Slubbing It With The Dailies
The thing about the dead-tree press is that, in contrast to bottom-feeding blogs like this one, who favour rumor and speculation over well researched facts, you can always rely on them as a respected source of quality information.
In this past Sunday’s Tagesspiegel for example we read that this journal is in fact called “Slub Magazine”. We stand duly corrected, and have made the necessary adjustments to the masthead, which will remain in place until columnist Kolja Reichert decides to fire up his browser in a flurry of post-press research, and then apologise publically for this heinous slur.
Further more, we read that Slub Magazine “resides a couple of houses further up the street” from Arno Brandlhuber’s much talked about Teutonic Favela™ on Brunnenstraße 9. The assumption here is probably that SLAB is some venerable, centrally organised institution, shacked up in the bar ‘Kim’, with which the co-editor of this chronicle is associated, paying rent to Jean-Remy von Matt … two grubby archi-hacks bivouacking in the basement of a dive bar, living off Mitte’s gin and peanut vernissage circuit.
The article in question, which is otherwise interesting and informative can be found at the following link: Tagesspiegel
Well as I see it you have two alternatives: a) hire a lawyer to sue over this vile slander, or b) quickly rechristen all associated internet properties and apply for a thick slab of government funding as the well respected “Stiftung SLUB”. Either ought to get you an extra packet or two of nuts to keep the squirrels going …
We are not obliged to comment upon the activities of our crack team of Manhattan lawyers, who may or may not be pushing 18 hour shifts sorting this sordid mess out.
I thought the article was as most articles on architecture in the TS fairly wishy-washy but I suppose one has to consider that it is a filler for the people who are not actually construction or design professionals – apparently there are some in Berlin somewhere.
My personal jury is still out on whether the portrayal of Brandlhuber as a somewhat unwitting designer and financier of the project is a good or a bad thing. The TS seems to be selling us the idea that he just happened to be served this prime location site and kind of ended up slapping a “slub” of building onto it without worring about what it might cost or whether he might not find enough friends and relations to populate it and refinance the costs. They just appeared at rouglhy the right time and are meandering bit by bit into the completed “slub” without Herr B. really being aware of how many, if any, keys he has put into circulation. Thus spake Brandlhuber “Kuchen divide thyself!”.
Herr Richter was a bit sloppy, too, when writing about our piece at the 09 DMY festival:
“Das Büro Elegant Embellishments zeigte da puzzlebare Fassadenverzierungen, die sich durch Fotokatalyse selbst reinigen, ganz im Nachhaltigkeitstrend.”
We do make an effort to incessantly mention their depolluting effect whenever we can, but somehow, that slipped his attention, degrading our product to the technical sophistication of car wax and failing to understand that that active approach to environmental problems is in its precariousness actually quite in opposition to the current trend of sustainability. I tried calling him to explain, but didn’t get through.
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/Ticket;art2811,2812992
My highly esteemed colleagues,
never before has a post press research been more fun! It flatters my high browed quality press proud like fuck how you little grassroot blobbers get into a complete tizzy about an early saturday morning freelancer’s vowel shift. I hereby kneel down in public with my sincerest apologies. As a fan of your work, I had thought to be about serving you with some google hit advantages, but I have to accept that my good will failed in a shaming way (as possibly my english wanting-to-much does just now).
Believe me, I would rename my rent paying newspaper to “Tugesspiegel” if I had the authority to do so. For now I could offer to subscribe all my articles with “Kolja Richter” until D.S. gets through by phone and explains me every detail about his car wax efforts after some talk about the sloppiness trend.
You propably got my mail now, so maybe we could end up some day together at Kim Bar and you could show me some table tennis tricks. I could then teach you back what real sloppiness looks like.
Kindest Regards
Kolja Richter
Peace…and thanks for responding