One year ago, along a Kunstpalast exhibition in March 2023, I started going out again (after, as mentioned, three years of pandemic (semi-)lockdowns, burnout, two sports/wear-&-tear-related surgeries, a common cold from hell, and a Corona infection) to exhibitions and art events, theater performances and movies, concerts and operas, you name it. At first, I posted images with brief remarks at my Instagram feed, but that soon morphed into full-fledged 2,200-character reviews, 53 (!) of which I also crossposted at my primary blog between drafts. Now, a whole year has gone by after that reboot. With it, forced by all the work I put into this, it feels like my brain has fully rebooted too. A good moment to let go—to return to brief remarks/recommendations and free up writing time for my Voidpunk project. I enjoyed writing these reviews, and I certainly enjoyed the pleasant feedback and the enlightening (and ongoing) conversations they spawned. But having freed up writing time now for more pressing endeavors also feels good, and it’s the right thing to do!
Thus, last week, I wrote my final review, about “Mahler 5” at Düsseldorf Tonhalle. As for photographs, I uploaded three Singapore albums with shots from the National Gallery, the Civic District, and the National Stadium; dropped a few more images into my Düsseldorf bucket at Flickr and my Instagram account betweendrafts; and posted my daily vintage travel-squaries at Pixelfed.
Now, the mentioned recommendations! Regularly, this section will be dramatically shorter, but last week was all but regular:
Movies
- The South-Korean 버닝 aka Burning, based on a story by Murakami Haruki, is difficult, ambiguously inconclusive, and incredibly good. A must-watch not only for art house aficionados.
- Gondola and Drive-Away Dolls make a great double feature, even if you have to dash between theaters (like me); both are very enjoyable and highly entertaining not in the way what happens but how everything happens.
- Anatomie d’une chute aka Anatomy of a Fall, a psychological/legal drama, is fascinating in so many ways, from its excellent screenplay to its tricky cinematography. Language is important here, so go for subs if you don’t speak French, and don’t even think of watching it dubbed! (Which you should never ever do in any case.)
- 封神第一部：朝歌风云 aka Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms is the fully enjoyable popcorn epic it promises to be, and the occasional dubious CGI even adds to its charm.
Art
- At the K20, the Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky exhibition just opened; if you’re in the vicinity, you need to visit it. It’s spectacular.
- At the Arthena Foundation, there was a highly illuminating panel discussion with Katja Novitskova and Thomas Thiel on “Can Images Change Nature?” that I can no longer recommend because it’s in the past, but I can recommend keeping an eye on Arthena’s future events!
Yes, that’s how packed last week’s life after work had been. This week, I’ll calm down. If you live in or around Düsseldorf, you can join me if you want to on Wednesday for Under the Skin, and/or on Friday for the Mike Kelley opening at K21.
Now, unfortunately, I ran out of Sunday Funnies! And even of cat content! I’ll be back with it next week, I hope.
J.