World Champion Mania
at Berliner Hauptbahnhof

SANDSATION hosts
1. USF World Double Championship

On June 8th, Berlin's biggest and without doubt most beautiful "sand pit" is going to open its gates for the sixth time at the Berliner Hauptbahnhof.
Again, the most renowned sand sculpture artists from all over the world will come together for the International Sand Sculpture Festival SANDSATION. Welcoming up to 120,000 fascinated guests each year, the only urban sand art festival in Europe easily established itself in Berlin's vast cultural landscape.
From this year on, SANDSATION's significance for the international carver scene will strengthen even more: the festival's organisers are going to host the 1. USF (United Sand Festivals) World Double Championship. At SANDSATION 2008, twelve countries compete in teams of two to win this year's world champion title in the category "double". Among the participants will be Denmark, Spain's star carver Etual Ojeda, Indian multiple world champion Sudarsan Pattnaik with his partner Jitendra Kishore Jagadey, Gianni Schiumarini, Italy's winner of last year's 5th German Sand Sculpture Award, the Netherlands with ex-world champion Michel de Kok, Great Britain and the U.S. Germany will be proudly represented by Lena Tempich from Berlin and Johannes Weckl from Chiemsee.

In cooperation with its partners, SANDSATION instigated the first sand
sculpture festival in North Rhine-Westphalia, the SANDFESTIVAL Ruhr. At Kemnader Lake, the USF World Solo Championship will be held at the same time. The two big German festivals bring about a new world championship scheme with united forces. The Danish festival SAND ART in Copenhagen will join the scheme next year. Following a rotation system, the strong trio will host world championships in three categories: solo, double and team sculptures.  Martin Tulinius, artistic director of SANDSATION, knows that the team world
championship is a great challenge for the artists since they generally work on their sculptures alone: "Usually, an artist will work on her sculpture by herself. Having to tune in with someone else?s ideas and techniques is quite uncommon, but it bears an immense artistic potential." The team sculptures will each be 6 metres high.

The venue for SANDSATION 2008 is yet again the area by the Berliner
Hauptbahnhof. From June 8th until August 17th there'll be carving, moulding, partying and sun bathing on the 4,000sqm site. "The central position serves us perfectly", says Anja Smolle, producer in Berlin. "Located in the middle of Berlin's metropolitan travel and business jumble, the festival site acts like a summer oasis. We're very pleased that the Bezirksamt Mitte made this area by the Berliner Hauptbahnhof available to us once again."

The real SANDSATION fans just cannot wait for the "Small Opening" on June 8th, which is when the artists can be seen at work and the creation of the tall art works can be experienced firsthand. For the "Grand Opening" on June 12th the team sculpture has to be perfect since at 4 p.m. the winning team of the 1. USF World Double Championship Award will be announced. The choice of the aesthetically and technically most excellent sculpture will be made by a competent jury along with the artists and visitors: on June 11th, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. and on June 12th from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. SANDSATION's guests get the chance to vote for the world champion
sculpture of their choice. All three votes together will decide on who the first world champion team in the category "double" will be. There is attractive prize money to be won: the first prize value is 10,000 Euros, the second 6,000 Euros and the third prize value is 4,000 Euros. After the award ceremony the sand art exhibits will be on display for another nine weeks.
This year's SANDSATION very much appeals with its great and diverse
supporting programme. There will be salsa courses, workshops for kids as well as live music: something for everybody! Also, a striking food and beverage area will be set up on the SANDSATION site, which is for hire. (Call 0176-96 88 62 79)

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