Fotoeins Fotografie

25T11 International Museum Day

E10, B05.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) set aside May 18 as International Museum Day (IMD), but the “day” can last a weekend or even longer to celebrate any and all events in support of IMD. ICOM’s aim is for wide engagement and acknowledgment:

Museums are an important means of cultural exchange; enrichment of cultures; and development of mutual understanding, cooperation, and peace among peoples. (ICOM)

An important form of expression, street and urban art can shine a spotlight on issues on a global scale or issues specific to a city, giving voice to concerns and questions, and bringing awareness to possible solutions. Since 2017, the Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin’s Schöneberg district houses a rotating display of art from Berlin and around the world. The museum has been a favourite, because like any place of personal education, I learn about (new) artists: their form, message, and style.

*Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin Schöneberg, just east of Nollendorf U-Bahn station.*

*Near the top, French artist Invader placed one of their tiled aliens (*👾 *brl_12) to coincide with the opening of the museum in 2017.*

*“RAW Gelände II” (2024), Susanna Jerger* 🇩🇪 . The RAW is a former rail yard and is home to one of Berlin’s last remaining independent cultural centres. Like many, she’s highlighting the slow (inevitable?) disappearance of Berlin’s cultural spaces in favour of further commodification.

*“Proud Parents” (2019), Shepard Fairey* 🇺🇸 .

*“Greetings from Iraq” (2019), Shepard Faire*y 🇺🇸 .

*“Paint It Black” (2019), Shepard Fairey* 🇺🇸 .

*“URBAN NATION Mini Dudes” (2018), Jaune* 🇧🇪 .

*Ka’POW! at the bottom of the frame: “URBAN NATION Mini Dudes” (2018), Jaune* 🇧🇪.

14 Sep 2024 – 30 May 2027: “Love Letters to the City” is a curated exhibition about urban spaces, and how we interact and engage with those spaces, and how urban art in turn can affect our experiences.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 18 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T10 This Berlin, she dances

E09, B04.

At Hausvogteiplatz stands a sculpture called “Tanzende Berolina” (Dancing Berolina). Artist Axel Anklam created in 2004 the piece which now sits in front of Haus zur Berolina. Berolina is the female representation of the city of Berlin. The 21st-century version is faceless but modern, and seems suspended in mid-air even as her dress folds over in the breeze. Three separate versions of a Berolina statue once stood at various locations in the city before World War II, before disappearing (or possibly, melted down) along with the city’s wartime destruction.

*Haus zur Berolina, at Hausvogteiplatz 12. A statue appears at lower-centre.*

*“Tanzende Berolina”, by Axel Anklam (2004), in front of Haus zur Berolina*

*“Tanzende Berolina”, by Axel Anklam, 2004.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 17 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T09 Berlin’s food signature

E08, B03.

All vegetarians and vegans may have to look away. I’m referring to two signature meals which are done best in the capital city, although variations can be found anywhere in the country.

First: currywurst. Grilled pork sausage cut up into chunks, slathered with ketchup, curry powder, and other seasonings; and toss in some fresh-made crispy fries. Here, I can also ask for “rot-weiß” or red-white for the common ketchup-mayo combo. Some might just have the sausage, some might have it with a crusty roll, but today, I’m feeling “Pommes, rot” (fries, red), which I order from Konnopke’s Imbiss, a city institution located underneath the tracks just south of Eberswalder Strasse U-Bahn station.

Second, the Döner. A tall spit of chicken or beef, slowly rotated next to flame, and finely shaved into strips. In-house bread-pocket with sesame seeds, toasty and crusty; spread with garlic- and hot-sauce; add lettuce, cabbage, onion, diced tomato and cucumber; meat; more sauce; a quick spritz of lime juice. This one from Ali Baba is a “monster”; compare its size next to a 1-Euro coin. Good thing it’s dinner time and I’m hungry. I make easy work of the Döner, and it’s washed down smoothly with a mango Ayran yogurt-drink. I do like me some Ayran, especially when the Döner is “extra scharf” 🌶️

*A “regular”-size 7€ Döner from Ali Baba, near U2-Bhf Eberswalder Strasse. That’s also a 1€-coin for size-comparison.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 16 May 2025. I received neither request nor compensation for this content. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Hessen, Denkmal für Fraa Rauscher, Frau Rauscher Brunnen, Sachsenhausen, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Rauscher fountain, Frankfurt Sachsenhausen

In Frankfurt am Main’s Sachsenhausen, the Frau Rauscher (Fraa Rauscher) memorial bronze fountain is an installation of public art created by sculptor Georg Krämer and inaugurated to the public in 1961. People passing by may be surprised when they’re struck by a jet of water “spat” out by the woman in bronze.

I made the image above on 17 Jun 2023 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and settings: f/11, 1/125-sec, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-uMj.

25T08 Berlin’s big bounty

E07, B02.

In a city of 4 million, what is there in Berlin I haven’t already visited or discovered? I had intuitively guessed after my 1st visit in 2002 that Berlin would present herself as a grand lifelong project. It’s true. So, the real question is: what are her myths and secrets?

Here’s a glimpse of my to-do/ask list :

Bauhaus in Bernau, just outside Berlin to the northeast
Peter Behrens
What’s new (& showing) at C/O Berlin and at the Museum for Photography
Albert Einstein
Margot Friedländer
Alfred Grenander
Humboldt brothers: Wilhelm & Alexander
Potsdam’s grandeur, just outside Berlin to the southwest
Railway lines: Friedhofsbahn; Siemensbahn, to be reactivated as new S-Bahn S6
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Franz Schwechten
Max Skladanowsky

Poor but sexy. Plain but complicated. Over 2 decades have passed since my 1st visit, but the sight of the glass and steel monument to trains and the sound of the three-tone closing-doors signal on the city’s S-Bahn are quintessential to identifying how I feel and remember this city.

( I spent the afternoon gazing and absorbing contemporary 20th- and 21st-century art at the former Hamburger Bahnhof, near Berlin’s central station. What I saw and experienced there is for another time. )

*Hamburger Bahnhof Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart / Hamburger Bahnhof National Gallery of Contemporary Art*.

*Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central station): north plaza at Europaplatz.*

*Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central station), facing north to Europaplatz.*

38-sec audio, southbound S-Bahn S2 train at Gesundbrunnen station. The older rolling stock (series 481 and 482) has the much beloved three-tone door-closing signal, which occurs at 19-seconds. “… (S2) nach Lichtenrade … S2 … zurück bleiben bitte …”

I made all images and audio above with an iPhone15 on 15 May 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.