Picture Of The Day #41

"Faith" - I love passing by this one. In every shape of daylight it looks different.

La La La Human Steps - Amelia

A couple of days ago this video came back to my mind. I saw that Louise Lecavalier, former dancer of Canadian Company La La La Human Steps is performing at Tanzhaus NRW in Düsseldorf. She is not in this video, but this video is just too good not be posted.

I like 'Amelia' for a lot of reasons: The dance is superb - even if quite cool, almost robotic. Music, camera - the space itself. All of them are first class. Hopefully you'll find the time to enjoy this one peacefully.

Not the clock

The clock. Tick. Tick. Tick.
the gas heater firing up,
the refrigerator humming

Far away:
The buzz of the city, the work, the cars
- the day brightens, brightens at snake speed
so close before winter solstice
the days calling out gently: Go slowly!
Go smooth! The year declines after all!

But hardly anyone listens
Not the clock, not the heating, not the fridge
and specially not the arterial road yonder

I listen
but I'm shooed

MP2-Productions at "Quartier am Hafen"

Fotos: Angela Cavalho

A few shot from our general reherasal. We staged the piece in a completely white room.

Special Thanks to Felix Keuck, David Wuest and Oliver Billen.

White Bed II

Time again to build another bed. The height of this rather simple design fits for moving boxes. Up to eight large cardbord boxes can be stored underneath. As usual this one is superstable and doesn't tweek in the least. Interested? Contact me.

More beds here

Flashback #3 - T.I.G.R.E | Anca Huma

Der dritte Flashback. Eigenartig, wie diese drei Videos mir innerhalb kurzer Zeit über den Weg liefen. Über T.I.G.R.E freue ich mich besonders: Auch wenn es nur ein kurzer Trailer ist - hier kommt vieles zusammen: Ancas Darstellung, die einem unter die Haut kriecht, saubere Kamera, Sounddesign und ein Schnitt, der weder hintereinanderklebt, noch herumrührt.

Anca Huma war einer der ersten Menschen, die mir an der Folkwang wirklich begegneten. Sie lief neben mir her, von der Mensa zum Unterricht und stellte zwei, drei, vier, fünf Fragen. Aus den Antworten setzte sie sofort ein stimmiges Bild zusammen.

Von Anfang an hatte ich das Gefühl, von ihr gesehen zu werden. Für Künstler ist sowas ja wichtig. Und nicht immer einfach. Vielleicht geht so ein Sehen-Können mit der Fähigkeit einher, sich selbst sichtbar zu machen. Ancas Solos und Improvisationen waren grundsätzlich Ansagen gegen jedes Verstecken. Auch wenn sie düster daherkommt, macht es mich sehr froh, diese Arbeit zu sehen:

Flashback#2 - Muddy Boots | Ekaterine Giorgadze

Der zweite Flashback. Still House/Muddy Field von Ekaterine Giorgadze und Jason Jacobs. Dieses Video habe ich ausgewählt, weil es gut zu einem novembrigen Sonntag Nachmittag passt.

Ekaterine und ich, wir haben uns während des Studiums an vielen Tagen nebeneinander warm trainiert: Morgens halb neun, bevor der erste Unterricht des Tages begann. Es verging kein Tag, ohne dass nicht einer von uns lauthals gelacht hätte.

Ich warte noch darauf, dass sie mir mal einen Haufen Videomaterial schickt, damit ich daraus etwas schneidern kann. Obwohl man hier sieht, dass sie das längst viel besser kann als ich:

Flashback #1 - Hidden Tracks | Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve

Seit der Veröffentlichung dieses kurzen Artikels sind mir noch zwei weitere Videos von ehemaligen Mitstudentinnen vor die Füße gefallen. 

Mein Tanzstudium an der Folkwang-Universität (damals noch Hochschule) in Essen dauerte fünf Jahre. Es liegt nun fünf Jahre zurück und meldet sich vielgestaltig wieder. Hier das erste Video aus der Reihe Flashbacks.

In meinen Augen war Jennifer eine der talentiertesten Tänzerinnen während meiner Zeit an der Folkwang. Sie beendete ihr Studium ein paar Jahre vor mir und ging nach Münster, wo sich ihre Spur verlor. 

Letzte Woche erreichte mich eine Pressemitteilung vom Fonds Darstellende Künste. Darin eine Liste mit den neuen, zur Förderung ausgewählten Projekten. Mit von der Partie: Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve. Für mich ein Grund, sie wieder aufzuspüren. Sie empfahl mir folgendes Video. Ich fand's super.

Picture Of The Day #40

1. The grey days are beginning.
2. A group of pigeons has declared the roof of the mosque home already. I plan to get pictures of them one day.

Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Christo

Alexandre Dumas completed The Count of Monte Christo in 1844, collaborating with his  longtime ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. Alongside The Three Musketeers it's one of his most famous novels. Many writers call it a key influence during their youth: A book that can make people love to read. It's been the first, very pleasurable reading adventure on my Kindle (which is why I can't give pagenumbers). 

Here for you a very ramdom selection of quotations:

***

"Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds."

***

"Perhaps what I am about to say may seem strange to you, who are socialists, and vaunt humanity and your duty to your neighbor, but I never seek to protect a society which does not protect me, and which I will even say, generally occupies itself about me only to injure me; and thus by giving them a low place in my esteem, and preserving a neutrality towards them, it is society and my neighbor who are indebted to me."

***

Ordinarily M. de Villefort made and returned very few visits. His wife visited for him, and this was the received thing in the world, [...]—in fact, the application of the axiom, "Pretend to think well of yourself, and the world will think well of you," an axiom a hundred times more useful in society nowadays than that of the Greeks, "Know thyself," a knowledge for which, in our days, we have substituted the less difficult and more advantageous science of knowing others.

***

She seemed always so very eager to amuse herself, to have what people call a good time. To me it was as if she knew already then, that the overall picture of her life wasn't going to look like this, that in a future not too distant her life would consist of work and labour almost exclusively. 

***

"Very well," replied M. Danglars, who had listened to all this preamble with imperturbable coolness, but without understanding a word, since like every man burdened with thoughts of the past, he was occupied with seeking the thread of his own ideas in those of the speaker.

***

The past, like the country through which we walk, becomes indistinct as we advance. My position is like that of a person wounded in a dream; he feels the wound, though he cannot recollect when he received it. Come, then, thou regenerate man, thou extravagant prodigal, thou awakened sleeper, thou all-powerful visionary, thou invincible millionaire,—once again review thy past life of starvation and wretchedness, revisit the scenes where fate and misfortune conducted, and where despair received thee.

Bacharach

A week of hiking at Bacharach in the Rhine-Valley. Great Youth Hostel.

Rubbing my eyes in the morning

Here's a very smart and funny one for you!

The Onion, which I mentioned a week ago, posted an article claiming that the majority of white Americans would prefer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran to be their president rather than Barack Obama. The Iranian State Media Fars bought the joke and posted the news throughout Iran.

Blessed sunny October days to you!