I've been on the look out for this chandelier since I first saw it in hanging in Kollwitz 45 in Berlin last fall.
I'd begun to think it was a figment of my imagination but then I found it again at Unicahome. Behold the amazing "Dear Ingo" light aka the spider lamp by designer Ron Gilad for Moooi. So awkward, yet so right. Sadly, at $3200US, so expensive too. Normally I'm not in favour of knocking-off design originals but in this case the temptation is strong....
The thing about a truly inspiring vacation versus the merely relaxing, is that it continues to reveal itself and enrich long after the bags are unpacked and the credit card statements arrive. I've found myself reflecting a lot these past weeks on the incredible Hamburger Bahnhof show we saw last month as part of the Cult of the Artist series. The setting alone - 13,000 square metres of exhibition space in a converted 19th century rail terminal - is impressive, even intimidating.
First up was Celebrity: Andy Warhol and the Stars, a fascinating look at the symbiotic (some might say parasitic) relationship between the fame seeking Warhol and the bona fide and would-be celebs clamouring to be immortalized in his work. The best of the Warhol bunch for me was the massive Chairman Mao.
Then came the jam packed visual feast "I can't just slice off an ear every day" a cheeky, irreverent and at times obscene look at the mythic status of The Artist. The name for the show comes from the Martin Kippenberger quote: "I can't just slice off an ear everyday, make a Van Gogh here, a Mozart there. And anyway, it’s hard enough constantly keeping track of what you’re actually doing!" Among the many installations were Antje Schiffer's "Wonderful, Vladimir Says" in which the artist enlists the help of a business planner who advises her to veer away from museums, galleries and other such unprofitable ventures and focus on more lucrative corporate commissions. The hilarious "Matrix Effect" by Christian Jankowski in which children expound on the theory in the manner of art critics. There were Rodney Grahams (go Vancouver!), Cindy Shermans (yawn), Martin Kippenbergers and on and on. I particularly enjoyed Dieter Roth's Solo Szenen - a video installation showing the artist hanging out in his studio reading, sleeping, talking on the phone, eating und so weiter. The idea being that art doesn't just happen by some miracle or fit of creative genius, it's a day in day out slog.
Then there's Paul McCarthy's grotesque take on so-called creative genius. Here's a preview from "Painter".
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't all out to get you. We ventured deep into east Berlin to visit the former Stasi headquarters, now a museum of sorts.
Run by a group of volunteers, there are no flashy displays or over wrought curatorial statements. They don't need them. Just walking the halls made my skin crawl. Over the nearly 40 years of its existence, the Stasi (east german ministry for state security) kept the DDR populace in its place through a combination of psychological and physical terror tactics and bizarre propaganda. At the time of the wall's big tumble in 1989, it's estimated that the Stasi employed some 90,000 regular employees on top of 300,000 citizen informants.
Of the many categories of character flaws that could qualify one for Stasi investigation was this chronic catch-all "Malcontents and chronic complainers".
And the surveillance devices! The usual apartment, phone, car bugs of course but then there were the oil drums, garbage cans, tree stumps, bird houses. What a time.
Some photos of the ministerial living quarters. (Is it wrong to say I rather like the DDR decor?) I couldn't bring myself to photograph the interrogation rooms or the prison cell. Nor the specimen jar containing some poor soul's body odor sample.
If you haven't already, run out and rent a copy of the incredible German film The Lives of Others. Many of the scenes were filmed here.
After only 28 hours of traveling, one smashed bag and another lost somewhere en route (thanks heathrow or was it schipol?) we arrived back home at midnight drunk from jetlag.
After a good sleep and a grocery run I'm pretty much ready for bed again. So many imprints from the trip are running through my head - including this little ditty by the Ting Tings. Don't know if it's hit North America yet but we couldn't get away from this song, especially in Berlin. With lyrics like this, it's hard to believe these two actually speak english as their first language.
Give it a listen or two or three. Just try not to like it. I sure did.
The art and design lover in me marvels at the Bauhaus contributions and its continuing influence and reach. How amazing to be a part of such a movement. On the other hand, the introvert in me cringes at the communal-ness of it all. I would never have made it as a Gropius-groupie. Nope, no group Grop for this girl. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
I've been on the look out for this chandelier since I first saw it in hanging in Kollwitz 45 in Berlin last fall.
