
When you want to find someone to fix your sink, you know to call a plumber. Even in Germany, land of overcomplication, this undertaking is fairly straightforward. But what if you need someone to design the set for your post-BDSM modernist performance exhibit? Unless you already have contacts here, it can be hard to know where to start.
Enter Júlia Marí Bernaus and her three business partners (another Catalonian and two Scots). Over the past year, they raised Artconnect Berlin from just a little baby blog to a full-grown app, and on August 1 released her into the wild.
Artconnect Berlin is an English-language social networking website designed to bring Berlin artists of all nationalities together in a place where they can share ideas, plan projects and make new connections. It’s a mix of the new and the familiar – a user’s main page doubles as a live-updated portfolio of his projects and collaborations.
At the time of writing, the site remains a little rough around the edges, but new features are added weekly, and the member base is quickly growing in all directions. Need a pornographic portrait painted? Artconnect’s got someone for that. Need a 16th-Century painting restored? They’ve got someone for that too.
Berliner artists like Reynold Reynolds and Matthias Planitzer are already active members. The notorious Peaches hasn’t gone quite that far, but she graciously distinguished the launch party with her televised presence. Do Júlia’s ambitions reach beyond the German capital? “It’s about Berlin right now. Maybe – maybe after we’ve conquered Berlin we’ll think about other cities.”
Artconnect Berlin | www.artconnectberlin.com