11月大馆有一个Berlin project, 能不能和我们的听众介绍这个project?
这是一个很特别的机会去展示大馆不为人知的不同场所，好好利用这个有集不同场地的地方，例如在漂亮开扬的监狱操场、JC Cube，漂亮的礼堂、洗衣场石阶，一个较自然随意的地方、F Hall studio，适应性强的的室内空间、检阅广场，壮观的室外空间。今年的主题是柏林。柏林是个非凡的城市，是文化活动的集合点，就算经过了300年动荡的历史，它还是重新创造了一个刺激有趣的都市。你不会想像到柏林在WW2后是完全被摧毁的，你有没有看过1945年战机飞过的相片，没有一栋完整的建筑物。当时你觉得柏林完蛋了，但现在它是世界上最刺激的城市之一。我会叫它欧洲的首都，英国人应该不认同，但它刺激因为它有不同类型的文化活动，从经典剧院表演到街头表演，整个城市都充满活力。
为什么有这个计画？
两年前就有，当我和德国领事吃饭，我们两个在讨论我们都想推广柏林，所以就开始讨论如何做，慢慢就变成艺术节形式。我们对如何使用场地配合节目想了很久。我们会在监狱操场邀请管弦乐乐团表演，会有500名观众，和一个大舞台给乐团表演。我们同时也想确保邻近地方不会受骚扰，这是一个人口密集的地方，我们会确保在一个合适的音量。
我们想专注在一个不用很大声量的较「亲密」的音乐表演类型，所以就有这个表演节目。
所有表演者都是从德国来的吗？
头3个表演是邀请了德国著名乐团符腾堡海布隆室乐团表演，他们会和香港音乐家合作表演18-20世纪的音乐，他们之间很有火花和弹性，一齐度过有意义的时光。第二个礼拜有著名的Ute Lemper为我们进行歌舞表演。
目标观众是谁？不熟悉德国文化的人？
绝对是，我们多元化的活动希望吸引所有人参与，不论对德国文化、音乐、电影有多少的认识。我们的节目有很多元素，对所有人开放，例如，我之前提过的在监狱操场邀请管弦乐乐团表演经典音乐。节目期间，我们也将有大型灯光艺术装置投射在监狱操场的墙上，让游客能体验光影与声音交错的独特体验。
大型灯光艺术装置是第一次在大馆做吗？
不只这个，这次多数的节目都是我们第一次做，例如我们请了4个柏林的街头涂鸦艺术家在检阅广场墙上街头涂鸦，这整个星期，游客能亲眼见证艺术品的诞生。我们也有街头舞蹈hiphop ,break dance表演者——「The FlyingSteps」,我们也不知道他们会表演什么，完全随性地表演，他们很有活力，更会和香港的舞者一齐表演。这种不规则且随性的表演正式在柏林街头能看到的，所以对于大馆能成为这类表演的舞台，我们很高兴。
所以你欢迎所有人士前来？不同年纪？
是的。我们想所有人都能体验柏林活力的文化。
我们还有做一个有趣的东西——《巴比伦柏林》马拉松。在最后的星期，我们会由早到晚连续播放《巴比伦柏林》，F仓展室将会设置梳化和豆袋让观众能舒适地享受剧集。我们也会有德国啤酒提供。这是也个新的概念，我不认为全香港有人曾经做过。
你为什么有兴趣做这个节目？你喜欢德国文化里的什么？
我从小就喜欢德国文化，我有点叛逆，我父亲喜欢义大利歌剧，我就喜欢德国歌剧。我也有一个姨姨是德国人。我对德国文化就是有浓厚的兴趣，我也不知道为什么，所以我最后学习了德语，因为我当时在经典音乐的范畴里发展，而经典音乐的中心在德国。所以我要懂德语。这就是开始。其实就是希望举办一个有趣的节目，今年的主题就刚好是德国，另外也想尽量有创意地活用我们的场地。我希望这能令人看到德国文化别开生面的一面，若令人想到德国旅游，就更好了，我们希望这个是一个能和人们分享我们的热情的地方和机会。
大馆柏林艺术节
今年11月，大馆将会举行柏林艺术节。今天，我们有大馆总监Timothy Calnin（简宁天）亲自为我们介绍这个别开生面的艺术节。
Timothy Calnin对德国的兴趣在儿时已萌生。虽然柏林经历了严酷的二次大战后曾经变得满目疮痍，但现在，它却是不同文化的荟萃，整个城市都充满活力。
大馆由不同的建筑物拼合而成，而本次艺术节将会把所有场地的独特性发挥得淋漓尽致。在偌大的监狱操场，将会有德国著名乐团符腾堡海布隆室乐团表演管弦乐；在检阅广场的墙上，会有德国和本地艺术家街头涂鸦；F仓展室将化身为舒适的家居电影院播放《巴比伦柏林》，让参加者能在柔软的梳化和豆袋上「煲剧」一整天。欢迎所有不太了解德国文化而希望探索德国的人参与其中，一同发掘德国别开生面的活力面貌！
Can you introduce the Berlin project to our audience?
For us, this is a remarkable and unique opportunity to really showcase all of the special and rather unique venues of Tai Kwun in a way the public has not seen before. The concept is really to take advantage of this cluster of venues for example the prison yard which is a beautiful open space in the upper part of the site, the JC Cube, which is a beautiful intimate auditorium, the laundry steps, which is a more spontaneous and informal space, the F hall studio, very adaptable indoor space, the parade ground, which is a spectacular outdoor space. And to have all of these venues used in a way to explore different facades over an interesting subject, this year our subject is Berlin. Berlin is an extraordinary city, it’s a hub of cultural activity, but it’s a city managed to reinvent itself over 300 years of very dramatic and tumultuous history, and it always find its way to become relevant and exciting……I think people who look at Berlin and say, at the end of the WWII, when it is completely destroyed, I don’t know if you’d ever seen the footage of an airline plane flying over Berlin in 1945, and there is not a single building standing. You will, at that stage, said “Well that’s it. Berlin is finished.” And now you look at Berlin and it’s one of the most exciting places in the world, it’s the thriving……you know I would call it “the capital of Europe”, which the English people wouldn’t agree with me, but it’s an incredibly exciting place because it has so much across all the different fields of cultural activity from the highest to the lowest, from the most sophisticated art forms to street theatre and street performance, and the whole city feels like it’s buzzing with creative energy.
So how come you have the idea to organize/to have this project in your mind?
We sort of talked about it I think like was about like 2 years ago, when I had lunch with council general of Germany and we were talking about how both of us really want to celebrate Berlin, and we sort of pull our ideas. The ideas started to really evolve into a quite a rich programme that will form a festival.
We were very thoughtful about the programme ideas were perfect fit for each of the unique venues that we have. So I suppose the most spectacular thing that we are doing is setting up the prison yard as a concert venue where we will have a seating for an audience of 500 and there is a stage for chamber orchestra from Germany. But again we want to make sure we are putting the right kind of performance into that space. We are in the middle of a densely populated residential area, we didn’t want to have anything that will be loud or intrusive to the neighbourhood.
We want to focus on a style of music that is more intimate,that doesn’t have to be in a loud volume. And we came up with this programme with really does focus on that style of musical performance.
Are all those performers from Germany?
We are bringing a chamber orchestra from Germany to do the first 3 concerts, it’s the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, quite a famous from Luxembourg. And in the 2nd week, we have Ute Lemper, the legendary artist to do Berlin caberet. We have asked the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra to work with young HK musicians to share their insights into Baroque’s arts.....it is a very flexible, ensemble, they have a great flair, for performing music from the 18th 19th 20th century. Baroque music style is not something that is very well developed in the Hong Kong music scene and we thought here is a great opportunity to bring some of the lady musicians in that style together with some HK students to spend some really meaningful time.
So what about the target of audience, like simple audience which are not familiar with German culture?
That’s certainly the intention. With such a diverse programme, we wanted to make sure that there was a way/a entry point for everybody, doesn’t matter how knowledgeable they are about German culture and music or about film. We’ ve selected a really big range of elements in the programme to make it really open to everyone, for example, you know I’ve mentioned before about turning the prison yard into a performance space for classical music, but actually we are also arranging for sound and light installation to be projected onto all of the walls around the prison yard every evening throughout the festival, so members of the public can come, and actually experience this completely engrossing and developing sound and light experience by a Berlin creative group.
Is it the first time for you to have these brilliant lights in Tai Kwun here?
No this is the first time we’ve done……most of the things we have been doing in this festival are first time for us, for example having the Berlin street art wall in the parade ground is the first for us because we will have 4 Berlin graffiti artists to come and the public will be able to watch over a period of a week as they create this enormous mural, it’s about 5m high. And it will be very much a working progress that will be almost like a performance taking place over a period of 5-6 days, and then in the end of that week you get to see the finished work. Similarly we are having a Berlin based hip-hop and break dance group called “The Flying Steps”, and we don’t even know what are they going to do. They are very very athletic, and they will be working with some Hk street performers to create a show that is going to just spontaneously pop up somewhere on some sides on the last weekend. This kind of unstructured and spontaneous performance is a kind of reflection of bold creativity that you see in all the streets of Berlin, so for us it’s great to be able to turn Tai Kwun into a platform for this kind of performance.
So you welcome all kinds of audience to come? Different ages?
Yes that’s very much the intention of it, we wanted everybody an opportunity to experience the flavor and the vitality of Berlin culture.
There is one more fun thing that we are doing-“a Berlin Binge”. On the last weekend of the festival, we are showing the entire series of “Babylon Berlin” in the F Hall studio. We are furnishing the F Hall studio with sofas and beanbags, and people can go in this place for the entire day there immersing themselves in this experience. We will make sure they will have some German beer or something to get them through the day. I think this will be quite a new concept and I don’t think anybody’s done that in hk.
How come you have so much interest to organize a festival, like this project? Are there anything special you like in German culture?
For me, I think when I was a kid I became really interested in German culture, I think part of it was a kind of rebellious, my father really loved Italian opera, and I thought “Im not gonna like that”. I like German opera. I also had a German aunt and I had a great interest in all things German. I’m not really sure why that was, so I ended up studying German. I thought I will pursue some kind of career that is around the classical music world and at that stage, that classical music world’s head quarter’s in Germany. So I got to speak German to get anywhere near in this field. So this is where it all started. But actually the idea in HK is to really try to take an interesting subject, this year it just happens to be Berlin, and to activate all of the venues as creative ways we possibly can, but all related to this one theme, because here in Tai Kwun we have such an unique opportunity to make the whole site buzz with one theme for a period of time, and to give a really profound experience, and I think it excites the whole of interesting people who perhaps never thought about Berlin before and they come away thinking wow what an interesting place, I knew this about Berlin but I never knew that about Berlin. And if that makes people wanna travel to Berlin, that’s s much better, but for me it’s an inspiring place and I hope that we can share our enthusiasm for Berlin and really ignite other people’s enthusiasm in the future.
