Berlin-based artist Thilo Frank has this fascinating installation work, The Phoenix Is Closer Than It Appears, a 4m x 4m x 8m room that is entirely lined with mirrors and lit with streaks of neon green. It looks like it came straight out of The Matrix. Hmm, looks really cool, but we wonder if people can find the door to get out after stepping in.

The post Mirrors, mirrors everywhere: An infinitely replicating room appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Dance music and Berlin nightlife are essentially synonymous in 2013. Home to some of the most important labels, producers and spaces in dance and electronic, Berlin is a clubber’s mecca. The “Berlin sound“, essentially minimal techno/”micro-house” music championed and produced by, amongst others, techno legend Richie Hawtin, began to trickle into mainstream night clubs in the US around around 2003, as progressive house and techno fused into something dark, repetitive and hypnotic.

Thus, the American minimal scene was birthed.

Hawtin himself relocated to Berlin around that time, stating “Berlin is so liberal in so many different ways; there’s an amazing club scene, there’s a great development software tech scene, there are so many resources here.”

THE ACTS
Today, Berlin’s electronic dance music scene is a melting pop of influences and cultures, having attracted the likes of electro-freak performance artist Peaches (most commonly known for her Electroclash hit “AAXXX”), former sleazy synth-waver turned composer Mt Sims, and NY darkwave stalwart Shannon Funchess, as well as those labels that helped put the modern sound of Berlin today on the map: BPitch Control, Kompakt records, Plus8 and M_nus records.

THE LABELS
BPitch Control, particularly, under the leadership of label founder Ellen Allien, has become fluid at adapting to dance music’s trends. Allien herself released a crunchy mixture of pop, techno and rock with her Berlinette album, which perfectly encapsulated the sound of its time, the way her label’s darker, funkier and more throbbing releases are the pulse of now.

Combine that with Hawtin’s veritable techno army of affiliates, like Magda and Sven Vath (not a local per se but a local scene fixture and founder of the legendary COCOON nights-into-days-into-weeks), and the gorgeous dark all-night journeys from the likes of Paul Kalkbrenner, any night out in Berlin is likely to be massive.

THE CLUBS
Club-wise, superclub Berghain touts itself as “the best club in the world”, and the nightly near-impossible lines would echo that. Then there’s Tresor, one of the defining Berlin techno clubs, that’s fallen off a bit since relocating but augments that with a new, industrial air. And Horst Krzbg (above), a local fave that augments the pulse of the DJs with an impressive laser system.

THE SOUNDS
Check out some wicked tunes from the BPitch Control label below:

We Love DJ Mix by Bpitch Control on Mixcloud

The post An insiders guide to the Dance Music scene in Berlin appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

We had our sights on French artist Clement Briend when he projected a hell lot of faces on trees for his Cambodian Trees project. Well, we are just as intrigued by his Berlin series. Here, he projected images of the city landscape in a much more intimate settings: people’s homes. In a way the projections appear to be a physical manifestation of their dwellers’ perceptions and expectations of the city.

The post Projections of Berlin’s city landscape in rooms appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Nhow is Europes first music hotel. This gem is located in the center pf Berlin and features two music studios. This is the place to stay if you want to do some recording, collaboration, or just soak up some inspiration.

The post Europe’s first music hotel: Nhow Berlin Hotel by Karim Rashid appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

The world’s leading festival of contemporary character culture, Pictoplasma kicks off today for three days of inspiring talks, screenings and more. It all happens in Berlin and runs until April 13.

The post Pictoplasma: a contemporary character festival in Berlin appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

These gorgeous photorealist paintings by Moki deserve a second look. And then a third and fourth. The Berlin-based artist specializes in camouflaging people into breathtaking, northern landscapes. Rugged mountains, untouched rivers and the like have human elements cleverly woven into each image. My favorite is the mountain range. It took a moment to recognize the toes poking out from under the “blanket” of foliage. Be sure to look at her website. The home page is quite a surprise!

The post Beautiful Japanese-inspired surrealist paintings appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Portland, on the United States’ Pacific Northwest coast, is shaping up as the new Seattle/Melbourne, with its passion for indie music, coffee and cycling. Oregon’s low-rise, river-bestriding capital has long taken a creative approach to city planning, ensuring its heritage architecture remains pristine and independent stores, arts spaces, bars and cafés flourish.

Nicknamed Stumptown for its lack of skyscrapers, it’s also handy for snowboarding and trekking in the surrounding wilderness or quaffing in the Willamette Valley vineyards. Check out This breezy city is best explored on two wheels, so hire a bike and pedal to the Pearl. Once a decaying warehouse district in downtown, it’s been transformed into a hub of galleries, boutiques, restaurants and performance venues.

For snowboarding at nearby Mount Hood, head for Timberline Lodge ski school or escape for some whale-watching, wine tours or wild times with Eco Tours of Oregon. Buy up Portland’s music scene has spawned hipster bands including The Dandy Warhols, The Gossip and The Decemberists; snap up old-school local vinyl or CDs at 2nd Avenue Records. Find covetable homewares at Canoe (www.canoeonline.net; 1136 SW Alder).

For savvy womenswear, try Una (922 SE Ankeny) or hit Hattie’s Vintage Store at 729 E Burnside Street. 

Dine out Chilled-out Euro-style tavern Clyde Common (1014 SW Stark Street) does a mean brunch (with cocktails!), with hearty peasant food for lunch or dinner, and a late-opening bar. Pop to Kenny & Zukes deli (1038 SW Stark Street) for pastrami on rye. Smart dining beckons at Le Pigeon (738 E Burnside Street) or you can’t beat Ken’s Artisan Pizza (304 SE 28th Avenue). 

Drink up Sample the local beans at Stumptown Coffee Roasters; there’s a branch at 1026 SW Stark Street off the Ace Hotel Portland’s lobby. Microbreweries rule here, so sip on craft beers at boho Lucky Labrador Brew Pub (915 SE Hawthorn Boulevard) or go on a breweries tour care of Distillery Row. For over 50 wines by the glass, try Navarre (10 NE 28th Street). Crash out Book into budget-boutique Jupiter Hotel in Portland,a funky mid-century motel built around one of the city’s best live music venues, with free coffee and WiFi, and guest bikes for rent. Hearty, seasonal meals are served in the Doug Fir Lounge and Cowboy Coffee cocktails in the futuristic-meets-Wild West bar.

Party with the bands after hours at the Lounge’s muso space; no need to worry about stumbling home. For more stylish getaways visit Mr & Mrs Smith’s collection of boutique hotels and holiday houses. Book through Smith for exclusive extras at all stays, including a bottle of prosecco and free parking at Jupiter Hotel.

The post Mr & Mrs Smith tell us what to do in Portland appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Jeppe Hein, an artist based in Berlin and Copenhagen, created a series of modified Social Benches with a basic form not unlike the garden variety of benches everywhere. The catch: they are altered in a way that makes them somewhat challenging to sit on. I found a few of these beaches scattered along a waterfront in Singapore, and only one — more sit-able than the rest — was occupied by a sunbaked runner.

The post Dysfunctional benches by Jeppe Hein appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

In case you haven’t heard about the bunch of whales who were spotted with a deformed bottlenose dolphin as part of the gang, hear it now: the inter-species meeting of mammals was sighted by behavioral ecologists from Berlin’s Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries about 15-20 kilometers off the Azores in the North Atlantic. The speculation is that the dolphin’s deformity probably caused it to fall out of favour with the other dolphins, which in turn led it to be adopted by the free-wheeling sperm whales.

The post Deformed bottlenose dolphin adopted by whales appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Not sure what we’d do if we were to stumble upon a USB flash drive embedded in a wall in the streets. Essentially an anonymous offline peer-to-peer file-sharing initiative hosted in public spaces, the Dead Drops project is driven by Berlin-based media artist Aram Bartholl who mounts the USB drives empty at the start and lets anyone plug in his or her laptop to share data. Fascinating.

The post Anonymous offline peer-to-peer file-sharing initiative appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Berlin-based Australian illustrator Molly Rose Dyson really has a knack for drawing food. Exhibiting her series Small Goods during 2011 in Melbourne, the Victorian College of the Arts educated illustrator has since dropped a new series entitled Sausages Etc. The series provides a deeper look into the often overlooked Australian ‘snag’ and is comprised of six pieces. With a great eye for colour, Dyson’s work is as unique and special as the subject matter she focuses on.

The post Sausages illustrations by Molly Rose Dyson appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

For her Errors in Production collection, Berlin-based artist Heike Bollig amassed a number of products with individual manufacturing defects. It reminds us of Jeremy Hutchison’s work, with one distinction: while Hutchison deliberately asked factory workers to make defective products, Bollig simply found them, mostly by accident or through sharp-eyed friends and salesclerks. We really like the mangled teeth-shaped marshmallow and the espresso cup with two handles.

The post Errors in Production: a collection of defective products appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Hilfiger Denim has teamed up with Yvan Rodic, photographer and founder of the Face Hunter blog, who has worn a live feed camera while exploring Berlin in search of the best street style. His footage is also being streamed to the Hilfiger Denim space to further complement the collection. Watch this video to see Rodic busily tracking down the latest street style trends.

The post Hilfiger Denim presents Street Style Berlin appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Even though The Yok lives in Brooklyn nowadays, we can call his street art Australian, because that’s where he’s originally from: Perth. The loopy characters with the awesome staches and beards do not only look good on walls, but also on canvas, as paintings and illustrations. His potato headed gargoyles have been exhibited around the world, from Berlin to Taipei, and his success doesn’t seem to stagnate. So if you love surfing like The Yok does, keep your eyes open for an original artwork close to your local beach, too.

The post Awesome street art by Brooklyn-based Australian The Yok appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

A dramatic love story has to be clever enough to still give you smiles. Tabu has it – photography like no other with a magnificent story that makes you want to walk along the river looking for crocodiles. This was a winner of the 2012 Berlin Film Festival: the FIPRESCI Jury Prize and Alfred Baeur Prize for Artistic Innovation.

The post Tabu: a new short film by Miguel Gomes appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Berlin-based designer and architect Sigurd Larsen designs thoughtful furniture with clean-cut silhouettes. The High End Table, which he originally created as an art piece for a Berlin Mitte window display, has a high end that is symbolic of power play and how we communicate within a hierarchy.

The post High End table by Sigurd Larsen appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

As a kid, growing up on the K-Line in Stockholm, Sweden, it’s always been a dream to go to New York to put up tags. Even though some consider Philly to be the birthplace of this subculture, New York has always been its epicenter. When me and my friend started TagsAndThrows.com about half a year ago, we had no idea how big this thing would get. Today, we’ve got a couple of thousand visitors on the site every week and more than 10,800 followers on Instagram.

So, what is graffiti bombing all about? That’s a darn good question. This strange habit of putting your name (tag) on walls, mailboxes, trash bins and trains around the city first popped up in the late ’70s. Kids wanted to get their name up all over the city to get fame. Using markers, mops, spray cans and fire extinguishers filled with paint to put your tag up, this is now a worldwide phenomenon. Illegal – yes. Hated by most people – yes. But also misunderstood. Not many people try to understand why people bomb. Not many people look at bombing close enough to even be able to separate one graffiti bomber’s work from another. Ignorant I would say. In the same way that people that don’t listen to techno might feel like all techno songs sound the same. Or people that won’t dive deep enough into the abyss of modern art to be able to appreciate it before they dismiss it. Bombing is not only about getting your name up, once, twice, or thousands of times – it’s also about doing it with style, for a long period of time. This is the handstyles and typography of the streets. So far TagsAndThrows.com has been given the chance to document different styles of bombing in Berlin, San Sebastian, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Malmoe, Gothenburg and now New York – the home of the world’s best bombers. Here’s some of our favorite tags and throw-ups from the Big Apple.

The post TagsAndThrows explains what graffiti bombing is all about appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Australian-born graffiti artist Jimmy Cochran has painted walls from the Bronx to Berlin and is recognized equally in fine art galleries as graffiti street tours in London. Last month, Cochran unveiled his latest project, pushing the boundaries of his pointillist-inspired art style with 3D graffiti techniques.

Living in London, Cochran has been working on developing 3D graffiti for years now. He explains: ‘This is something that has been on my mind for a long time. I first started testing this style in my studio and recently took it to the streets, painting my first piece,’Girl With Spheres 3D’, on the wall of the Bird & Ballard coffee shop, at The Foundary in London’. A main challenge of the style, Cochran says, is making sure the work is equally effective in 3D and as a stand alone street piece. The Bird & Ballard coffee shop has been handing 3D glasses to interested passersby.

The post Remarkable 3D graffiti by Jimmy Cochran appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

If you live in Berlin, you’re lucky. I like youth against establishment, I like defacing things, especially with moustaches. However, Vermibus, an artist and fast thinker from Berlin, has taken it to the next level. Do yourself a favor and go to Berlin.

The post New art by Berlin’s Vermibus appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

It hurts my brain to think of the hours it must have taken Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Sanches to make an entire short film using only Instagram photos taken in Amsterdam, Berlin and Lisbon, but it certainly pleasures my eyes to watch the delightful two minute experiment. As its name suggests, Summer Eleven was filmed in the summer of 2011, but it only hit Vimeo recently. Worth watching for anyone interested in pretty European scenes, nice music, and the Earlybird filter.

The post Short film made only with Instagram photos appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.