New York @ October 2008

At early afternoon of a normal day is Lexington Avenue ominous quiet: no noise, no buzz, just a sliding wave of happy looking purchaser; no rush, no hectic. That's why shopping makes people happy and relaxed.
The Indian man in the Chinese electronic shop wants to sell me a low tech camera in a price level higher than in 5the Ave, I am laughing, he does not understand it at all. He is not so happy.
Marriott East Side is very American. An house full of ghosts of those days, dark furniture, shivering calmness, people in ugly Grey suits asking you after your "happiness" and my nightmare: folklorist (= bloomy) blankets, they dispossess me of my dreams, which I indented to have, indeed. And one more, old white American Men: of course East coast WASP's, well dressed, honorable, boring and obliging; therefor, almost death. They are everywhere, in the lobby, beside me in the restaurant and even in the lift. One should change the perspective. After Boston, my second experience seeing them in vivo. Gott bewahre.


 Urbaner Raum im Kontext
 

 

New York @ October 2008

Bedfort Avenue in Williamsburg / Brooklyn seems to imitate the other, the "outer" world, which is the OLD EUROPE. Arrived , again, in the nice space of simulacrum and of games.
Everyone attempts to be in a basically different mood than in Manhattan, not just mood, but fashion: style of trashy, confused and "indi"-like something; just beautiful.
You can not see Manhattan's towers, while sitting in a cafe in Williamsburg's Bedfor Avenue and drinking latte and pretending to read Kafka or talking on Sara Palin's stupidity. NO, there are no ghosts, no alligators, no dead "indians", no fashion victims, no seduction and seductives, no glamour, no SCHEIN. Just pure SEIN, coolness, authentecity and GEIST.
Asking the concierge in a Manhattann based hotel about "nice" places in Brooklyn, he asked me back: Brooklyn?? it is really different than Manhattan, you want to go there?
After more than 120 years of anexion of Brooklyn by New York City's rulers, it is still another town, not just a bourough, as they try to convince us.

New York @ October 2008

Vorerst ist NYC ein Traum.

Berlin @ August 2008
" Light in August"

After a week in Lisbon with O. almost no memories.
Pessoa was absent. The town did not change at all: a museum for well educated traveler and huge portion of nostalgia. Lucent nights on hills and silence, Lisbon is like a sleeping draco, tranquil and aware.
V. invited us to a bonny dinner within the labyrinths of old town, then a short postprandial meditation in Bairro alto. We talked about "saudade" as a very Portuguese and unique cultural phenomenon, which is heavy (to explain) and deep embedded into the memories of this culture. Saudade was explained to me in all her dimensions as a "feeling" accompanying live and past and future (more deails: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade).
I believe, that the relevant difference between Portuguese way of thinking the world and other latin and non-latin "cultures of looking at the wolrd" is made by the extraordinary ability of the Portuguese "languages" (langage, music, art), to be able to express "it" un-definitely better than the others. Portuguese culture seems to have developed this highly specified skill of expression the "feeling" of saudade.

Afterwards on the beach of Cascais, wild waves and the wind were evocative of old b&w pictures without any relation to a specific place or time, just those days. Having nice days in the house of my friend (N. P.) with kids and his friends.




Turkish Riviera @August 2008

It seemed to be a good place to do nothing. As to pass time of vacation in Russia with Turkish environment or nice displacement.

Cuando sale la luna
se pierden las campanas
y aparecen las sendas
impenetrables.
Cuando sale la luna,
el mar cubre la tierra
y el corazón se siente
isla en el infinito.
Nadie come naranjas
bajo la luna llena.
Es preciso comer
fruta verde y helada.
Cuando sale la luna
de cien rostros iguales,
la moneda de plata
solloza en el bolsillo.


by Fedrico Garcia Lorca

Berlin @ August 2008

May be the density of time transform us more rapidly than expected.

Lisbon @ August 2008

Langsam durch die Strassen.

Lisbon @ August 2008
Am Anfang is Lisboa nur Geräusch.

Berlin @ August 2008

The sky (as a perversion of colours in the late evening), touched / seen / listened from my balcony is just a memory of those days.

It is raining

Berlin @ again August 200
After Bangkok such a tristess.

Bangkok @ July 2008

Almost the high end of smooth luxury combined with the softness of faces, grace of hands, happiness of smiles, that's Bangkok.
The world of calmness and relaxation, that's what hotel lobby spaces in BKK are (Shangri-La, Interconti or Oriental): artificial paradises, the total opposit of the derisory European accomodations and those reluctant faces, with highst level of possible service.
There is even no need to read newspapers in these smooth spaces, no news, no TV, no reality, just the illusion of a nice "place".
The east Asian relaxation culture in Hotels / spa's/ restaurants (specially the Thai version) unifies all those basically divers images of our mind referring to a good being-there while sitting, eating or doing nothing.





At night:

Club "Spicy": the end of shame. Authentic, no "electronic" delusions like the expat clubs (bed supperclub, glow, Q bar, narcissus etc, forget them), JUST: rhythms & bodies, nothing else.

Restaurant "Long table": seeing the night from above along a long, very long table, while listening to minimal vibes and watching pixie faces in the all but darkness of the room.
http://www.longtablebangkok.com

Bangkok @ July 2008

Like a snake I perambulate trough noise, smoothness, dirt, fluence and nostalgia. The fragrance of orchidee and those hands are making me disapeared.
BKK is covered by shadows of almost living gods, they rule on streets, small shrines around corners, praying and hoping people returned to their self, at least for some instances.
A sort of cessation of mind, "Das Schloss" from K. is invisibel, no news, no papers, no Obama.



Bangkok @ July 2008 
Vorerst ist Bangkok nur ein Strom.

On the way above Asian deserts

Berlin @ Juli 2008

Ein flüchtiger Anblick im Halbdunkel
Der Schatten von K.

Ein Vorübergehen aneinander
Ein Vergessen zueinander

Himmel, harmlos und still
Arme und Ohren und Augen und Geschmack
Angst vor der Berührung
Nähe

Nähe
Rührselig und still
Heftig und zitternd

an L.

** Berlin July 2008 **

Just an ordinary arrival
Like all those days
The kitchen
Food, past, drink, future
Desire, distant world, dreams, the barrio

Some Words
A Sigh
Short stillness

The stars in cloudy sky of the night
An idea of beauty of L'ete indien

Skin, while Omara sings
Taste, while calmness raises
Neck, while shiver rules
Fragrance, while memory goes away
Pelvis, while losing the self

And
A marvelous silhouette in the darkness of the night
Hours

The sense of the sun
The passage

For C.

** Berlin June 2008 **

Der frühe Sommer erschreckt, zu viel an Süden plötzlich.

Berlin @ June 2008

Coming back from beyondatlantic, however, Berlin is like a dream never ended.

The simulation of Italy at the Kollwitz Str. in Prenzlauer Berg is almost perfect, even the real Italian waiters are strongly simulating Italy, it is like a paranormal phenomenon, you are eating tiramisu at midnight outside , while people are deep in their dreams, that ´s the way how you cope with world as a simlacrum (see also Jean Baudrillard).

Berlin is just nice to everyone, you can try too.

The "Creatives" of our town are working even beyond the midnight thresholds, passing by Senefelder Str. (Prenzlauer Berg, see google map http://maps.google.de/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&hs=bC4&resnum=
0&q=senefelder%20strasse%20berlin&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl )
you see them, in shadow of smooth lights of their offices, sitting and thinking the world as an idea, I bet Plato would have been so jealous about them. These people are creating the new world of ideas, images, web sites, pod casts, futures, pastes and delusions.

Berlin is the place to be, try it again.

Regularly, at 7 am, in the rapid transit train called S-Bahn (S may be for schnell=fast, may be not) you meet the other part of the urban reality: tired and satisfied faces looking out of windows, watching the city vanishing back and always embedded in the matrix of the enduring dreams beyond the sunset. A kind of luck, you would say, and that´s right.

Chicago @ June 2008

Diese Stadt ist der Ort der Geister.

Die Idee des urbanen Raumes oder des Urbanen als Raum findet ein ungeheueres Pendant in Chicago. Es ist wie ein Prototyp, wie die Exemplifizierung eines modernen Konzeptes von "Raum". Die Klarheit der Strassen, die im downtown fast immer "Einkaufstrassen" sind, gleicht die Wucht der skyscrapers aus und es macht den Unterschied weicher (=smoother) und bildet ein organisches Bild. Ein Konglomerat aus Ecken, Winkeln, Schatten, Schrägen und Horizonten. Der urbane Raum ist nur eine Konstellation aus Horizonten, aus Optionen und oft unsichtbar auch aus Vergessen und Verghen.

Die Stadt ist schöner als das Bild, was die Filme von ihm machen, Chicago ist kinematographischer als die Kinematographie je.

Der nächtliche Anblick des downtown aus einem Café am Fluss ist berauschend, es lebt und bebt.

Chicago @ June 2008

At the beginning of the day, after a long lasting sunset, the scenery in downtown Chicago is almost perfect: sun is laving streets, those on the streets are wearing their dark suits uniform, everything is for the purpose of "being-to-go" (actually it is a basic form of "live-to-go): coffee, memories, bags, the past etc.

:: CHICAGO June 2008 ::

This place seems to be the ultimate version of modernity: the hegemony of verticality + the persistent idea of movement + the totality of ignorance + the swoosh as basis of daily life + das Gespenst von Mies van der Rohe.

Chicago is the most American Americanism in terms of frozen space, concentrated velocity, ignorant coolness and at the end of the day (= at the beginning of the night) the beauty of urban life.