SpreePark Berlin "Betreten verboten!"

Remeber that time we went to the Abandoned theme park in Berlin?

SpreePark, Berlin 10/06/2011

Becoming explorers

come, The Wizard

SpreePark is an abandoned theme park in the Treptow district of Berlin. I had heard about this place from a friend who went there last year, I had seen it in recent blockbuster Hanna and I read about it on the internet! Seeing as I was going to Berlin for the weekend I thought why the hell not!

From the centre of Berlin I took the S Bahn 3 stops to Planterwald, the forrest that SpreePark is situated in. It was really easy to get into, we climbed over a short wire fence and ducked through a hole in a wooden door. I think we got in right next to the caretakers hut but we were very lucky that we weren't seen early on in our adventure. Ignorance is Bliss.

We were in the park for around 2 hours. The highlight for me was sitting in the middle of a green pond on the rusted rollercoaster tracks. We were surrounded by frogs! The park has been left so unattended for such a long time that nature is slowly but surely reclaiming the land. The ponds were thick with green sludge and frogs were ribitting away trying to get laid. The whole place was so tropical, so strangely surreal and such a fascinating place to be in. The mystery, the wonder and the adrenaline made for an experience I will never forget.

I've heard people say you can't get over to the big wheel but we managed to find a way. We know this because as we stepped into one of the carraiges the whole thing moved round quite quickly and we had to jump out before it took us beyond the point of return without injury. The wheel still moves but I don't think the green part can get off of the ground. It's funny, we had a long chat about how fucked you would be if you got stuck. What would you do? Phone call.... "Hi yeah i'm stuck on a big wheel in the middle of an abandoned theme park.......and yeah im in Berlin and the wheel is surrounded by water...."

After the big wheel we got caught by security! the same security we had previously ran away from. We managed to dodge a hefty fine....puppy dog eyes "we're sorry, we're art students" ?? I don't know what did it, but we were super lucky. I was also asked to delete all of my photos but as i trolled through them deleting them one by one the guard got fed up and told me just to stop. These photos are now really special to me. It was such a cool day, i've never been in a place so weird and so wonderfully strange.

Exploring on google maps

This is Project Slogan- My current location, although this is an old photo. Look at those plynths. They aren't there now.
This is Baghdad, this place scares me a little bit because of what I see on the news.
This reminds me of a Georgia O Keefe painting.....female parts? No? Weird that architecture can look like this. I actually have NO IDEA what it is.
This is the abandonned theme park in Berlin, it has many secrets as to why it is abandonned.
9 Elm Street. Home. Hi mum and dad.
Satelite.
Krumme Lanke is situated in The Grunewald forrest next to Berlin, I swam here often last year.
This is an abandonned listening tower in Teufelsberg, Berlin that I would like to and may also visit in real life. It looks amazing! Also Situated in the Grunewald forrest. I think Grunewald forrest has many secrets. I want to know.
This is my old house in Holland, That's my bedroom window.

Benjamin critton

website http://benjamincritton.com/

Crookers Visuals @ The Forum

Analogue Video Mixer! I was using Resolume Avenue to control the visuals but as well as this I had a Panasonic Video Mixer to play around with effects such as Mosiac (pixelate) Paint (saturate colours) Invert (negative) and strobe (which puts a time delay on the image). It wa sreally great to have an added dimension of control.



My moon animation on a double projection behind the stage, it was also on 6 television screens at the front of the stage also, I couldn't get a good photograph of that because of ISO problems and a wild crowd!

Bill Thompson @ Peacock Visual Arts

As I walked into the exhibition space at Peacocks I felt fully immersed in darkness and strobe effect. There was a buzzing noise that was related to the the stack of TVs in the middle if the room that were all showing different light formations and strobing. Sound, stobelights and televisions flickering with no Eastenders on them made for a mystified audience. I was drawn to the light and curious to what the images were and how they were made, I could definitely see a bit of video feedback in there.

For an hour or so the only noise was coming from the televisions. Then the artists came and and did three performances of experimental sound. I enjoyed the show overall and would like to thank Peacocks for putting on another excellent AV show.

Moon Cycle