Over the past twenty years the Berlin musicians Michael Renkel and Burkhard Beins have developed a highly destinctive musical vocabulary with their duo Activity Center. Within this duo, as soloists, but also - conjointly or independently - as members of diverse ensembles they have appeared on international tours and festivals and released numerous records. Their long sold out double-CD "Möwen & Moos" (1999) has been regarded as a milestone of it's genre, while they have managed to build bridges between generations and allegedly also styles with their CD "Activity Center & Phil Minton" in 2005. After a long period of almost exclusive concentration on the sonic potential of their acoustic instruments (spanish guitar and percussion), the Activity Center has now been amplified, extended by electronic devices and relocated on tables.

photos by Willehard Grafenhorst

Michael Renkel and Burkhard Beins were/are both members of:

Activity Center's cooperation with London vocalist Phil Minton

FRAKTALES
trio with double-bass player Jürgen Morgenstern
(1990-1995)

NUNC
quartet with Wolfgang Ritthoff (voice) and Martin Pfleiderer (sax)
NUNC (2:13 Music CDoo2, 1996)
(1995-1999)

2:13 ENSEMBLE BERLIN
has worked in the area of combining contemporary composed and improvised music.
quintet with Bettina Junge, flute, Margarete Huber,soprano and Markus Wettstein,metal objects
- Two full length performances (five hours) of Cornelius Cardew`s "Treatise" (1998/1999).
- ISOMERIE, comissioned work for Kryptonale 1998, Berlin
- Pricewinner of the Wettbewerb für Junge Kultur/Düsseldorfer Altstadtherbst 1999.
(1997-2000)

SOWARI QUARTET
with Phil Durrant,violin and Rhodri Davies, harp, British Arts Council tour 1998.
PHOSPHOR (Berlin)
with Annette Krebs (guitar, electronics), Robin Hayward (tuba), Ignaz Schick (electronics), Andrea Neumann (inside-piano, electronics) and Axel Dörner (trumpet, electronics)
(with Alessandro Bosetti, soprano saxophone, from 2000-2005).
PHOSPHOR (Potlatch P501 CD, 2002)
(since 2000)