The term „Zerreissprobe“ has been chosen by the curator team of the Neue Nationalgalerie In Berlin for the Retrospective of „Art between politics and society“ in the years 1945-2000. In this time period after the 2nd World War until the other „fin du siècle“ the politics of creating a new world order, the cold war and the liberalization of societies had profound impacts on art as well. The positioning of art in the dynamic context and conflicts of these decades is quite well reflected in the title of the exhibition. The English title „extreme tension“ suggests somehow that these years were rather extreme compared to ?, probably today? Although on the territory of Ukraine we witness a hot war rather than a cold war initiated by Putin‘s Russian imperial illusions. The cited work of Günter Brus „Zerreissprobe“ is translated as „stress test“. And maybe, this translation characterizes the post war period even better as these years are a forerunner of what happened after 2000. We continue to be put to tests in politics and societal developments. Accomplishments from the last century are put to crude tests again. Solidarity of people and nations are under pressure to demonstrate their reliability under extreme tension or stress. Art throughout the 5 decades of the last century was a precursor of stress tests for politicians and challenged society in its basic understandings. The comments on the notice board next to the exhibition show the themes of tension in the 2020s. Tensions in families and partnerships, often more extreme around christmas trees, have taken center stage for younger visitors of the exhibition. Sociological research has observed such trends and coined this societal phenomenon „individualization“. Art embedded in society seems to be part of that evolution as well. Art movements are less visible as collective movements. Artists appear more individualistic or ideosyncratic nowadays, just less inclined to be part of a defining larger group. If artists are no longer avantgarde but rather followers of societal trends, the whole „raison d‘être“ of art changes as well. We are likely to witness yet another „ Zerreissprobe“. Cuts to art and culture budgets constitute an additional „ Zerreissprobe“ in the original sense of the word and of art between politics and society in 2024/2025. 
Famous Neighbors
Sometimes people believe they can catch a bit of fame, if they live in a prominent neighborhood. Next to a famous person or the glamor surrounding such a place is inspiring. In Berlin the honor or fame is transmitted for example with the street names of composers. Everybody knows Johann Sebastian Bach and around Christmas time many of his compositions will be performed again. Directly next to Bach street we find Flotow street. It needs a bit of info about music and music history to identify the honor for Flotow to appear next to Bach. Well, Berlin you are „wunderbar“. You have made my day just on one of the first few days of the direct train connection between Paris and Berlin started. We grow together in small steps. 
Book Annotation
For most people book annotations are considered a nuisance. However, most pupils or students mark their so-called textbooks, which contain many images nowadays anyway. A good mindmap, summary of text, highlighting or critical comments may be part of their day-to-day working with a book. Some editors facilitate this using broad margins and more space between lines. Working through a text can take multiple forms and books have allowed over centuries different kinds of their usage.
There is yet another underexplored usage of books. On printed volumes annotations of previous readers may serve as a guide to a script of places, thoughts or material of particular importance. I have always found annotated copies of other readers interesting in their own right. Reading an annotated copy felt like reading another person’s mind, thought or learning process.
A modern view of books as a tool of communication might extend this perspective to study annotations of several readers on the same copy. Just like we comment today in word processing on texts from collaborators or students. Books are a means of communicating with other people or machines (AI) usually with the aim of spreading ideas, content, horror or pleasure.
Therefore, I am always happy to find annotated versions of a book, especially of prominent authors. It sometimes feels like reading a “partition”, a transcript of music which contains the comments or fingering of the reader or the performing musician. The BNF has a lot of such special copies in its archives, usually found in the donations of persons or prominent authors and their families to the archives. This can be put together to make an interesting exhibition of the process of thinking and writing and of special treasures – annotated books.
Image Bibliothèque nationale de France BNF, collection, “Annotations by Jean Racine on Homer “Ilias“.
Book Value
What is the value of a book? For the author of a book each book s/he has written or sweated the value of the accomplishment is pretty high. From the publisher’s perspective a book is an investment and sometimes a very risky one. The book store makes choices and takes the risk to devote time and effort to select the bestselling books or the best one suited to the local or passing audiences. Next in line are librarians who either stock everything published in a specific language or country (legal deposit) or select from the offer according to perceived interests of their subscribers. On the way to their audience many mistakes may occur. Books miss their targets or librarians go wild in their efforts to guard or discard books. In any case, many books do not find their audience. Some sit on shelves for years and will never be touched by anybody. Other ones pass from one hand to the other rapidly with long waiting lists.
Even if many conservationists don’t like it, it is the use of books that honors books and authors. Pocket books play a specific role in this link of readers and writer. Use rather than conservation, is the prime role of these lighter versions of books. They also have to endure heavy weather, scratches and folding of persons focused on content rather than precious form.
Last but not least in line comes the market for recycled books. Re-use of read or unread books has increased over years and some readers are happy to discover a discarded book from a previous owner (public or private). The value of a book lies in most cases in the eye of the reader. This then makes it an object of competitive marketing and continuous auctioneering.
(Image: pocket books at display of Popular heritage Lost and Found at the Royal library of Belgium 2024.
Virtual author
« La Mort de l’auteur « . In a radical sense Roland Barthes was the first to proclaim the death of author as the sole master or mastermind of a text or speech. In fact there are many more on whose direct or indirect contributions a text is based on. However, biographical accounts of an author can only enlighten some (minor) aspects of the influences on the author and the final version of a text, (l’écriture), and the reader (lecteur). In « Le degre zero » the analysis of the different styles of Flaubert and Proust are extolled ( p. 131-139). Flaubert is characterized as the author with infinite corrections on the same texts and sources. It appears today as an endless loop of an algorithm where the stopping rule is not properly defined or implemented. Much in line with the « tabula gratulatoria » of Barthes (p. 279 of Fragments…, see image below) some AI systems return fake versions of a bibliography some readers will rely on.
In the 21st century l’écriture has become almost inexistant without the technical support of machines, but most of all artificial intelligence. The author is dead, long live the virtual author. The assistance of spelling, grammar and style editing from software programs has widened the spectrum of coauthoring. Editors take more influence through pushing marketing potentials of authors and their writings. Based on previous manuscripts and publications it is possible to produce hallucinations of an author whereby only the author might be able to identify the virtual authorship. At best AI generates first drafts, but similar to the linguist of Barthes, AI is likely to become another brother or sister of l’ecrivain (p. 139).
The thrust of Barthes is to highlight that there is more to a text than just the version at hand. In fact there are texts in a text or multiple versions or layers of a text. « L’enjeu de l’analyse structurale n’est pas la vérité du texte mais son pluriel » (1972, par ou commencer p.148). In conclusion, almost 50 years after the death of the author we currently witness the miraculous rebirth of the virtual author as the original deus ex machina which we always feared. Don’t worry it’s just another sibling of the original authors. 
Degré zéro
As all of us use GPS systems to navigate across the world or just in your city, “degré zéro” might nowadays be associated first of all with the prime meridian 0° longitude, which runs through Greenwich near London and around the globe.
In « Le degré zéro de l’écriture », Roland Barthes (1953) challenges the bourgeois kind of writing of literature. He introduced the pertinent distinction of the verticality of writing styles in the sense of social classes as well as the horizontal form of spoken language He further distinguished écriture as a person’s style which is embedded into the historical and social context of her/his time. As a radical change, Barthes proposed to use scriptor instead of writer as the latter expression is too much loaded with the historical package of the person. Barthes inserts the scriptor as écrivain into her/his time and insists on the intellectual and social context of writing or the author.
As the scriptor (p. 26) does not escape to become a writer « écrivain «, the degree zero de l’écriture postulates a homogeneous society, which obviously is an ill-conceived vision of reality. Language and texts, therefore, are not universal in kind, but bound to situations, which are defined in historical time and space (p. 67). Semiotics was a major field of his analyses of literature and language.
Whereas in a talk you might focus on the person you are talking to, in a written text the other person is « the many » readers, wherever they are and maybe at a much later time as well. There is a qualitative difference and yet modern “voice to text” transcription makes all spoken words immediately available as written document or “compte rendu”. (Source: Roland Barthes: De la parole à l’écriture. in Le grain de la voix, Entretien 1962-1980. p. 12).
Let’s watch our language as we follow the longitude or latitude around the globe and even small deviations from degree zero matter a lot. 
Spectacularization
Guy Debord (1967) has outlined in “In the society of spectacle” the importance to analyze societies from the perspective of “le temps spectaculaire”. Today we might frame this as “eventism” or the running of society through events. The regular spectacle of religious festivities, new year’s celebrations, Olympic games or even elections and election campaigns have been transformed into ceremonies of enthronization, where the reach to ever larger crowds is the prime goal. The critique of mass media of the 1960s can be deployed to the criticism of the facebook, Instagram and tiktok media campaigns of today. If you are not present on these platforms, you do not seem to exist in the view of the many. Debord highlights under his concept of separation the increasing isolation of persons and thereby a domination of people through technology (Debord para 24,27). Put in today’s terminology form of psycholinguistics we speak of loneliness of the old and young who, through the use of social media technologies, are prosumers even or especially in their free time. They serve the accumulation of massive benefits to the platforms of the spectacle more than their own fulfilment or socializing experiences. The consequence is the isolation of persons, with the paradox to be potentially the winner in the lottery of the algorithms to suddenly reach millions of people. The ephemeral popularity is a curse more than a blessing for most persons. The result is the “singularization” of crowds and within society.
Spectacularization is a process that is accompanied by singularization. Both terms have the merit to stress the process of evolution of societies. Comparing societies turns into an empirical exercise to measure amounts of spectacular events, degrees of spectacularization of individuals and the singularization of individuals within society. The antidote of solidarity and sharing is on the rise as well, which is reason to believe that not all is lost.
(Image: Debord’s annotation on extract of image by Gozzoli, BNF Manuscrit, Paris) 
Happy Life
There are countries in this world that want to prescribe to their citizens what constitutes a happy life. Religious beliefs are another powerful instigation of what may be called a happy life now or in the future. Most people on earth, however, have their very own idea about happiness and how to get closer to this moment, phases or destiny of their lives.
Happy life is also the title of the novel or „une fable optimiste“ by David Foenkinos with the almost programmatic title „La vie heureuse“. It has been qualified as a bit absurd, but at the time of celebrating 100 years of surrealism, this fits into the surreal world episodes and narratives that surround us. The novel is full of ups and downs for the major characters, which reflects the inevitable links of happy relative to unhappy moments in life. The pseudo experience of death allows to press a kind of reset button in life after which love and life can start afresh. This might not work for all us as Foenkinos seems to tell us with the choice of the dedication and citation of Charlotte Salomon „On devait même, pour aimer plus encore la vie, être mort une fois“. Charlotte Salomon, however, lives on through her formidable artistic work accomplished in her short life.
Patient Capital
There is something cultural about capital. Different cultures use different narratives when they commonly talk about capital. In Western capitalist societies it is common practice to cite “capital is a fugitive dear”, meaning that people who command sizeable amounts of capital tend to flee places once they become to agitated, especially by politicians. The Eastern narrative surrounding capital is more focused on “patient capital”. The newspaper “China Daily” has more than 6.000 entries referring to this term. On 2024-9-26 (p.9) the Japenese economist Kazuyuki Motohashi praised the Japanese economic system and its specific form of patient capitalism as based on” long-term, stable investment, which enables companies to achieve sustainable growth in the long run”. The Chinese economy suffers as Western capitalism from excessive focus on short-term profit seeking and this causes huge market flucturations shifting quickly from shortages to oversupply and back again. Short-term rent seeking is driving whole industries into fluctuations that are hard to attenuate through other economic (fiscal and monetary) as well as labour market policies (training, re-locations, internal migration).
It is interesting to witness that recently in Germany an example of a bank that had benefited from a patient capital approach of the German government for more than a decade (Commerzbank) is now prone to a bit of a hostile takeover from another bank probably more interested in the short-term rent-seeking. After all, banking and the varieties of capitalism approach highlight that at the very heart of economic rationale there remains a little bit of a cultural twist to understand what is happening in international economics and competition.(Image: Musée Rodin Paris 2024, Le Penseur”)
Fiscal Union
European Integration is slow and hard to come by. For others it is moving too fast (Brexit). Cultural diversity is a real asset of the EU. The economy or the economies are powerful on an international scale. Nevertheless, the diversity concerning the tolerance of fiscal deficits is still widely spread across the Member States of the EU (see image below). Some states seem to play it cool and run relatively high deficits compared to the EU averages. In OECD comparisons most of the above average fiscal deficits are closer to or even below OECD averages over time (link to pdf-file OECD, 2024). Within the EU differences in government expenditure as % of GDP or the indicator of Gross public debt according to the Maastricht Criteria range from 20% to 160% as percentage of GDP. This entails a different level of resilience to future crises. After we managed to leave the previous 3 crises (financial, Covid-19, energy) it is time to prepare for what might come next in terms of challenges. Preparing public deficits to be able to soften economic shocks is essential to be able to sustain yourself and support others. We seem to be a bit off-target to coordinate fiscal deficits across the Union. Eastern and Northern countries have suffienct scope to support expansionist fiscal policies, be it in the realm of a defence union or to address climate change. Southern Europe will find it more difficult to raise additional funds to prepare now for future challenges. Fiscal deficits might even be not only an economic phenomenon, but a cultural one as well. If we compare Japan with a deficit running at 240% with South Korea with 50% Asia is showing even larger diversity in terms of fiscal preparedness.
An economist’s stance on fiscal policy and fiscal union might depend much more on her/his region or country of origin than economists might want to believe.
Images: OECD Economic Surveys: Belgium 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c671124e-en. p.17. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
Generational differences
The study of generational differences has a long tradition in sociology. A recent study by Wysmulek et al. (Acta Sociologica 2024, 131pp). highlights changes in how youth values education, abilities and hard work. The study carried out with Polish data shows that it is not the straightforward historical grouping of birth cohorts that matters most, but the experience of living through a period of crisis or stability during the formation of so-called meritocratic beliefs. Once formed, these beliefs tend to persist for prolonged periods of time well into middle and late adulthood.
Many judgements about young people might suffer a substantial generational bias when viewed from another generation’s vantage point. Cross-generational differences in beliefs and behavior are dependent on homogeneous or heterogeneous experiences of the respective generations. Disrespect of such generational differences is bound to yield severe misunderstandings. Who told you that social life was easy anyway? (Image decorated piano in shopping mall, Berlin 2024)
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.
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.
Jury Competition
We can enjoy a lot of competitions in the field of the arts. In each of these competitions there is a different kind of rationale about how to judge the performances of candidates. The composition and competence of the members of the jury are of particular importance. We all tend to agree on this. However, the basic aim or direction of the competition needs to be defined or even redefined from time to time. Some perceive a competition useless if for example nobody takes notice of the results or the event. A good fight or drama within the jury helps to attract attention to it even if candidates suffer at times. The Belgian Music competition „Concour de la Reine Elisabeth“ has an annual major competition of young musicians competing for the beginning of a career as soloist. All phases of the competition are up for streaming so we all can watch and form our own opinions on the many candidates. It is not just the solo performance which counts but also the team performance with orchestra and the openness to new compositions in the realm of classical music. There is no vote of the public (yet?) like in the widely followed „European song contest“ but public acclaim does not leave a jury unmoved I believe. Tough work for jurors to single out small differences of fairly high standards to even enter the competition. The success of a jury has probably another evaluation criteria which consists in the follow up of candidates 5 or 10 years after the event or the awards. The making or destroying of careers as solo performers might hinge on very small differences on a single day. One competition with several prizes awarded is an encouraging way to promote musicians or other artists.
Puccini Media
In honor of Giacomo Puccini the Media enterprise Bertelsmann features one of its treasures. In cooperation with the “Archivio Storico Ricordi” of Milano, Italy, 100 years of Puccini’s oeuvre is celebrated with this exhibition. Fans of Puccini’s operas will have to visit the archives but the interest of this small exhibition lies in the impressive success story of Puccini and his publisher (part of Bertelsmann). Continuous innovation and adaptation to new media, like disks, accompanied an extraordinary marketing campaign throughout the 100 years. Even today there are cycling tours around Puccini’s hometown for the modern eco friendly tourists. We learn a lot about how the media industry functioned in the 20th century. It was absolutely vital to fighting for the rights of authors, composers and rights to receive royalties for performances as well as for the publishing on media. The exhibition in “Unter den Linden 1” is just next door to the Staatsoper which also gave honor to Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” in 2024. His uncompleted Opera Turandot closes the exhibition with his rough sketches of the final scene. Merchandising is not an invention of the 21st century, but almost a century old tradition. This exhibition is a great testimony for this. It remains an important effort to allow authors and composers to gain a comfortable living during their lifetime. The gains for humanity as a whole are enormous.
AI Travel
Playing around with AI it is nice to test take fun examples. Image you want to plan a vacation, then the use of AI is ready to suggest to you a couple of things to do. Of course, AI is eager to propose travelling services like transport or accommodation to you where it is likely to earn some commissions. So far, the use of the “Vacation Planer of Microsoft’s BING Copilot” is free of charge. In entering the time period and a region as well as some basic activities you’ll receive suggestions with quotes on the sources (webpages of public services from tourist offices mostly). It seems like trustworthy sources and the suggestions of D-Day activities in Normandy is a positive surprise to me. These are popular activities which attract huge international crowds every year.
Thinking further on the potentials it becomes evident that travel suggestions will be biased to those paying for ranking higher on the algorithms selection criteria, which are not disclosed. Entering into the chat with the AI you and AI can target more precisely locations and also hotels etc. You are disclosing more of your own preferences in the easy-going chat and probably next time you will be surprised to be recommended the same activities at another location again.
So far, I have bought travel guides or literature about locations to prepare vacations. This is likely to change. I complement my traditional search or planning with the “surprises” from AI for travelling. I rediscovered, for example, the public service of tourist offices and their publications ahead of the travel rather than the leaflets at the local tourist office. In order to plan ahead there is value in the augmented search and compilation capacities of AI. Drafting a letter in foreign languages is also no problem for AI. The evaluation of the usefulness of AI, however, can only be answered after the vacation. Outdated info or databases have a huge potential to spoil the fun parts as well. 
Citizens Gardens
There are multiple ways to link citizens to gardens. Most people would link citizens to the property of their own garden. This is more the perspective of people from the countryside. The aim of citizens who can afford it have a garden, many others wish to have one and all of them enjoy public garden spaces. An intermediate version of the public versus private property of citizens’ garden is the joint ownership of groups of like-minded people to work together in the shared property or rented garden space. The recreational and health effects are well documented, if care is exercised with utensils etc. Spring is the ideal time to join projects again as the results of a little bit of gardening will be visible and enjoyable for several months afterwards. Gardens are also meeting points for people of all walks of life as in the vicinity of the European Parliament in Brussels. The Citizens’ Garden has a different function to people gardening there. When you puzzled about Europe after a visit to the Parliament or the Museum of the History of Europe, then it is time for a stroll and relax in the garden nearby.
Alternatively, the Exhibition Centre of Tour & Taxis in Brussels not too far away from the North train station has an impressive indoor garden for the times of rough weather conditions. At the time of the book fair culture in the indoor garden made a splendid combination. There is a green version of Europe. It is like a small plant. It needs a lot of time and care to grow. 
Symbol
What is it that makes an object a symbol? Probably, it is the widely shared perception of the meaning of a symbol that turns an object into a symbol. The etymology of the word symbol refers back to the Greek word σύμβολον. The earliest philosophical refer back to the Greek philosopher Aristoteles who deals with symbols when he writes about interpretations. Written words have become powerful symbols in the ancient world. We still have them all around us today. The interpretations of the words as symbols, however, may change considerably over time. Some symbols keep their designation and significance over centuries. Maps are well known to contain lots of symbols for roads, railways, tunnels or height. We learn about these symbols and interpret them in a specific societal context. Science is making ample use of symbols, e.g. chemistry. Different cultures define and apply their own symbols. Colonialism has been a form to impose symbols upon other societies. Throughout history symbols of power have changed as well. Each of those topics is an interesting field of application in itself. Young generations create their own symbols to establish a specific cultural identity or subculture. Urban spaces have been invaded by graffiti that tend to spread symbols as messages or symbols for their own sake.
Sociology has taken up the challenge to identify “status symbols” of groups of society. Possession of gold and silver have long ago been symbols of being rich. Maybe, even today such easily visible symbols play a role in how a person’s role is perceived in societies. Not only for priests etc. dresses have been applied as a symbol. Modern fashion is full of symbols as well. Interpretation of the meaning or even no meaning is an act of becoming conscious of the world around you. From the seriousness of symbols, we have come to the playing around with symbols as expressions of ourselves.
No matter whether we use the word, like water, we all know the chemical symbol H20. An image or art work using the symbol in whatever form will be decoded by us accordingly. However, the meaning we attach to water depends on the environment as well as specific context we (or the artists) are using it in. Cross-cultural competences consist in the awareness that symbols grow out of contexts and need to be interpreted accordingly. It needs a lot of openness, willingness to learn about differences and careful consideration in our everyday world to handle symbols. Doing culture is doing symbols.(Image of art work by Anderegg, Andi taken in 2016)
Nocturnes
Contrary to some people’s belief “Nocturnes” is not only the denomination of the late opening of splendid shopping centres selling French fashion, but the name of music pieces. The origin of the Nocturnes as innovative form of composing is attributed to Irish born and bred John Field. The Polish born Frédérik Chopin developed the art form to perfection and he is the person who is also remembered for master pieces of this type of short romantic music pieces.
Mozart has left a famous piece entitled “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” and previous lesser known attempts of this kind were named Notturni, popular “Serenade” or “Pastoral”. All these Nocturnes shared the basic emotion, which we might call nowadays some kind of love-songs (Piggott, 1973, p.115). “Bel canto”, the tradition of emotional recitation of songs or arias, Paganini’s virtuous violine play were predecessors of the Nocturnes. 
John Field published the first 3 pieces named “Nocturne” in 1814 and continued to produce new Nocturnes and revising former ones. These somehow more easy-going melodies or phrases often written in E or A flat major are technically less demanding for piano players than the later ones composed by Chopin, but their “charme” lies especially in their simplicity. Reducing complexity of sound rather than the virtuous effect seeking of a tune could attract large audiences. After the rebellion in France in 1830 and the foundation of independence of Belgium in the same year, so-called high culture had to address a lot widely differing emotions.
Maybe, in 2024 we are less surprised to rediscover the value of straightforward emotional tunes when even so-called high fashion shows in Paris return to more simplicity.(Image: KI Dall-E, Composer plays on grand piano Nocturnes by Chopin with romantic flair, photorealistic style on 2024-3-5).
Paris 1830s
The music life in Paris in the early 19th century, almost 200 years before now, was incredibly rich. In 1828 the young Flotow arrived in Paris to receive lessons. The pianists Liszt, Chopin, Fields and Czerny passed or lived for longer times in Paris. The innovation in this period of romantic music and operas saw also a fierce competition among those talents. It was no easy task to find your niche to thrive in composition or in both performing and composing.
The 1830s had a rich urban bourgeoisie, which animated and indulged in festive events of live music and social life. Friendships of Chopin and Sand are a testimony for this. Similarly, the young Flotow and Offenbach paired to find their place in the Paris music salons and society of that time. The biography of John Field, written by Patrick Piggott (1973, p.73-81) supports this density of musical experience. The period is also characterized by the fast industrialization and the rise of the global trade. The musical life found refuge in the romantic period and more and more artistic performances by musicians. Theatres, opera houses, concert halls and private salons were meeting points of the upper social class which practices networking in rather closed circles with rather rigid routines and admission at the time.
In architecture the Operas became meeting points and a matter of national pride with National Operas contributing even to national identities. The opulent “Palais Garnier” in Paris was started in 1861 to become an iconic place in the new Paris with the huge boulevards à la Haussmann. The wealthy citizens cultivated a new lifestyle of a networked upper class that had the leisure to participate in the masses of modernity. Cultural events of all kinds filled newspapers and specialized editions. There were inner and outer circles of influence in the economic, military, political and cultural spheres.
Recommendation letters were a real currency for entry in each of these circles. Some of these social practices, have still a lot of currency even in 2024. In short, in the 1830s Paris was the place to be. Compositions of that time still fill concert halls today and their music is abundant on the new music platforms and streaming as well.
Flotow Paris1
Die Biografie von Friedrich von Flotow, verfasst von seiner letzten Ehefrau, beschreibt die erste Parisreise und den prägenden Aufenthalt für die Ausbildung des noch sehr jungen Komponisten (S.29 ff). Bereits im Februar 1828, mit erst 15 Jahren, begann der erste Studienaufenthalt in Paris. In einer den Eltern bekannten Familie wurde der junge Friedrich aufgenommen und begann sein Musikstudium am Konservatorium. Prof. Friedrich Reicha war dort sein Lehrer, der 1825 seinen “Traité de la haute composition” veröffentlicht hatte. Schon Adam und Berlioz hatten bei Reicha Kompositionsunterricht einige Jahre vorher. Die Juli-Revolution 1830 in Paris führte jedoch zu solchen Unruhen, dass die Familie den Sohn rasch nach Mecklenburg zurückrief.
Die frühe Erfahrung in Paris, und wie wir heute sagen “total immersion” in die französische Sprachwelt und Musik, eröffnete dem jungen Komponisten einen Berufsweg, der sicherlich ohne den Aufenthalt völlig anders verlaufen wäre.
Seine letzte Komposition “Der blinde Musikant” ist als reale Erfahrung des jungen Flotow in der Biografie erwähnt. Zusammen mit seinem Freund Aubry hätte er für den stadtbekannten blinden Musikanten als Straßenmusikant Geld gesammelt. Mit seiner letzten Komposition hat er im Vorgriff auf seinen eigenen Tod, dem blinden Musikanten noch ein Denkmal gesetzt. Dieser war bald nach dieser Aktion dennoch verstorben.
Schüleraustausch und Studienaufenthalte zwischen D und F kann eine äußerst prägende Wirkung entfalten. Das trifft auch noch 200 Jahre später zu. (Image: Flotow Biografie 1892. A.28-29.