Karneval der Kulturen 2012

My second year at the Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin back in May. Amazing time again and loads of good music, friendly people and great food. Last year I missed the Jamaican jerk chicken, not this year. REALLY good, best thing to come out of an oil drum ever.  And a few strange folks dressed up for the occasion, see below:

This guy was not part of any parade. He was just sitting on a bench in the middle of a park with the Karneval all around. An example of the bizarre side of Berlin. He was holding a bike pump handle and pumping it which seemed to be inflating his helmet....? Gas mask, webbed flippers and not a word said to anyone. I doubt anyone would get away with this kind of outfit in this situation in the UK or USA.

All over for another year...
Andy

Lange Nacht der Museen (Long night of Museums)

  Back on January 28th, I went to The Long Night of Museums which happens twice a year. About 70 Museum's and galleries are open from 6 pm til 2 am, one ticket covers everything and transport on the U-Bahn, all for 15 Euro's! There are also performances happening at various locations.
  I hadn't been to the National art gallery before so this was an opportunity to get a preview of the collection and decide if it was worth a second look later. Its worth another visit :)

The national gallery entrance has this amazing life size sculpture.

  After that I went to the National Museum which I visited last year. It was busy but not too bad and I found a few items I didn't see last time.

A great sculpt of a stylized Octopus.

I came out of the museum to find a new layer of snow falling.

  Next up was an installation of photographs in an old bunker. Annoyingly they don't want pictures taken so you will be more inclined to buy a book. But those books never do a building justice.

The exterior of this amazing place

The front door. Rather thick walls!

Deeper inside you find a reconstruction of a check-in desk (on the left) and floor guide on the right.

Maze like hallways and rooms.

  Since I had to sneak a few pictures I couldn't get a shot of the exhibition of photographs. They were in light boxes mounted in these small rooms. The black and white photos were on one layer with a colour transparency mounted in front. The effect was similar to a Lenticular 3d image. My photo's aren't the best but it is a great building and worth a visit via the local tour website:
www.berliner-unterwelten.de/

All the hallways look like this, very disorienting.

  Next up was the Museum for German Film and Television. I didn't have time to do this justice so I went through the film side to see if it was worth visiting again. It is.

Life size robot Maria.

Not the originals but a good reproduction of these amazing designs from "Metropolis".

Maquette's of death and the seven deadly sins from "Metropolis".

The death mask of F.W. Murnau.

A fantastic way to suggest the epic scale of the futuristic cityscape, two story tall mirrors:)

  After the film museum, I met some friends at the Museum of Musical Instruments. They were playing the 1926 version of "Faust" by Murnau with live organ accompaniment. That is a stunning film, no surprise as it came a few years after "Nosferatu".
  If you find yourself in Berlin in January or August look for this event, really worth the effort. But have a plan as there is LOTS to see.
www.lange-nacht-der-museen.de

Cheers
Andy

Karneval Der Kulturen

A few blocks from the flat was the huge annual 4 day cultural festival celebrating the blend of people in Berlin. Huge turn out with loads of stalls selling food (lots of BBQ), beer, art, crafts etc. Big parade on Sunday.

There's 1 BBQ for every 3 people attending :)

This woman can SING!  First group in the parade, Brazilian's know how to get the party started.

Amazing group of puppeteers.

Some really amazing sculpts from this group. I'm not sure what they're all about but it looks great. They're something called Körschtal Hell Guard.

www.koerschtaler-hoellenwaechter.de

Amazing work and very detailed.

That last shot is from a display of Mexican artists work at one of the stalls. Some figures from day of the dead festivities but this skull (and a more from the same artist) is truly amazing in its design and intricate detail. This skull is about the size of a softball so the fine lines are done with very small brushes and controlled strokes. The pigments are ground by the artist and made from natural sources. Unfortunately they're very expensive but I'll keep these in mind should that lotto ticket hit.
laceiba-arts.de

Cheers
Andy