Anne Hölck & Gian Manuel Rau

"stamps for postcards I never sent to people I know"

"stamps from postcards sent by people I do not know"

ANNE HÖLCK and GIAN MANUEL RAU sent me two postcards in 1 envelope. Concept art with stamps. Anne and Gian Manuel frequently work together on various theater-productions in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. Anne is a stage- and costume designer and a curator for (often) animal-related art and text. She initiated the art project we,animals. Gian Manuel is a director, performance artist and photographer. Both of them live around the corner and we run into each other quite often, luckily. Anne and I know each other for ages, since our early days in Berlin - and I am very happy about this fact.

"In a world without melancholy the nightingales would start belching"

 (quotation of the romanian philosopher Emil Cioran)

Janine Sack

A postcard from JANINE SACK, sent from Berlin, Germany. Janine is a graphic designer, artist and teacher and has worked in Germany, Sweden and the Uk. Between 2008 and 2013 she was art Director for the weekly newspaper „der Freitag“. She creates newspapers, magazines, websites and books. Janine received numerous awards for the design for „der Freitag“ and scholarships for her work as an artist. Since 2014 she is part of the publishing house The Green Box. "The Green Box strives to translate works of art into the medium of the book, so that the distinction between the works and their documentation becomes blurred." Janine and I  regularily meet within the context of damensalon berlin. Same as me Janine is one of the members of damensalon. We prepare monthly dinners inviting changing guests to join us for meandering conversations over abundant meals and drinks.

"The good life is utopian -  always related to a projection,
whether for the afar or for home, which possibly never was
what it seemed to be from the distance."

Ralf Krause

There are still postcards arriving - weeks after my departure from Nebraska, thank you Pat for scanning all these stragglers! Here is a postcard from RALF KRAUSE, my neighbour since the day I moved to my apartment house in Berlin, 1992. Ralf was born 1948 in Storkow (Brandenburg). He is a musician and a composer with a strong passion for flamenco-guitar. Actually, Ralf "Don" Krause is one of the best and most famous flamenco-guitarists of the former GDR. Yes, in the socialist times of East Germany existed a very active Flamenco scene - and Ralf was a fundamental part of it. After the fall of the Berlin wall, Ralf started to work in several film and theater projects, as a composer, musician and performer. He had a intense, long-time collaboration with the theater-director Jo Fabian.

"Dear Anke, thank you for the reminder to depart once again."

Ralf lives  with his partner Traudl Kupfer and their dog Django. I can see their kitchen window as I am watching out of my kitchen window. Having cool long-time neighbors like Ralf, Traudl and Django is definitely a great thing. It makes me feel at home. Some music samples and more info about Ralf can be found here: http://www.ralf-don-krause.de/tonproben.html