~NATIONALMUSEUM/BERLIN/NORDIC GIANTS !!
POSTER PHOTO BY: GEORGE BARBER
‘FUCK THE LITTLE MAN’ – also fondly known as the ‘TALL GIANT SHOW’ !!! – was the last NATIONALMUSEUM/BERLIN curatorial project of 2008. It opened on Friday Dec 12, 2008, and ran for one week, as per NATIONALMUSEUM policy.
The show was curated by LARS MONRAD VAAGE and GEORGE BARBER. You had to be at least 6 feet tall – to get into the show !! that was the only curatorial condition !! (love it !!) they are so in-your-face, irreverent & fun !! these guys !! just what we need.
Lars writes that he couldn’t make it into the show because at 181 cm. or 5 ft. 11 in. – he was too small !! He just missed the cut-off by one inch !! But, the other curator, GEORGE BARBER, at 200 cm. or 6 ft. 7 in. made it – and showed one of his 3-D paintings, as well as creating the poster (above). The average height of the artists in the show was 195 cm. or 6 ft. 5 in. !! FIVE of them were over 200 cm. or 6 ft. 7 in.
see: conversion table
YIKES !! these guys used to rule the world, once, too !! – remember ? the Vikings !!
turns out the art was pretty good too, and so was the party !!
but first a little extra info, re: NATIONALMUSEUM – an artist ‘co-op’ !!
LARS writes: “NATIONALMUSEUM is a group of friends, and is an artist co-op that will change its members in an intuitive way, if somebody feels they don’t have time they take a break, and if we meet somebody with lots of energy and warmth they are in. We all help each other with every show, but so far every show was curated by one or two persons only. WE started out being: GEORGE BARBER, RAAF VAN DER SMAN, JOHN HODANY, MICHAEL KIRKHAM and me, LARS MONRAD VAAGE.
In the GRAND OPENING we all invited a bunch of friends.
PRECURSE was curated by JOHN HODANY.
THEY TOLD THE FURURE BACKWARDS was curated by me (LARS MONRAD VAAGE).
FESTLICHE ABENDMUSIK was created by RAAF VAN DER SMAN.
WER FICKEN WILL MUSS FREUNLICH SIN was curated by MICHAEL KIRKHAM.
THE TALL ARTIST SHOW/FUCK THE LITTLE MAN was curated by GEORGE BARBER and I (LARS MONRAD VAAGE).”
The shows, so far – always open on a FRIDAY and entail an all-out all-nite PAR-TAY !! The shows are put on in a guerrilla/rove/rebel fashion, finding & utilizing raw unused urban spaces in Berlin.
. . . of course the other really funny thing about these guys is their name – NATIONALMUSEUM – which is a play on the STAATLICHE MUSEUM ZU BERLIN, or the NATIONAL MUSEUMS in BERLIN, and, until they got their own alternative website up and running, when you googled these guys, NATIONALMUSEUM – you got the official German gallery website !!
STAATLICHE MUSEUM ZU BERLIN – The national museums in Berlin represent the result of centuries of collecting.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the holdings increased enormously through generous donations, through archaeological fieldwork and through ethnological expeditions undertaken.
Today the national museums in Berlin consist of 16 museums, each with its own specail area of competence. Despite the losses suffered between 1933 and 1945, most collections rank high among the world’s major museums.
so, back to: the OPENING PIX !! – ‘THE TALL ARTIST SHOW’ aka ‘FUCK THE LITTLE MAN’ !! NATIONALMUSEUM, BERLIN. CURATED BY LARS MONRAD VAAGE & GEORGE BARBER. DECEMBER 12, 2008.
LUTZ BRAUN and PHILIP TOPOLOVAC with TOPOLOVAC’S ‘SKELETOR’.
on the wall at left, work by JOACHIM COSSAIS; ‘SKELETOR’ by PHILIP TOPOLOVAC; and at right, some kind of wonderful installation wall tent/painting !! by STEN ARE SANDBECK.
LOOK OUT !! life-size ‘SKELETOR’ by PHILIP TOPOLOVAC
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love this photo !! and the piece, a tent installation by STEN ARE SANDBECK. JOE BRADLEY, watch your back !!
tall artist KALLE RUNESON – peeking from within the STEN ARE SANDBECK tent.
wall sculpture by GEORGE BARBER.
painting by FABIAN FOBBES.
painting by KALLE RUNESON
painting by LUTZ BRAUN.
the “tall corner” !!
installation shot, ‘FUCK THE LITTLE MAN’, NATIONALMUSEUM, Berlin.
one of the show’s curators, ‘BIG BOI BARBER’ aka GEORGE BARBER !!
wow – these guys drink from s-e-r-i-o-u-s beer bottles !!
JOACHIM COSSAIS
PHILIP TOPOLOVAC.
. . . stealing a swig !!
UROS DJUROVIC
large painting by UROS DJUROVIC !!
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY: NATIONALMUSEUM. SPECIAL THABNKD To LARS MONRAD VAAGE.
ALL PHOTOS: VAAGE & SMAN
