Women, Sleepless Nights, and Big Nudes are being shown together at a new exhibition in Berlin, which opens Saturday.

Price: €8
Location: Museum für Fotografie, Jebensstrasse 2
Times: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am-6pm; Thursday, 10am-10pm; June 2 – November 18
Phone: 030 266 42 42 42

More Information: www.smb.museum


Comedy


Drew Portnoy

See The Local's columnist Drew Portnoy up close and in person at his stand-up show "The Enemy's in the Kinderzimmer." So get a babysitter. Try to stay reasonably sober until midnight on a Saturday. And head down to Berlin's leading joke shop for comedy in English, The Kookaburra.

Price: €8
Location: Comedyclub Kookaburra, Schönhauser Allee 184
Times: Saturday, June 2, 11:45pm
More Information: www.comedyclub.de



Festivals


The World is Not Fair – The Great World's Fair 2012

There's a new kind of world's fair taking place in Berlin this month. It's not the Belle Epoque hoopla of yore, but rather a more analytical type of shindig. One that considers global relations of the most un-discussed level and ponders the abstractness of catastrophic events. Intellectual indeed, but with an international amalgam of actors, artists, and architects pondering the current state of the world and its future, this fantastic fiesta is sure to be an event of the utmost excitement.

Price: Free
Location: Tempelhofer Park; Main entrances on Oderstrasse, Tempelhofer Damm, and Columbiadamm
Times: Thursday and Friday, 4-9pm; Saturday and Sunday, 2-9pm; June 1 – 24
More Information: www.tempelhoferfreiheit.de



Film


Berlin Documentary Forum 2

Social media's role in the Syrian revolts, New Guinea warrior-farmers, and Christmas Eve in a Hamburg bar are a few of the topics explored in the films at this festival of documentary cinema. See some great non-fiction movies this weekend and be sure to catch Disquieting Nature an “abstract blues” video piece by artist Christine Meisner and composer William Tatge that screens Friday night with live musicians.

Price: €6; €15 (Day Ticket)
Location: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
Times: Thursday, May 31 – Sunday, June 3
Phone: 030 397 870
More Information: www.hkw.de




BIELEFELD


Galleries/Museums


Sou Fujimoto – Futurospective Architecture

If your idea of a house is four walls and a roof think again. Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto turned the concept of home dwelling upside down with his radical designs. Check out a replica of Fujimoto’s “Final Wooden House” along with models, and objects that inspire his ideas at a new exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld.

Price: €7
Location: Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Artur-Ladebeck-Strasse 5
Phone: 0521 329 99 500
Times: June 3 – September 2
More Information: www.kunsthalle-bielefeld.de





COLOGNE



Music/Concerts


Kel Assouf

A band of seven formed in Belgium of musicians from across Africa and Europe, Kel Assouf's music is at once jubilant and compassionate. Nuanced vocal rhythms merge with mesmerising guitar riffs in a style of music known as “desert blues” that has its roots deep in the Sahara. Catch the troubadours Friday night in Cologne.

Price: €12
Location: Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cäcilienstrasse 29-33

Times: Friday, June 1, 7:30pm
Reservations: 0221 221 31 356
More Information: www.kelassouf.com



Carnival of Animals – Elephants and Rabbits in the Wallraf

If you're five-years-old, your favorite kinds of artworks are probably paintings of animals. Lucky for you, there's a new children's tour at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne geared toward your type. On Sunday, the little ones can embark on a discovery adventure through the collection's more zoologically inclined masterworks. It's never too early to start learning about art.

Price: €7 (Adult Museum Admission)
Location: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Obenmarspforten
Times: Sunday, June 3, 3pm
Phone: 0221 221/2 11 19
More Information: www.museenkoeln.de




DÜSSELDORF


Events


Japan Day

Follow the sound of the Taiko drums and you'll find a festival of Japanese culture Saturday in Düsseldorf. In celebration of the large Japanese population that makes its home in the city, the annual Japan Day festivities include traditional music, dancing, food and fireworks.

Price: Free
Location: Burgplatz
Times: Saturday, June 2, 1pm-Midnight
More Information: www.japantag-duesseldorf-nrw.de




FRANKFURT



Music/Concerts


An Evening With Joan Baez

She's been strumming strong for over half a century, singing about peace and freedom and campaigning around the world for human rights. If you're among the masses who call the American folk icon a hero, here's your chance to see the great lady live.

Price: €43.75
Location: Jahrhunderthalle, Pfaffenwiese 301
Times: Sunday, June 3, 8pm
Tickets: 0711 8496 1672
More Information: www.joanbaez.com




HAMBURG



Galleries/Museums


Gedok Hamburg Exhibition Opening – Alice

Gedok is home to a community of like-minded artists in Hamburg, and their new exhibition “Alice” opens Thursday. Stop by to check out the art and take in a performance by soprano Marcia Lemke-Kern and violinist Ewelina Nowicka who perform works by English composers like Jeremiah Clarke and Richard Causton.

Price: Free
Location: GEDOK-Kunstforum, Koppel 66/Lange Reihe 75
Times: Thursday, May 31, 7pm
Phone: 040 280 31 24
More Information: www.gedok-hamburg.de



Film


International Short Film Festival Hamburg

The USA is the focus of one of the special programs in this festival of short film. “Untied Tastes of America” examines aspects of current American culture from television and advertising to stereotypes of African-American women in an economically challenged downtown. The program of 15 short films screens Thursday and Sunday. See it along with hundreds of other little cinematic gems in Hamburg this week.

Price: €6 (Single Screening); €25 (Five Screening Pass); €45 (10 Screening Pass)
Location: Various
Times: Tuesday, May 29 – Monday, June 4
Ticket Hotline: 040 39 10 63 134
More Information: www.festival.shortfilm.com




MUNICH



Theatre


Entity Theatre Presents “3 Nights with Madox”

All artists want their work to be realized (well most of them do anyway). And since the plays Matéi Visniec penned were barred from the stage in his native Romania, he fled to France. Smart move. Over two decades later Visniec's works have been staged all over the world. See “3 Nights with Madox” this weekend in Munich. Written in French, Entity Theatre is performing the one-act play for the first time in English.

Price: €12
Location: The Pepper Theater, PEP Einkaufszentrum, Thomas-Dehler-Strasse 12, Neuperlach
Times: Thursday, May 31 – Saturday, June 2, 8pm
More Information: www.entitytheatre.com