August 27, 2003
10:49 AM dublin time
in an attempt to do at least one site-seeing-touristy-thing in berlin, we popped into the guggenheim to check out their current contemporary art exhibition.
and goodness was that a good idea.
the installation, 'nutsys' by tom sachs, was part racecourse [where audience members could participate with their own radio controlled cars] part instructional video [demonstrating many aspects of functionality and maintenance of both the race course, its cars and the life-sized fully-functional McDonalds booth also on display] and part 1:25 scale white cardboard model world [containing a scaled down ghetto, complete with lil tipped over trash cans, a second scaled down McDonalds, and a detail-accurate version of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation housing block in Marseilles].
tom sachs more eloquently describes it:
Nutsy's is a world in 1:25 scale- The elements of this world include models of le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation and Mies van der Rohe's furniture, a McDonald's restaurant, and 10,000-watt boom box, a ghetto, a modernist art park, a DJ station.
- These elements are connected by a network of roads that link important architecture to slum neighbourhoods, the high to the low, the rich to the poor.
- The installation is navigated on these roads by remote-control cars, also at 1:25 scale.
and imagine it all done without a hint of i-am-so-important artistic seriousness, but totally tongue in cheek and basically just for the fun of it.
follow the links for pictures and more info. and tom sachs has some of the hilariously 'serious' instructional videos on his web site.
[link]August 21, 2003
05:13 PM dublin time
in the end didn't manage to succeed in the quest for the perfect felafel. there was just too much food to squeeze into too small bellies in too little time.
had some delicious thai food though. which was made even nicer by the fact that we could eat it at a table on the street outside the restaurant. and nicer again by it's super cheapness. and still nicer by the fact that we could wash it all down with a one euro pint of beer.
but it wasn't all about food. they also do strange things with footwear in berlin. mostly to do with putting it into things and things into it.
August 17, 2003
11:08 AM dublin time
am in berlin.
successfully avoiding doing any siteseeing, and am mostly just excessively eating and drinking.
have been dissapointed in our search for the most delicous felafel. while there's lots of kebab shops, their felafels look shop-bought and are dry and uninspiring. though we did have a doner kebab which was reasonably tasty.
the quest will continue.
[link]August 10, 2003
11:04 PM dublin time
our new digital camera arrived.
we're still getting the hang of it. but of the 'advanced' features, the first i've mastered is the macro.
this means that for the first while there's gonna be a lot of close ups of flowers or insects or both:
August 07, 2003
12:28 PM dublin time
omg! i am right now eating the most delicious lunch EVER:
toasted mccambridges brown soda bread, spread with a little butter and heaps of philadelphia cream cheese, topped with sliced tomato and some very generous grindings of black pepper.
ummm yumm mmmm yummmmm... [mouth too full to continue]
August 06, 2003
10:19 PM dublin time
spraoi was great. lots of street theatre, lots of drinking in the sunshine, lots of fun.
particularly amazing was the urban drum and bass duet.
it was literal, actual, drum and bass - one of the pair played an electric bass guitar and the other drummed like a mad thing on some empty tin cans, on a wheelie bin, on a crowd control barrier, on the windows of the building they were performing in front of, on the metal flower basket suspended above his head, on four empty spirit bottles held in the hands of two eager six year old volunteers, on the hard hats placed atop said volunteers' heads.
i've never seen such a high speed, frenetic, perfectly rhythmically timed musical percussion in my life. the pair kept in synch with each other too, which was especially impressive when the 'drum beat' came from the drummer hurling the tin cans over his head to hit the metal flower basket behind and above him. the spraoi stewards looked most nervous at that point. the tin cans' trajectories were bringing them worryingly close to the already stricken windows.
another impressive street act was tumble circus and their trapeze swinging antics. or if you're into more drumming there was bidons de rue, who banged, dropped and walloped some surprisingly tuneful beats on a couple of empty plastic bottles and water cooler containers.
but the prize for the best name has to go to the hysterical 'big paulie kool and the mental institution' for their semi-blasphemous, close to the edge, comedic renditions of classic rock songs ["...this is one we wrote for the donkey in shrek, and tonight, we're taking it back... i thought love was only true in fairy tales..." or that punk classic "be not afraid"?].
[link]