For dinner I met up with Tom and another artist who also works as a bicycle tour guide. Jonathan is German but has just come back from two years in Argentina. His grandparents settled there and his parents had gone back to live in Argentina when the Second World War broke out. He was quick to say that his family were against the war and didn't want to have any part in it, although we hadn't asked, but this war business still raises its head even if unspoken. An extremely volatile, cheerful fellow, he certainly had the sun darkened skin and look of a gaucho, keeping us entertained by his anecdotes of his life in Argentina. We were eating at the so popular Monsieur Vuong's where the queues are so long and the place is so packed for the two Vietnamese specialities that they offer each day, that getting part of a table seems like a victory. The mango and coconut smoothie was divine.
Afterwards we went to the Art Pub, which has been open by the English artist Paul Woods. Everyone that works there is an artist, a Siberian one behind the bar, and the walls are changing exhibitions of his own and others works. Musical groups play there on some nights, poetry readings, or artist discussions other nights. He first came to Berlin in 2000 when everything was wide open and he squatted like they all did in the empty abandoned buildings. He was part of a squat of artists that included some from the Milchhof. Tall, thin and with one of those scraggy beards, he talked a mile a minute about all his projects and possibilities, even outtalking Jonathan. He had first started opening galleries in empty shops, building up a group of artists around him, but then he got a backer and opened this Art Pub in November and did a bustling business. However, unlike running a gallery where he freely operated it, as he liked, Paul said that being a pub brought all sorts of nasty elements circling round. Criminals demanding protection money, drug dealers wanting to be included, Neo-Nazis turning up, all the underworld elements made him a target. After many all-out fights and punchings he called the police. Now all of a sudden no one comes. It's true we were the only ones there that night. His telephone and Internet has been cut off and the pub no longer pays its way. Irrepressible though, in spite of these woes he went on to talk of the artist projects he wants to set up and the performances he is going to give along with artist workshops on how to make money. Did you hear that last bit? A real alternative systems breaker. Hats off to his indomitable spirit even if smashing keyboards, as part of musical performance isn't as cutting edge as it once was.
