Day 62: Berlin Day 2

Hamburger Bahnhof

Westflugel Beuys

• 'Transformed Art'- not politics or economy but will improve society
• animals turned into wax and shaped in the space under a stariway
• encourages interaction
• 'I like America, and America likes me' Old man, flew to America and stayed in  room with coyote for 4 days- touching as relationship develops with wild animal (video installation)
• wanted artwork to be able to be made by everyone

Ansem Keifer

• wasnt told about Nazi' until 16 years old- wanted to provoke discussion about German history
• opposite to his teacher Beuys who was a hidden artist and didnt discuss or interview
• displayed one of three planes

Carsten Holler- Soma

• was a scientist first, his installations became laboratory 
• split into two- double blind situation (don't know which one)
• 'we have drunk soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the God is discovered'
• "experiment whose completion lies in the observers imagination and whose evaluation is up to their powers of observation" 

Below are photos I took of the installation.

Museum Island
Below is a photograph I took of one of the museum's and later edited, expressing the peace and calm of my surroundings in Berlin. The second photograph is a slightly abstract picture I took of another building on Museum Island.

Neue Museum
I'm not normally a big fan of the ancient art work or statues but this museum was just astonishing. Not only the artwork btu the buildings architecture inside was breath taking. Within the museum I found the famous head...The Green Head and Queen Nefertiti Head.

Above is a photo of The Green Head which I have edited to highlight the contrast between the texture on the head and nose. Whilst I had seen pictures of this sculpture to see it in real life was beautiful. Queen Nefertiti's Head was also beautiful with a whole room devoted to her. Her expression was of real peace and beauty with smooth lines.
Another aspect of this museum which I found refreshing was the endless rooms which were never ending, I never had to walk the same way again, each room lead to a new display.
Aswell as the large sculptures, the exhibition included small figures and whilst walking round I noticed the abstract shadow they produced against the wall, pictured below. 

Alte National Gallery
I was not amazed by this gallery, I found it quite basic compared to others I had visited but found afew things of particular interest.
Afew paintings had a unique lighting which I could use in withing my photography, Adolph Menzel created detailed paintings of movement and colour. I was also fond of Louis Corinth's style of painting with colour and brush strokes.
The most beautiful part of the museum was its architecture, which I captured below. Whist editing the photo I was tempted to boost up the contrast more but whilst experimenting I have found that technique took away from the beauty of the building.

Pergamon Museum
I was really looking forward to visiting the Pergamon as I had heard such wonderful things about the Pergamon Altar. Not only was I astonished by the size of it but the ability to walk on it and really get up close to the beautiful sculpture. Whilst sitting on the altar you notice the other scultpure hanging around the room which is like a giant jigsaw puzzle!

On the way to Museum Island we passed an abandoned club called the Bang Bang Club. It wasn't until I started editing the picture when I realised I had also captured the reflection of a building. I then went on to edit the photo with a contemporary influence and it has become one of my favourite photographs from Berlin, which just shows the camera can capture things which the human eye doesn't, and some mistakes can be turned around!