In people’s minds, there are a lot of different Berlins – the Berlin of the occupied houses, the Berlin of the Love Parade, the Berlin of David Bowie, of Gudrun Gut…
This is a dispatch from the Berlin that beckons from the screen of the recent film B-Movie, with the ace new Westbam soundtrack, Blixa Bargeld, and, and, and: and if you haven’t seen Dannielle de Picciotto’s stuff before, you’re in for a major treat.
Berlin-based multimedia artist and musician Danielle de Picciotto is, not least, a co-founder of Berlin’s Love Parade. Soon, she will be releasing her graphic diary, written and illustrated by De Picciotto, titled “We Are Gypsies Now!” .
It documents the author’s transition to a nomadic lifestyle after becoming frustrated with the status-quo, materialistic culture of modern-day Berlin.
<h4>A most beautiful and enthralling graphic journey</h4>
It’s coming out on August 13th! In true nomadic fashion, the author has turned to NYC for the release party, so we’ll just have to be there in spirit and, of course, avail ourselves of what promises to be a most beautiful and enthralling graphic journey. Here is a slideshow to whet the ole appetite.
<h4> Odd jobs, non-stop live touring, and an array of trials, adventures and profound life-changing experiences </h4>
In her story, our protagonist joins husband Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten on a multi-year voyage around the world, which includes stops in various global cities taking on odd jobs, non-stop live touring, and an array of trials, adventures and profound life-changing experiences, as such an undertaking might inevitably provide.
The book description reads:
We Are Gypsies Now! is the transcendentally Illustrated and emotionally transparent journal of the adventures and internal struggles of Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke’s first year on the road with no direction home. Experiencing We Are Gypsies Now! is to embark on Danielles deeply personal journey and to possibly heed her call for a more imaginative approach to life in our over-mediated and covertly alienated age.
Switching between diary, autobiography and speculation, We Are Gypsies Now! explores the nomadic option as perhaps the only possible cultural and social response to gentrification and consumerism… Reading this is an inspiration, a wake-up call, and perhaps even a demand to once again embrace the liberating freedom of chance.
<h4>Avant-garde art of the highest order. I can. not. wait.</h4>
“Danielle de Picciotto has been releasing music, films and more since the early ’90s, and her most recent release is this year’s Tacoma album on Moabit Music. That album’s newest single is “I Have Love,” an eerie avant-garde pop song that fans of newer artists like Julia Holter and Pharmakon should not be sleeping on”, says the Brooklyn Vegan, the website which she trusted with the premiere of her new song and music video.
Avant-garde art of the highest order. I can. not. wait.
The book will be published by Amok Books, and available for purchase here
