Tag Archives: Carl Kruse

Past Events

Finissage + Concert With Artist Gwen Kerber


Artist Gwendolyn Kerber (Yale MFA ’84) invites the Ivy Circle to the finissage of her art exhibit “Ice Melts To Water,” taking place Sunday, March 22 from 2pm-5pm at the HELL gallery at Spittastr. 2, 10317 Berlin.  The gallery is owned and run by another Yale School of Art graduate, Alexis Knowlton.  There will be a musical performance by the British improvising trio “arc:3” at 3pm.  Simple refreshments will be served.

Kerber will provide a tour of her works and be available for any questions.

From gallery owner Alexis Knowlton:  In Gwendolyn Kerber’s exhibition, a purple painting, a fragile structure of sticks, and erased drawings of water ripples are resolved at various states of finish. The works depend on each other as much as on natural observation for their creation. The touch of the painter emerges in details that shimmer between information and idiosyncrasy.

The intention of Kerber´s work across several years has been to convey the experience of standing in a clear shallow lake, sunlight creating patterns on the sandy bottom. Water plants moving slowly, catching light. Her solo exhibition at HELL, to which you are invited, shifts attention to the work´s conceptual aspects.

Kerber is a painter who has developed a skill-vocabulary rather than a style or genre. Her working process moves between careful observations of visual phenomena, both on-site and in the studio, and welcoming the unexpected: the physical unruliness of such earnest attempts.

More on Gwendolyn Kerher: Gwendolynkerber.com.
More on Gallery HELL: http://galeriehell.com/

arc:3 Trio are:
Jessica Thomas
Violinist working across baroque repertoire, historically informed performance, and modern projects

Katya Sourikova
Pianist and composer working across modern jazz, art-pop, film, interdisciplinary events and gallery performances

Michael Avery
Bassist and producer working between art-pop and jazz

Performing in close proximity to the paintings, arc:3 will create spontaneous sonic reflections of several works from the exhibition.

Carl Kruse |

Through shifting textures, resonance and gesture, the music will respond to Kerber’s visual language of color, light and form, while suggesting the emotional and narrative associations the images evoke.

We look forward to welcoming everyone to the finissage of the exhibit on March 22!

Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle Berlin
Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association of Germany

Current Events Berlin

Ivy Circle Berlin Stammtisch – 3 June 2026

by Carl Kruse

Hello all!

The Ivy Circle Berlin Stammtisch for May is postponed until Wednesday, June 3, 2026 because our regular venue at FREDERICKS suddenly closed for unexpected repairs.

We gather June 3 from 6PM onwards at QUASIMODO at Kantstr. 12A, just a quick walk from Bahnhof Zoo.

The Quasimodo is one of Berlin’s most storied music bars and clubs, with roots going back to the late 1960s when they first operated in the basement of the Delphi Filmpalast. Over time it evolved into a cornerstone of Berlin’s jazz scene, hosting legends like Prince, Chet Baker, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Today, Quasimodo operates as both a live music venue and a stylish cocktail bar, balancing tradition with a more contemporary nightlife offering.

We meet at the bar upstairs, which serves high-quality cocktails—from classics to inventive house creations.  The bar has reserved an outdoor space for the Ivy Circle so we can enjoy the warming weather.

Complimentary wine while it lasts.

A cool atmosphere and a perfect place for our after work monthly cocktail rendezvous.  Come meet new friends and old.

I hope to see you at Quasimodo!

Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association of Germany
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Former events include Champagne and Art with Jade Cassidy, and the Boros Bunker Sammlung Tour.

Past Events Berlin

Factory Visit: Siemens Energy in Berlin

Hello All!

The Wharton Club of Germany And Austria invites us to an exclusive factory visit at Siemens Energy in Berlin. During the visit, we will have the opportunity to tour the gas turbine manufacturing facility as well as the electrolyzer factory, gaining insights into advanced technologies for energy generation, hydrogen production, and to the future of sustainable power.

This behind-the-scenes experience provides a rare opportunity to see advanced engineering processes, innovative production techniques, and the expertise that drives Siemens Energy’s global impact.

Date and Time:

Thursday, March 26, 2026
6:00pm— 7:00pm 

Location:
Siemens Energy
Huttenstraße 12
Berlin 10553

Contact:
Isabel Matz
isabelmatz.wcga@gmail.com 

Participation Fee:

10 Euro for Wharton Club members

20 Euro for non-members

To register please visit this link:

https://www.whartongermany.com/factory_visit_siemens_energy

Cheers!

Carl Kruse

Ivy Circle Berlin
Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association of Germany

Past Events Berlin

Harvard Club Invite for Dinner and Lecture

Hello All!

The Harvard Club of Berlin invites us to a diner and chat with Jörg Rocholl, Chair of the Advisory Board to the German Ministry of Finance. 

Details below from Harvard.

Cheers!
Carl Kruse

Dear members and friends of the Harvard Community in Berlin,

Germany’s future prosperity and stability can no longer be taken for granted. Economic pressure, demographic change, and global competition are raising urgent questions about how we stay innovative, resilient, and socially cohesive.

In this moment of strategic reorientation, we invite you to a Leadership Dinner and Lecture with Professor Jörg Rocholl, president of ESMT Berlin and a leading voice on Germany’s economic future. As a finance expert and chair of the advisory board of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, Rocholl is deeply engaged in some of the country’s most urgent debates. He is currently contributing to the German pension commission, where the challenge of financing social security in an aging society is no longer theoretical. It is immediate.

Germany’s demographic reality is reshaping everything, from pensions and public finances to skilled labor and long-term growth. To answer this Germany must become a country of brain gain that attracts, retains, and empowers international talent while strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship. At a time when many highly qualified people from the U.S. and around the world are reconsidering where they can best live, work, and build their future, Germany has a real opportunity to position itself as a destination of choice. Brain gain is also about building a society where talent can succeed, education and lifelong learning are prioritized, and transformation is embraced. At ESMT Berlin, where Jörg Rocholl serves as president, this mission is central to developing the leaders the country requires.

What does Germany need to thrive economically, socially, and globally? And what decisions must be made now to secure long-term prosperity for the next generation?

Join us for this timely and forward-looking conversation on February 19. The discussion will be held in English.

We look forward to welcoming you.

When?: Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 6:30 pm

Where?: Restaurant Il Punto, Lasagneria

Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6, 10117 Berlin

Dresscode: Smart Casual

Tickets:

Members & partners: 45 € p.p.

Non-Members: 55 € p.p.

Welcome drinks and two course menu are included.

Drinks with the meal will be charged separately.

30 tickets are available for this event.

Please register via the following link: Registration Link until February 12, 2026.

Payment options:

Bank transfer: Please transfer the ticket to our bank account:

Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.

IBAN: DE33 1007 0848 0036 7532 00

BIC: DEUTDEDB110

Reference: your name & HLD Rocholl

Paypal: frohn@pwwl.de  family and friends

Reference: your name & HLD Rocholl

Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.
c/o Pusch Wahlig Workplace Law
Berliner Freiheit 2
10785 Berlin

Tel.: +49 (0)30 20629530
Fax: +49 (0)30 206295399

Past Events Berlin

Art Vernissage at Vorona Gallery in Berlin

by Carl Kruse



The Ivy Circle Berlin invites you to an exclusive preview of the art exhibit Face Off at the Vorona Galerie, Friedbergstraße 12, 14057 Berlin on Thursday, February 19, 2026 starting at 6pm.

This is a private tour by gallery owner Julia Vorozhtsova and art curator Jenia Yanes on the day before the exhibit opens to the public. 

Champagne expert Fanny Thiel — who is from Champagne, France — will be on hand to serve champagne from her curated selection, while it lasts.

Event Description

Face Off is a group exhibition bringing together artists from diverse cultural contexts: Anastasia Tory (Ukraine–United Kingdom), Rolf Abendroth (Germany), Andreas Geissel (Germany), Cristine Balarine (Brazil-Italy), Sergio Gomez (Mexico-USA), and Jens Joneleit (Germany).

For centuries, the portrait has remained one of the central genres of art. Kings and aristocrats commissioned formal portraits to affirm status and power; artists depicted themselves and their loved ones in an attempt to preserve a gaze, a gesture, a presence in time. The portrait was not merely an image of a person, but a tool of memory, authority, and identity.

A fundamental shift occurred in the early nineteenth century, when photography assumed the role of preserving the human face for posterity. In the twenty-first century, this function has been fully transferred to the cameras of mobile phones: the realistic portrait is created instantly and loses its sense of exclusivity.

It is at this point that art enters a new field of inquiry. If outward appearance no longer requires artistic mediation, what constitutes a portrait today?

Where is the boundary between face and image, between recognizability and inner state?

How can a person (or the self) be described through means removed from the conventions of realistic portraiture?

The exhibition Face Off unfolds as an artistic investigation of these questions.

The works on view reveal a broad range of approaches: from distortion and fragmentation to symbolic and emotional languages. Here, the face ceases to function as a mirror of physical likeness and instead becomes a site of projection, confrontation, and play. It may appear as a mask, a trace, a sign, a state, or an unresolved question.

The title Face Off refers to a moment of direct confrontation: between viewer and image, artist and the tradition of portraiture, the real and the imagined. It evokes the act of “removing the mask,” when the face loses its social function and transforms into a carrier of inner, often vulnerable and unsettling content.

The event is free but has limited space and an RSVP to Carl Kruse at info@carlkruse.net is mandatory. Please do not show up without having reserved a spot.

Following the exhibit, those who wish can head over to the Galander Bar for a nightcap – a 5 min walk from the gallery at Stuttgarter Pl. 15 10627 Berlin.  The Galander is one of the top bars in Charlottenburg and a throwback to another era.  Perfect for after-gallery gatherings.

Past Events Berlin

January 14, 2026 – Harvard Club Invite for Ivy Circle

by Carl Kruse

The Harvard Club of Berlin invites the Ivy Circle to another event as part of their “Insight Industrial Berlin” to take place Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 6:30pm at the Berlin offices of Idealo. The full invite from the Harvard Club is below.

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The Harvard Club of Berlin is pleased to invite you to another event of our  “Insight Industrial Berlin” series on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 6:30 pm.

We are delighted that Harvard alumnus Jovan Protić has invited us to the premises of idealo in the new Axel Springer building for his lecture “How artificial intelligence will change our lives and our economy: Lessons from Silicon Valley.”

Carl Kruse Tech Blog - Invitation to Harvard event in Berlin

About the Speaker:

Jovan Protić is Managing Director at idealo, Europe’s leading price comparison platform. He brings nearly two decades of experience in media and digital leadership, having played a central role in driving the digital transformation of media companies across Europe. Most recently Jovan was representing the Axel Springer group in Silicon Valley working on shaping AS AI future.

He began his career in 2005 at Ringier Axel Springer in Serbia, joined the leadership team of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG in 2016 as a COO – overlooking digital media transformation in nine CEE markets. Parallel to this role, since 2018 he held senior roles at Ringier Axel Springer Poland, most recently serving as Vice President of the Management Board from 2023. Throughout his career, he has launched more than 20 digital media and e-commerce products and established market-leading news portals in nine countries.

About the Lecture:

In his session, Jovan Protić examines how artificial intelligence will reshape the way we live, work, and do business. Drawing on six months spent in Silicon Valley studying leading media and e-commerce innovators, he shares the most influential ideas, technologies, and business models emerging from the global tech epicenter.

Jovan connects these insights with his hands-on leadership experience in European digital media and e-commerce, previously at Ringier Axel Springer and now at idealo. He highlights how AI-driven concepts can be translated into practical strategies, showing that the future of innovation is shaped not only in Silicon Valley, but also in the everyday decisions and ecosystems closer to home.

Tickets:

Members: 15 € p.p.

Non-members: 20 € p.p.

Attendance is limited to 35 guests.

Registration until January 8, 2026:

Please register via the following link: Registration

Payment options:

  1. Bank transfer: Please transfer the ticket to our bank account:

Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.

IBAN: DE33 1007 0848 0036 7532 00

BIC: DEUTDEDB110

Reference: your name & Industrial Berlin

  1. Paypal: frohn@pwwl.de  family and friends

Reference: your name & Industrial Berlin

When: Wednesday, January 14,  2026 at 6:30 pm

Where: Idealo Internet GmbH, Zimmerstrasse 50, 10888 Berlin

The Harvard Club Berlin sees itself as a politically neutral institution. With its selection of speakers and venues, the HCB does not align itself with any political positions but rather wants to create space for open and respectful discussion.

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Past Events Berlin

Harvard Club Invite: Dinner with Author Jamaica Kincaid


Hello all!

The Harvard Club of Berlin invites us to an evening discussion with renown author Jamaica Kincaid on November 5 at 6:30pm at Restaurant Luther & Wegner, Charlottenstr. 56 10117 Berlin.

The invite is below.

Cheers!  

Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle and Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association in Germany

P.S.  Stammtisch, Tuesday, Nov 4 at Fredericks in Potsdammer Platz.

Dear members and friends of the Harvard Community in Berlin,

The Harvard Cub of Berlin is honored to invite you to a Leadership Dinner with Jamaica Kincaid.

Jamaica Kincaid will begin with a short reading followed by a conversation on her experiences as a writer and professor at Harvard University as well as her impressions so far as an American Academy Fellow in Germany.

The evening will be moderated by Clara Péron, the club’s vice president.

About Jamica Kincaid:

Jamaica Kincaid is a writer and Professor Emerita of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She holds honorary degrees from Amherst College, Tufts University, Middlebury College, and the University of the West Indies, among others. Celebrated for her evocative reflections on family, memory, gender, colonialism, her native Antigua, and gardening, Kincaid is the author of numerous award-winning and widely translated essays, short stories, and novels, including At the Bottom of the River (1983), Annie John (1985), Lucy (1990), A Small Place (1988), The Autobiography of My Mother (1996), My Brother (1997), Mr. Potter (2002), Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas (2005), See Now Then (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), and most recently An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children (with Kara Walker; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024). Her “Talk of the Town” columns for The New Yorker appeared in Talk Stories (2001). She is the winner of the 2022 Paris Review Hadada Prize for Lifetime Achievement, 2017 Dan David Prize, a 2014 American Book Award and 2000 Prix Femina Étranger, among many other awards. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

We look forward to seeing you at our Leadership Dinner.

When?: Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 6:30 pm

Where?: Restaurant Luther & Wegner

Charlottenstraße 56, 10117 Berlin

Dresscode: Smart Casual

Tickets:

Members & partners: 45 € p.p.

Non-Members: 55 € p.p.

Welcome drinks and two course menu are included.

Drinks with the meal will be charged separately.

30 tickets are available for this event.

Please register via the following link: Registration  until October 29, 2025.

Payment options:

  1. Bank transfer: Please transfer the ticket to our bank account:

Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.

IBAN: DE33 1007 0848 0036 7532 00

BIC: DEUTDEDB110

Reference: your name & HLD Kincaid

  1. Paypal: frohn@pwwl.de  family and friends

Reference: your name & HLD Kincaid

Past Events Berlin

A Conversation With Pulitzer Prize Laureate Elizabeth Kolbert

by Carl Kruse

Something of a last minute invite courtesy of Bill Woodward – an evening with journalist Elizabeth Kolbert taking place Monday, September 22 at 7pm at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Please see the invite below for full information.

Cheers!

Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle


You are warmly invited to join us for the conversation

Our Climate Past and Future:
An Evening with Elizabeth Kolbert, Journalist and Pulitzer Prize Laureate
 
Monday, September 22, 2025
7:00 pm CET/GMT+1
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Jägerstr. 22-23, 10117 Berlin 

Climate change continues to reshape both domestic and global policy and politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite a shared reality in how the world is changing around us, Europe and the United States under President Trump are approaching the crisis in dramatically different ways. In conversation with Joshua Yaffa Bard College Berlin’s writer-in-residence, prominent journalist and Pulitzer Prize laureate, Elizabeth Kolbert, will share stories, and prognoses from the frontlines of a changing climate. Kolbert will speak to the way humans are changing the world around them, and how those changes reflect back on humanity. She will also address the current state of climate politics and policy in the U.S. and Europe—a gap in approach and even basic understanding that is quickly widening to a gulf. Is it possible to speak of a shared transatlantic climate policy, or even climate understanding? And can technology save us if politics doesn’t? 

Kindly register here.
 
For questions, please contact Dr. Berit Ebert, Director of Public Programs and Strategic Initiatives: b.ebert@berlin.bard.edu.

I hope everyone is well!

Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle
Past Events Berlin

Third Art Brunch With Helena Kauppila and Open Studios Tour

by Carl Kruse

The Ivy Circle Berlin would like to invite all to its third Art Brunch at the studio of Helena Kauppila, on Sunday, October 5, 2025, starting at 11:45 am on the fourth floor of Ackerstrasse 81, 13355 Berlin.

There will be a welcome drink, some finger foods, and a brief introduction by the artist at 12:15 pm. 

A mathematician turned painter, Helena is fascinated by complexity and emerging systems. While her colorful paintings may appear random and disjointed, there is a systems thinking behind them, often anchored in mathematics. Her work touches on the structure of DNA, mathematical theories, and the human connection to nature and the world around us.

Helena is excited to share new work from her Complex Systems series, along with a sneak preview of a collaboration with TU Berlin. 

Helena writes, “The Complex Systems series is the thread running through all of my work. It grew out of a desire to bring together color, science, and lived experience to explore how individuals connect to larger systems. My background in mathematics introduced me to complex systems — phenomena where simple parts combine to create something entirely new. Think of neurons firing to create conscious thought, or the dynamics of an ecosystem: each element plays a role, yet together they form something far greater than themselves.

This idea of emergence fascinates me. It resonates not only with the scientific ideas I encountered in my research, but also with my own personal journey of moving between countries, adapting to new cultures, and finding belonging within a whole.

In my paintings, I use simple elements that, when combined, generate complex color spaces. These forms resist traditional figure–ground relationships; instead, they evoke the statistical properties of a scene — suggesting a world where meaning emerges from patterns rather than from hierarchy.”

Kauppila resides in Berlin. She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Columbia University and is the recipient of the Reginald Marsh and Felicia Meyer Marsh scholarship at the Art Students League of New York. 

RSVP helpful (but not required).

At 1 pm other ateliers in the building open as well, so there will be further opportunity to explore other art and meet other artists.

For any questions please contact Helena directly at helena@helenakauppila.com.

I look forward to seeing everyone on October 5!

Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Ivy Circle Berlin

We have done several events with Helena Kauppila in the past including a Double Art Event, the Miettenin Collection, and the Second Art Brunch in Berlin.

Past Events Berlin

Double Art Exhibition with Helena Kauppila – July 18

by Carl Kruse

Friend of the Ivy Circle and Columbia alum Helena Kauppila invites all to the opening reception of Ein guter Grund, a duo exhibition at Alter Kiosk Berlin. The event takes place on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm, and there will be a performance.

Opening Reception
Ein guter Grund
Ernst Handl and Helena Kauppila
Friday, July 18, 2025
6 pm

Gallery location
Alter Kiosk Berlin
Grunewaldstraße 27
12165 Berlin-Steglitz

The exhibition’s title Ein guter Grund plays on the layered meanings of the German word Grund—referring both to a motive or reason, and to the painted ground that forms the essential base of a work. This duality reflects both Helena’s and Handl’s shared interest in how thoughtful beginnings—whether philosophical or material—shape the unfolding of artistic process.
The exhibition unfolds along a circular route through eight interconnected rooms, including an underground section presenting some video works, and a tall transitional passage that holds Handl’s large textile piece suspended from the ceiling. Several sunlit rooms will be filled with their paintings, including Helena’s recent work Spring! (2025), 30 x 30 cm, oil on linen. Inspired by the special yellow light as spring arrives, this is one of Helena’s favorite paintings.
There will be some introductory words and a performance around 7:30 pm.  Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Berlin Chair, Princeton University
Ivy Circle Berlin