Category Archives: Visions and fictions
AMBITIOUS TUNNEL LOOK-OUT
To be free as a bird right now, a fine thing indeed, to soar into the high skies on the way south across the Mediterranean, the Sahara and the Sahel to the dense jungle of the equator, a beautiful dream at the end of this tunnel, because the world could be viewed different from above and suddenly lose all the warlike moments of terror that too often hold us captive. But right now after a brilliant midsummer hurry out, onwards and upwards!
URBAN MAZE AND VISION
Sometimes reality and magic build a fruitful symbiosis in daily life – unusual situations arising from random collisions of open minds. These more time-limited incidents can tell us true stories – tangible modern mysteries of past and present times. Such sudden surprises loose their real attraction when looking for a sense or necessity in each and everything. Just following the flow of happenings, more often leads to fascinating objects when we simply stumble over the diverse silhouetted fans of reality. These visualized dreams are hiding at unexpected places or may also be not visible by first glance, visionary connections such as these here picked up at diverse locations in the city of Berlin. The movement will not stop at a street-corner, let’s follow it and search the next challenge in the municipal maze.
COOL PLEASURES
I like the winter time very much and when the weather is dry, sunny and also quite cold then, suddenly a complete clarity can spread in our minds. So the month of January – which is also my birth month – is always something special for me in the annual cycle, when the old year is still present after a new year has already begun. This is possibly why the ancient Romans dedicated this month to their ancient god Janus, better known as the god with two faces, who symbolised both beginnings and endings for them – the spirit of entrances and exits.
Icy mountain station on the Fichtelberg (1,215 m) near the German-Czech border
January is usually also the coldest month in the northern hemisphere and begins nine or ten days after the winter solstice, which here means the shortest day of the year and a very long night – a day that is also very important for past cultures and earlier civilisations. In the ancient Celtic cycle of the year, the so-called ‘Raunächte’ begin soon after at midnight on 24 December and last until sunrise on 6 January. For our ancestors, these were truly holy nights, a time spent with family and festivities, in other words, what today is more profanely called the Christmas season.
That’s me and my fast luge in action
Of course, this must also be a good time to really enjoy winter in the mountains, when snow crystals in thick layers cover trees and bushes, hills and meadows, houses and paths in sometimes mysterious and strange ways, inviting you to move on to the distant horizon.
Endless forest path in snowy disguise
And after such a walk through the white-painted woods, it’s time to dive into the real soundtrack of winter: The Walrus Hunt by The Residents is one of my favourite songs. And now welcome to the real north, the home of the Inuit.
TIME FOR A SIESTA
The vast poetry of empty streets and colorful houses leaves a lot of space for imagination and dreaming following irrevocably very old ambitions. At noon the sun now moves slowly around the very next corner where the shadows shrink to minimalistic images of black, white, blue and red. All is slowing down irresistible, and time stands still for a while. A real moment of peace in a world full of archaic, violent and stupid conflicts all over our nice blue planet!
Wishing you a very nice season and a happy new year 2024 🎃💥🥳
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SWEET DEATH AT YUCATAN
Preparing for the Day of the Dead – public skeleton sculpture
In late October of 1997 I had the pleasure to stay for a week in Mexico D.F and Merida / Yucatan. What I did not know this is the time when Mexicans prepare themselves for the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos). Especially in Merida I was dazzled to see shops full of plastic skeletons of any kind, souvenirs, decoration and weird disguise all related to the topic of death. This reminded me all of European carnival however with a different purpose and a more strange direction.
Central place with nice green shadows and town hall at Merida
Sweet death – delicious sugar coffins in a shop
Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration of death took place at the beginning of summer. And the origins of the modern Mexican holiday can be traced back to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival. Gradually, it was associated with October 31, November 1, and November 2 to coincide with the Western Christianity, nowadays legal holidays to remember friends and family members who have died.
View on Chichen Itza Castle with really steep steps
View from Chichen Itza Castle on the jungle of Yucatan
Today the view from the old temples and buildings at Chichen Itza just reveals a total wilderness and endless rainforest which more than thousand years ago meant the homeland for the Maya, a loose alliance of city-states in southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. You do not see anymore the cities, roads, reservoirs, channels or terraced fields being swallowed again by a thick jungle.
Cryptical message and petroglyphs from the past
Around the year 900 the Maya quickly and more mysteriously left the country and vanished most probably due to a climate change, little food and too much fighting. Estimations say that the population dropped around 90 % during this time. At a few locations, such as Chichen Itza, the Maya still lived furtheron, though they would never gain their former grandness.
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La Adelita, 2015
ALIENS UND DER UKRAINE-KRIEG HEUTE
“Fake News” sind nicht neu: Vor 80 Jahren sorgte ein angeblicher Radiobericht von einem “Krieg der Welten” in den USA für Aufregung – und löste damals eine große Debatte über Medienkompetenz aus. In Anlehnung an das Buch von 1898 wurde bereits 1938 ein Radiohörspiel von Orson Welles gesendet, in dem die Panik und Emotionen der Menschen sehr authentisch vermittelt wurden.
Steven Spielberg konnte das Original-Script des Autors (Howard Koch) des Hörspiels erwerben. Schon 1953 wurde ein Film unter dem Titel Kampf der Welten von Byron Haskin inszeniert, von dem Spielberg zentrale Passagen und Motive übernimmt, so dass Krieg der Welten neben der Literatur-Adaption auch als Neuverfilmung von Kampf der Welten bezeichnet werden kann.
Und sie lebt weiter die Angst vor den Außerirdischen in unzähligen Büchern und Filmen. Auch die vermeintlichen oder vielleicht auch echten UFO-Sichtungen sind ein Beispiel für diesen modernen Archetyp, Science Fiction als zeitgemäßer Mythos, denn das Irrationale war ja immer ein wesentlicher Wesenszug des homo sapiens. Die Vernunft ist nicht allen Menschen gegeben, davon künden auch alle Kriege dieser Welt bis heute; und der Ukraine-Krieg reiht sich ein in eine Abfolge immer wiederkehrender archaischer Verhaltensmuster.
Mine und Edgar Wasser, Aliens, live in Berlin
Es stellt sich die Frage, ob die Menschheit so eine Zukunft und Perspektive hat; denn echte Lehren wurden nie aus der Geschichte gezogen, dann müsste unsere Welt heute anders organisiert sein und funktionieren. Wie Diplomatie funktionieren kann, war schon vor rund 400 Jahren bekannt. Der Westfälische Frieden von 1648 beendete einen dreißigjährigen Krieg hier in Deutschland und Zentral-Europa.
Dies war der schäbige Weltkrieg des Mittelalters, und ein deutsches Trauma bis zum heutigen Tage. Langwierige und komplizierte Diplomatie schuf damals Frieden, dies wäre auch heute sehr wünschenswert an vielen Orten dieser Erde.
SUBURBAN TRACKER 
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