Friday 26 November 2010

Holocaust Memorial









Designed by Peter Eisenman, this vast space is covered by huge concrete blocks which are a memorial to the murdered Jews of europe. There are 2,711 concrete slabs which are arranged in a grid pattern on uneven ground. As you walk into the centre, you are surrounded by 15'9". This was designed to give an uneasy, confusing atmosphere which is definitely present. This was a very impressive place to visit and during the day I can imagine that the feelings change down to light and shadow. 

Bethanein


This is an exhibition space for contemporary art with a focus on cultural and social issues. It is located at the end of my street which is very convenient and is a beautiful looking building which was once a hospital. Outside there is a lush park which I have now seen in the sun and snow. Here are some photographs from the exhibition which was called "A perfect day to chase tornadoes (white)".
When walking into the building, we were greeted by the sound of wind. This gradually got louder and louder and then suddenly stopped. It was very intense and quite scary as it sounded so real.......







This is some of my favourite work from the gallery. I really like the use of pen and colour. Very effective yet simple. The drawings are of animals like birds and elephants. 





The next part of the museum was and exhibition called 'EXIT'. This was completely different to the other half as it was very contemporary and some were quite difficult to understand. 








BERLINARTPROJECTS

When visiting the Brandenberg Gate, I came across a small gallery called 'BERLINARTPROJECTS'. It was a small space with only a few pieces that had been carefully selected. Here are some photographs of my favourites.

Ulrich Riedel. Made from wood, casting shadows. 











Thursday 25 November 2010

Hamberger Banhof

Today I went to visit the Hamberger Banhof musuem which was very interesting. The building itself was absolutely huge. But with only half an hour before it closed I was only able to run around and see about a third of it. The main attraction for me was the exhibition by Carsten Höller. As you can see below, the exhibition was in the main entrance of the musuem and they had filled the room with wood shavings and reindeers!
Birds are tweeting while you study the animals. Some looked rather bored, and some were rather distressed. This reminded me of another exhibition where a poor little rabbit was left in the middle of a busy gallery. I did think this was a rather cruel way to treat the animals as they will be there until the beginning on February. However, from an art side of things, I thought that the concept between art, science, laboratory and dream was very interesting and innotative. 







Roth, Gartenskulptur






Weihnachtsmarkt