The Belgian designer Raf Simons named his three-day mini-festival “Transmission” to convey how the participants convert the dynamic contradictions and contagious energy of Berlin’s creative scene into art. “Transmission” is the first installment of “The Avant-Garde Diaries,” a series of Mercedes-Benz sponsored cultural events to be curated by Simons that the car company will host in cities all over the world. For Berlin, Simons selected a group of artists who are inspired by the city but who are not necessarily based here, including the graphic designer Peter Saville, the industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, the Scottish dancer and choreographer Michael Clark, the British writer Jo-Ann Furniss, These New Puritans (a band from Southend-on-Sea), the Belgian artist Peter de Potter and New York’s very own Fischerspooner. “Transmission” also features a sampling of Simons’s favorite horror films. The show is physically situated in the Berlin Congress Center, with events running from noon to midnight. Theavantgardediaries.com, a digital magazine, will broadcast the key events for non-Berliners and introduce readers to the artists involved. Simons sat down with The Moment just hours before the opening to discuss Berlin’s significance as a contemporary creative hub.
