Wilkommen zu dem Puppenhaus: barbie goes abstrakt

***

goodness gracious me...

i cannot believe that i have been in germany for almost two months...time FLIES it's absolutely insane.

i'm sorry i haven't posted this week, but as some of you know i've been preparing for my first show here in berlin, and i've been working pretty much all the time to get it all together. my time here has not only been socially exhilarating, it's also been incredibly productive for me. i've been composing, recording and producing all new material for voice, violin and theremin - and have about 12 songs already which is really progress for me. i'll post a few tracks here when i get the chance to shine them up a little, and would be really happy to know what you think of berlin barbie's new creations...

in the meantime, as promised, this is my last munich post...focusing mostly on art and architecture.

so this is the first gallery i visited, called the lenbachhaus -

in the interest of time and the comfort of you, dear friend, i will edit carefully what i saw here and present the one artist who totally inspired me: a woman by the name of Isa Genzken (you can find out more about her here).

here are some images (her collage work, especially, blew me away):

there was also quite an interesting exhibition up called "rhythmus 21" which you can read more about here:

again, an edited selection of images:

i do have to say that in retrospect, one thing that all the galleries here seem to have in common is the way that they display the work and make really quite striking use of their spaces...

i also really enjoyed this sculpture of adorno (one of my favourite philosophers)...

and some other bizarre sculptures by the same artist:

the other show i'd like to mention briefly was this one, by artist angela bulloch:

what i found really interesting about this show was not merely the work, which was absolutely wonderful, but also the way the work was displayed in the actual space. and to top it all off, the gallery was actually in the subway.

and frankly, as far as i am concerned, it is difficult to imagine pulling off this kind of thing in north america...

(yet.)

this is the one gallery that would not allow me to take pictures, but i have to say that there is no way that an image could ever capture the sense of bulloch's work in this show, as it was incredibly atmospheric and got most of its power from the way her use of light and sound interacted in the darkened space. the show was called "the space that time forgot" and aimed to "reflect on the impossibility of ever surveying the order of the universe from just one vantage point" - you can read more about it here, for those of you who are interested...

so after going to this show, it was time to drive back to berlin - after a brief stop at...

BMW WELT.

designed by the forward architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, this BMW landmark really is quite astounding - as critic nicolai ouroussoff wrote in his review of the building in the new york times, it is so powerful that it "immediately rekindled my faith in architecture’s future". and i don't think he was exaggerating.

ok, so this is what you see from the highway:

i love this last picture, because as someone who takes her kant very seriously, berlin barbie is often dismayed by the way the notion of the "architectural sublime" is often so recklessly bandied about...

but there is something about this image that honestly freaks me out.

so when you approach the building from the other side, where the parking lot is, this is how it appears:

more images:

and then upon entering, you see this:

yes, an absolutely BEAUTIFUL building...

too bad they had to ruin it by putting in all those cars.

as we were leaving munich on the highway back towards berlin, i was also happy to catch a glimpse of the Herzog/de Meuron allianz arena which is also really neat...