Random Round of Inspiration • Berlin March 24, 2008
This week’s RRI got inspired by Berlin, city united yet so visibly divided in aesthetics. With its bombastic, grand architecture (with a dark history) contrasting the massive amounts of Bauhaus and postmodernist architectural masterpieces, Berlin had much more to offer than a rich diversity of culture. Read on for details.
So last week I finally had a little city trip planned to Berlin. After almost two years of nothing but trips for business we booked a train ticket to Berlin and enjoyed ourselves with 3 days of art, design, architecture, food and shopping while Arjen and Paul took care of Postmachina things while I was going to the land of the currywurst with the better half (as we speak, Paul is trying not to break his legs while skiing somewhere in the mountains and Arjen stressing out over his new Amsterdam apartment). Back to Berlin: we did a lot. We walked so much I’m pretty much injured right now. So here’s a compilation of some of the most noteworthy stops.
Bauhaus Archiv • Museum Für Gestaltung
The Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design in Berlin is concerned with the research and presentation of the history and impact of the Bauhaus (1919-1933), the most important school of architecture, design, and art of the 20th century.
We could not help ourselves and bought two gorgeous posters for our apartment. I’ve been a longtime fan of the Bauhaus movement (and De Stijl for that matter) so this was a must see on our trip. Admission was around 7 euros. Temporary, small exhibitions but a humongous library (the ‘Archiv‘).
Neue Gationalgalerie
A masterpierce from Mies van der Rohe of Bauhaus fame, the building appears floating and is vastly empty apart from the scrolling poetry accross the ceiling on the inside. The entire collection is located underground, where Cubism, Expressionism and Bauhaus are all around the place, though I became happily surprised by finding a couple of Minimalist and Pointillist works.
Holocaust Memorial
Visiting this impressive and grand memorial made me think about our tightening situation in the Netherlands concerning some specific right-wing policitian who doesn’t deserve more media attention than he already does. So back to the memorial. Standing in the center blocks out all the noise from traffic around the area. Too bad the serenity gets disturbed by kids playing hide and seek.
Mitte
One of Berlin’s creative district became our favourite spot immediately. Great independent fashion and graphic designers, awesome concept stores, nice restaurants and cool clubs/bars made the circle round.
(0) Comments
No comments yet.