Tuesday lunch concert at the Berliner Philharmonie

I have often visited the Tuesday lunch concert at the Berliner Philharmonie.

Normally there are two or three musicians, with a large audience sitting and standing on the floors and the stairs. The acoustics are not particularly good as it is held in foyer, not in the concert hall, but it is certainly a great experience. What I really like the most the ways explore the building.

The repetitions and layers of Stairs are rhythmic, the colourful tinted glass blocks and floor tiles are melodic. I always tried to stay in this maze until I was told to leave. It is a very different feeling compared to the Staatsbibliothek, despite being designed by the same architect, with similar materials. I have never really read about the architect Hans Scharoun and his works until now on Wiki. Somehow I don’t really question such things, I like experiencing the reality without any information before hand, or even afterwards.

So far, I have never had chance to listen to the orchestra in the main concert hall. I always wonder how it was to listen to Beethoven’s Symphony conducted by Karajan in the 60s.

More photos are here

火曜日に時間がある日はベルリナーフィルハーモニーのランチコンサートによく行った。

だいたい二、三人のミュージシャンで演奏され、入場数は限られていて早い者勝ち、それでもフォイヤーの床や階段はたくさんの人で埋め尽くされる。音響はよくないものの、ベルリナーフィルハーモニカーのメンバーの生演奏を聞けるのはいい経験だ。しかし私が最も楽しみにしていることは建物の中を見て回る事だ。

重なり合って反復する階段は律動的、多色なガラスブロックと床のタイルは旋律的。コンサートの後もこの迷路を追い出されるまでうろうろする、隣の図書館とは建築家、素材等も同じにも関わらずとても違った雰囲気である。私は建築家 Hans Scharoun や彼の作品いついて読んだ事はいまのいままでWikipdiaで読んだ以外に無い、普段からあまり予備知識を進んで得ようとは考えず、実際に経験する、その後もあまり気にならず、よほどのことがない限り調べる事はない。

今までのところコンサートホールで交響曲を聴いたことがないが、60年代にカラヤン指揮のベートーベン交響曲をここで聞けたらどうだったのだろうかと思いふける。

ほかの写真はこちら

Some time ago in Hamburg Germany

Some time ago in Hamburg Germany.
Chilly windy sunny day, I have decided to go for a walk.
There are lots of interesting but lifeless modern buildings, along the river. At one of them I have spotted a man.

Here is the story.
A Stardestroyer had an emergency landing to the planet earth, harbour in Hamburg. The reason is top secret.
The man is an officer of the ship who does not know anything about top secret mission, and actually he does not care. He enjoys the polluted air of his home planet. Long time ago, he has left here for promised stable job with dream of traveling all over the Galaxy. It was one way ticket, no way back, and he never thought coming back. However after so many years, although he is in good position as an officer, traveling around the galaxy as he wished, he’s been bored of seeing space and eating perfectly healthy meals cooked by asian speaking chef droid, and he thought about running away. Now an opportunity, an emergency landing to his home planet, he just needs to jump on to the small landing boat but there are lots of Spanish or French speaking droids, german speaking stormtroopers, and lots of surveillance Cameras. Does he make it?
To be continued…

No that’s the end of the story, I went back after being blown by chilly wind of Hamburg.

The Mess of Genesis

mess01A Portrait of Mess, some of his work reminds me of Salgado’s work.
And we were supposed to go to the exhibition. However his visit to Berlin was a bit earlier than the exhibition.

This is a personal review of an exhibition, Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis at C/O Berlin.

I was very interested in how Salgado has dealt with digital.
I would not discuss what’s better, whether film or digital, I leave it to those who love to discuss. (But Please do not in the gallery in front of the art works)
There is no better or worse, nor right or wrong, in my opinion. They are just different methods.

For this Genesis I think digital worked very well and clearly shows the details.
Grain has been added nicely without loosing the clearness of details, which I could literally see and enjoy from corner to corner of the photos.
That’s the good thing about photography, it is still and has no sound, no “time lines”, therefore less defined, it gives much more space to viewers to think and imagine.

C/O Berlin Amerika Haus (or designated space) was not big enough to host all the pictures. It’s too close to the opposite side of the wall, everything was reflecting on the glass which was extremely annoying. Also i was annoyed by the other people.
This genesis exhibition is all about showing the beauty of mother nature, our pristine planet, to alert people and raise environmental awareness.
But now I am sure that humans are set to destroy every corner of this planet until we die.
I just couldn’t understand why people need to talk so much while looking at pictures. You don’t need to share with people and you can not completely share what you feel and imagine from the photos. That just annoys others. People don’t need to take photos of photos with their smart phone. There are great books you can buy from the store.

We are so disgusting and arrogant, show no respect even to other people, who are quietly enjoy the exhibition, so how can we even think we can respect other creatures of this planet.
We will destroy in order to buy and wear nice fashionable clothes and consumer smartphones, build houses and roads then drive cars whatever it costs.

I recommend to go there alone when there are not many people, perhaps with ear plugs to avoid ganz hässlich word of “SCHön” and black flag (photographic equipment) to hold on your back to cover all the reflections.
That way you may see and feel a bit more from Salgado’s photos.
Wind Sound Smell Temperature Humidity….