Category: Artists

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Games over

All nice things eventually come to an end. So do the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
The images have been impressive of both events and the millions of spectators give a good testimony in this respect. The cultural by-program of the Games was equally remarkable. The live performances of dancers not only on the opening and closing ceremonies attracted big audiences. Many well-known sites of Paris prepared their own events and inspired as well as entertained the visitors.
On the small stage in front of the “Marie de Paris”, the city hall (Image below), ballet performances (video) were staged to hint at the possibility to see more artistic performances throughout the year in Paris opera houses and other stages.
Showcasing many forms of cultural, inspiring and entertaining events gave a valuable additional flavour to the Paris Olympics. Many good reasons to come back and renew unique moments in Paris beyond 2024. Paris hotels will be more accessible again for moderate budgets and waiting times for entries should come down to normal levels as well. Back to a new normal for Paris. Well, maybe. The millions of spectators who followed the Games on television and social media might eventually decide to rank Paris higher in the “cities you have to go to at least once in your lifetime”.

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Painter Sociologist

In going to a gallery and exhibition of paintings from the 17th century (Gemäldegalerie Berlin) you do not really expect to attend a class of sociology. However, this is exactly what the Flemish painter Frans Hals does with his paintings of various genres of society of his time. His sociological categories are for example unmarried young persons, married couples or pensioners living in a shared home. Other social categories of interest to him are a caregiver or, more common for the time, persons from noble or wealthy families. His painting „The Regents of the old men’s Almshouse” (ca 1660), the male pensioners home is one of his last paintings when he himself was already about 80 years old. Similar to a College of students the elderly home was run by a house father and house mother who took care of the daily living. The paintings of Frans Hals covered the entire life course with a cross-section perspective of society at his time. From few of his supporters he painted even several images moving towards a kind of longitudinal perspective on a person’s life course. Certainly, with “Oude-mannenhuis” (image below) he was interested not only in individual life courses, but of the conditions, forms or images of aging at his time. He probably was one of the first to challenge the negative stereotypes of aging.

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Theatre Archives

The process of creation in the realm of theatre performances has manifold facets. The French National Library (BNF) in Paris has received the archives of the „Théâtre du Rond-Point” in 2023 and honors the donation with a fascinating exhibition on the immense creativity of the author, scenarist and director Jean-Michel Ribes. (Image below) The professional diaries of Jean-Michel Ribes and the documentation through photographs from the performances and video extracts allow an intimate view into the hard work of producing theatrical performances, popular television shows and comedies. Jean-Michel Ribes took notes of all sorts and kept extensive lists of potential collaborators, actors, daily occurrences and just nice sounding phrases. From just a simple phrase heard on the streets he developed a small piece to be performed in shows. Listening to the people and enriching this with great actors in superb scenery made his popular success. The creativity seems to derive from ample note taking and coming back to them eventually.

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Lost Objects

Project yourself into the future more than a hundred years from today, maybe even more than a thousand years from today. Some archaeologists will work on the planet earth to uncover the story behind the disappearance of the once very advanced species of homo erectus. They start drilling near some of the mystical sites of this civilization, the cities where mass celebrations were held called Olympic Games. These archaeologists use huge drilling machines to take samples at previous Olympic sites and uncover the remains of the thought to be modern civilizations on earth. Amongst all these samples they find all sorts of artifacts and layers left over. Plastics and metal structures appear in the samples as well as other forms of „artificializations“, transformations of earth’s principal „natural“ raw materials. The inhabitants of earth apparently lost or destroyed the planet‘s capabilities of CO2 storage and eventually became extinct. After fighting for survival on another planet the archeological expedition on earth saved this block of the remains of a doomed civilization. All this is pure science fiction, yet the specimen sample is exposed on the roof of the futuristic Fondation Louis Vuitton building near the Jardin d‘Acclimatation in Neuilly sur Seine. (Image of „Where the slaves live“ of Adrian Villar Rochas, 2014).

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Paralympic Happiness

It is with great pleasure that we watch the paralympic athletes in Paris compete for Olympic medals. For many the emotions of participation and being applauded by so many people in a sport arena are great experiences. Happiness derives from such great games and audiences. The accomplishments of the athletes and their supporting teams are truly outstanding. The progress towards such high skill levels is remarkable for each of them. The adaptation to what appears to be a handicap with adequate support and technique allows to surpass limitations. Well exercised skills like swimming are possible to be performed with great skill to achieve incredible performances. The Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 are a great reminder that besides the athletes some artists had to struggle with handicaps, but achieved some of the finest pieces of art. Matisse, for example, is called frequently “le peintre-du-bonheur”, the painter of happiness. In his last few years he faced a severe handicap to paint, however the pursuit of abstraction helped him to continue to create masterpieces. The rather radical pursuit of abstraction and maybe simplification are uncovered in the exhibition “Matisse: The red studio” at the “Fondation Louis Vuitton”. This marks an important step in the artistic life course of Matisse and enabled him to continue his work in later life when his health made it very difficult to pursue his artistic work. (Image at Fondation Louis Vuitton 2024-9-1 exhibition Matisse).

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Artist Intuition

Artists have a specific kind of intuition. Many artists build their artwork on the competence to sense interesting deviations from standard representations of persons, landscapes, architecture or societal structures. In 2024 the Paris Olympics have demonstrated again the particular strength of American athletes in the competitions. As a renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin had the incontestable intuition that the American athletes had a physiognomy of impressive dimensions. Well worth a sculpture of its own kind. Rodin realised the first bronze statue of the “American Athlete” as early as 1901. In 2024 American athletes are much more diverse, but the impressive strength is documented in the USA still leading the list of countries in terms of gold medals. Rodin’ sculpture of the American athletes is focused on the muscular strength in contrast to most of his other work where gestures, clothing or emotions were immortalized. (Expo: En jeu ! Les artistes et le sport. Musée Marmottan Monet photo below) There is also a stark contrast to Rodin’s famous “ Le Penseur”. The dialectic vision or just visualizing both artworks next to each other reveals the difference to represent simply an athlete or the abstract concept of a thinking person.

American Athlete, by Auguste Rodin 1901
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Digital Museum

Paris has lots of museums to visit. At times, this can lead to a kind of mental overload. The ” Musée Marmottan Monet, in Paris allows to take home a digital and printed copy of your preferred, your own curated collection of images from the museum. This is a great learning experience. You scan the number of the item you want to include and a specialized application retrieves the image of the painting or object from their database into the App. After the visit you take a break in the café in the garden and sort your collection and if you like have it printed within a couple of minutes after you paid for the print or digital version. Upon special request I was told that I am allowed to share the link to the small booklet even on the web (Link to pdf below).
Since the visit to the Musée Marmottan Monet we have come back to the digital and printed versions several times and reading of accompanying texts and perfect quotations of origin make learning about art a fun experience. Going back to lived experiences makes more lasting impressions on our memories. Knowledge coupled with emotions is a powerful way to memorize. Sharing the experience with other persons like the readers of this blog is an additional advantage. Attentive readers of the blog entries will find references to many of the themes dealt with over the years in this series of blog entries. Such topics are: gender and art, technology and society, reflections on time, life courses, inequality, art history, funding of artists, lifelong learning or beauty.
(Booklet below in German LINK-pdf of 6MB.  The app allows many language versions. You can produce those yourself from you collection within the App) 

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Commemoration Paris

The cemetery “Père Lachaise” is a spacious area of commemoration in the 20th arrondissement in Paris. Many famous people have been buried there or moved to this cemetery eventually. Edith Piaf, Gustave Caillebotte or Frédéric Chopin are known across borders. You find also a small monument for the controversial founder of homeopathy 200 years ago “Hahnemann” there. He spent his last 8 years in Paris before he died at the age of 88 in 1843. From a social science perspective it is interesting to note that commemoration is much more decided by the descendants like in the case of Hahnemann or the popularity of the person, like for Piaf, than the person her/himself. The tradition of joint graves for families holds for the Paris born painter and collector Gustave Caillebotte despite his movements to other places. The freshly cut flowers on the grave of Piaf show that the performances of the artist have made deep and lasting impressions.

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Sports International

Beyond the Olympic Games the practice of sport has been widely spread across cultures. The meeting of cultures through athletes is also a worldwide phenomenon. The “Musée du Quai Branly” offers an opportunity to delve into the different cultures of the world. With abundant water resources Oceania has developed boats that ensured survival, work, art and leisure. The image below is a fine piece of art which is exposed in the permanent exhibition of Oceania. Even a turtle appears to be rowing next to the others. Most other depictions or objects with reference to sports have fighting as a feature or refer to it. The Olympic games have similar historical depictions. Martial practices, sometimes also called martial arts, have been the source of decorations and special designs in all cultures. The ethnographic collections of this museum offer a glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of all continents. We have so much in common across continents that it is still hard to see mankind captured in many wars across the world. Paris 2024 Games with the “Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac” give hope that sustainable development (70% of the museum is green space!) and peaceful living together is feasible with a focus on joint cultural heritage with enriching diversity.

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Sports Beauty

Since the days of ancient Greece the combination of sports and the ideals of beauty has been praised. The many representations of mainly sportsmen at the time were copied by many artists to represent ideal forms of bodies and beauty. Only more than 2000 years later the female sportspersons find equal admiration in sports and the imagery of beauty. The Académie des beaux-arts in Paris 2024 has chosen this as a topic to guide visitors of the Olympic Games through the vast collections at the Musée Orsay (imaga below). The depiction of Hercules, for example, has idealized the strength of men. The beauty of sports movements reaches levels of dance or ballet. The precision of performances highlights the not only the physical qualities, but also the beauty of the body in motion. The popular appeal of performance and perfection contribute to the admiration of ideals. Reaching these ideals is a completely different story. The training and preparation may take years mostly invisible to the one time spectators. However, the glory stays for decades or until a closer match to the ideal is achieved by another athlete or another person. Even ideals are time dependent and rarely eternal.

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Olympic culture

The Paris 2024 Olympics make a great effort to attract athletes, their families and spectators to the many splendid museums of the city. It is an exceptional offer in the multiplicity of museum experiences the city of Paris and its surroundings have to offer.
The Trocadero near the Eiffel tower, is the place of the Musée d’art moderne de Paris (MAM). For the Olympic Games in Paris the Museum selected works that demonstrate the early impact of sports in the painting of modern times.  (See the small extract below on rowing).
A dedicated visit of the permanent exhibition with art works that portray sports is on display during the Olympic season in Paris. The exhibition is a perfect example that you can visit a permanent exhibition with a special interest in mind. In this example it refers to the link of Olympic sport disciplines, their setting in time, space, society and environment). Alternative perspectives on the same collection of art works might deal with the depiction of sports in society or the life course or social status of athletes.
Choose your favourite sports and artists and you will probably find an example that would fit such an exhibition. People looking for depictions of rowing might like the painting by Raoul Dufy, Bord de Marne, Les canotiers painted in 1925.
Almost 100 years later La Marne hosts the rowing competitions of the Olympics. Raoul Dufy shows us that there is much more to rowing than just the sport or exercise. It is a social event not only for the rowers and the onlookers who watch the passing-by of boats and waves.

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Park Le Nôtre

Landscapes and gardens maybe occasions of splendid design. Paper and pencil designs or oil on canvas have left us with great imaginations of gardens as well as parks. The garden designer Le Nôtre in France has left us unforgettable, fantastic landscapes that have been originally realized 300 years ago, but has still many people you are impressed when looking or walking in them. One of the earliest projects is to be admired in Meaux just next to the cathedral. The design of the “jardin Bossuet” is attributed to Le Nôtre who later designed the park in the “Chateaux Vaux-le-Vicomte”. These accomplishments earn him the invitation also to design the gardens of Versailles. As part of the Paris 2024 Olympics the whole world was able to watch some of the horse mounted competitions there. Architecture leaves us impressions over centuries. Gardens are the most natural part of this cultural heritage.

Meaux France
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UNESCO Art

The UNESCO building hosts fine examples of modern art. For example “L’homme qui marche” by Giacometti (Image 1 below, focus on shadow of the figure) is one of the treasures exposed next to the conference center. The statue is very fitting as introduction to the exhibition “Fit for Life” during the Olympics, although it has been there for many decades. Taken on a photograph from a specific angle, the marching man appears like a crucified person without the crucifix. Each athlete has a long march behind him or behind her to reach the landmark of participation in the Olympic games. The media attention puts the spotlight on the winning persons albeit the many splendid performances of all other athletes. The cultures of the games is to be found in the millions of people who are inspired by these outstanding performances to also try their best in whatever conditions are encountered locally.

The strive by each athlete to achieve the highest goals, possible or even impossible, is reflected in the big wall painting by Picasso, 1958,  which was especially commissioned by UNESCO as the new building was inaugurated in Paris. The title of Picasso’s painting is “The fall of Icarus”, an ancient narrative of mankind reaching for the sun, but ultimately failing. Let’s keep waling despite the risk of falling short of ideals. A reasonable vision for diplomacy as well.

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Olympic Village

The newly built Olympic Village in Seine Saint Denis consists of 82 buildings and offers 3000 appartements. With up-to-date cooling and heating technology from a nearby geothermal source the eco friendliness is assured as well. Inclusive accessibility allows for games for all and the needs of an aging society. The price level of renting apartments remains a difficult to solve issue as demand will exceed supply for years to come. Universal accessibility is a necessary precondition to host the Paralympic games also in 2024. Historic sites are notoriously difficult to adapt to aging societies and inclusive approaches. However, the adaptation takes a large step towards the realization of inclusiveness of extraordinary people. The care for environmental sustainability has been honored as well. The exhibition in the Museum of the city of Saint Denis at the outskirts of Paris demonstrates the significant size of the urban renewal project. The socioeconomic and environmental benefits are evident and will give a push towards this previously deprived suburb. A lot remains to be done but the new trajectory for urban development is already put on track. The oblivious factories and enterprises give way for urban renewal of housing for people with easy access to the Paris city centers as well. (Source of Image)

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Olympic Visits

The Olympic Games 2024 in Paris are celebrated in the Stade de France and the Nautical Stadium which are both situated in nearby Saint Denis. There are fast trains and a Metro station to reach the venues.

Just one stop further you may visit the historic site of the Basilica St. Denis where most of the French royals were buried. A dive into history with the crypt of graves and splendid church windows will compensate for the additional effort to walk to the site. Quiet places are rare during the Olympic frenzy of cheering spectators and buses rushing sportspersons between venues and the newly built Olympic village. Security can feel intimidating at times but preventing bad situations is in the interest of everyone. The small historical center allows to start a visit off the busy calendar of events with a walk around the city center and the basilica.

Saint Denis Basilica 2024-7 France
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Artists Robots

We know that the scientific and artistic dealings with robots have a long tradition. Whereas art of impressionism took up the challenge to paint the world outside the studio and embellished technological achievements like bridges and trains post hoc, modern extensions of science fiction to the world of robotics has extrapolated from the present. Artists became forerunners of technical evolution and thereby contributed to the acceptance of artificial intelligence to broader audiences. In 2018 The “Grand Palais” in Paris hosted an exhibition on “Artists & Robots” (Pdf booklet). Jérôme Neuters contributed an essay to the catalog of the exhibition on “L’imagination artificielle” which identified a additional role for artists in combination with AI. Some of the early adopters of the new possibilities of robots assisting artists, Nicolas Schoeffer is quoted to state: “l’artiste ne crée plus une oeuvre, il crée la création”. Like an invention of painting techniques or light or perspective in painting, robots allow a new way of representation of emotions or space. (Image Manfred Mohr, 1974 video Cubic Limit, Artists & Robots p.92-93)

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Impressionism 150

How many impressions made impressionism? Too many to be expressed in a single number. 150 years after the movement started with a spectacular exhibition in Paris the admiration of the paintings still attracts huge crowds. As a kind of revolutionary movement the artists mounted their own exhibition as they were not allowed to expose their paintings in the official exhibition of the Academy of arts in 1874. They accumulated a sufficiently large group of artists to form their own distinctive style of paintings. Painting outside in the countryside was a joint predilection. The regions, nowadays in the suburbs of Paris where many people daily commute to Paris has discovered the attraction to review the original scenario of the paintings as well as their living environments. Yerres, for example, hosts in 2024 an exhibition to show paintings from Claude Monet and Gustave Caillebotte which highlights the inspiration both painters took from the surroundings. Nowadays it is also interesting to see that the agglomeration makes efforts to make more people aware of the treasures to see in their own surroundings. Even if conservation of nature is hard to achieve the parks of yesterday have remained visible today. For us to transmit the cultural heritage and landscape to future generations as well. An affordable booklet that documents the cultural heritage allows people to dig deeper into the subject also for those who live in the region only because of a job nearby in Paris or Orly airport.

Park surrounding Maison Caillebotte, Yerres
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Planned Inspiration

There many ways to search for inspiration. “Moi aussi, comme les peintres, j’ai mes modèles” wrote Jacques Prévert a famous French poet years ago. Scientists find inspiration in data or theories, or in the combination of both. The planning of inspiration is, however, an other issue. You plan for something you don’t know what it is going to be. This makes the endeavor more risky and at the same time me exciting. As a social scientist going out into the “real” life is a sort of inspiration as multiple challenges await an explanation or deconstruction. The overview of current exhibitions through the scanning of catalogues from ongoing exhibitions is a welcome source to organize inspiration for the months to come. A glance through the catalogues gives a fairly good impression of what will be on display. The ideas can fly to distant locations and bring back more food for thought. It is a great service from the Munt library in Brussels. The combination of work and travel for inspiration is an interesting field of study in itself.

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Plastic wasted

The amount of plastic that is wasted exceeds our imagination. Even in the most distant islands we find remaining pieces of plastic from our careless consumption. The European Directive 2019/904 has set the limit on detached bottle tops to July 2024. The industry waited until the last few months to implement the old directive. Great that there is hope to find less detached plastic in oceans across the world in some years at least. The behavioral change to move beyond plastics everywhere in our nutrition delivery system is long overdue. We shall get used to bring our own bottles for a refill or other devices to reduce plastic waste further. The change begins with thinking about the topic and finding suitable reusable packaging solutions for yourself. Children learn in art projects about the importance and creativity potential to reuse otherwise wasted materials. Reduce and re-use can be turned into an own competence. Competence in sustainability has been neglected for decades in school curricula, despite its importance for our own health and survival. (Image James Ensor exhibition and competition KBR, Brussels 2024-7)

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Narrative Object

Objects tell stories. Stories get condensed into narratives. Narratives become objects. Yes, we are going round in circles here. Artists have transformed an old splendid atelier and factory building into a new gallery space for “Objects with narratives” in Brussels. We construct, reconstruct and deconstruct narratives almost continuously. However, if narratives are transformed into an object or objects they will become something tangible or a fixed expression of the moment or process. The concept of art objects with narratives invites us to look for the narrative linked to the object. Just like in other disciplines like economics we have ample dominant and heterodox narratives. It is important to reflect on narratives and empirical evidence in their support. When we look at the mountains of plastics and garbage on our planet we see how an economic narrative has been turned into nasty objects. Objects with narratives is also how future generations will confront us with the pollution and waste objects we left and still leave behind us. (Image Bussels Gallery Objects with narratives 2024-7-13 Exhibition Marius Ritiu.)

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Sport Fashion

Sport is fashion and fashion is sport. Not only in the Euro 2024 the teams make a big fuzz about the design of their sportswear, but certainly the Olympic games in Paris 2024 will demonstrate the close links between the 2 worlds. We might say playing football is a bit like a fashion catwalk. Keep going right on target, despite obstacles, when thousands of people are watching your performance and potential failures very closely. Making a “bella figura” is a must in both spheres. There is also a strong tendency for “the winner takes all”, that s/he takes the trophy and the jackpot.
Both worlds are also big business in their own right. It is at least 100 years old that sport and fashion got married. The “Musée des arts décoratifs” in Paris had an excellent exhibition on the combination of sport and fashion (booklet link). According to the curators both spheres have always been interlaced. High-level performance and specialized fashion just made for a splendid combination. As the rich and wealthy had more than a penny or two to spend on their leisure activities the combination of sport and fashion soon became itself a big business, beside the visible beauty of the bodies, movements and dresses. Just watch the breakdance fashion as the latest addition to the repertoire of olympic disciplines. In a recent article in “Le Monde” (2024-7-11) the value of the market of sports including its fashionable merchandising is estimated to reach a turnover of € 500 billion in 2022.
The competition of sports has been turned into a competition of the best images and videos. Fashionable as well as functional clothing can assist in climbing the podium. In the Euro 2024 Football Final the teams equipped with Adidas (Spain) and with Nike (England) compete for the trophy. Changing equipment sponsorship from one to the other can raise substantial amounts for a team (€ 100 million/year for the German national team). Big business seems to take over sports and fashion after the century-old marriage of sport and fashion. Since then, they have jointly been on an extended honeymoon. (Image from www.emptyspacetm.com 2024-7)

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Searching Beauty

The search for beauty is an endless story of humanity. We have searched for it almost everywhere. Depicting beauty is probably the oldest form of artistic endeavors. We have invented numerous ways to find and represent beauty in a rather restless manner. We tend to find it in other persons of the same or other gender. The challenge is to keep trying to see the beauty in persons when others don’t, or don’t admit to it. Andy Warhol made this search for beauty his primary aim in his life as well as for his artistic work. The “Neue Nationalgalerie” in Berlin presents the, at times controversial, perspectives on beauty through the eyes and artwork of this exceptional artist. Beauty is at times a holistic concept or a detail by detail, piece by piece approach. Being open to other visions and versions of beauty is the major thrust of Warhol’s work. There is so much beauty around we just have to bother to focus on it. If not satisfied design it yourself. Start with a tour of exhibitions and experience the endless scope of imagination through the eyes of artists. (Image from Warhol exhibition in Berlin 2024 Neue Nationalgalerie, series „Ladies and Gentlemen“ 1975)

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1Person Nation

One single person can stand for a whole country. At least that’s what mass media have tried to make us believe. Whole countries or even empires have been associated with single personalities. Maybe for simplicity we start with Caesar, Cleopatra and the like. These personalities reach historic status through the literature that has reported on their achievements and fame. Mass media of today copy that strategy to create fame out of images. The American journal “Cineaste” has recently exemplified the making of an idol with the popular actor “Jean Gabin”, who happened to be the representative not only of French cinema, but the image of France across countries and even continents. Identification with an actor or the projected image of a person are common goals in politics as well. The actor Ronald Reagan became elected as president of the USA. Zelensky in Ukraine has followed a similar trajectory. The examples are manifold, but the underlying mechanism remain pretty similar. Before we had the concept of influencers, not influenza, popular spreading of messages is key. Only the technology changed. New ways to prepare a 1person nation have been added over time. Followers are the new political currency. Beware of signs “Follow Me”, even if it is the police asking you to do so. (Image: Deutsche Kinemathek Exhibition 2024)

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Page Turner

Modern digital technologies turn pages for you. Just with one touch.
Search functions that are implemented in the software allow you to search for any keyword you are keen to follow-up on. These are valuable advantages of digital versions of books or other content. Once you adapt the brightness of the screen you can scroll comfortably through hundreds of pages. These books are called flipbooks and there are a number of editors specialised on these versions.
In combination with a blog format of publishing online first and then transforming content into flipbooks or even printed versions, www.MPL-publisher.com  offers a nice feature to host such flipbooks. It is comfortable to know that the content has a unique address on the web, which you can share freely and use from all sorts of devices including your smartphone, tablet, desktop or notebook. The collection of my images I even watch sometimes on an even larger TV-screen or a beamer for teaching purposes.
Yes, we can (!) teach from a smartphone. Learners have opted for the small screens a long time ago. -“hey – teachers, leave us kids alone. We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control“. Flipbooks combine the classic form and feeling to turn a page as accomplished progress with the fast access to keywords that spread over several pages of the book.
My latest version of blog entries from 1st of January to 30th of June 2024 is at your fingertip now. (here, allow for a really long download time!). A screenshot is provided below of page 114 of a total of 390 (OMG) on a notebook screen. The search list is shown for the keyword “wage” as an example.
A shorter reader on “Society and AI” is available here as flipbook (29 pages).

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Women Advisors

Contrary to many men and clergy advising noble governors, many of them famous as womanizers, there is a long tradition of women as advisors as well. The first woman that received high reputation as advisor is “Christine de Pizan“. She was born in Italy and migrated to France with her father who was a scientist and advisor to  “Charles V” as medical doctor and astrologist, but who died soon after the move to the French court. With the access to a unique library at the time Christine de Pizan benefited from the best of knowledge and her literary and scientific competences made her famous later on. She could even be compared to Clausewitz as a well known writer on war strategies, but has a much broader literary reach compared over centuries.
Christine de Pizan became a writer in her own right, publishing under her own name in the late 14th century already and not only in literary work, but in fields previously thought to be domains of male writers only. One of her writings “Livre des fais d’armes et de chevalerie” is a testimony of her political and strategic thinking and advice. It remains a unique piece of a woman as advisor in military affairs published in 1410. The translation into “Alemannisch” (1460) highlights the importance of her strategic advice beyond France.
Her literary excellence has been widely appreciated not the least in her praise of Jeanne d’Arc in her “Ditiè”, the poem in honor of Jeanne d’Arc. (source with translation). Christine de Pizan also wrote on peace (Le livre de la paix” 1412 and the “Livre du chemin de longue étude“, today we would translate it as a book on lifelong learning.
(Source: Zimmermann, Margarete, 2005: Minervas jüngere Schwester: Die politische Schrifstellerin Christine de Pizan, Stabi Berlin, KulturStiftung der Länder Patrimonia 265 und SPK.
(Image: Extrait Christine de Pizan im Gespräch mit Minerva. BNF, Paris, Ms. fr 603, fol.21r)

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Composing Assisted

Before the existence of digital composition tools composers were assisted by “Kopisten”. These persons rewrote the original draft of a composition into a “proper” version of the original document. Musicology has a tough time to deal with deviations from the original. It needs to be clarified which is the final and authorized version. In some instances this is far from evident. Just as an example Robert Schumann made ample use of the assistance of Kopist Otto Hermann Klausnitz (cf Nr 6), sometimes for the preparation of the composition, the finalized versions or the explicit drafting of different voices. Klausnitz himself was a flautist in Leipzig (Gewandhausorchester) and a conductor in Duesseldorf. Overall the debate is still going on, whether the composer’s draft or in many instances the Kopist’s version of the composition (authorized or not) prevails. In the age of AI, which is highly influential in modern music, such questions will most likely be intrinsic to the process of composition as well. AI is influential in evening out rough edges. Anette Mueller (2010) has done a great job to make this work of “Kopisten” much more transparent and her concluding chapter is programmatically entitled “Komponist und Kopist- Aspekte einer produktiven Kooperation”. (Image Mueller, A 2010 p. 340).

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Aussensicht Innensicht

Die Sicht vom Skulpturengarten der Neuen Nationalgalerie auf die laufende Ausstellung „Zerreissprobe…“ erlaubt einen tiefen historischen Einblick in die 1980er Jahre. Die Sammlung von Postern des Künstlers Klaus Staeck zeigen die bewegenden Themen der achtziger Jahre. Frauenrechte, Umweltschutz, Sicherheit sowie Medienwirtschaft. 40 Jahre später beschäftigen uns weiterhin, Lösungen für die plakatierten Themen zu finden. Images können Themen so zuspitzen, dass Anklagen daraus werden. Texte sind im Vergleich zu der Eindrücklichkeit der Bilder ein vergleichsweise stumpfes Schwert. Es ist aber gerade die Verbindung von Bild und Text, die Eindrücke verstärkt. „Meme“ Creators sind ein standard tool das die Kommerzialisierung und die Promotion weiter befördert haben. Kunstformen hatten diesen Trend bereits vorweggenommen.

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EURO 2024

Before the EURO 2024, (European soccer championship) has even started, the host country Germany and the DFB- foundation for culture joined forces for a remarkable exhibition. In the “National Gallery of Contemporary Art” and next to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof a provocative video installation is mounted that uses the imagery of soccer (football) to portray the life and atmosphere associated with soccer. Injuries on the playing field, but even more so injuries caused by violent groups among the spectators create an emotionally charged representation before, during and after the match. The role of the umpire is central in the match and in the cultural project. Shattered dreams are part of the game for players as well as spectators. Visual impressions have contributed enormously to spectacular success of football on television. The masses of viewers has created a big business of television rights and merchandising products as well. The DFB Kulturstiftung undertakes great efforts to open up the discussion about soccer in a critical way through art projects. The entry into the installation resembles the entry of players through a tunnel into the huge stadium. The world of soccer has multiple links to physical and psychic violence. The installation “Winner” signed by Marianna Simnett challenges the media’s largely beautiful videos about the world of football. In the ocean of enthusiasm this exhibition is just a tiny grain of salt, adding spice to life.

Winner by Marianna Simnett 2024 Berlin
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Schostakowitsch Revival

Je mehr Putin sich unablässig in seinem Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine und gegen seine eigenen Leute versteift, umso mehr werden die musikalischen Werke von Dmitri Schostakowitsch aktuell. Schostakowitsch hatte viel unter Stalin zu leiden. Sein Werk konnte kaum Gefallen bei der stalinistischen Führung finden, aber dennoch haben voele der Russen seine Werke geliebt. Insbesondere die sogenannte „Leningrader“ Symphonie, die das Volk einte vor den Radioempfängern, selbst mitten im Krieg gegen Nazi-Deutschland. Die Berliner Symphoniker haben diesem Werk eine neuere Ehre erwiesen mit einer Aufführung in Berlin 2024-5. Das Interview dazu mit dem Dirigenten Yannick Nézet-Séguin wurde geführt von Matthew Hunter, Bratschist der Berliner Philharmoniker. Es beschreibt diese eindrückliche Auswahl hervorragend. Die Berliner Philharmoniker haben eine lange Tradition, Werke von Schostakowitsch aufzuführen und einzuspielen. Die Digital Concerthall hat eine umfangreiche Sammlung mit Werken von Schostakowitsch. Oftmals etwas schwere Kost, aber durch das Ausspielen des ganzen dynamischen Spektrums von pp bis ff nie langweilig. Eine kleine Filmmusik „Volksfest“ (Sylvesterkonzert 2022) ist leicht beschwingt oder gar etwas beschwipst. Der musikalische Nachwuchs hat die Tiefe der Werke erkannt und gewinnt international anerkannte Preise mit Vorträgen von Werken Schostakowitschs. So geschehen zum Beispiel beim „Concours de la Reine Elisabeth in Brüssel 2024-5. Der Ukrainer Dmytro Udovychenko würdigte Schostakowitschs Leben und Werk inklusive des Existenzkampfes und gleichzeitig seine Heimat die Ukraine mit dem Belgischen Nationalorchester mitten in Europa. 

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Co-authorship Kafka

In science Co-authorship is a tricky issue. Therefore, many higher reputation journals list precisely who has contributed what to the paper. In the teaching and supervision of bachelor, master or doctoral dissertations it is imperative to scrutinize the original contributions of authors to the subject. There are huge differences between universities to the amount of innovation or originality that is required to award degrees or the publication of the research and results. Rüdiger Safranski published with Hanser 2024 an essay on Kafka which has 224 pages, but a 16 page long list of the sources of the copy-paste citations used from the orignal Kafka writings. By scientific co-authorship practice Kafka should claim co-authorship of the book and the costs of the „Process“ should be paid by the publishing house. However, I enjoyed the many links between comments and the originals next to each other. It is like a data analysis that sticks plausibly to the original data. AI still has a hard time to rival with these skills, although AI is catching up faster than many of us might believe or want to believe. From a social science perspective we might say the original work of maybe only 180 pages is inflated to make for a longer text of 240 pages. This justifies, probably, the publisher’s price (€26) and the marketing costs. On the other hand it becomes evident that Kafka has an enormous impact on writers and seems to take possession of them in an encompassing fashion. You move with him, but rarely beyond him. Tough lessons indeed from the publishing world.