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interiori-smart · 5 years ago

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Bauhaus

1919 - 1933

No estás inmerso en el mundo del arte si no sabes que es Bauhaus. La Bauhaus o Staatliche Bauhaus (Casa de la Construcción Estatal) fue una escuela de artesanía, artes, diseño y arquitectura que ha sido reconocida mundialmente por su aportación en el diseño.

Historia

Bauhaus (nombre derivado de la unión de las palabras en alemán “Bau”: construcción y “Haus”: casa). Walter Gropius fundó esta escuela de arquitectura y diseño en 1919. Agruparía a las figuras más interesantes de la vanguardia alemana de entreguerras. Fue conocida oficialmente como la Staatliches Bauhaus («Casa de la Construcción Estatal»).

Al igual que otros movimientos pertenecientes a la vanguardia artística, los procesos políticos y sociales tuvieron gran influencia. Con el final de la primera guerra Mundial comenzaron a surgir movimientos revolucionarios que aspiraban provocar una renovación radical de la cultura y la sociedad que con la necesidad de encontrar nuevos caminos en cuanto a diseño y composición.

Su historia tiene tres fases:

La primera (1919-1924) coincide con el periodo en que la Escuela Bauhaus tiene sede en Weimar. La obra más importante desarrollada entonces es el proyecto del Chicago Tribune de Gropius. Progresivamente la consolidación de la república democrática de Weimar, después de la I Guerra Mundial, así como la conjunción de la arquitectura y el diseño modernos con el sistema capitalista, determinarán una nueva orientación en el estilo de la Bauhaus. Es la fase idealista , expresionista y de experimentación de formas, productos y diseños.

Se utilizan las formas geométricas básicas (el círculo, el cuadrado y el triángulo) junto con los tres colores primarios como base aunque los colores principales fueron negro, blanco y rojo.

En la segunda fase (1925-1927), la Escuela se traslada a Dessau, y esta etapa se caracteriza por los diseños de todos los aspectos del entorno arquitectónico (muebles, accesorios) y la inserción de la práctica arquitectónica en los procesos industriales. El edificio más importante de la Bauhaus de entonces es el de su sede, de planta geométrica, aunque carente de simetría.

En la tercera fase (1927-1930), la Bauhaus es dirigida por Hans Meyer, que trató de vincular la problemática técnica y estética de la construcción con las organizaciones obreras. Para él, la casa debe responder a los modos de vida del morador y no a las aspiraciones estéticas del diseñador. Fue cesado en 1930, iniciándose una rápida decadencia de la institución. Van der Rohe asume la dirección de la escuela hasta la llegada al poder de los nazis en Alemania, que supone su cierre y la constatación del divorcio entre las ideologías totalitarias y los proyectos de vanguardia.

Impacto del Bauhaus

El objetivo de la escuela, encabezado por Gropius, era reformar la enseñanza de las artes para lograr una transformación de la sociedad burguesa. Su contenido crítico y compromiso de izquierda causarían su cierre en 1933.

Con ella se trataba de unir todas las artes estableciendo así una nueva estética que abarcaría todos los ámbitos de la vida cotidiana, “desde la silla en la que usted se sienta hasta la página que está leyendo” (Heinrich von Eckardt).

Por primera vez, el diseño industrial y gráfico fueron considerados como profesiones ya que se establecieron las bases normativas y los fundamentos académicos tal y como los conocemos en la actualidad (antes de la Bauhaus estas dos profesiones no existían del modo en que fueron concebidas dentro de esta escuela).

Principios de la Bauhaus

Para Gropius la base del arte estaba en la artesanía: los artistas tenían que volver al trabajo manual.

Uno de los principios establecidos desde su fundación fue «la forma sigue a la función«, por lo que en arquitectura los diferentes espacios eran diseñados con formas geométricas según la función para la que fueron concebidos.

La Bauhaus es sinónimo de modernidad, de colores primarios, nuevas concepciones del espacio y de la forma e integración de las artes.

Desde el momento de su apertura se establecieron los objetivos de la escuela recogidos en el manifiesto de la Bauhaus: “La recuperación de los métodos artesanales en la actividad constructiva, elevar la potencia artesana al mismo nivel que las Bellas Artes e intentar comercializar los productos que, integrados en la producción industrial, se convertirían en objetos de consumo asequibles para el gran público”.

Con la idea del arte como respuesta a las necesidades de la sociedad se pretendía eliminar las diferencias entre artistas y artesanos.

Bauhaus, Weimar 1919

Métodos de enseñanza

Durante seis meses (como un ciclo de la U) los alumnos trabajaban en los distintos talleres. Así, bajo la metodología de “aprender trabajando”, se formaban en las distintas áreas para descubrir sus preferencias y orientarse para su posterior formación: trabajaban con piedra, madera, metal, barro, tejidos, vidrio, colorantes y tejidos mientras se le enseñaba dibujo y modelado. Aprendían las pautas básicas de diferentes oficios y el trabajo con materiales nuevos para la elaboración de edificios y todo tipo de objetos.

En este tiempo realizaban también un curso obligatorio “vorkurs”, conocido posteriormente como “Método Bauhaus”, creado por el arquitecto Johannes Itten, donde se investigaba los principales componentes visuales en textura, color, forma, contorno y materiales.

Principales exponentes de la Bauhaus

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), pintor.

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), pintor y fotógrafo de artes.

Paul Klee (1879-1940), pintor.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969), arquitecto.

Lilly Reich (1885-1947), arquitecta y diseñadora de interiores.

Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe (1886-1969), arquitecto.

Ludwig Hilberseimer (1885-1967), arquitecto y urbanista.

Lothar Schreyer (1886-1966), escritor, dramaturgo y pintor.

Josef Albers (1888-1976), pintor y docente de arte.

Johannes Itten (1888-1967), pintor y profesor de arte.

Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), pintor.

Gerhard Marcks (1889-1940), pintor y escultor.

Hannes Meyer (1889-1954), arquitecto.

Marianne Brandt (1893-1983), diseñadora en metal.

Joost Schmidt (1893-1948), tipógrafo y escultor.

Lászlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), diseñador visual.

Georg Muche (1895-1987), pintor y grafista.

Gunta Stölzl (1897-1983), tejedora.

Walter Peterhans (1897-1960), fotógrafo.

Alfred Arndt (1898-1976), arquitecto.

Anni Albers (1899-1994), diseñadora textil y grabadora.

Arieh Sharon (1900-1984), arquitecto.

Herbert Bayer (1900-1985), diseñador gráfico y pintor.

Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), arquitecto y diseñador

Lotte Beese, (1903-1988), arquitecta y urbanista

Xanti Schawinsky (1904-1979), Pintor, dibujante, diseñador y fotógrafo.

Grete Stern (1904-1999), diseñadora y fotógrafa.

Horacio Cóppola (1906-2012), fotógrafo.

Muebles Bauhaus

Los muebles y los objetos decorativos de la Bauhaus destacan por ser funcionales; los diseñadores de la icónica escuela querían crear objetos estéticamente agradables, pero también querían que sus productos estuvieran disponibles para un público masivo.

"Wassily Chair" de Marcel Breuer. Es también conocida como la silla Modelo B3, fue diseñada por el arquitecto modernista y diseñador de muebles húngaro Breuer entre 1925-1926; se inspiró para crearla mientras montaba su bicicleta; imaginó tomar el acero tubular, utilizado para el manillar, para doblarlo y hacer muebles.

"Baby Cradle" de Peter Keler. Compuesta por formas simples como triángulos y rectángulos, y colores primarios, la base presenta un cuerpo de bloques de color en rojo y amarillo, con un balancín circular azul, una policromía reconocida como marca de la casa Bauhaus.

"Brno Chair" de Mies van der Rohe, ejemplifica el principio de Bauhaus de reducir objetos a sus elementos básicos, sustituyendo las cuatro patas, que normalmente lleva una silla, por una única barra en forma de C que soporta todo el asiento.

"Wardrobe on Rollers" de Josef Pohl, se conoció como el "Vestidor de los solteros" debido a sus cualidades móviles y de ahorro de espacio; el armario rectangular está montado sobre ruedas para facilitar sus reubicaciones.

"Nesting Tables" de Josef Albers, cada mesa fue hecha de roble macizo y vidrio acrílico lacado; Albers aplicó el mismo estilo geométrico a las tablas, otorgando a cada una los distintivos azul, rojo, amarillo y blanco.

Recomendaciones, para saber más:

Lotte am Bauhaus.

Weimar, 1921. La vida de Lotte Brendel, de 20 años, parece estar predeterminada. Su padre la ve como una futura esposa y madre del lado de un hombre que se hará cargo del negocio de carpintería parental. Pero la idiosincrásica Lotte se une a un grupo de jóvenes artistas contra la voluntad de su familia, se presenta en la Bauhaus y es aceptada. La Weimar Bauhaus, bajo la dirección del visionario Walter Gropius, aspira no solo a combinar artes y oficios, sino también a encontrar el lugar para el "Hombre Nuevo". En la estudiante Paul Seligmann Lotte encuentra un partidario y su gran amor.

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eilidhlumsdenartist-reserch · 4 years ago

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Section 1 Artist sketchbook

Gerhard Ritcher-

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden on 9th February 1932, the first child of Horst and Hildegard Richter. A daughter, Gisela, followed four years later. They were in many respects an average middle-class family: Horst worked as a teacher at a secondary school in Dresden and Hildegard was a bookseller who liked to play the piano. In an interview with Robert Storr, Richter described his early family life as "simple, orderly, structured – mother playing the piano and father earning money." In 1935, Horst accepted a teaching position at a school in Reichenau, a town which today is known as Bogatynia in Poland, at the time located in the German province, Saxony. Settling in Reichenau was a drastic change for the family, which was accustomed to the vivid cultural life of the larger Dresden.3 Yet, it was also a move that would keep the family largely safe from the coming war. In the late 1930s, Horst was conscripted into the German army, captured by Allied forces, and detained as a prisoner of war until Germany's defeat. In 1946, he was released and returned to his family, who had again relocated, this time to Waltersdorf, a village on the Czech border., The post-war years caused difficulties for the Richter family, as for many others. Horst’s return was not that of a war-hero. Commenting on this period in later life, Richter reflected: "Horst shared most father's fate at the time nobody wanted them." In an interview from 2004, he added: "We were so alienated that we didn't know how to deal with each other." Horst’s former membership of the National Socialist Party, which all teachers had been obliged to join under the Nazi regime, made it difficult for him to return to teaching. He eventually ended up working in a textile mill nearby in Zittau, before finding a post as an administrator of a distance learning program for an educational institution in Dresden. Richter has remarked on his early years with a mixture of fondness and frustration, sadness and excitement. He reminisced about the house in which he was born, on Grossenhainer Strasse in Dresden: "it was not far from the original Circus Sarrasani building, whereas a young boy – I could see the elephant stalls through the cellar windows. I remember my great-grandmother's sewing box, made of armadillo skin, and a man falling from a ladder – something that, according to my parents, only I had seen." Not much is documented about Richter's time in Reichenau, but he has talked about his experiences of Waltersdorf: "we had moved to a new village, and automatically I was an outsider. I couldn't speak the dialect and so on." In 1942, because he turned 10 years old, Richter was required to join the ‘Pimpfen’, a mandatory organisation for children that prepared them for the Hitler Youth. Later, Richter attended grammar school in Zittau but eventually dropped out. He has been described as "a highly gifted child but notoriously bad in school, " with Dietmar Elger noting that "he even got poor grades in a drawing." He ended up attending a vocational school instead, studying stenography, bookkeeping, and Russian.

While too young to be drafted into the German army during the Second World War, the war nonetheless had a deep impact on Richter. The family experienced economic hardship and personal loss: Hildegard's brothers, Rudi and Alfred, and sister, Marianne, all died as a consequence of the war. "It was sad when my mother's brothers fell in battle. First the one, then the other. I'll never forget how the women screamed," Richter recalls. Marianne, who suffered from mental health problems, was starved to death in a psychiatric clinic.

Even though Waltersdorf was spared the extensive bombing that nearby Dresden was exposed to, it was not sheltered. Speaking to Jan-Thorn Prikker, Richter has said: "the retreating German soldiers, the convoys, the low-flying Russian planes shooting at refugees, the trenches, the weapons lying around everywhere, artillery, broken down cars. Then the invasion of the Russians ransacking, rapes, a huge camp where us kids sometimes got barley soup." As a child, the military had fascinated Richter: "When the soldiers came through the village, I went up to them and wanted to join them." He explained to Storr: "when you're twelve years old you're too little to understand all that ideological hocus- pocus." Richter remembers playing in the woods and trenches with his friends, shooting with forgotten rifles which they found lying around: "I thought it was great. I was fascinated, like all kids." The bombings of Dresden made an enduring impression on Richter: "in the night, everyone came out onto the street of our village 100 kilometers away. Dresden was being bombed, "now, at this moment!" Following the Potsdam agreement at the end of the war, the area in which Richter lived fell under Soviet control. The Second World War profoundly changed the face of the country that Richter had been born into, which had a lasting effect on Richter's education and later artistic practice.

Sternbild

Star picture, 1969

Self Portrait, Three Times, 24 .1. 90

1990

Abstract Painting(726)

1990

Abstract Painting (726) 1990 is a large-scale diptych by the German artist Gerhard Richter, comprising two joined sections of canvas and characterised by shimmering horizontal forms. As the title implies, there are no clear representational elements depicted in the painting, but within its thick layers of colour – especially prominent are white, red and a rusty orange – there is the suggestion of an original image that has become blurred. The work is also marked by several scratches, mostly vertical, that Richter has made through the paint.

Abstract painting No. 439

For many years Richter used photographs as a source for his figurative works. In the mid-1970s he began to incorporate photography into the process of making abstract paintings. This work was made by photographing one of his smaller compositions (Oil Sketch No. 432/11), which he then projected onto a large canvas, and then traced in charcoal. He completed the larger painting with conventional brushes and oil paint, working the surface into a smooth state of finish which suggests the glossy surface of a photograph.

‘St John’

1988

St John belongs to a series called the ‘London Paintings’, each named after one of the chapels of Westminster Abbey. The titles are not meant to be descriptive but refer merely to associations connected with the artist’s visits to London. Since 1980 Richter has made his abstract paintings by manipulating spatulas of different lengths, loaded with paint, across areas of the canvas. New layers of colour cover earlier ones. Richter’s inability to control the precise distribution of paint allows a degree of chance to determine the paintings’ final appearance.

Mund (Mouth)(Brigitte Bardot's Lips) (1963)

Mund is one of Richter's first paintings completed from a photograph. The painting is sexually suggestive, depicting Brigitte Bardot's open mouth adorned with red lipstick. Blurred flesh tones hint at Richter's painting process, beginning with a realist rendering and incorporating rollers, squeegees, and dry-brush techniques to mask the surface. The work suggests the artist viewing reality from a detached perspective, as he resists any moment of a clear focus on the overall image.

1024 Farben(1024 Colors) (1973)

Richter employs a systematic approach to the canvas in his color-chart-based painting 1024 Farben (1024 Colors). Superficially reminiscent of the neo-Dadaist, the 1950s "Hard Edge" abstraction of Ellsworth Kelly, Richter chooses here to systematically paint squares of colors based on the predetermined structure of the color wheel. The only intervention of the artist in an otherwise mechanical process seems to be his control of the scale of the canvas itself, the artist's having arranged the colour combinations via reference to a logical, predetermined schema.

Richter has similarly applied his paint as before, manipulating the paint with a squeegee when the paint is very newly applied, hence its fluid character. Richter does not maintain a horizontal direction as he glides his squeegee across the surface, rather he plays with it.

Ritcher was a brilliant artist I personally love his work with the overlaying of paint on the photos are amazing and eye catching it makes the work rallying interesting and a different viewing of it.

“To talk about paintings is not only difficult but perhaps pointless too. You can only express in words what words are capable of expressing-- what language can communicate. Painting has nothing to do with that.” ― Gerhard Richter

Neo Sauch

Born in 1960, Neo Rauch is the son of Hanno Rauch and Helga Wand, who both studied art at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig. Tragically, Rauch's parents died together in a train accident when their newborn son was only four weeks old, and Rauch necessarily spent much of his life growing up with his grandparents in Aschersleben, a town that forms part of the Salzlandkreis district in Germany. Rauch grew up during the construction of the Berlin Wall and thus lived his formative years in what was then regarded as East Germany, and undoubtedly influential experience leading him to stay forever clear of making art for propaganda or under the service of politics. For to do so would obscure opening up free dialogue in art, with politics intent on the portrayal of only one rigid message.

Rauch's passion for art began at a young age. As a child, his peers were interested in sports and playing cards whilst he recalls a natural interest in literature, culture, and drawing; this disparity of interests often made him feel lonely. Rauch remembers the importance of a day when he was 12 years old and discovered a book containing reproductions of Salvador Dalí's work on his grandfather's bookshelf. Further citing the early building blocks of his career, Rauch talks of the great opportunity that he saw in the art to be able to transfer the mode of play into professionalism; any other option was simply "out of question"

Early Training and Work

Between 1981 and 1986, Rauch studied at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (the very same school that his parents had attended) under the professors Arno Rink and Bernhard Heisig. It was from there that Rauch emerged as a prominent figure in the "New Leipzig School", a title for a movement that surfaced post-reunification in 1990 in an attempt to unite a group of artists who seemed loyal to painting figurative scenes of East German life. However, this was a label given by critics and historians and none of the artists associated with the term subscribed to it or deemed it useful. Rauch's work in particular always remained distinct from the dominant Social Realism of East Germany, and the Neo-Expressionist styles of the West. Even in his early work, he had developed a unique poetic narrative style and assertively refused to subscribe to any movement or moment in history.In an interview with Zeit.de, Rauch recalled when he first personally met his influential friend and teacher, Arno Rink. Rauch stated that Rink had an appearance akin to writer Thomas Mann combined with an attitude that demanded respect. Reminding the young artist of the demands expected whilst enlisted in the National People's Army (the national service that all young men still undertake in Germany), Rauch said that Rink's attitude was one that he understood and was happy to answer with respect. During his studies, Rauch cites that he admired Rink's precision of detail and a sense of magic within his colour palette.

During this time, in 1985, Rauch married his fellow artist and representative of the "New Leipzig School", Rosa Loy. In various interviews, Rauch discusses the couple's dynamic as two working artists, stating that they do not view each other as competition and are both proud of each other's success, jokingly elaborating upon their frequent chess games where Loy always wins whilst simultaneously knitting and listening to music with one earphone.

Between 1986 and 1990, Rauch chose to further his education by continuing to study for his Masters at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig. The 1980s was a crucial phase in Rauch's life, as it was in the University environment that he began to feel like less of an outsider. It was also at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst that Rauch met Judy Lybke, a life-long friend who also became the founder of EIGEN+ART gallery, Rauch's gallerist, and instrumental in his commercial success.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed, and in 1990, Rauch and Loy's son was born, the latter of which events Rauch described as "The greatest change in my life...That's when I crossed over into greater responsibility, but at the same time it offered me the chance to embrace child-play once again". Between the years 1993 and 1998, Rauch decided to further his practice as an artist by working as an assistant for his teachers, Arno Rink and Sighard Gille at Leipziger Akademie. During this time Rauch had already started to exhibit his own work but he initially achieved little success and attracted no interest. In 1993, Rauch had his first solo show at EIGEN + ART in Leipzig, recalling it as a "commercial disaster" likely because video and installation were very popular at the time.

Waiting for the Barbarians

2007

Waiting for the Barbarians is a 2007 painting by the German artist Neo Rauch. To the right in the picture is a carnival where a minotaur is cheered on a stage, while to the left another minotaur is about to be burned at the stake. The picture also includes several other people and creatures.

Tal

1999

Tal is a 1999 painting by the German artist Neo Rauch. It depicts two men in boxing shorts and shoes who fight each other with long sticks. In the foreground is a red, wooden manger with the word "Tal", which is German for the valley.

die große störung

1999

Reactionary Situation

2002

Reactionary Situation is a 2002 painting by the German artist Neo Rauch. It depicts a rural landscape with poplars, a dilapidated manor house, a little girl, a man working the ground with a stick, a man praying on his knees before a floating windmill and a colourful rifle mounted on the ground

Rauch work is very abstract bold and very trippy looking. Mostly set in the army time with war and cutouts of other items that don't fit in with the theme but it goes and makes sense with how it flows and use bold colours and and using blues and browns as the shadow and and depth in it.

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emmasmythcontext · 4 years ago

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HNC Contemporary Fine Art and Photography

Emma Smyth

24/10/2020

Gerhard Ritcher

Gerhard Ritcher was born in 1932 in Dresden, Germany. Some of his relatives were directly involved in the Nazi movement, manly his father the school teacher and his uncle. His mother encouraged Ritcher’s talent for draftsmanship. In 1948, at the age of 16, Ritcher dropped out of education and took up an apprenticeship as a set painter for the theatre. Ritcher’s early artistic training under post war communist-driven ideology was pushed due to family loss and his father losing his job. Ritcher was inspired by nature over any political or religious affairs or philosophies.

One of Ritcher’s well known pieces is “Mund(mouth) (Brigitte Bardot’s Lips) (1963)” which was one of the first paintings completed from photographs. This painting is quite sexual as it is depicting Brigitte Bardot’s open mouth adorned with red lipstick. Blurred flesh tones hint at Ritcher’s painting process, beginning with realism and using a roller, squeegees as well as a dry brush technique to mask the surface of the painting. The techniques suggest that Ritcher is viewing reality from a detached perspective as there is no clear focus on the overall painting.

Ritcher originally trained in a realist style and later on in life he began to develop an appreciation for the more progressive work of his American and European contemporaries. He explored how images appear to capture “truth” or images that make you unsure of the meaning. Another common theme in his work is the play between realism and abstraction. Ritcher was inspired by Abstract Expressionism, American/British Pop art, Minimalism and Conceptualism.

He uses a lot of newspaper and family albums for his painting imagery. He usually begins by projecting an image onto the canvas, he seemed to think that images often seem to have a life of their own. He often blurs his subjects which suggests that something essential to the model has been “lost in translation” often leads the viewers' attention to the oil pigment’s dense, material nature, therefore demonstrating both its expressive strengths and failures. Ritcher’s paintings have many layers, strokes, and scrapes of color may thus appear as “beautiful”.

By comparing both Andrew Wyeth and Gerhard Ritcher’s work I found that they approach their work very differently. Wyeth’s work is more photo realism, whereas Ritcher’s work is more abstract, however the both focus on the depths of nature. Ritcher tends to use oil paint on canvas and Wyeth chooses to use egg tempera as well as watercolor on canvas.

Biography

www.theartstory.org/artist/ratcher-gerhard

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ericfruits · 7 years ago

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Where does Germany go from here?

JOHN KORNBLUM, A former American ambassador to Berlin, reckons that post-war German history has moved broadly in cycles of 20 to 30 years. The first started with the birth of West Germany’s federal republic in 1949. The second began with the “1968 generation” of young progressives who asked difficult questions about the country’s past and took on its conservative establishment. The third commenced with reunification in 1990 and continued with the election of the Social Democrat-Green government in 1998. With the end of Angela Merkel’s era on the horizon (she is not expected to run again in 2021), that third period is now drawing to a close.

Her legacy may turn out to be the completion of the “red-green” project. Gerhard Schröder, her SPD predecessor, pushed through painful economic reforms and initiated a relaxation of social mores after the stuffy years of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Mr Schröder’s government opened citizenship to immigrants without German roots. It also broke a pacifist taboo with Germany’s first military engagement since the second world war, in Kosovo. Its slogan was “for a modern Germany”. That required persuasion and argument. Joschka Fischer, Mr Schröder’s foreign minister, a Green, made the case for the Kosovo intervention to heckling at his party’s conference in 1999.

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It fell to Mrs Merkel to steer the country through that period of modernisation. She has largely avoided fights. Instead her calm presence—inoffensive, stable, unpolitical even—has allowed the radical changes introduced by her predecessor to settle in, giving the cautious German public time to digest them. Her election campaign last summer epitomised the style with talk about “a country in which we live well and happily”. Even her uncharacteristically bold stance during the refugee crisis came with the soothing mantra: “We’ll manage it.”

In “Germany and the Germans”, a book about Helmut Kohl’s Germany in the mid-1990s, John Ardagh, a British writer, tells the story of a German friend who was tempted to buy a pair of outré earrings in Lyon, but decided against them because “I knew I could never wear them here…people would have been genuinely shocked.” The country described by Herfried and Marina Münkler in “The New Germans” is more open, informal and increasingly diverse, but also more fragmented and anxious. It is integrated into a roller-coaster global economy as never before, and is slowly taking on new responsibilities in the world.

Its ability to adapt is greater than many give it credit for. In 1999, as the economic costs of reunification were weighing it down, this newspaper branded it “the sick man of the euro”. But it reformed, and if anything its economy is now too strong for everyone else’s good; its giant trade surplus is in danger of destabilising the world economy. For anyone who travels through Germany today (perhaps on one of its excellent high-speed trains), its success and its stability are evident. For all its recent social and economic fragmentation, it has no French-style banlieues or American-style ghettos. A study published last year by the Bertelsmann Foundation, a think-tank, found that 80% of Germans considered themselves politically centrist, compared with only 51% of French people, even though the country had recently taken in many hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim and overwhelmingly poor immigrants.

The new Germans are more plural, more confrontational, more divided

But perhaps Germany has been spoilt. In recent years it has enjoyed “relatively low oil prices, low interest rates, a relatively moderate exchange rate”, notes Dieter Kempf, who heads the Association of German Industry (BDI). The country’s baby-boomers are only now starting to retire. New competitors such as China are not yet as good as Germany at making high-value items like luxury cars. “Germany has had it too good,” jokes Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research.

And it may not be doing enough to prepare for a rougher future. One example is its slow and unreliable internet. Ranked by average speed, the country dropped to 42nd place in the world last year, partly because it failed to invest enough, partly because of a tangle of red tape at federal, state and local level. And even where high-speed internet is available, the cautious Germans are slow to take it up, just as they are slow to take up other technological innovations, ranging from credit cards to social media.

Another example is the service sector, which is ludicrously over-regulated. A prohibition on chains of chemists’ shops has roots in guild laws dating from the Middle Ages. And the country’s infrastructure, though impressive, is deteriorating, partly thanks to a short-sighted debt brake limiting spending. Regional newspapers are full of stories about leaky school roofs, creaky bridges and potholed roads. The armed forces are threadbare. Tackling such challenges in the next phase of Germany post-war history will require more dynamism than the soothing Mrs Merkel has provided.

Make a noise

That starts with politics. For the past four years, when the opposition has consisted of only two small parties, political dialogue has been almost inaudible. “There was no recent debate on the opening up of society; that needs to happen now,” says Michael Bröning of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, pointing to Mrs Merkel’s pro-immigration policies and the broader relaxation of social norms. An open letter published by Die Zeit, a weekly, caught the mood of last summer’s over-quiet election campaign. In it Jana Hensel, a writer, described taking her son to an election rally in Finsterwalde, a depressed town in the former east, where Mrs Merkel was giving a speech. The chancellor was interrupted by anti-immigrant protesters but ignored them and plodded on. Ms Hensel was dismayed. “One, two, three sentences would have done the job,” she wrote. “You are so powerful and you were standing on a large stage. Everyone was waiting for you to say something.”

That crowd exemplifies the new Germans: more plural, more confrontational, more divided. And just as Mrs Merkel should have taken on the hecklers in Finsterwalde, she and her political successors should “Just Do Politics At Last!”, the title of a book by Christian Ude, a former mayor of Munich, published last year. Mrs Merkel’s calm style was broadly right for the period of settling Germany in after the reforms of the early 2000s, but it would be wrong for the next phase. As the Münklers write: “The greater the ethnic and religious variety of a society, the more it needs a guiding narrative.” They imagine Germany’s more open future as one of “permanent negotiation”. The meaning of being German, the difference between the sustainable and the unsustainable parts of the country’s economic model, the hard work needed to heal divides in society, the new expectations of Germany on the international stage—all this requires explanation and argument.

The early signs are encouraging. The new coalition deal at least calls for “enlivening public debates, making differences open and thus strengthening democracy”. After the SPD’s long internal battle over whether to join the coalition, the party feels a greater need to differentiate itself. Struggles within Mrs Merkel’s CDU about its future are just beginning. And the arrival of the AfD in the Bundestag has forced mainstream politicians to take on its ideas. Mr Bröning thinks it is “good for democracy” for those who feel left out to be represented.

In February Cem Özdemir, the outgoing leader of the Greens, addressed an electrifying speech at the AfD’s MPs to cheers in the Bundestag: “You despise everything for which this country is respected throughout the world.” What made him proud to be German, he went on to say, was the country’s diversity and its culture of remembrance. The son of Turkish guest workers was sketching out a whole new vision of Germany: multiethnic, sensitive to its past and confident about its future. The battle to which he was challenging the right-wingers will define Germany’s next historical cycle.

This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline "Children of Merkel"

Special report: The new GermansMore in this special report:

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the-ophanim · 5 years ago

Video

vimeo

PAN by Anna Roller from Anna Roller on Vimeo.

Juno, a twenty year old girl becomes obsessed with Pan. Her obsession turns her into an animal...

CAST

Juno - Anna Platen Pan - Jeff Wilbusch Kim - Luisa-Céline Gaffron Malin - Sue Simmy Lemke Tim - Emil Borgeest

STAB

directed by Anna Roller

script - Anna Roller, Wouter Wirth cinematography - Felix Pflieger producer - Tanja Schmidbauer set design - Lena Müller costume - Luisa Rauschert hair & makeup - Chiara Castellini light - Philipp Slaboch color grading - Claudia Fuchs sound - Tobias Rehm sound design - Marcus Fass sound mixing - Gerhard Auer music - David Reichelt edit - Anna Roller, Elena Schmidt

University of Television and Film Munich

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spongebobsoundtrack · 4 years ago

Audio

Gerhard Trede - Dombummel

Plays in:

15a. "Sleepy Time"

33a. "Shanghaied"

55b. "Mid-Life Crustacean"

64a. "Skill Crane"

86a. "Roller Cowards"

139b. "The Cent of Money"

208b. "Krusty Katering"

#spongebob #spongebob squarepants #audio #music #apm track #sleepy time #Shanghaied #mid-life crustacean #Skill Crane #roller cowards #the cent of money #krusty katering #Dombummel #Gerhard Trede

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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years ago

Text

Thumbnails 2/8/19

Thumbnails is a roundup of brief excerpts to introduce you to articles from other websites that we found interesting and exciting. We provide links to the original sources for you to read in their entirety.—Chaz Ebert

"Morgan Saylor on 'Anywhere With You,' 'White Girl' and 'Novitiate'": The astonishingly versatile actor chats with me at Indie Outlook about her latest role in Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via's new indie romance, "Anywhere With You," now available on Digital and On Demand.

“[Indie Outlook:] ‘The five-minute shot of your face on the beach is absolutely mesmerizing, as Amanda goes through a near-operatic roller coaster of emotions. Was that scene always meant to be shot that way?’ [Saylor:] ‘No it wasn’t. Phone calls are always very technical on film. You have to figure out where the person on the other line is going to be, or if they’ll be there at all. The take we used was the first one we filmed. I don’t think we planned to do the second phone call in the same take, but I did it anyway and it worked. They really liked the idea of both calls being in one shot. We originally thought that we’d have Jake in the background calling to me, but there was also the problem of losing light. These are the sort of not-so-fun things that happen onset. I actually remember being very unsatisfied, performance-wise, with that scene, but now in retrospect, I’m quite pleased with it. It’s just so stressful and weird when you have only thirty minutes of that perfect sunset light to work with, and you don’t have the right people as the voices on the other end of the line. It’s really difficult to react to that, but it ended up being one of those magic things. The assistant director was like, ‘Should we call cut? Should we not?’ And they just kept going, and that’s what made it in the final cut. That scene has been talked about a lot, and I think that’s cool.”

"How Caleb Deschanel Became the Surprise Oscar Nominee for 'Never Look Away'": According to Indiewire's Bill Desowitz.

“Like everyone else, Caleb Deschanel was taken by surprise with his sixth Oscar nomination for German-language nominee, ‘Never Look Away,’ about the horrors of war and the artistic process. The legendary cinematographer, best known for ‘The Black Stallion,’ ‘The Right Stuff,’ and ‘The Natural,’ now becomes the sentimental favorite to win his first Academy Award. ‘People kept coming up and raving about ‘Cold War’ and ‘Roma’ and I sheepishly told them that I had a foreign-language film and they said they had the DVD somewhere,’ Deschanel said. Clearly, enough branch members (bolstered by the large international bloc) were swayed by Deschanel’s exquisite cinematography to give him the nod. ‘Never Look Away,’ directed by Oscar winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (‘The Lives of Others’), fictionalizes the life of experimental abstract German painter Gerhard Richter, who finds his artistic voice in the film after falling in love with a fashion student whose gynecologist father has a secret past as a Nazi eugenics leader.”

"Sundance Film Festival 2019: 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile'": In her review posted at A Reel of One's Own, Andrea Thompson voices her issues with Joe Berlinger's controversial Ted Bundy biopic, though they aren't what one might expect.

“The goal with ‘Extremely Wicked’ also isn't to show or glorify the murders, or even to explain why Bundy committed them, with not a flashback to his childhood to be found. Instead, the movie shows how he was able to get away with them for so long. It's much easier with a lead like Efron; it isn't just his incredible performance and charisma that makes his take on Bundy so compelling. It's his image and status as one of the most popular actors working today. ‘Extremely Wicked’ dares audiences to resist his charms, even if it constantly reminds us not only what Bundy was, but what he was capable of. We recognize him as human even as Liz notices small moments that reveal his inhumanity. He remained unrepentant until the last minute, probably only revealing at least some of the extent of his crimes in the hopes of prolonging his life. Bundy expertly manipulated the media, nearly everyone around him, and escaped authorities multiple times. Yet he also needed to believe his own lies, daring others as well as himself to imagine that this smiling, seemingly easygoing man could do such things. The issues the movie has stem from the fact that this is a story based on a memoir by Liz herself, and ‘Extremely Wicked’ is written and directed by men. As such, there's little exploration of the more complex gender dynamics that led to many young women attending his trial.”

"After years of disrupting Hollywood, Steven Soderbergh finds an unlikely ally in Netflix": In conversation with Mark Olsen of The Los Angeles Times.

“‘We're always looking for inefficiencies that can be addressed,’ Soderbergh says a few hours before his Slamdance tribute. ‘I want to be rolling as often as possible; the goal [in my filmmaking] is to be rolling camera, so I'm on the lookout for things that are getting in the way of that. The good news about this job generally in my mind is that every project is completely different and has a new set of demands and needs,’ he says. ‘And so already in my mind it throws open the idea of, ‘Well, how do we want to do it this time?’ I'm always looking to have an experience, that if it doesn't annihilate the experience that I just had, at least there's some aspect of it that's in contrast. So I feel like it's fresh.’ Though it may seem odd at first glance that Soderbergh would premiere his new film at Slamdance — or perhaps characteristically idiosyncratic — he has a longstanding relationship with the festival. As Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter tells the story, the festival’s very first opening night, a 1996 premiere screening of Greg Mottola’s ‘The Daytrippers,’ which Soderbergh had produced, was nearly derailed when the projectionist had a heart attack (he lived) and the projector broke down as well. After someone else was electrocuted trying to fix it, Soderbergh, screwdriver in hand, got the projector running.”

"11 Influential Facts About 'A Woman Under the Influence'": Eric C. Snyder of Mental Floss celebrates the genius of John Cassavetes' 1974 masterpiece.

“Cassavetes gave a long interview to journalist Judith McNally at the New York Film Festival, after he'd spent 18 months trying to find a distributor. He was also burned out on making four movies in a row without studio help. ‘I can't like making films anymore if they're this tough,’ he said. ‘The pressures are too unnatural. I'm not crying, because I enjoy it. But I am saddened by the fact that I have physical limitations.’ Yet working with profit-minded studios was hard, too, since Cassavetes refused to bend on his artistic principles. ‘If that means I'll never make [a] film again, then I'll never make another film again," he said. McNally followed up. ‘You don't have any plans at all for another film?’ He replied: "Right now all I can hope is that [‘A Woman Under the Influence’] is extremely successful. And if it isn't, I won't make another one—that's all. Which in itself is no great tragedy.’ He did, in fact, go on to make five more films before his death in 1989.”

Image of the Day

At Vulture, our own Donald Liebenson spoke with "The Critic" co-creator Al Jean about his five favorite episodes of his uproarious and all-too-short-lived show, including the one from season two starring Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as themselves (who else?).

Video of the Day

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The Top 11 Funniest Siskel and Ebert Reviews are ranked by Doug Walker, a.k.a. the Nostalgia Critic of ChannelAwesome.com, who makes an impassioned argument for why these gems of witty discourse deserve to be preserved for future generations.

from All Content http://bit.ly/2SG3D1m

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elisa-lindner · 6 years ago

Text

Trauminsel - Koh Samui - 2

Ich habe total geschwitzt und wollte kurz ins Wasser für eine Abkühlung. Es waren nur 3 Leute im Wasser, obwohl der Strand komplett voll war. Grund dafür die hohen Wellen 🌊 an diesem Tag. Ich bin dann trotzdem rein. Bei den ersten 3-4 Wellen hat es mit dem mitspringen noch geklappt, doch die nächste Welle hat mich mitgenommen. Damit war mein Salzgehalt für den Tag auch gedeckt 😅 Danach bin ich dann doch wieder raus 🤣

Das nächste Ziel was ich mir raus gesucht habe waren die bekannten Grandmother and grandfather Rocks.

Die beiden Felsen in Lamai haben die Form eines Penis und einer Vagina und werden als Fruchtbarkeitssymbole verehrt.

Der Abschluss auf meiner Route sollte ein altes Fischerdorf sein.

Der Eindruck dieses Dorfes war wirklich mal ein völlig anderer!

Keine Touris hier, wirklich nur Einheimische und dann komm ich mit meinem Roller da angefahren. 🛵

Normalerweise würde die Straße sicher keiner mehr weiter fahren, denn anfangs sah es nicht so aus, als würde da noch etwas kommen, aber dann stand ich da tatsächlich im Ort.

Ich wurde von allen angeschaut, als wäre ich der Papst, aber es waren alle so freundlich ☺️😅🙈

Die Kinder spielten mit den Tieren und es war richtig, wie auf dem Dorf.

Hier sieht man mal, wie die Menschen hier tatsächlich so wohnen, wenn man mal weg von den ganzen Touri-Straßen kommt.

Alles komplett dreckig und vermüllt. Echt nicht schön, aber es war cool, dass Ganze mal gesehen zu haben.

Was auch cool war, es lag überall der frisch gefangene Fisch zum trocknen rum 🐠👍🏻

Dann bin ich zurück zum Hostel und habe meinen Scooter wieder abgegeben. Ich war echt müde von dem Tag. Wir waren dann nur noch mit Gerhard Abendbrot Essen und nach Party war mir da gar nicht 🙈

Am nächsten Morgen ging es für mich dann auch bei Zeiten schon weiter.

Fazit: Auf Koh Samui ist definitiv für jeden etwas dabei, sowohl für Backpacker, als auch Familien.

Es gibt viele Strände und Millionen von Kokospalmen 🌴, was die Insel zu einem beliebtesten Urlaubsort Thailands macht. Um auf die Überschrift zurück zu kommen. Für viele ist Koh Samui die Trauminsel schlecht hin. Für mich absolut garnicht um ehrlich zu sein. Koh Samui hat mich nicht so umgehauen und ich habe irgendwie mehr erwartet. Ich weiß nicht warum 🤷‍♀️ ➡️ Es gibt deutlich schönere Inseln!!!!!

Als ich da war, war auch nichts los. Es war alles leer. Mir wurde erklärt, dass bis Mitte Dezember hier Regensaison sein soll und dann erst die vielen Touris kommen. Wer weiß 🤷‍♀️

0 notes

easytravelpw-blog · 6 years ago

Photo

Full text write on https://easy-travel.pw/the-top-30-things-to-do-in-paris-france/france/

The Top 30 Things to Do in Paris, France

01 of 30

Visit the Louvre Museum and Old Palace

Photo by Ivan Vukelic / Getty Images

To learn the Louvre inside and out, you might need half a lifetime. Still, one has to start somewhere. The site of the world's most extensive and most diverse collection of pre-20th-century painting, sculpture, and decorative objects, the Louvre is a global touristic drawcard. Not forgetting the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, make sure to visit less crowded wings, to bask in the works of Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and countless others. The centuries-old palace itself is a testament to a rich history spanning from the medieval period to the present.

02 of 30

See the Notre Dame Cathedral, a Gothic Marvel

Filip Farag/Moment/Getty Images

No first trip to Paris is complete without a visit to this marvel of gothic architecture, dating to the 12th century. One of the most unique and beautiful cathedrals of Europe, Notre Dame Cathedral's dramatic towers, spire, stained glass and statuary are guaranteed to take your breath away.

Witness firsthand the spot that was once the heartbeat of medieval Paris, and that took over 100 years of hard labor to complete. Climbing the North tower to see Paris from the hunchback Quasimodo's vantage is essential, too. You'll soon understand why Notre Dame is one of Paris' top attractions.

03 of 30

Go to the Top of the Eiffel Tower

Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images News

More than any other landmark, the Eiffel Tower has come to represent an elegant and contemporary Paris—but this wasn't always so. The iron tower, which was built for the 1889 World Exposition by Gustave Eiffel, was wildly unpopular with Parisians when it was unveiled and was nearly torn down.

It has since attracted over 220 million visitors, and it would be hard to imagine Paris now without it. The tower crowns the Paris night sky with its festive light and glitters up a storm every hour. It has also recently firmly entered the twenty-first century, retrofitted with solar panels and glass-floored observation platforms, to the delight of some and the vertigo of others. Cliché? Yes, maybe. But essential.

04 of 30

See Breathtaking Impressionist Art at the Musée d’Orsay

Martin Child/Photobucket/Getty Images

Walk over the bridge from the Louvre to the Musee d'Orsay and witness a literal and figurative bridge between classical and modern art. Housing the world's most important collection of impressionist and post-impressionist painting, the Musee d'Orsay's light, airy rooms whir you through three floors of modern wonders, from Degas' ethereal dancers to Monet's water lilies, all the way to Gaugin's verdant jungles. Significant works by Van Gogh, Delacroix, Manet, and others await you, too.

Continue to 5 of 30 below.

05 of 30

Walk Around the Sorbonne and the Latin Quarter

Glenn Beanland/Lonely Planet Images

The Sorbonne University is the historic soul of the Latin Quarter, where higher learning has flourished for centuries. Founded in 1257 for a small group of theology students, the Sorbonne is one of Europe's oldest universities. It has hosted countless great thinkers, including philosophers René Descartes, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. Enjoy a drink on the café terrace in front of the college before exploring the winding little streets of the Quartier Latin behind it.

06 of 30

Marvel at the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees

Pascal Ducept/Hemis.fr/Getty

The 164-foot Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Emperor Napoléon I does exactly what it was made to do: Evoke sheer military power and triumph. It was built in an age when leaders erected monuments in their own honor and scaled to their egos. The arch's beautiful sculptures and reliefs commemorate Napoléon's generals and soldiers. Visit the Arc de Triomphe to begin or culminate a walk down the equally grandiose Avenue des Champs-Elysées. You can't help but feel grand yourself.

07 of 30

Visit Centre Pompidou and the Beaubourg Neighborhood

Courtney Traub

Parisians consider the Centre Georges Pompidou to be the cultural pulse of the city. This modern art museum and cultural center, located in the neighborhood affectionately dubbed Beaubourg by locals, opened in 1977 to honor president Georges Pompidou.

The Center's signature skeletal design, which evokes bones and blood vessels, is either loved or reviled—no in-betweens. If wacky design isn't your cup of tea, the permanent collection at the National Museum of Modern Art is a must and features works by Modigliani and Matisse. Rooftop views of the city are also in order.

08 of 30

Explore the Sacré Coeur and Montmartre

Yulia Resnikov/Moment Open

With its unmistakable white dome that some compare to a meringue crowning the city, the Sacré Coeur sits at the highest point of Paris on the Montmartre knoll, or butte. This basilica, which was consecrated in 1909, is best-known for its garish gold mosaic interiors and for its dramatic terrace, from which you can expect sweeping views of Paris on a clear day.

Take the funicular up with a metro ticket and stop off at Sacré Coeur before exploring the winding, village-like streets of Montmartre. And after expending all your energy climbing Montmartre's formidable hills and stairs, consider spending an evening at a traditional Parisian cabaret such as the legendary Moulin Rouge or the ultra-folksy Au Lapin Agile.

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09 of 30

Take a Boat Tour of the Seine River

Jesus M Garcia/Moment/Getty Images

Seeing some of Paris' most beautiful sites glide past as you drift down the Seine river is an unforgettable and essential experience. Companies such as Bateaux-Mouches and Bateaux Parisiens offer one-hour tours of the Seine year-round for about 10 Euros. You can hop on near Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower. Go at night to enjoy the shimmering play of light on the water, and dress warmly—the wind from off the Seine can be chilly. You can also take tours of some of Paris' canals and waterways, which will allow you to see a semi-hidden side of the city of light.

10 of 30

Stroll Through Père Lachaise Cemetery

Graham Monro/Gm photographics/Getty Images

Paris counts within its walls many of the world's most poetic cemeteries, but Père-Lachaise outdoes them all. Countless famous figures are buried here: the most popular being The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, whose tomb is kept constant vigil by fans. The French playwright Molière, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Richard Wright are a few others. On a sunny day, climbing to the cemetery's summit and looking down on the lavishly designed crypts can be surprisingly joyful.

11 of 30

Admire Sculptures at the Musée Rodin

Yoann JEZEQUEL Photography / Getty Images

Tour a great sculptor's studio in a romantic setting at the Musée Rodin, completely renovated and re-opened to visitors in November 2015. Set in an 18th-century mansion, the museum is home to more than 6,000 works by Rodin, including “The Thinker“and “The Kiss“. There are also 15 sculptures in the permanent collection from the French sculptor Camille Claudel, another master.

After seeing the sculptures, make sure to spend some time admiring the extensive collection of drawings and cast molds on display. The lush grounds are home to a rose garden, café and fountains. More iconic sculptures from Rodin grace the gardens, including “Orpheus” and bronze studies for “The Burghers of Calais”.

12 of 30

See World-Class Contemporary Art at the Foundation Louis Vuitton

Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us / Getty Images

This stunning new foundation designed by Frank Gehry offers world-class contemporary arts shows and one of the most unique additions to the Parisian skyline in recent years. The collection houses work owned by Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH. You'll see everything from giant Gerhard Richter paintings to interactive installations by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Afterward, have a picnic or a stroll at the sprawling park and wood known as the Bois de Boulogne.

Continue to 13 of 30 below.

13 of 30

Shop (or Window-Shop) on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré

Thomon/Creative Commons 2.0 License/Some rights reserved

If you want to shop like a Parisian high-roller—or at least pretend to—head to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and the surrounding district. Joining the 1st and 8th arrondissements (districts), the street is lined with the biggest names in fashion and luxury, ranging from old-school couture labels like Goyard, Hermès, Gucci and Prada, as well as contemporary, coveted houses and designers (Apostrophe Jun Ashida). You can also find bespoke perfume, high-end jewelry, scrumptious pastries and even old-world, fine luggage. It's no wonder it's included in our guide to the best shopping districts in the French capital.

14 of 30

Find a Vintage Treasure at the Marché aux Puces de Clignancourt/St Ouen

Lucas Schifres/Getty Images News

It's easy to get overwhelmed at this sprawling Parisian flea market. After all, the 150-year-old puces— literally, “fleas”– is among the world's largest. But with a bit of focus and perseverance, you can find a treasure within the labyrinth of stalls, regardless of if you're hunting for antique silver cutlery or vintage Chanel couture. The market is located on the edge of north Paris, where the 18th arrondissement meets the suburb of St. Ouen.

The easiest way to get there? Take Metro Line 4 to “Porte de Clignancourt” and follow the signs to the market. You can also take line 13 to the Porte de St Ouen station (and to the side of the “puces” that stretch into the suburb).

15 of 30

Wander Through the Marais District

Philippe Lissac/Getty Images

If there's a better French neighborhood for strolling, sightseeing, shopping, tasting and people-watching all in a single morning or afternoon, we haven't found it. The Marais, which spans the 3rd and 4th arrondissements, has a rich history in Paris: It's home to the city's historic Jewish Quarter (pletzl), and also serves as the heartbeat of the city's vibrant LGBT community.

Within the always-bustling, you'll also find stunning hôtel particuliers (old-school mansions), numerous medieval sites and landmarks, a plethora of high-end and designer boutiques, and many of the city's best museums, including the Musée Picasso.

16 of 30

Relax & Stroll at the Luxembourg Gardens

Jennifer Maiolo/Getty Images

Even if you know very little about the French capital, you might have a mental image of Parisians relaxing in lawn chairs on terraces overlook ornate, manicured lawns and ponds. This is an iconic image you can play out for yourself by visiting the Luxembourg Gardens, an Italian and French-style haven that was once the stomping grounds of the Queen Marie da Medici.

While it's a favorite place to relax with a picnic, the Renaissance-era formal gardens are popular among joggers and walkers, and children who race their sailboats behind the Sénat. Also be sure to admire the collection of statues: some of our favorites include stately sculpted images of the different Queens and other royal women of France throughout history.

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17 of 30

See the Largest Public Collection of Picasso’s Work

Courtesy of Musée Picasso

After closing for nearly five years, the Musée Picasso in Paris re-opened at the end of 2014, fresh off a pricey renovation. Now, this world-class museum spans more than 50,000 square feet and houses thousands of works by the inimitable Spanish artist. The main building, a 17th-century mansion in the Marais (see #15), features furniture designed by the legendary Diego Giacometti.

Housing masterpieces as well as works from lesser-known periods in Picasso's work, the museum also offers temporary exhibits showcasing the work of artists such as Giacometti. It's a must-see for anyone interested in the history of 20th-century art.

18 of 30

Eat Some Famous Parisian Ice Cream

Public domain/Creative Commons

Tucked away on the Ile Saint-Louis, you'll find nearly 100 flavors of ice cream at the famous Berthillon. Depending on the season, you can try everything from wild strawberry to peach, hazelnut, pistachio and white chocolate. The shop's idyllic setting—nestled on a small island in the Seine, across from Notre-Dame Cathedral—makes it a must-visit. You can stroll the streets, lined with 17th-century mansions, while you enjoy your cone.

Looking for more places to try excellent ice cream in Paris? See our full guide here.

19 of 30

Satisfy Natural Curiosities at Deyrolle

Marc Dantan/Deyrolle

Seeking a bit of the old-fashioned and the strange? Deyrolle is an old Parisian boutique (open since 1831) that notably specializes in taxidermied animals (none are recent, though, a potentially reassuring point for those concerned with animal rights).

Located in the 7th arrondissement, this veritable cabinet of curiosities houses life-sized tigers, bears, birds, and more, as well as countless drawers filled with every possible butterfly, bug, or insect you can imagine. Many of the boutique's subjects have been used in the study of botany, entomology, and zoology. This is certainly one of the weirdest shops in Paris– and well worth a visit, if you can handle the taxidermy.

20 of 30

Shop at a French Food Market

Courtney Traub

The French take their food very seriously and there's no better way to experience that first-hand than to visit one of the city's many open-air food markets. These markets are typically held several times throughout the week, and there's one in almost every neighborhood. Even if you're staying in a hotel, you can stock of up on fresh fruit, cheese, charcuterie, and other snacks—perfect for taking in a picnic along the Seine.

Also see our mouthwatering guide to the Marché d'Aligre, a favorite farmer's market among locals in the city.

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21 of 30

Get Lost Inside an Old-World French Department Store

Petter Palander/Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons license

In addition to being masters of all things cuisine and gastronomy, Parisians are also expert shoppers. This is evidenced by their sprawling, elegant department stores.

These multi-storied behemoths–many built during the elegant turn-of-the-twentieth-century period known as the “Belle Epoque”– stock everything from wine to haute couture to hardware and home supplies. Among our favorites: BHV, in Le Marais, Galeries Lafayette, and the Le Bon Marché, the first-ever modern department store.

22 of 30

Amble Around the Latin Quarter

Dennis K. Johnson/ Lonely Planet Images/Getty

Nothing quite says Paris like a day strolling through the Latin Quarter, one of the city's most storied and beloved districts. Start by browsing books at the beloved English bookshop Shakespeare and Company, before heading over to the Sorbonne University square to have a coffee. Then check out the medieval treasures at the Musée Cluny, browse rare books and antiques near the Jardin du Luxembourg, and wind through the narrow little streets behind the Pantheon to the Place de la Contrescarpe.

Or just wander and make any number of your own discoveries: morning light hitting the tops of the buildings; the joy of tasting fresh bread, pastries and fruit on the market-centric Rue Mouffetard or the Place Monge…the possibilities are nearly endless.

23 of 30

Explore the Canal St Martin & Its Hip Shops, Restaurants

Peet Simard/Getty Images

Anyone who wants to understand contemporary Paris should spend some time strolling up and around the Canal St. Martin, one of the city's most vibrant and innovative areas. Walk to the center of one of the graceful, metallic green bridges to watch boats float down the canal (and come through complex lock systems).

Enjoy a glass of wine and a few small plates at a wine bar, or nosh on eclectic cuisine in one of the area's countless, utterly hip new restaurants. Browse boutiques and art bookshops for the latest in style and design. You can even have a picnic right by the water– a favorite local pastime.

24 of 30

See Some of Monet’s Most Beautiful Work at This Small Museum

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Many visitors to Paris completely overlook a small collection at the west end of the Tuileries gardens that harbors one of Impressionist master Claude Monet's most breathtaking works of art. But they shouldn't.

Pay a visit to the Orangerie Museum and witness the sweeping, poetic beauty of Nymphéas, a series of murals that plunge you into Monet's distinctive world of color, light and watery landscapes. His waterlilies are a symbol of world peace, painted following the end of the first World War as a gesture of hope and reconciliation.

In addition to Monet's stirring masterpiece, the Orangerie museum also hosts the Jean Walter – Paul Guillaume collection, with remarkable works from the likes of Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso, Sisley, Matisse and Modigliani. After you've seen the Orsay and the Centre Pompidou collections, an afternoon here offers another dose of artistic inspiration– and education.

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Take a Day Trip to Versailles

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Versailles and its world-famous palace and gardens are a quick one-hour trip outside the city, making it an essential and easy day trip from Paris.

This 17th-century palace had humble beginnings as a hunting lodge before turning into an opulent palace under the rule of Louis XIV, also known as the “Sun King”. Today, strolling through the extensive formal gardens and visiting the incredible Hall of Mirrors is an experience you won't likely forget. Also make sure to reserve some time for the quieter, lesser-known buildings and gardens, including the Petit Trianon and Queen's Hamlet, where Marie Antoinette retired from the pressures of court life and even pretended at times to be a humble shepherdess or milkmaid.

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Go Underground into the Catacombs

Denise Grover Swank

It doesn't have to be Halloween for you to thoroughly enjoy the creepy experience of going far underground to see the Catacombs of Paris. There are dozens of miles of tunnels dug way below street level, but only a small portion of these can (legally) be visited.

Here, after buying a ticket and descending a long spiral staircase, you'll be plunged into a strange world of death. Millions of human bones and skulls are neatly stacked (in curious, very French fashion) alongside the pathways– souls who were transferred from overcrowded cemeteries in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some will find this attraction decidedly chilling, while others will enjoy it as an archaeological and social curiosity. Either way, it's well worth a couple of hours.

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Eat Some Delicious French Bread & Pastries

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A trip to the French capital would be incomplete without ducking into a few warm, inviting bakeries and patisseries (pastry shops) to taste their tempting creations. From all-butter croissants and pain au chocolat that boast the ideal balance between flakiness and softness, to crusty, impeccably baked baguettes, creamy lemon mini-tarts and fluffy eclairs, there's a whole gourmet world to discover out there.

Yet you shouldn't be intimidated. While stunning, these products are part and parcel of daily life in Paris. To find out where to find some of the best bread, browse this guide. For mouthwatering pastries and cakes, see our guide to the city's best patisseries.

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Visit the Old Paris Operahouse…and See a Ballet There

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Confusingly enough, the Palais Opera Garnier doesn't actually host opera performances these days– that's the job of the newer Opera Bastille. But this historic site, now home to the French National Ballet, is a remarkable place to visit, inside and out.

Its sumptuous, elegant design can be admired from far down the equally regal Avenue de l'Opéra– an iconic sight well worth seeking out. Inside, the magnificent stairway in the entrance and main theatre, crowned with a moving ceiling painting from French painter Marc Chagall, is simply sublime.

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Enjoy Fresh Air at the Bois de Boulogne

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Sometimes, a little breathing room away from the stress and noise of the city is in order. When you're not up for a full day trip but wouldn't mind a little green and fresh air, head over to the Bois de Boulogne– and enormous wooded park sculpted from an old forest.

Enormous green lawns, tree-lined walking paths, ponds inhabited by ducks and wild birds, an open-air theatre, puppet shows for kids and even an old-fashioned horceracing track (Hippodrome) await here. Pack a picnic, put on your walking shoes, bring a camera and enjoy a day away from the city– right on its very edge.

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Toast Like the French at a Local Wine Bar

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As you might expect, Paris boasts a remarkable number of excellent wine bars. Go enjoy a simple glass or two at one of these laid-back bars, where you might also tuck into a plate of fragrant, creamy French cheeses or savory charcuterie. Some of those that made our list of the best also specialize in small plates that fit the definition of gourmet.

Whether tasting a light, fresh Beaujolais Nouveau for the harvest season or trying more complex, “challenging” reds and whites from Burgundy or Bordeaux, there's something for everyone at these bars. After all, in France, wine isn't a snobby affair– it's something most people enjoy.

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diasyrmus · 7 years ago

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Further notes on Vegas

From a letter to a friend:

What was really interesting was when I went to Vegas. Vegas is conservative middle America, and businessmen, it’s devoted to commodification and manipulation of desire. I’m going back to my notebook, where I started taking a few notes for a mail I was going to send you while I was out there but which I never got round to.

I thought I’d put down a few informal thoughts about my NAB time in Vegas. Partly to give you a sense of what it’s like, partly as process. Also partly because I feel the way to understand a thing is not to view it directly, but as Thomas Browne had it in his posthumously published Christian Morals (1716):

“Besides, many things are known, as some are seen, that is by parallaxis, or at some distance from their true and proper beings; the superficial regard of things having a different aspects from their true and central natures.”

Vegas is so strange. The elements are incredibly simple, almost abstract. There are two monads: the city of Vegas and the Mojave desert around it. The desert is a place of a fierce allegiance and antagonism between the sun - which burns very fiercely in the arid air - and the rock - that strata of organic matter, a result of the permian-triassic megadeath, a graveyard of 96% of all marine species laid down 252 million years ago in the shallow seabeds that covered the area, lithified and compressed by the winds and deep time.

JB Priestley said that as you travel southwest in the united states, you become more aware of geology than of human history. you can see the levels of geological time, and the contours and fluidity of the sierra, moving like waves through vast epochs (which is after all what they are doing).

The Paiute indians communed with the gods in the cosmos, and by the position of the stars, divined to know when the minimal sustenance the desert offered would be available: pine nuts from the pinyon tree, roots, and sagebrush. And in the centre of this harsh geometric plane, there is a central node, which is Las Vegas - The Meadows.

I stopped there, or rather my writing disintegrated into the usual mess of half-legible notes and arrows &c. that represents a diffusion of thought. But if i had continued more coherently, I would have pointed out that, imagining that plane of the Mojave Desert, with its vivid night sky and cosmic holism, in which is that single point of Las Vegas, which is formed by the intersection of four very basic vectors: money, energy (namely electricity), water, desire. The manipulation of these comprises the four causes of Vegas. There is one further coherent phrase in my notebook:

The single point of connection between these two monads is the Boulder Dam, now more commonly known as the Hoover Dam, across the Colorado River.

It may also be seen as the point of conversion - taking the cosmic system of the desert and canalising it into those four elements out of which Vegas was constructed and through which it is controlled or should i say through which it controls. This is as much the case in its efficient cause as it is in its material cause: The Meadows came into being as a consequence of the vast numbers of workers brought in to create the Boulder Dam. Out of the Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal, was built this Fantasy Land, designed to part people from their hard-earned dollars as efficiently as possible. To my mind the Great Depression is still present in its working. It still designed to appeal more to middle America than any notion of the high roller - all the Middle Eastern gambling takes place in Macau, I think. But what is that appeal? Maybe some people think they will go to Vegas and make it rich, but the whole thing is clearly about fulfilling desire. As such it equally clearly in its commoditised, processed verions of desire-fulfilment it represents an emptiness. I don't mean to patronise - the obvious extent to which Vegas goes about its business with such pathological determination suggests the people who visit are, to a certain extent, happy with what it has to offer, that they recognise the facade, and that what it gives is a proxy for desire fulfilment in return for cash. It is America's theme park, to an extent I didn't really realise - Lauren and her husband live in Lubbock, Texas, and regularly fly to Vegas at the weekend. It astonishes me that anyone would want to do this at all regularly, but people still do. The US ability to enjoy, in all sincerity, the ersatz is impressive really, or at least very un-English. This is different from the ironic enjoyment or awareness of the kitsch in the ersatz. Having said all that, I'm sure you like me have encountered many Americans who have an equally strong desire to consume that dangerous commodity, so auctioned by Old Europe - authenticity. As for the material causes, the Boulder Dam generates the electricity (much of this is i believe sold to California, which then sells it back to Vegas O_o), and the water from Lake Mead. This water needs chlorinating because it needs constant recycling to irrigate the Meadows with its pleasure fountains and pools. The heavenly mirage of the oasis comes at a huge exertion of energy sucked out of nature. The infernal equivalent in the desert is the dust devil raised out of a compact of convecting desert heat and wind to raise a whirlwind of dust above the ground. As is well known, I believe, Las Vegas negates the organic diurnal rhythms into a perpetual neon, oxygenated twilight in order to keep people gambling. I'd walk through the casinos listening to DAMN., across the grimy soft carpets, taking in the smell and texture of chlorine, ionized fag smoke, the chill of the aircon, ceilings painted like skies. The same mechanisms Vegas pioneered have since long been used in supermarkets and in all sorts of areas designed to optimise the ability to extract cash. Now many of the physical mechanisms seem quaint, with newer, more sophisticated mechanisms and algorithms sinking into the structures behind society and manipulating desire in ways harder to perceive than the gaudy excess of Vegas. As I say it seems almost innocent. And there is always an advantage to crudely set out versions of the mechanisms that control our lives in more sophisticated and hidden ways. The architecture is of course, in rather raw sense of the word, incredible. It reminds me of a science-fiction short story, where a doomed planet was forced to emigrate to another, fresher planet, suitable for existence. First they sent the engineers, who perished on landing, in a crash, then they sent the anthropologists, to recreate the cultural landscape - they also perished, and so on. Finally they sent the blue-collar workers, who created a bizarre fantasy world that represented their image of the world they had come from. So Vegas, as you know. Excalibur has knights in armour, kilted Scottish lairds, maids in dirndles, Robin Hood, and Celtic trappings, Paris has the Eiffel Tower jammed in it and quaint 19th century facades, Venice is all hispanic gondaliers and chlorine. (It is interesting that the Trump Hotel is the only hotel where its theme is itself). Behind these frontages are those huge car parks, separate ones for staff and for patrons, themselves the true backdrop of US desire. They're beginning to have to charge for the use of car parks, one sign among many that Vegas is in decline. As far as I can tell one area it still continues to do well from is business conferences. I think it's the largest conference facility in the US. And of course the answer to the question 'Why Vegas?' is because business was always the domain of men and so basically it was the place they could go to booze, get laid and gamble. According to a colleague, even comparatively recently (like in the last 20 years) some clients still expected to be taken to brothels. In fact, I don't know why I'm so naive - I'm sure that still happens. I know I've gone on at length, but this is the backdrop for NAB. It is, to my mind, all non-trivially weird and calculating at the same time. There is, as I say, a nauseating pathology to it all, especially when it comes to the cynicism of the corporate side. The male gaze is totally legitimised there. Men are released from the daily bullshit of having to pretend, and exchange conspiratorial glances and innuendo. That almost tactile male atmosphere a friend mentioned in corporate offices becomes a disgustingly thick fug, and you are treated with bare contempt if you are not the sort of person to enter into it. I do not want to come across as a blowhard puritan, but there is something about the rotten core of male business that gets exposed here. What am I saying, it exposes itself. When you get to NAB on the first day it's all still being put up - the chipboard stands will, in 24 hours, be glittering with encrusted media technology. It is all as flimsy and gimcrack as hell of course, like everything else here, including people's egos. There was a passage that struck me with great but enigmatic force in Gerhard Scholem's account of his friendship with Walter Benjamin: Among the books he [Benjamin] read in connection with this seminar was Daniel Paul Schreber's Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nervenkranken [Memoirs of a neuropath], which appealed to him far more than Freud's essay on it. He also induced me to read Schreber's book, which contained very impressive and pregnant formulations. From a salient passage in this book Benjamin derived the designation "flüchtig hingemachte Männer" [hastily put-up men]. Schreber, who at the height of his paranoia believed for a time that the world had been destroyed by "rays" hostile to him, gave this as an anaswer when it was pointed out to him that the doctors, patients, and employees of the insane asylum obviously existed. Flüchtig hingemachte Männer. I would like to know what Benjamin so designated by this phrase. It seems to me incredibly useful. So useful, that it's tempting to use it for every damn person you come across in the office or at an event like this. And yet it means more than just empty or fraudulent. There is of course the notion of a deception, not an individual deception, but structural, organised deception. But there is more than just the notion of the Potemkin Village, designed to assure anyone reviewing the event that all is well. It is a structural deception designed to undermine a sense of reality. It is a sort of power-structure gaslighting, which will imply insanity for anyone who doubts it. With the façades of Vegas, the temporary shanty town of media technology, the trouser-hoisting, proud droit-de-seigneur surveillance of the men, mutually assuring each other of their power and feeble, fragile virility, it was a phrase that continually ocurred to me, with a sort of haunting hypnosis. And DAMN. went from being something which seemed totally, socially rich and democratic to something that felt incredibly protective. I heard no Kendrick in Las Vegas. I'd put in my headphones and I'd find space to breathe. I remember listening to LUST on the monorail, with its line 'might as well overheat' and thinking yes, just let go, stop trying to control it, just overheat, let the pain overtake you, let it overcome you, stop trying to control it, allow it to annihilate you - it was also incredibly hot outside of course - and I just felt a sense of tranquility, and of distance from it all. At this point the entire album seemed to ward off the bad spirits of Vegas. It was private, and contained within it the world that I'd seen in San Francisco.

#lasvegas #kendrick #Walter Benjamin

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