Jenne Grabowski

musician and designer – Berlin

“I like stories, and I am a storyteller in my particular way either when I am playing music or making design or art,” says Jenne Grabowski about himself. And be sure, you can’t slow him down: Jenne is a Berlin-based musician, a designer and the founder and art director of JB. Magazine, an indie magazine which celebrates the interplay of the arts, music and street culture. It’s all about movement, change and creative visions but never about giving yourself up to the fast pace of life today. His topics are well-chosen and include extensive interviews with a personal touch, loads of art, photos and selected works.

Whenever Jenne is not busy searching for interesting people and topics or working on a new design project, you can find him either on the skateboard or behind the mixing desk. He has been playing all around Germany, i.e. some of Berlin’s most well-know clubs like WMF, Panorama Bar, Bar 25, Café Moskau, Watergate or Cookies. Also, Jenne acted as the tour DJ of The Whitest Boy Alive on their “The Patience” tour through Germany. This circumstance gets us down to a beautiful liaison between three of our supporters: Jenne is friends with DENA and hand in glove with Marcin Oz and we are glad to have found supporters in all of them, true to the motto: “Support each other. Together we are strong!”

A very warm welcome!

What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight? 
If I’d loose sight, I would still be able to taste all the yummy food. Or I could still see the sun shining while everything tastes neutral. Damn, both are important and I hope I can keep those senses forever.

You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
I want people to explore a little something that could be common or special, to find something of themselves. I like stories, and I am a storyteller in my particular way either when I am playing music or making design or art. Balancing humour and seriousness, relevance and vanity, extent and detail.

JB. Magazine covers the arts, music, and street culture. Is it your personal mouthpiece? Who do you want to reach and what is your intention?
Yes, you can call it my personal mouthpiece that is influenced by a bunch of people, animals, things and whatever involved, making it happen. JB. is about telling stories. The stories of others, my personal stories, those of my friends, of dreams and how we shape our reality. I want JB. to reach out to people that are awake and share a sense of awareness while I am not focussing too much on a particular culture. Of course, sharing certain kinds of interests makes me able to connect more easily with other people, and this is important to me. It fills this project with power. When I think of the magazine and the potential reader, I don’t know anything about the person flipping or reading or wandering through our editorial world. But if I reach out to people who are not necessarily using the same colors to paint that I would, but making them think about the colors or listen to a sound that hasn’t been audible in their lives before, then that would be one very important accomplishment.

To what extent does Berlin, your place of residence, exert influence on your work but also your personal way of life?
It surely does, but after such a long time living in Berlin, I cannot state the extent of it anymore. I have family in this town, so many friends, skate-spots, art, music or work, the countryside around where I am meeting foxes and squirrels and trying to hang with beavers… Everyone has a large share at it. Kreuzberg is my home, it’s the basis of my current chapter in life but I am always eager to wander out to explore new places and spaces, close and far away.

„We slow down when everything is going fast“ – this sentence is part of your mission statement and seems to reflect your main intention. What is your personal advice for coming down?
We love what we do and we are progressing and moving in the forward direction. But we are not submitting ourselves to the fast-moving nature of our world and to the compulsion of cultural change. Though the only constant is change, we are taking it really easy. Both feet on the ground as we can’t fly. Well, sometimes we can… If something is not happening now, we can wait with ease for another good moment because the next moment will always be the best.

Print was declared dead when online magazines got stronger and stronger. But you still believe in the power of print. What makes it so unique to you?
“Punk was dead when the first punk said: Punk is dead!” This is nothing nostalgic, it is a serious thing. Somehow we are fulfilling a desire that had been there for so long. It is also the wish to have something real in a digitized world. We are digitizing our brains day in day out. It is something for the tactile perception. Watching, reading, cutting, folding, tearing out a piece of art and altering it into new art, or hanging it on the wall, sharing issues or articles, burning the paper. It’s like having sex instead of thinking of it. Sometimes the thought is enough, but reality can be pretty sweet.

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
I love and hate superlatives. And it’s hard to pin down a single moment or thing to claim it the most beautiful. But I would say it was the birth of my son Henri, because this magic was not happening on this planet.

What would you like to see more often?
People with courage and presence. James Turrell skyspaces. The real mountains. Or a James Turrell skyspace in the mountains, like the one in Switzerland I found last summer. The sea. The skateboard under my feet. My friends that I love but live to far away, even just to see them for a high five…

What do you prefer: sunrise or sunset?
I love both. Including the twilight. Sunset is about ending, which can be really dramatic. But the aesthetic, the transition is such a beautiful thing. The sunrise is always the beginning of something new. The unfolding, the flourishing, watching it all grow and not knowing where it will take us.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
Giving should be natural in order to receive. But always without expecting anything in return.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
Staying in the now and keeping in my mind that life is actually about nothing. No faster, stronger, better, whatever. It all just happens in its own pace. Just give up! That is the formula.

Who is your personal hero?
No glorifying, but it could be a long list. If I think of someone next door, it would be my son who just drew me a complex weather chart, my good friend who just borrowed me a piano or the other who connected me to one of my most favorite street photographer from New York!

What is your picture/sound for IWISHUSUN?
Picture: the fall leaves and the golden sun in the woods the other day.
Sound: the sound of my skateboard I am riding on down the street by the sea while I am humming.

Did we forget to mention that Jenne takes beautiful pictures, too?! Check out his photos here.

A few weeks ago we presented our first creative partner project and our first short film, the result of a cooperation between Berlin-based composer and music producer Robot Koch and the photographer Sabrina Theissen. For “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN” our ambassadors got together to take a look at the topic of sight, which IWISHUSUN has dedicated its work to.

The process and the thoughts of the two IWISHUSUN ambassadors are documented in intense imagery in Editude Pictures’ short film, “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN”:

A few days ago we presented our first creative partner project and our first short film, the result of a cooperation between Berlin-based composer and music producer Robot Koch and the photographer Sabrina Theissen. For “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN” our ambassadors got together to take a look at the topic of sight, which IWISHUSUN has dedicated its work to.

Here you can see Sabrina Theissen at work:

The result: a photographic tryptich which is shown below. The sky and the sun are the determining motifs, which, in a similarly minimalist way as the song by Robot Koch, are captured only indirectly by reflection, allowing the greatest possible space for the unexpected aspects of ones own interpretations in their complete reduction – a playing field for one’s own way of seeing and perspectives.

The process and the thoughts of the two IWISHUSUN ambassadors are documented in intense imagery in Editude Pictures’ short film, “In a Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen for IWISHUSUN”:

Wir freuen uns sehr, das erste kreative Partnerprojekt und unseren ersten Kurzfilm vorzustellen, der aus der Zusammenarbeit zweier Botschafter aus unserem immer größer werdenden Netzwerk entstanden ist: „In A Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen“.

Der Berliner Komponist sowie Musikproduzent Robot Koch und die Fotografin Sabrina Theissen haben sich zusammengetan, um das Thema des Sehens, dem sich IWISHUSUN verschrieben hat, von kreativer Seite aus zu betrachten. Dafür stellte Robot Koch seinen brandneuen Song „Jupiter“ zur Verfügung, von dessen Melodien sich Sabrina Theissen inspirieren ließ und mit dem obigen Triptychon fotografisch darauf antwortet. Der Himmel und die Sonne werden hier zum bestimmenden Motiv, das in ebenso minimalistischer Manier wie Robot Kochs Song durch Reflektionen nur indirekt eingefangen wird und in aller Reduktion dem Unvorhersehbaren, der eigenen Interpretation den größten Raum einräumt – ein Spielraum für das eigene Sehen und die eigenen Sichtweisen.

Diesen Prozess und die Gedanken der beiden IWISHUSUN-Botschafter dokumentiert der gleichnamige Kurzfilm „In A Creative Dialogue – Robot Koch x Sabrina Theissen für IWISHUSUN“ in intensiven Bildern:

Unser Dank gilt Robot Koch, Sabrina Theissen sowie Frederic Leitzke und Andreas Lamøth von Editude Pictures, die den kreativen Austausch filmisch eingefangen haben!

Die Interviews von Robot Koch, Sabrina Theissen und Editude Pictures mit IWISHUSUN können Sie hier nachlesen.

Did you know that our friend, film producer and co-founder of Editude Pictures, Frederic Leitzke, is also a DJ? As one half of the duo, Jazoburbs, or as efalive, he has been bringing beats to crowds since 2003. Now Freunde von Freunden, an international interview magazine that portraits people of diverse creative and cultural backgrounds in their homes or within their daily working environments but presents its own mixtapes on the corresponding blog, too, asked Frederic to select his favorite songs. The result is a mixtape which is definitely worth a listen, featuring Mount Kimbie, Schwarz Dont Crack, Super Flu, &ME among others.

Listen to Frederic’s Freunde von Freunden Mixtape #65 here:

Frederic Leitzke’s Mixtape #65 tracklist:

01. Schwarz Dont Crack – Charade (Adana Twins On A Lonely Night Remix) /Kitsune, 2013/
02. Hanne & Lore – My Oh My /Monaberry, 2013/
03. Ten Walls – Requiem /Life And Death, 2013/
04. Mario Aureo & Manuel Moreno – Arosis (Sebo Remix) /Ritter Butzke Studio, 2013/
05. Chasing Kurt – Lose Myself /Suol, 2013/
06. Kölsch ft. Troels Abrahamsen – All That Matters (andhim Remix) /Kompakt, 2013/
07. Mount Kimbie – Made To Stray (DJ Koze Remix) /Warp, 2013/
08. Super Flu ft. Monkey Safari – Me Roar /Monaberry, 2013/
09. Riva Starr ft. Rssll – Absence (Adam Port Remix) /Snatch! Records, 2013/
10. &ME – Shallow /Keinemusik, 2013/
11. Matt Karmil – Reverse Peephole /IRR, 2013/

Check out Frederic’s interview with IWISHUSUN here.

Moreover, Frederik Frede who co-founded the website Freunde von Freunden showed his colours for IWISHUSUN, too. Read his interview here.

Robot Koch

composer and music producer – Berlin

Under the name “Robot Koch” Robert Koch, who was born in Kassel in 1977, has recently attained international success and acclaim as “One of Europe’s finest producers of the beat generation,” as Low End Theory stated from Los Angeles. “Don’t Wake Me” immediately cast a spell on us: a positive undertone, melancholy and yearning at the same time. The sound is accompanied by haunting lyrics, written by Robot Koch, John LaMonica and one of our favourite Berlin-based singers, D E N A. But Robots Don’t Sleep is only one of many projects that keeps the music producer busy.

Whenever Robot Koch is not working as a composer and producer with both indie and major artists internationally, he is the mastermind behind the critically acclaimed band Jahcoozi and Robot Robinson with John Robinson. It’s self evident how diverse his own tracks, DJ sets, mash-ups and his collaborators are, but the same is also true of his style, which explains why Dazed and Digital once described his music as “a gothic galactic aesthetic of ten ton beats and space age melodies.” In short, to put it in music guru John Peel’s words: “Wonderful and strange — pop music from the future.”

Robert Koch supports IWISHUSUN and popped in for an interview. You can read the results below, but first we want to give him our warmest welcome!

What is the most important sense to you?
I want to say hearing because music and sound is such a big inspiration to me, but even more than that I think seeing is what inspires me the most. I’m a very visual person, I even see sounds sometimes and think of images or landscapes when I make music.

You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
I really want to touch people with my work. On different levels. I think music is a really strong means of communication; sound waves are energy. If you manage to touch people on different frequencies, something resonates in them. Emotionally and subconsciously. This may sound vague and hippie-esque but I do believe everything is connected by the same universal energy.

John Peel once described your music as “wonderful and strange — pop music from the future”. When you think of the future, what will it look and sound like?
I’d like to be optimistic, but I’m afraid it’s going to look a lot less pretty and sound more polluted. But I hope I’m wrong. Maybe it’ll be really quiet actually. Kind of post-reset-quiet.

You have been compared with artists like Jamie Lidell, who is also a supporter of IWISHUSUN, The xx and Jimmy Edgar. Where do you position yourself and your music?
I don’t really like comparisons like that. I do respect the above-mentioned artists, but I guess every artist strives for their own musical identity. Of course there are parallels, and artists you are closer to than others musically, but I prefer describing music without genre tags or referring to other artists. My music is trying to find a balance between organic and digital sounds. It’s human and mechanic. The balance between nature and technology. It also has a bittersweet taste to it, sometimes dark but still with some warmth and light to it.

Blind people and those who can see surely experience the world in different ways. How would you describe the world, to someone who suffers from an irreversible loss of the ability to see, in one sentence? 
That’s a hard one. I’d say: try to imagine an almost limitless amount of shapes and colours. And a lot of beauty.

When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I adopted a bear in Asia. Animals are treated very badly over there and some moon bears in certain areas of Asia are kept and mistreated in bear farms under horrible conditions for some very questionable medical profit. I adopted a bear through “Animals Asia” to set him free.

What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
I try to act responsibly and treat nature as the highest good. Material goods are way overrated. If people perceived themselves as what they are, part of nature, then they wouldn’t be so destructive, which in the end is self-destructive.

What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
A lot of landscapes come to mind, places I’ve been to. Nature usually has the biggest impact on me in terms of beauty. Hard to just single out one event or thing. There are too many.

What would you like to see more often?
Balance.

Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
I guess sunset. Sometimes when I see a sunset and I feel all nostalgic I hum this melody from star wars to myself quietly, from the scene when Luke is watching the binary sunset on Tatooine. That scene had a big impact on me as a kid and it still resonates to this day.

Who is your personal hero?
It’s hard to just mention a single person. There are some iconic figures in music like Moondog, Rick Rubin or Lemmy from Motörhead who I respect for who they are. I also find comic writer and shaman Michael Moore a very interesting personality. I watched a documentary on him and some of the stuff he said blew my mind. But really everyone who cares for and protects the environment has my biggest respect; even for little everyday type things they do, it all helps to make a big difference.

While Berlin-based IWISHUSUN ambassador and musician D E N A is working on her new single, we can already listen to another new sound: composer, producer and DJ Stefan Goldmann worked on D E N A’s track “Thin Rope” and gives us a new interpretation of her catchy tune. Reworking her single must have been really inspiring, so his work did not result in one remix but in two. Stream it here:

“Thin Rope” is out now digitally in EU+UK+US!

Photo by Joachim Zimermann / artwork by Nicola Napoli. via D E N A Facebook.