Sunday, July 30, 2006

Gregory Crewdson


The special art-trip today lead us to Winterthur, a town in Switzerland about 20 km from Zurich.
An exhibition took place there by the American Photographer Gregory Crewdson (3 pictures you can see here).
His photographs which all have a magic area about them show stills, all concerning broken human relationships, people looking desperate, with no hope, trapped in various situations where there seems no escape.
Although that might sound quite negative, still there is an ironic aspect to these pictures.
Some scenes are so unreal, he almost gives the impression he is exaggerating a single situation widely, adding some surreal facts and details to them.
Thats what it is all about. The dark side of the human unconsciousness.
Gregorys father worked as a psychoanalyst, thats why he came in contact with the human soul at quite an early age.
Those memories and impressions he seems to cope with in his highly arranged pictures which often appear to be dream inspired.
There is a long story you could tell to each photo, it is the world of broken dreams, tablets, nature, family,tragedy, end of romance,people who resigned. All that is done in highly quality photographing, with sharp and beautiful colours,often dimmed, the light is always perfectly set in scene as it has a central meaning in his work.
The set consists of a huge number of people, actors, etc.. each picture is not just a quick shot but a well organized, deeply constructed interaction of all people involved. I could hardly take my eyes off these fascinating photographs which totally inspired my fantasy, each picture is so complex it makes you want to tell a story.. If you get the chance to see his work, go there, you won't be disappointed!


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Saturday, July 29, 2006

Rose Ausländer, a great poet

Let me introduce Rose Ausländer, one of my favourite poets to you:
She was born in 1901 in Czernowitz, Bukovina, then part of the Austrian Empire, later part of Romania, and now part of the Soviet Ukraine. Her first book appeared in 1939 in Czernowitz, but nearly all copies were destroyed during the war. She lived hidden in a cellar during the Nazi occupation, and managed to survive, as did another poet who was to become important in German literature after the war: Paul Celan. 90% of the large Jewish population of Czernowitz perished. In 1946 she left the Russian-occupied city for the USA, where she lived for several years, and where, for a couple or years, she wrote in English.
Here is one of her poems in both English and how it was originally written: German

The Strangers
Railways bring strangers who disembark
and look lost In their eyes swim
fearful fishes.
They have strange noses sad lips.
No one comes for them
They wait
for the twilight that makes no distinctions
Then they can visit their relatives
in the Milky Way
in the moon’s trough
One plays the mouth-organ -strange melodies
The instrument possesses another scale:
a never-ending succession of solitudes


Die Fremden

Eisenbahnen bringen die Fremden
die aussteigen und sich ratlos umsehen.
In ihren Augen schwimmen
ängstliche Fische.
Sie tragen fremde Nase
traurige Lippen.

Niemand holt sie ab.
Sie warten auf die Dämmerung
die keine Unterschiede macht
dann dĂĽrfen sie ihre Verwandten besuchen
in der Milchstrasse
in den Mulden des Monds.

Einer spielt Mundharmonika –
seltsame Melodien.
Eine andere Tonleiter wohnt
im Instrument:
eine unabhörbare Folge von
Einsamkeiten.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Monkeys

Remembering my holidays in South Africa in January this year, I sometimes have to think about these cute monkeys, who sat on the walls of private homes, played in the trees in groups of ten and more. I have never seen monkeys in "real" nature before, and it was really interesting to watch, as we more and more came to the conclusion that they were rather watching us then the other way round.


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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Visiting Time II

Some more impressions from today..

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Visiting Time

Today I made my first visit to my friend Hildi to see her new baby called "Gilles" She lives in the beautifully located St.Galler Rheintal in a village called Balgach, on the third floor of an old vicar's house. The flat is really nice and comfortable with lots space and a stunning view.The baby is absolutely sweet....


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Sunday, July 23, 2006

Kleiner Witz

Ein kleiner Witz am Rande:
Sagt der Theologe zum Philosophen: Philosophie ist, wenn jemand in einem absolut dunklen Raum mit verbundenen Augen eine schwarze Katze sucht, die gar nicht da ist.Erwidert der Philosoph: Aber Theologie ist, wenn jemand in einem absolut dunklen Raum mit verbundenen Augen eine schwarze Katze sucht, die gar nicht da ist, und dann ruft: "Ich hab sie!"
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Monday, July 17, 2006

Sunbeams

Today I tried to catch the beauty of the sunbeams in the evening light which creates a very special athmosphere.


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Sunday, July 16, 2006

Another Sunday morning at Giessensee

Daniel and I spent another wonderful Sunday morning in that small nature reserve at Giessensee near Bad Ragaz, one of the few places I know where nature is mainly left to itself, all the ducks and insects act as if man was not around to disturb, you can feel the silence and relaxing athmosphere thouroughly.
Es war wieder ein beinahe paradiesisch anmutender Sonntag-Vormittag am Giessensee bei Bad Ragaz. Enten,Libellen, Eichhörnchen, überall schwimmt, fliegt es und man hat das Gefühl dass die Natur hier ursprünglich ist, noch nicht weit hat der Mensch eingegriffen um den Platz zu seinen Gunsten zu verändern. Es gibt lediglich ein paar Skulpturen und sonstige Kunstgegenstände die sich unaufdringlich in die Landschaft eingliedern. Beim Spaziergang zurück nahm Daniel ein Buch von Stanislaw Lem aus dem Rucksack und wir lasen die Antrittsrede des Roboters Golem, der einen genialen Monolog über die Entwicklung des Menschen, der eine Art Produkt der Evolution ist, und mit seinen spärlichen Möglichkeiten versucht ein angemessenes Leben zu führen, das zwar meistens ohnehin zum scheitern verurteilt ist da der Mensch nicht fähig ist zu abstrahieren, sondern sich von schnellen Sinnenwahrnehmungen voreinnehmen lässt und daraus sofort seine Schlussfolgerungen zieht, daraus seine pauschalen Unterscheidungen von Gut und Böse etc. macht, und Golem der Roboter, findet diese Lebensweise erbärmlich und bemitleidenswert. Er selber spricht von den Resultaten der Kurzlebigkeit der Moderne als " Müll den die kurzlebige Zeit ausspeit".. sein Monolog hat durchwegs nihilistischen Charakter, und es fehlt auch nicht an zeitkritischem Zynismus, der einem des öfteren zum Schmunzeln bringt, weil der Mensch als in sich selbst gefangene und schnell zufriedenzustellende Kreatur die sich seit der Steinzeit noch nicht signifikant verändert hat, dargestellt wird.

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Monday, July 10, 2006

Water my favourite element


A white spider was trying to catch a fly on this flower but failed...I hoped it would..
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Sunday, July 09, 2006

My childhood



Childhood is a world of its own, there is no future and no past, just the endless presence. Everything, every flower, all that exists is full of sense for a child. The world seems to be a big playground.If there is paradise, it should be like childhood, natural und easy.

Die Kindheit ist eine Welt an sich, in der es keine Vergangenheit und Zukunft als Problem gibt, sondern nur die ewige Gegenwart. Jedes Ding, jede Blume, alles was es gibt, ist fĂĽr das Auge eines Kindes sinnvoll. Ein groĂźer Spielplatz scheint die ganze Welt zu sein. Wenn es ĂĽberhaupt ein Paradies gibt, dann sollte es wie die Kindheit sein, natĂĽrlich und einfach.
© Cosmin Neidoni, (*1975), rumänischer Philosoph, Essayist und Aphoristiker
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You should really visit

I spent my holidays in South Africa in January 2006 and it was great, it strongly came to my mind again on Sunday when all the pictures I took there passed my eye, back In Austria I can feel the summer here now too...


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Cant believe I ever left this place




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