Potsdam Adventure

On Sunday six of us set out for Potsdam, with the idea that we'd rent bicycles at the train station and wheel around town then up to Parc Sans Souci. Turns out we couldn't find bikes to rent (could it be because it's winter?) but we found the 695 bus and hopped a ride to the park. Parc Sans Souci is huge, and houses a number of palaces and assorted other buildings dating from Friedrich Willhelm II (Frederick the Great). Friedrich II was a fan of Italianate and French architecture as reflected in the two big palaces - the yellow building "Sans Souci" with happy students in front, and the pink building "Neue Schloss." Other buildings included the Chinese House, also constructed during FII's time, and the Orangerie (more students: Kat, Karla, Nathan, Ruth, Teesha) which was a gigantic greenhouse where exotic fruits were grown for the royal household.

We walked the grounds for 5 hours! Afterwards, we sought out a French bistro on a backstreet in Potsdam town for a beer... then wandered around before giving up and taking the 695 back to the station. Truly a wonderful day.

I just heard the radio weather forecast: it's going to snow! I'll go out for a run now before it gets too bad...

Chillin in Chilham (bad pun)

Last weekend I spent a wonderful long weekend with my longtime friends Lesley and Brian Strange in the UK (students went variously to Florence, Rome, and Amsterdam on "free weekend" trips of their choices). I've known Lesley and Brian since the late 80's when I lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio. They rented a sweet 14th century cottage in Kent, in a village called Chilham. Thus the bad pun. Our goal for the weekend, besides cooking, eating, drinking, and watching videos, was to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury using one of the overland hikes in Brian's tour books. Successful in all ambitions, we had a memorable weekend with the following highlights:

1. Saw "Woman in Mind," a play starring Lesley's friend Martin Parr at London's Vaudeville Theater. The director, Alan Ayckbourn, was in the audience but we did not meet him. However Martin joined us at a cozy pub afterward. The first photo is Lesley and Martin:





2. Went shopping for provisions at the Borough Vegetable and Fruit Market and Billingsgate Fish Market (notice the hare and partridge)
3. Our cottage, "Orion," is on the left
4. Ate - it's true - lobster, oysters, sole, squid, mixed game pie, 3 pounds of French butter. It was the best lobster I have ever tasted.






5. Wandered off to Canterbury (11 miles!) over hill and dale, and through a flock of sheep and lambs
6. Watched videos that I chose. "Downfall" was popular, not so "Trainspotting" and a Lars Von Trier film whose name I forget. I liked that one though. Ate popcorn. 2 more pounds of butter.







6. Returned during a snowstorm
7. Was snowed in! Heathrow closed down altogether. There was at least 6" of snow!
8. Took the train back through the Chunnel, Brussels, and Cologne. All's well that ends this well.
THANKS LESLEY AND BRIAN FOR A GREAT WEEKEND

Tomorrow, the group goes to Potsdam, where we'll attempt to rent bicycles to ride to Sans Souci...

Flohmarkt am Mauerpark

Today Karla, Raul, Marisol and I went to the the flea market. Actually I ended up going to three; which kind of tires me out on the topic. Something's changed for me in the past year, I'm not as interested in buying random junk or even looking at random junk. Aversion to junking is probably not going to harm me in the future. But for today, it was a lot of fun. Here are some photos: One of a massive dishes seller - A lot of the sellers are Turkish - and one of a spices seller (I bought "Arabisch Gewürtz" and cardamom from him) - and one of a hat seller who may have also been the hat designer - and one of a general junk seller who happened to have doll parts in great number. I'd considered buying some of them (random junk) but then decided only to take a photo, for which she chased me for a block and chewed me out. I pretended I didn't speak German. Weenie me.

Artx and Pentagram Visits

Yesterday morning we hopped the Strassenbahn in front of the hotel and took a ride to Prenzlauerberg, where we were invited to visit a small web design company called Artx. The owner, Folker Silge, gave us the tour around his new offices and spoke about the Artx business model. You can see from their website that theirs is a volume business, providing inexpensive and fixed-priced services to customers who find them on the internet (first photo). Great office space with neat tiles.

After the tour we walked back to the train past the old L-4 (our school) which used to be in a multi-colored Art Nouveau building (I think there's a photo in the 2007 part of this blog).

After a lunch at 12 Apostles at Sevignyplatz and a wander through a fantastic art book store, we proceeded to Pentagram, close by in Charlottenberg. (On the way I took photo #2 of some students: Ruth, Karla, Kat, and Nathan, in front of Kaisers)

Justus Oehler, a partner at Pentagram and the head of the Berlin office, gave us a fascinating and opinionated talk about the importance of design and the puzzling indifference of - well everyone except designers I guess, to graphic design issues particularly and to a critical vocabulary and public discourse about those issues. (last photos. that's me with Justus). It was the second time I'd been to Pentagram with an Ai Study Abroad group, and truly a privilege to be hosted by Justus, who is a charismatic and compelling speaker.

Everyone's Celebrating

I don't have photos yet but tonight I watched (teary-eyed) as Barak Obama was inaugurated - translated to German, at an Italian restaurant, in Berlin. Birgit and I joined the restaurant employees in marking this historic, joyful moment... good for the world we hope...

Under the Weather But...

There are 12 students in the Berlin program this time, all lovely people and I mean it: 10 of them and I have come down with the most awful colds. Perhaps I should say cold, because it's the same lung and throat and blech for everyone. Yesterday I went to the Apotheke downstairs and enumerated to the pharmacist my symptoms: Kopfschmerz (headache) Halsschmerz (throat ache) Ohrschmerz (earache) and Husten (cough). She gave me Lutschen (like cough drops only they are anesthetic, at least they make me feel better) and some cough medicine the active ingredient of which is - Thyme juice. I can't claim it doesn't work.

Tonight we'll all be watching as our new President is sworn in... I'm meeting Birgit Heitfeld to witness the event at a Tapas place near Hackescher Markt. I remember in 1985(?) Ronald Reagan's inauguration (the second) when Stuart and I lived in DC. Though we were a mile or so from the White House, we were near the Omni Shoreham where there was at least one Ball. The limos, the glamour...traffic jam in front of our apartment. So now Reagan's reign will come to an end...

I did take some video, I will try to upload it again. THis one's of the Warschauer Strasse Station near the hotel, where what, 7 train lines converge:

Graffiti

As far as visuals go, the neighborhood where we are living is covered with graffiti and placards for bands and other performance-related activities. There is in front of the building a Strassenbahn (street train) and a block away are what, 7 train lines or something. So here are some more visuals of the neighborhood:

Some pictures of the neighborhood

It seems as if every moment of the day is taken up with some amazing activity. Or eating and drinking. Yesterday I took my camera around the neighborhood. First, I'll show something of the building where we're staying and the view out my window:

Dateline Berlin, January 2009

Here I am your foreign correspondent back in Berlin for another tour... well of course it's far from a military gig, I'm here with a group of lovely students who are studying graphic design, media design, and film for the quarter. This quarter many classes are being taught by europeans - for example, one can enroll in German Culture and Civilization, or Aesthetics, or World War II Europe... even the Graphic Design courses are taught this quarter by a Berliner who runs her own design company here. The photo is of our group, at the Berliner Philharmoniker.

My Special Projects class has a Berlin client - Axel Springer TV Guide - and we will be doing a website redesign for them. Our German Art Director is very coincidentally a graduate of Ai Ft Lauderdale ('99). Small world. Here is a photo of Jason in front of Checkpoint Charlie

My room overlooks a courtyard and across that there is another old building with verdegris copper framing the withdows, and a red tile roof. I'm near the top floor so it's very sunny, with giant windows. Here is a shot of Jose, Eleanor and Teesha in front of the Antike Museum.

It's very cold here, with one of the nights breaking record low temperatures. Still, we have managed to do all of our walking tours. Even the students from California are responding in good humor. Today I went early to the Flohmarkt am Mauerpark (a giant flea market). Unlike in the US, Berliners see no reason at all to make these seasonal, shutting down for the winter. I was expecting an abbreviated version, but no, everyone was there, with - car parts, measuring tape, their mother's china, handknit everything, hot corn on the cob, glühwein, coffee, crepes, all kinds of Turkish food I don't know about, old photos, old boots, new boots, new photos, kids and babies, music... students were too wiped out to go with me but there'll be another time. I bought thread, scarves, and later at the train station I bought green tea (you can buy anything in the train station too. Great place). Here is The Berliner Dom, taken from the Antike Museum

Ai Berlin 2009

Hey the Ai Berlin program will be live again from January 5 to March 29. I have to admit that at first I thought it was crazy to be in Berlin in the winter... really insane. Which is after all the main reason to go. What is it about being in Berlin, the art, the music, the Freiheit, the Ordnung, the chaos, the "arm aber sexy" -ness, the sense of being on the edge? It's going to be great. I can't wait now.

Participate in an International Art Project!

Take part in an international art project! It's free and you don't have to be an artist!

Do you have something to confess (are you secretly in love? do you feel guilty? have you been betrayed?)

Chicago artist Caroline Anderson and Berlin artist Sui Sabine Wiley invite you to contribute your story on

confessionstation.com

Contributed stories and objects will be exhibited in Chicago and Berlin, online and finally on eBay where all proceeds will be donated to the international artists’ organization TransCultural Exchange.

Get the full details at confessionstation.com

2008-2009 Study Abroad Programs

Ai's 2008-2009 Study Abroad Calendar is being finalized and you should see posters about information sessions the week of August 4. See you in Berlin!


Mark Shreiner, AP Photo

Wir sind alle Berliner!

Ai Berlin Fall 2008

Ai Berlin in Fall 2008 has been canceled. Check back on this blog for updates: anticipated reschedule date is Spring or Winter 2009.

Fall 2008 in Berlin

The Fall 2008 Berlin program begins on September 29. Ai students will receive information soon regarding the details - which side trips you'll take, which classes are available, etc.

Europeans know what a happening place Berlin is for artists. It's widely acknowledged as the New York of Europe. Simon Rattle, the Principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, described Berlin as "... 60% Germany, 38% New York and the rest the Wild West." The music scene is fantastic, with dozens of great bands to see any night of the week. Galleries pop up at the rate of 30 per month; many of them show young, new, experimental work. If you are in the VC or IMD programs you can be a part of Fall 2008 in Berlin. Ask your International Programs coordinator for details, or email me.

CERN and the beginnings of the Internet

"CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is where it all began in March 1989. A physicist, Tim Berners-Lee, wrote a proposal for information management showing how information could be transferred easily over the Internet by using hypertext, the now familiar point-and-click system of navigating through information. The following year, Robert Cailliau, a systems engineer, joined in and soon became its number one advocate." - http://info.cern.ch/

On our trip to CERN we not only toured the large hadron particle collider (in 2008 they will attempt, through colliding protons at high speeds, to reproduce the conditions moments after the big bang), we were also toured around the birthplace of the internet by Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee's collaborator on the project. He also spoke to us and with us at length. Truly an honor. This is a photo of Cailliau and me, in front of the office where it all began:


At the L4, future geniuses are at work in the Ai program's well-equipped lab (Hi Ashley Wood!)


Thanks to Robert Jamison for the photos.

Weekend in Geneva

One of our organized weekends (actually, 5 days) was a trip to Geneva, which included side trips to CERN, the Niepce House (he invented photography, and the United Nations. I only had my camera with me one one outing so the only photos you'll see are of the Niepce Museum trip. He's the man who in 1822 invented photography and we stood in the actual room and looked onto the landscape of the first known photograph. The house is in a miniscule town called St Loup de Varennes, in the Burgundy region of France. Niepce was an inventor in general, and another one of his inventions was the velocipede, demonstrated below by our own Ryan Wenner:

The house:

The plaque at the end of the lane, facing the train tracks:

Afterward we visited a beautiful Burgundian town, and though this was NOT the focus of the trip, it made good photos. Chalon sur Saone:



At CERN we were blown away by a tour of the massive super colliders, one of which will, in 2008, recreate the conditions a moment after the big bang, by colliding protons at high speeds in a 27 KM ring. More on that in another post.

Weekend in Venice

Students and professors get a couple of long weekends free to travel during the program. The first weekend I decided to see the biennale in Venice. This was my second time there and still my breath is taken away by the incredible beauty of the city and all of its surprises. I realize how lucky I am to be able to even contemplate visiting on a regular basis. Anyway, wouldn't you like to see some pictures. My hotel room, though it is not what you'd imagine it to be in a 16th century villa, is clean and quiet (means: simple and looks at another building) (but cheap). But the villa faces a square and the church you see is S. Geremia e Lucia. There was a Mercado in the door to the right on Saturday night, where the ladies of the church had knitted and crocheted items for sale to raise money for missions. So sorry, I didn't find anything I could use, but it was like home:

This is a photo of the canal to the left of the church, and the street that leads further into town:


The neighborhood, near the train station, is called Canareggio. After dinner at a trattoria the second night I happened upon a neighborhood celebration in a square like the one I am staying on. There was a local band playing: about 10 local artists playing brass and percussion, and vocals. Kids piled up on the fountain, men passed the grappa, everyone swayed, danced and clapped... they let me participate and I had a great time. Traveling by myself can be lonely/boring but there's usually something going on if I look long enough.

The Biennale at the Giardini was more interesting than the Arsenale (which gave me a headache; it reminded me of a web site - I could have gotten the same thing on a web site and skipped the long walk) and here are some photos from the American Pavilion. The artist is Felix Gonzalez Torres. People who come to the exhibit are invited to take a poster or a piece of candy to participate in the installation; however mostly what I saw was they rushed in, did not contemplate what was going on, grabbed as many posters as they could, grabbed HANDFULS of candy, and left. Probably I'm being cynical. No doubt. Read about FGT online. Photos:


Gonzalez-Torres' work has been interpreted as being about AIDS (he died of AIDS in the 1996) and the lightbulbs slowly going out have been seen as a metaphor for dying.


My friend Chingiz Babayev of Azerbaijan was in the Biennale this year but his exhibition had closed before I could see it. He sent me this photo. Hi Chingiz! It looks great! This is a very large carpet made out of fruit and vegetables and other things.

I also thought the three video installations in the Central Asian Exhibition were very good.

Meeting up with my friend Jürgen Faust and his wife Tanja were really what made the trip perfect. They drove from Munich across the Alps through a snowstorm to spend Sunday in Venice. While Tanja visited the Biennale Jürgen and I had a chance to catch up.

Here is a final photo, on the way to the train: