Lola von der Gracht

The year-long DISAPPEARING BERLIN project highlights some of Berlin’s most unique architecture and urban spaces that are currently at risk of disappearing. Schinkel Pavillon is moving into the city for the very first time, with a program of performances, installations and concerts – into unique sites and iconic buildings that are now scheduled to be demolished, privatized or repurposed, after having defined the cityscape for so many decades.

Between marble mosaic, gold splendour and Faux Art Deco Die Hässlichen Vögel sing of freedom, love and abandonment. In 1997, Quartier 206, built by the New York architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, opened as Berlin's most exclusive luxury arcade with a free-floating marble staircase and a glass ceiling based on the Louvre pyramid. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the area around Friedrichstrasse and Gendarmenmarkt promised to replace the Kurfürstendamm as the luxury shopping mile for the new Berlin. But Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton left years ago, the once glamorous shopping temple has been under forced administration since 2011 and after Department Store 206 - the sophisticated heart of the quarter - closed in 2017, only Holmes Place is still at home here. In the middle of the floating staircase the avant-garde punk band Die Hässlichen Vögel will clash with the marble pomp. The band from Schöneberg refuses genre classifications, does not release any music and is currently planning a tour through prisons.

Quartier 206
Friedrichstrasse 71
10117 Berlin-Mitte

October 9, 2019

London band Wild Daughter conjure up an evening of live performance with support from Berlin’s Die Hässlichen Vögel and video installations from artists Aaron Sharif and Gerald Paul White. Sigils have been drawn, and this is their statement of intent.

Die Hässlichen Vögel (Ugly Birds) are composer Roman Ole, lyricist Luki von der Gracht, drummer Hansol ‘Bobo’ Kim, vocalist Josie Haar and instrumentalist Benji Wohlrab. They formed in 2018 when Roman was invited to perform at Berlin’s legendary club, Berghain. Die Hässlichen Vögel does not fit into a genre – a fact made even more complicated by the group’s refusal to record or release any music – although Roman’s proclivities land somewhere among jazz, punk, and church music.

Institute Of Contemporary Arts, London, GB, Thu, 27 Jun 2019