The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China, Palast der Republik
The exhibit costs 8.50 and the promotion raises expectations beyond what can be expected. The whole army in the Palast der Republik turns out to be made out of detailed copies of the originals, so not a single original terracotta soldier can be seen. The whole exhibition therefor consists of nothing more than a reenactment of the construction, discovery and excavation of the Army. I am deceived and have thrown almost 10 Euro in the gutter, which I would have rather given to the homeless couple selling the street newspaper. It’s close to a public outrage that it was permitted to be promoted the way it is. Continue reading →

Leipzig

The city of Leipzig has a long tradition of civic liberty. The city of the ‘Messe’ or trade show, has developed into a centre of commerce, since it was granted market privileges in 1165 C.E.

“Macht und Banalität”
Hannah Arendt’s thesis of the Banalität des Bösen forms the outset of the exhibition at the former Headquarter of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS) Continue reading →

KZ Buchenwald
On the cast iron gate of Konzentrations Zentrum Buchenwald, where 51,000 prisoners were killed, it still reads from the inside of the prisoner’s camp, the device ‘Jedem das Seine.’

Erfurt
Krämerbrücke, the oldest bridge with houses built over it
Meister Eckhart
Domplatz
In the year 754 C.E. Bonifatius was killed in Dokkum in Friesland, the Netherlands after he cut down the Holy Oak, which was being venerated by the local tribes. His two assistants are now buried in the crypt of the Dom of Erfurt.
The Severikirche contains the sarcophagus of Saint Severus.

Weimar
Weimar is the town of two great German poets, Goethe and Schiller, but also symbol of the Weimar Republik, founding place of the Hitler Youth, and claimed by the National Socialists as Hitler’s Capital, as the spiritual center of the tradition of German thought. The infamous Konzentrationslager Buchenwald lays on the Etterberg’s slope, here, an estimated 51,000 people were brutally killed.

Walking through Weimar, there is little that reminds one of the atrocities that casted a long and dark shadow over the city’s proud history. Instead, local inhabitants happily jumped on the new opportunities that have arised after the fall of the Iron Curtain, welcoming the influx of western tourists. The center of present day Weimar is a facade of entertainment, covering the fundaments of its history. Here, history is not the slow and heavy mass of time that accumulated and lays calm asleep. Instead, the silence of the historic current is overscreamed by the catering advertisements of local entrepeneurs, of the historic experience museum for instance. Continue reading →

Yesterday, the European Championships 2004 for soccer national teams started in Portugal. Ofcourse, the newspapers in Berlin have been working toward this moment since last week, by increasing the number of stories they publish daily, filled with speculations, non-issue newscoverage, paparazzi photographs, and daily news about the players’ wives and their actions. This includes the complete scope of the ‘serious’ press in Europe.

After being overwhelmed by the impressive collection of the Pergamon Museum, we visited today the Kulturforum at the Potsdammer Strasse. The square in front of the Kulturforum resembles a marmored hillslope with a few square granite blocks to mark off the outside edges. The inside of the entry is very conveniently arranged, but despite the easy division in the Gemaldegalerie to the left, the Kupferstichkabinett straight in front of the entrance and the Gewerbemuseum to the left, your first impression is that you are lost, that you must have entered the rear entrance to an office building. The entrances to the three musea are hidden in the corners, no draw effect on the visitor occurs.

We first visit the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner exhibition in the Kupferstichkabinett. The exhibit contains an overview of sketches, drawings and woodcuts. Kircher’s drawings or rather sketches are inspiring, they radiate a certain playfulness and joy with which the artist observes the model, event or scenery. But his woodcuts quickly become schizofrenic by the nature of the technique alone, emphasized by the black and white color scheme. Continue reading →

Today was a day of revisiting, revisiting the past at the Pergamon Museum and revisiting the Totentanz at the Marienkirche, Nicolai Viertel, Marx and Engels square, Museeninsel, Unter den Linden and Potsdammer Platz.

Quickly we enter the Marienkirche where I buy a small book ‘Der Berliner Totentanz zu St. Marien.’ The book has a small cultural historical introduction about the theme of the Dance of Death. The dance of death is a fascinating subject and one of the great themes of the medieval era. The black plague like aids in Africa in our time, knows no difference in rank or class, but irrespective of a man’s being passes its sentence on our souls. The Totentanz in the Marienkirche, the Church of Mary, contains a small verse to remind each of the dignitaries of their insignificance in the eyes of death. Continue reading →

It is great to meet with Ruben again after he has been in Equador and Colombia for the last 2 years. Of course he has been in the Bolivar-an region since seven years, but the influence of local culture has been much stronger in the last years. I simply might notice it more than before, having a sharper eye for his behavior this time. I am very curious after the characteristic and psychologic changes of my friends. He is playing Cumbia and Porra, old style Latin music, Son, old style salsa, and Colombian punk on his notebook, during the evening well into the night.

In Dahlem, near the old center of Dahlem Dorf, lies across from the current Embassy of the United States at the Clayallee, next to Truman Plaza, the Allied Museum. The exhibit can be viewed for free and is called “Mission Accomplished.” Located in an old US Theater “Outpost” and the adjoining building of the Nicholson Memorial Library, the museum houses relicts from the Cold War. Best known of course, is the original wooden front of Checkpoint Charlie inside the Nicholson Memorial Library and the later guard house of Checkpoint Charlie at the entrance square. Also to be found in the square are a DDR guard tower which once stood at Potsdammer Platz and three slices of the Berlin Wall, a French military train wagon that was used for the only direct train connection from Strassbourg to Berlin and a French plain, which was part of the Air Lift.

The current US Embassy, which will be replaced by a newly designed and to be build embassy at the Französischer Platz at the Brandenburger Tor, is a beautiful building in Nazi style and served formerly as the Head Quarters of the Allied occupational forces in Berlin. The building is unfortunately hardly accessible because of strong security measures and an impressive gate. Continue reading →

One of the few deep memories I carry with me in life, is the concert of FM Einheit and Caspar Brötzman Massaker in Tacheles, the art and cultural center in the Oranienburgerstrasse, about ten years ago.

I am sure it wasn’t called the ‘art and cultural center’ back then! Back then, it was a squatted ruin of anti-establishment activities in a street which was best known for the street prostitution. An old, dumped MIG airfighter dug its nose into the ground, a bus was put upward with its nose down, its tail pointing in the air. One may wonder: why the hell where you there for? Well, I was there for the same reason as the dozens of middle class youngsters, established fiftiers and tourists are there now! Only, one minor difference, the avant garde artists and performances that shook the place up back then, have sunken into a muddy pool of established income. These, things happen, you are young and rebellious, time is mild and tolerant, and life becomes sweet. I never pretended I was gonna change the world, the world I take as it comes, and I am fine. I always have been fine, and most likely I will too. But my memories are past, and I should seek new ones in other parts of town. Continue reading →