Art in Hamburg

In the Hamburg Kunsthalle

After an unsuccessful attempt to sketch the fountain in the middle of the Inner Alster lake from a cold and windy seat to the north (my sketch equipment kept blowing away), a visit to the Hamburg Kunstmuseum (art gallery) was a welcome and warm relief. Most of the building is being renovated but a well curated selection of works was on display in the basement of the one building still open. Old and new work nicely juxtaposed.

Alster Lake with fountain

Elbphilhamonie

In 2007 building started on the Elbphilharmonie, a brand new concert hall for the Hamburg Philharmonic orchestra built in the Speicherstadt (warehouse area) on the River Elbe. It is still inching toward completion, with cranes atop and cloth swathing the brickwork of the lower stories.

It looks different from each side.  Viewed from a ferry on the Elbe, the building looks like a giant sailing ship. The brick warehouse buildings are a nice counterpoint to the glass sailing ship. 

Wifi on Sunday morning

The radio beside her is transmitting a church service but it is in German, an as-yet unlearned language for this 15 year old, so she checks her WiFi contacts undisturbed. One of the results of this history tour is that she is now keen to learn her mother's language.

Breathing deeply in Hamburg's green

After five days in the middle of Berlin the lush green of Hamburg sooths the travel weary soul.

Bundestag ingenuity

Climbing the glass dome of the Bundestag is unforgettable. We hadn't pre-registered online so we lined up with others in the 'spontaneous visits' queue. 

Everyone is given the option of head phones in their own language and as you progress up the ramp of the dome the headphones tell you when to stop, which direction to look and then tells stories about what you are seeing. It is an ingenious system because the device seems to be triggered by your position so you can go at your own pace.

From the top you can look right down into the parliamentary chamber. A moveable sun screen made of metal bars (picture 2) follows the sun so the chamber is protected from the heat and doesn't cost as much to cool.

One thing I like about Germany is that although they have rules they are perfectly willing to bend them. We had turned up 40 minutes earlier than our allocated time slot but were waved through without a problem.

Bicycles rule

Berlin car drivers are quite a different breed to those in Sydney. In Berlin there are bicycles everywhere and cars slow down to let them move into the traffic. Sydney drivers would be more likely to step on the accelerator just to teach the bicyclist a lesson. I am finding Berlin a refreshing lesson in good manners.

All museumed out

If you buy a three day museum card you feel obliged to use it, so for the last three days we have been to see more museums than you could poke a stick at and tonight we are too tired to move another inch.

This morning we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art ... huge spaces full of work by Joseph Beuys and others of his ilk which we found exhausting and boring, probably reflecting the mood of the people who made the art.  There were groups of students there but not many other people.

The Old National Gallery, however, was full of people looking at (and taking pictures of) the 19th century paintings. That says a lot about 'contemporary' art really.

My young companion whipped out her camera and snapped away.  In between we had visited the Museum of Communication and she had found telephones like those my patents had on their hall wall quite hilarious.
"And that wasn't so long ago," she marvelled, "because it was in your lifetime!"

History can be fun

I always imagine museums to be full of stuffed birds (which perhaps they were once upon a time) so I am caught by surprise when one captures my imagination. Today was one of those days.

The Museum of German History in Berlin is a fascinating place and my 15 year old companion and I spent more than four happy hours there, slowly making our way through the history of Europe and Germany in particular. I was interested to see a very early clock as I had once thought of making one for an art project before discovering that they are exceedingly complicated. 

My companion responded to anything about women and children but we had to make our way through centuries of religion and wars before women and children made much of an appearance.

Berlin: graffiti ... Anne Frank museum

Graffiti on inner courtyards (with bicycles) in the arty Berlin suburb of Hackescher Markt .... and a photo taken inside the Anne Frank Museum which is up several flights of narrow stairs off one of the courtyards.

Maribor Music 2014

The Maribor Music Festival is over for another year. Wonderful music as always and very appreciative audiences. Brava to Brigita and the organising team.

Gypsy Devils in Maribor

The Gypsy Devils played in Maribor on Sunday night to a very enthusiastic audience. Two and a half hours of virtuosic music with no notes and hardly a pause. The first half they played alone, the second they played with the Festival Orchestra. We all left humming.

Stefan Banyak, vituosic violinist

Music in wet Maribor

Maribor on the River Drava: taken on the only fine day this week

Town square in Maribor

Maribor is a city that captures your heart. There is something about the place that makes you want to return repeatedly, something that is hard to pin down.

The city is quaint, but lots of cities have picturesque quarters. Maribor is safe, but then so are many others. The citizenry are rather old worldly and conservative but they are very friendly and accepting. And they all love music. Perhaps it is the music that makes you want to return repeatedly.

I have been here almost a week and it has been a very wet one. But never mind, I am here for the music. The musicians are busy rehearsing and the concert halls are leak proof. What more could one want?

Rehearsal in progress

Koi carp and butterflies

You have to admire an airport that has fish ponds and rooms of butterflies to entertain their guests. Singapore airport .... if you have to have a stopover, this is the right place to chose.

Butterfly in Singapore

Koi

Mission Incognito: Flashmob von Rolando Villazón

Hallelujah!  Just as well we have inspiring musicians to lift our spirits.

Predicting the future

The Government report on the rollout (or lack of it) of the national broadband network (NBN) today  has provoked a stream of twitter comment:
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” Lord Kelvin, British mathematician & physicist Royal Society, 1895
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olson of DEC, maker of mainframe computers, arguing against PCs in 1977
“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” — Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883
“Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan." Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

Malcolm Turnbull, Australian Communications Minister

Chickens on a bench

Welcome respite from the world's woes ... watching chickens bask in the sunshine.

The state of the world via twitter

We think we are civilised, or have have become civilised but how far have humans really progressed? My twitter feed this morning is full of images that make me wonder. Here's a sample:

Weekend Australian last week

Last week Murdoch's Australian newspaper (hemorrhaging money as we since found out, so only maintained to pedal influence) ran this divisive front page. In response a group of Christian and Jewish leaders have launched a campaign called We'll love Muslims for 100 years

Joseph Stiglitz

Australians, stunned by the realisation that the liberal party has been taken over by its far right wing and become a tea party, are starting to respond. Someone has posted a picture of Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz telling us the the Abbott Government's plan to deregulate education is a crime.

NASA -the earth weeps

NASA Global Climate change talks about the difficulty in reaching out to tell the climate story. You would think NASA had influence but they are up against the Murdoch empire (above). I do wonder what Murdoch's children think of his newspaper's stance - are they so very undereducated?




Then there is this stunning cover of the New Yorker responding to Ferguson. Hands up in surrender to a violent and destructive power.

Quintuplets

Lastly and on a note of hope within disaster, from the UN Refugee Agency comes a picture of five babies born weeks after a Syrian mother fled her country.

Watching Jonas Kaufmann sing

For those Australians who saw Jonas Kaufmann last week and need another little fix, try the link below.
The thing I found most fascinating about his live performance was being able to see (or perhaps feel) how he adjusts his body in preparation for singing. It is as if he adjusts the strings of his internal cello, holds it all in place, inhabits the role, then breaths - and suddenly the air carries vibrations of such beauty you feel like weeping.

Quite extraordinary ... and perhaps ones own body mimics his, because it makes you feel as if you are part of the performance in some odd way.

Artistic talent

Becoming an artist

Teachers have such power, though they may not think so themselves.

So many people have told me that they can't paint because their teacher told them long ago that they weren't any good. Many of these people harbour an unrequited wish to try again and when they do they often find hidden talent they never knew they had.

Others have told me they really couldn't draw at all when they started art classes, but perseverance has led them on a rewarding and fulfilling art journey.

Art is like anything else ... if you practise lots you get better, and if you practise a great deal you get a great deal better. The bonus is that it is such fun practising.

Doodling Tannhäuser

My doodle for today.