Allgemein

Working from home

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So I just came back from two weeks vacation in Portugal. Yeah I know – you can actually spend two weeks in that tiny country. Oh that wasn’t what you were wondering? Oh, you meant because of that thing, that makes tons of people sick, makes others fight over toilet paper and comedy dudes start yet another podcast? 

“Home Office” (2019)

I read the news once in the morning, once in the evening, that’s it. And only the German public-service broadcast, nothing more. I unfollow everyone who posts only about the C word. I do not have energy for more. On vacation, I check the news even less. But when you don’t check the news, the news eventually check on you. So in Portugal, suddenly the bars were closed, then the restaurants and lastly the beach. And then we went back to Berlin. 

Since then, people have asked me how my artist life has changed. Not at all. I sit at my desk and draw what I think is funny. With or without quarantine: 

“Home Office” 2020

With all my shows cancelled I’m glad I can work at home, too. My dad called „we are so worried since you’re a freelancer and all your shows get cancelled“. I said „Don’t worry, I was hardly booked anyway“. Was that the wrong answer? 

With no shows I have time to finish my illustration projects. Except now I have my boyfriend home all day – who’s finally experiencing me working. He looks at me drawing at my desk all day and said „why don’t you go watch a movie for a change“. Like drawing is my hobby equally to watching netflix. No, this is actually what I do all day.

Thanks for the photo and watching the stream yesterday, Christl!

The other day he threw paper trash away – so he thought. He placed it in my art collage box where I keep years old, crucial paper snippets that I will one day turn into art. I laughed. The most confused/happiest of all is my dog. Everyone home? Is it forever weekend? Is it a holiday? What’s going on?! 

Classic question, art or trash?

 

Yesterday, my dog constantly crushed my video live stream. I did graphic recording for a digital conference (for my fellow Impulspiloten crew). Since everything was digital – the host, speakers, the coffee break – I decided to draw analog (see photo above). It was pure joy to hold my paper drawings (and dog) in the camera and present them to the audience.

Employee of the month

I hope you all are coping and staying inside. Because if you’re actually working outside you wouldn’t have time to read this right. <3

Shows update

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Of course, all my upcoming shows will be postponed / cancelled. Updates will follow. Until then I have time to write jokes, draw cartoons, do more art, finish reading watchmen. What will you do?

Also, I am finally open for commission again, so if you need anything drawn, like your portrait on a toilet paper cuz why not, hit me up! https://www.ingridwenzel.de/kontakt/

Until then, I post funny stuff mostly in my instagram stories: https://www.instagram.com/wenzelgram/ (sorry you have to sign up for that, will look for an easier version eventually).

The perfect notebook

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If you had to save one thing from your house what would it be? Maybe your dog, yes maybe a significant other, photo albums or money. For me it’s my sketchbooks. They contain all my caught ideas. I sometimes throw out artwork, because once finished, it does not mean anything to me. Like a rotten dish. But my notebooks hold the recipes. I look through them for inspiration and my brain starts cooking. It is a goldmine. I’ve been doing this since 1998. I have a lot.

 

Notebook addict by Nadja Ramsaroop (c)

I am addicted to fancy notebooks. I cannot contain myself in an art supply store. In fact, I avoid them. My brain goes directly from spotting them to check out. I can finally go to Boesner again because I TRIED ALL THEIR PAPER. I’m healed. For now, I need to avoid Modular and their enslaving product range.

With nothing else in my life I am this particular. My pen does not set foot on mediocre paper. When I elect them I investigate the bookbinding, sizing, paper weight and surface, strechtability and design. Paper needs to be sturdy to avoid bleeding but at the same time needs to weigh almost nothing like it doesn’t matter. You need to be able to bend it without breaking, like this:

At home I have a library of empty books. Some become diaries, others sketchbooks, an improv manual, graphic novel, travel journal, collage collection, joke book. That’s where I create a new stand-up routine. A perfect notebook makes you work automatically. The feeling of mining a pen into paper spreads roots in the brain. Writing it down later on the computer is just for archiving. Sorry, Macbook. I carry one notebook wherever I go. I have taken notes while driving on the Autobahn, while walking, even on a techno club’s restroom. This is how a typical note page looks like:

Last year, I travelled to Ljubljana and discovered a small paper art manufacturer tipoRenesansa. An invisible force dragged me inside and a second later I found myself unconsciously buying their most precious sketchbook: The only prototype of a gift made for German paper pope Gerhard Steidl. I keep his magazine he did for DIE ZEIT in 2015 on my desk, every page is made from different paper. I don’t think I ever read it, I just touch it. He’s famous for his book printing. Artists that beg to print with him get locked into a chamber in his small half-timbered countryhouse in rural Göttingen until the job is done. My biggest dream. The last photo on this shows his beautiful introduction words of what paper means to him. And here’s a movie about how he made that magazine:

I’m writing these lines while unpacking my second order from tipoRenesansa. Again, these are the best notebooks I ever had, bendable, sturdy light weights, and I can’t wait to find out where they will take me:

My new notebooks from tipoRenesansa: two beautiful prototypes, the pig, my favorite animal, and the red one is the code of arms of Slovenia when they were part of Yugoslavia

 

My Gerhard Steidl Prototip Sketchbook and the 2015 Magazine (the feather card to the left was a personal note from tipoRenesansa, so sweet!)

Setup / Punchline Magazin und was noch so passiert ist

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Mein Buddy und Journalist Bernhard Hiergeist hat eine brandneue Website und einen sweeten Newsletter über Stand-up & Co erschaffen: Setup Punchline. Es lohnt sich reinzuschalten, ich werde bestimmt noch öfter zu seinem neuen Lexikon von Stand-up Begriffen verlinken. Früher gebraucht hätte ich es. Als Newcomerin habe ich einst “bomben” und “killen” verwechselt. Nun komme ich in der aktuellen Ausgabe vor. Wir unterhalten uns über Bilder malen in der Comedy und in der Kunst. Ihr könnt es hier lesen:

Ist Comedy Kunst?

Was noch? Meine letzte Soloshow dieses Jahr ist am 6.12. zusammen mit Jonas Imam im Deriva Neukölln (am besten Plätze reservieren). Hier geht’s zum Facebook Event mit allen Infos:

https://www.facebook.com/events/408375446780598/

photo cred Ingrid: Stefanie Baars

 

Ansonsten bin ich wie immer fleissig am zeichnen (1) animieren (2) und neuerdings auch sound-designen (mit iphone, garage band und Verzerrer) (3):

(1)

(2)

(3)

 

New Soloshows in Berlin

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Hello people, ich möchte auf drei besondere Comedyshows dieses Jahr noch hinweisen. Sie sind alle in Berlin und ich teile mir die Bühne mit jeweils einem anderen tollen Comedian. Lange Sets zu sehen ist immer ein Highlight weil sie in die Tiefe gehen (im Vergleich zu kurzen, punchy fünf Minuten Sets), vor allem von diesen Menschen. Bei zwei der Abende zeige ich zu meinem Stand-up auch Illustrationen von mir, hier eine Vorschau.

 

 

1.NOV – KLEINOD NEUKÖLLN

22. NOV – DANTRA’S SCHÖNEBERG

6.DEZ – DERIVA NEUKÖLLN

 

 

 

1.November – Stand-up Comedy im Kleinod Neukölln mit Passun Azhand. Man sieht uns fast täglich auf Berliner Bühnen, wie auch beim Roast Battle. Jetzt machen wir endlich zum ersten Mal eine Soloshow zusammen im schönen Kleinod. Don’t miss!

22.Novemeber – Stand-up Comedy & Cartoons im DanTra’s Schöneberg mit Martin Niemeyer. Martin ist einer der besten Stand-up Comedians Deutschlands, ein absolutes Vorbild was Jokewriting angeht und er kommt mit einem Teil seines neuen Solos “Supersubtil” extra aus Hamburg nach Berlin.

6.Dezember – Stand-up Comedy & Cartoons im Deriva Neukölln mit Jonas Imam. Jonas ist in der Szene bekannt als Gründer der deutschen Stand-up Comedy Szene in Berlin. Auf seiner wöchentlichen, immer vollen Open Mic Bühne schlagen sich regelmässig tolle Newcomer wie auch Stars aus dem Fernsehen um Auftrittsgelegenheiten.

 

 

Plätze reservieren

Alle drei Locations sind schön und gemütlich. Das heißt: auch schnell voll. Plätze reservieren geht immer im jeweiligen Facebook Event (Entweder einen Kommentar posten oder einem Ticketlink folgen). Im Dantra’s könnt ihr sogar telefonisch reservieren!

 

$$$

In Berliner Stand-up Comedy Tradition kostet keine der Shows Eintritt. Dafür geht am Ende eine Spende rum, damit jeder nach eigenem Ermessen Kultur genießen kann. (Der Rest der Comedy Republik Deutschland macht sich gerne lustig über das  “Berliner Finanzkonzept” – aber es hat sich bewährt, dass sich nur so so viel kreative, einzigartige Stand-up Comedy entwickeln kann wie sonst nirgendwo in Deutschland.)

Alle meine anderen Termine, Mixshows, wie auch eine Vorlesung gibt es wie immer hier: https://www.ingridwenzel.de/termine/

Unter anderem bin ich jetzt auch Teil einer Late Night Show im Comedy Cafe Berlin (auf Englisch).

 

My short film “müde” is now online

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The past months I’ve been teaching myself how to do movies. I read about plot, characters, themes and visual effects. Since I don’t have a lot of hardware nor manpower right now I decided to first draw my ideas. So here’s my illustrated short film about people invading personal space by saying thoughtless things, insomnia and, well, a burping office building. You can even vote for it as part of a short film competition by arte.tv and as you all know me, I don’t want no netflix special, I want that arte special. 

 

Müde


 

Good to Talk at Kantine am Berghain

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Summer is going, new shows are coming. As always, I post my dates on here ingridwenzel.de/termine and all mics and small shows in Berlin on Insta. Here’s a gig I particularly want to invite to: Good To Talk at Kantine am Berghain September 28th 2019 starting at noon. An interdisciplinary approach to talking about art. I will perform and speak about art and comedy together with my illustrations. I will update this once I know my time slot, it will be splendid!

You can find more infos on Good to Talk’s website and on facebook. See you there. Oh and one SAD announcement. I was supposed to do a solo show in Kassel September 21th. Unfortunately, the venue has closed for good. If you got tickets already please contact the venue, I will come another time, another place.

Other than that, I hope you all had a great summer, got new impressions, read a good book and refueled energy for the rest of the year.

(c) Good to talk website
(c) Good to talk facebook
(c) Nadja Ramsaroop (original shot) /Ingrid Wenzel

EDIT: Here’s a Wimmelbild of all my slides in a nonsensical order:

(c) Ingrid Wenzel 2019