Saturday, July 17, 2010

Der Nachschlag

Bertolt Brecht

Meine Sätze spreche ich, bevor
I speak my sentences, before
Der Zuschauer sie hört; was er hört, wird
The viewer can hear them; what he hears, will be
Ein Vergangenes sein.
Something past.
Jedes Wort, das die Lippe verlässt
Every word falling from his lips
Beschreibe einen Bogen und fällt
Is going to describe a curve and then falls
Dann ins Ohr des Hörers, ich warte und höre
Into the listener's ear, I wait and listen
Wie es aufschlägt, ich weiss
How it strikes, I know
Wir empfinden nicht das nämliche und
We do not feel the particular
Wir empfinden nicht gleichzeitig.
We do not feel the same.


(aus: Gedichte 1941-1947)

reports from Vienna, # 5, 96.8 degrees fahrenheit

... is 36 degrees celsius, there were thunderstorms yesterday and today. still hot. and humid. and though it is not the first time that it was this hot in the city–actually I remember quite a few summers in the past 15 years that were equally hot–there is always a collective amnesia about it during the rest of the year. the same with the first snow in winter. or mosquitos. this year it also hit me as I was pondering air-conditioners and forgot about simple ideas: the fan and the fan.
awaiting the next thunderstorms that should bring crisper weather, I recall places and things that have helped through the Viennese heatwave: air-conditioned are: public buses–not the metro,–flower shops, some museums–not simple exhibition halls, unless they are underground, or artists' associations, little black boxes for displaying video art are extremely dangerous!!–ice-cream/gelato parlors, expensive restaurants, butcher shops. you can never expect shops and museums to be air-conditioned. my favorite thing right now is to open the fridge and stick my head in, I place my facial spritzes and my lotions in the fridge (old trick), I sit at the table (while I am typing, yes) with my feet in a bucket with cold water, I sleep with open windows and doors, public pools are nice, when they are not in the sun. yesterday two men, 21 and 55, died of a heart attack in the Moskow metro, it is equally hot there. the continental climate seems to be even harsher than the desert climate. we are so close to Russia. I cannot post anything more challenging than this and a cute slide show. the dog is alive. all the theoretic concepts blur into each other and in a delirious mirage about this city, its art world and its museum-directors.  I have to stick my head in the fridge again. there I find a kinder-bueno and a strawberry-banana smoothie. the storm is coming ...


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

reports from Vienna, # 4, Facades

simplicity, horizontal layers, very reduced ornamentation, subtle logos and typos (sometimes almost invisible as in the case of the bakery). one could call that snobbish–as the subtlety is sometimes not too inviting–, ascetic, distant. the Apollonian. modern. this is definitely not learned from Las Vegas, but this is the first district and somewhere else you get a different picture ...