The Blue And The Green

Finally! Finally summer has come to Berlin … and my favourite public pool has opened its gates. The Prinzenbad! Princes’ Pool! The blue of the water (15°, icecold, can you imagine? I went in!!) … the blue of the sky … the fresh juicy green of the newborn tree leaves! I am simply happy to be alive (and I took a pinhole picture with my Illy camera. Result: later. Must scan).

I See Double

… that was the name of my recent workshop. Filming with double super 8 cameras! And even more adventurous: creating double exposures!

We used fresh Czech FOMA films and old ORWOs.

Developed in Caffenol, classical poisonous black & white reversal stuff like potassium permanganate & sulfuric acid and a little less toxic and more experimental: peroxide and acetic acid. Yummy stuff and beautiful results!!!

Don’t Look Now

Daphne du Maurier made me fall in love with Donald Sutherland.
One of the best films ever – Nicolas Roeg has just died ….
„Don’t look now“ … a film that I saw when I was in my teenage years that impressed me like hell … one of the best horror films ever … when the red caped dwarf turns around and reveils a spooky old face … aaaaah …. the second face … the blue eyed blind woman … the silent soft boatride through the canals of Venice … a film about premonition, time travel, a warning, an ending love … but more, it reminds me of one of my most loved novels by Daphne du Maurier: „Ein Tropfen Zeit“ in German, „The House on the Strand“ in English … if you ever get the chance to read it: do it! It is about a person travelling in time using a weird drug potion, making him go back into time, into addicting and most fascinating stories of murder, adultery, plague, betrayal in the 14th century … but only in his mind, not in his body … that’s why he finally mixes the two worlds more and more … walking on a train trail that is not real in his 14th century meadows …

There is scarcely a book in the world that dragged me more into a fantastic bubble like this one. Even Daphne says: „I got so hooked on the story I actually woke up one day with nausea and dizziness“.

This is Daphne du Maurier:

Kicherlotto / Chickpea Lotto

Making an installation for a new film called „Kicherlotto / Chickpea Lotto“!!
The peas are numbered from 1 to 49 – the German lotto needs 6 numbers – and they will germinate and sprout in only a few days. As soon as I see a little sprout coming out I will note the number and play lotto with the first 6!!

Kreuzberg Heaven

Kreuzberger Himmel … it is a restaurant in Yorckstrasse 8 that opened in 2017 and is run by refugees, offering Syrians, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans — among others — an opportunity to gain their footing and learn how to cook and manage a restaurant, do an internship, integrate, survive … The driving force behind this idea is Be An Angel e.V., a charitable organization founded by journalist Andreas Tölke with the aim of connecting communities and sharing culture.

3 religions, 6 languages, 4 nations. The food is extremely yummy. It is possible! The property belongs to the catholic church. Who cares! The bottom line of all religions is caring for your neighbour. Should be. Misogyny and hatred is manmade. They give. They live. Connect and share. I raise my glass of red wine, Cuvée de Printemps, Lebanon, to all of you loving and helping people.