RaeAllen.net

Author: Rae Allen

  • Käthe Kollwitz museum

    Käthe Kollwitz museum

    It would be difficult to live in Prenzlauer for a month and not come across the name Käthe Kollwitz. There is a street and a platz, and a large statue of her in the berg ( flic.kr/p/ned3GC ).

    Elsewhere an enlarged reproduction of her sculpture ‘Mother with her Dead Son’ is the centre piece (and only piece) in the Neue Wache ( flic.kr/p/ntfSgM ).

    As an artist she is a firm favourite of my daughters so today we trekked across town to the Käthe Kollwitz museum. This is part art gallery with some great pieces including the original ‘Mother with her Dead Son’.

    It is also part history museum, her son Peter died in the first world war and grandson Peter died in the second world war. Käthe’s anti-war stance and pro-socialist leanings eventually saw her banned from exhibiting in Germany so this space is one that is well worth a visit from artists and historians alike.

    http://flic.kr/p/nyeUCL

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  • Central atrium Berggruen Museum

    Central atrium Berggruen Museum

    Terrific day at Berggruen Museum and the associated gallery at Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. Berggruen has the annex under renovation at the moment so the Paul Klee part of the exhibition is housed across the road at Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. .
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    This view is looking up into the Museum dome with a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti (http://bit.ly/1oAgz0l ).
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    The museum has three floors of Picasso’s arranged in chronological order and a fabulous audio tour. ( http://bit.ly/1oAgz0o… ) ?

    http://flic.kr/p/nyn1YX

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  • United enemies.

    United enemies

    United Enemies, by the German artist Thomas Schütte in the gardens of the Berggruen Museum. (http://bit.ly/1iyj6aw…). These two sculptures have been shown in Central Park, New York and in the Kensington Gardens, London. They appear to show political enemies tied together, but rather than heroic seeming, they appear in pain or in confusion.

    http://flic.kr/p/nw5qYN

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  • Kunsthaus Tacheles

    Kunsthaus Tacheles

    This is Kunsthaus Tacheles, or Art House Tacheles. These days it is a deteriorating shell, but like much of this sort of of complex its history makes fascinating reading, from days as an early style of department store, to being the central office for the Nazi SS in WWII. Currently owned by a bank ( HSH Nordbank ) it will be fascinating to see what eventually happens to it. The mural asking “How long is now” seems a perfect question for the complex. http://bit.ly/1stmE0R

    http://flic.kr/p/nxMdpj

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  • Berlin Hauptbahnhof

    Berlin Hauptbahnhof

    If you have a thing about trains and transport generally then you might find your inner geek with Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Its like a five level glass cathedral to train travel. I say five levels as ‘five floors” wouldn’t really give the right perspective of how big it is. This is the top level where the S-bahn and long distance trains arrive and leave from. The lowest level is 15m underground and has services such as the U-bahn. In between are a variety of transport options plus the sort of boutique, food and general shops and restaurants you would find in any large modern shopping centre.

    http://flic.kr/p/nvi4Tb

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  • Anne Frank street art

    Anne Frank street art

    Anne Frank portrait by the English artist Jimmy C. on the wall outside the exhibition ( or Anne Frank Zentrum – http://bit.ly/1ljx7ZP ).

    The exhibition is worth taking your time over, the matter of fact presentation of the horrors mesh with the personalised accounts from Anne Frank, her family and friends.

    By the way, don’t be put off by the laneway at Rosenthaler Strasse 39. There is lots of graffiti but also a couple of other small museums including that for Otto Weidt (http://bit.ly/RDzUTu )

    http://flic.kr/p/nzaTDD

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  • Fraternal Kiss

    Fraternal Kiss

    The East Side Gallery is a collection of artworks painted on the remnants of the Berlin Wall as it runs along the River Spree. The one I am in front off front off is by the Russian painter Dmitri Vrubel, called “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love”. All up 105 art works were originally painted.

    It is well worth reading about the Gallery and the conflicts surrounding it – http://bit.ly/1g2e9rt

    http://flic.kr/p/nytjMD

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  • Art works

    Art works, Teufelsberg

    I left it for a couple of days to recover from the information overload which was my trip to Field Station, Berlin or Teufelsberg as it is more commonly known.

    Today however I went through the photos I had taken of the art works on the mountain

    Built on an artificial mountain created after WWII, the Cold War listening post ran from 1963 through to the early 1990s. Once the operators left however, the site was abandoned and fell into the sort of ruin you see today. Since about 2010, volunteers have gradually cleared out some of the rubble and attempted to preserve what is left.

    Since 2012 a community of groups including artists and historians have worked to bring life back to the Devil’s Mountain, including tours and art events.

    My Flickr photos – Teufelsberg street art

    Links

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  • Teufelsberg

    Teufelsberg

    I hardly know where to start with describing Teufelsberg (or Devil’s Mountain). I went up there today on a tour led by former US Army analyst Christopher McLarren. McLarren was stationed here at Field Station Berlin during the Cold War and since settling in Berlin, has become an expert on not only it’s history as a listening post, but also on how the mountain was created, and what has happened since the station was closed in the 1990s. It was a fascinating and personal tour dotted with anecdotes of spies caught (Valery Kirukhin) and missed ( James W. Hall )

    I’ll write separately about the art work on the site but so far this has been my favourite trip in Berlin, including as it does, a walk through the Grunewald to get there.

    Links worth reading

    http://flic.kr/p/nonX2q

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  • Cycling in Berlin

    Cycling in Berlin

    Just like the suburb I normally live in, cycling is very big in Berlin generally, and in Prenzlauer in particular. There are however some noticeable differences.

    1. Very few people wear helmets
      I have seen some children with helmets and two adults, but that is about it. Everyone else wears what they would normally wear out, beanies, caps, or scarves. looking at the laws, since 2011 “helmets are required by law for children under 13 years old”
    2. No-one wears lycra
      Well I assume there are some people who wear lycra, but I have yet to see anyone wearing much more than their normal street clothes. I have seen a couple of people wearing sweat pants and shirt but that is about it.
    3. Most people ride street cycles
      I assume there are bicycles with racing handlebars and skinny tyres but I haven’t really seen any around this area. What I have seen is lots of comfortable street bikes, and customisation is normally to add wooden shopping baskets or the like
    4. Nobody rides very quickly
      Most of the actually cycling I’ve seen is more in the way of a promenade through the leafy streets and cafes. I have seen people in the heavy traffic areas riding more quickly commuting from work, but no packs of riders on the roads. I assume this adds to the lack of helmets as there is little speed involved on either side most of the time.
    5. Cycling is obviously only part of the picture
      Since arriving I’ve seen numerous people smoking as they cycled along, and one guy with his shopping hanging off one handlebar, and an open bottle of beer in the other hand. They looked very civilised. I did also see some-one riding while talking on a mobile phone which I understand is illegal.

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