Berlin
As I mention in my previous post, Alexej and I visited Berlin a few weeks ago.
We flew in on Friday evening and our first stop on Saturday was a visit to the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart. The museum is known for its large collection of Joseph Beuys’ work. In their current exhibition of installation art, ‘moving is in every direction’, the museum includes Beuys work, as well as that of several other artists from the 60’s up until present day.
Adrian Piper's 'The Probable Trust Registry'.
Josef Beuys' 'Richtkraefte einer neuen Gesellschaft' and 'Filzanzug' (far wall).
Detail of 'Richtkraefte einer neuen Gesellschaft' by Joseph Beuys.
Joseph Beuys' 'Das Kapital Raum'.
Thomas Schütte's 'The Laundry'.
Pipilotti Rist's 'Remake of the Weekend'.
We also had a look around some of the permanent collections, including work by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
On Saturday evening, we went to see German band Deichkind at an open-air amphitheatre in Volkspark Wuhlheide, Southeast Berlin.
Deichkind are known for their live shows, and they didn’t disappoint. Their stage show featured their signature light-up pyramid hats, an office chair dance routine, carnival-inspired capes and masks, a giant paddling pool full of feathers, a bouncy castle, and a huge beer barrel that was ridden out into the audience while waving a flag that said ‘no racism, no sexism’. Altogether, it was a great gig.
We got back to our hotel late, but still made it out to some more of the museums on Sunday. Our Museums pass included all the State Museums, so we decided to head to the Museums Island, which also happens to be the ancient heart of Berlin. We started out at the Neues Museum, which holds the antiquarian collections. We saw their current exhibition, China and Egypt: Cradles of the World. It was interesting to see artefacts from these cultures spanning from 4500 BC until the Greek and Roman periods (332 BC to 313 AD).
Berolina statue, the symbol of Berlin. This statue was once on the Berlin Stock Exchange.
Egyptian carvings from the Neues Museum.
Statue of the Egyptian goddess Sekmet.
Our final stop was at the Bode Museum. Although it is interesting architecturally, Alexej and I weren’t particularly taken-in by the collections. The museum holds mainly European sculpture from the Middle-Ages through the Baroque era, as well as Byzantine art. There is also a large collection of coins and medals. By that time, we were exhausted from walking, and wilting in the 30+ degrees C heat.
Berliner Kindl Weisse, the popular Berlin beer with green syrup.
Some graffiti of Marx near the Bode Museum.
