indieberlin yearbook 2014 - December 2014 | Page 59

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Mia Morris’s first art project that saw the light of day was what became the funkyrotic project. Heavily underpinned by the eroticism that she sees everywhere in everyday life and drawing from the nineties fashion magazine aesthetic, Mia photographed herself and others and then engaged on heavy bouts of photo manipulation, printing the photos onto large sheets of paper, reworking them with paints and whatever she found to hand, repeatedly rescanning and reprinting them and doing whatever she could think of to bend the original images to the vision she held in her head.

Mia Morris also expresses frustration at the conventional art business in Berlin and elsewhere, and the philosophy that stands behind a gallery system that plans its shows often two years in advance and acts as gatekeepers for what is and isn’t art.

What has perhaps also somewhat dictated the direction in which Mia’s work has developed is her other project, indieberlin. She moved into the world of concert photography and has

ended up snapping hundreds of photos at both the smaller and bigger venues in town, capturing seminal images of bands such as Savages, The/Das, Travis, Red Ink, Kitty Solaris, Yasmin Gate and Bunny Suit, among others.

helping to shape the brand new underground scene. In between helping to start clubs and helping to end them he managed simultaneously to enjoy the wilder aspects of the scene while also forming, joining and leaving numerous indie bands and collectives.

Noel Maurice also discovered street music, finding it a naked and honest form of expression, and plays street music around Berlin to this day, where he sells CDs and gathers new fans.

Under his artist name Idiotchild, Noel played with various line-ups including tea chest basses, broken accordions, retro drum machines and acoustic guitars, performing in clubs throughout Berlin and its environs as well as in the UK.

In 2008 Noel launched together with his partner Mia Morris the networking platform indieberlin as a project to bring art, music and fashion together and grow, perform with and benefit from one another.

Noel Maurice first arrived young and fresh-faced in early 90s Berlin after taking a wrong turn somewhere and deciding to stay.

He landed directly in Tacheles and lived there in the early days of the now famous art house,