SLIDELUCK POTSHOW BERLIN IV RECAP

[Text and photographs by Casey Kelbaugh]

FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN, THEN WE TAKE BERLIN.

“I did not expect Brooklyn to have so nice beer,” said Saskia Bosch, the gorgeous blonde sitting beside me, IPA in hand. It’s true, I thought, bringing beer to Germany makes about as much sense as bringing sand to the beach. But yet, somehow, Marc Rauschmann of Die Internationale Brau-Manufacturen importers managed to bring a dimpled smile to Saskia and about 200 other Berliner’s faces last Thursday evening with generous helpings of India Pale Ale and Local 1 & 2.

The occasion for all of this beer-drinking was Slideluck Potshow’s fourth installment in Berlin. The show was produced by photographer Britney Anne Majure and it took place at .HBC which was the former Hungarian Cultural Center and sits across the street from Alexanderplatz and the iconic TV tower.

Rather than trying to get Berliners to understand potlucking (not sure they’ll ever get it), we opted to bring in Tacos Berlin to provide some slammin’ poblano dinners and Elke Wardlaw’s homemade cupcakes. DJ Magnus Bjerk complimented the candle-lit-sit-down dinner perfectly with velvety smooth Latin-inspired tracks.

Berlin’s population has about as similar a profile to Williamsburg as can be found anywhere on Earth. So not only are all the girls rocking bowl-cuts, but there is an extremely high concentration of young, creative people from all over. Nowhere was this embarrassment of riches more clearly displayed than in our slideshow of 30 local artists, including: Jan von Holleben, Barbara Wagner, Andrea Diefenbach, Jen Osborne, Lindsay Amelie Isola and Mirjam Siefert. Having been to this particular rodeo before, I was completely amazed to see so much fresh and interesting work. Apparently so was Peaches, who I’m told also came for the slideshow.

What also made the show special was having a number of Slideluck directors in town for our European Director’s meeting the following night. Maria Teresa Salvati came in from London, Siri Warren from Oslo, Benedicte Gerbier flew in from Paris, Britney Anne Majure from Berlin, and of course the SLPS Global Producer, Carly Planker from New York.

Towards the end of the party, I met a young American guy who was on a Fulbright scholarship, teaching English in Berlin. He had an armload of IPA’s and I asked what was up. He said when he heard Brooklyn Brewery was having their launch party that night in Berlin – so he came specifically for that, as he was tiring of German lagers. Well, on that particular night, he struck jackpot. Those Fulbrights sure are smart.