Photo: Young watchdog Enzo pulls on the rope of 17-year old cow Belinda, which has already yielded 150,000 liters of milk, in Heckenbach, Germany. (wsj.com, March, 27, 2018, Thomas Frey)
Tag: Germany
I so missed you Mom
The Great Dane Unity Blue from the North Star cuddles with her owner, Tanja, during a press call at the 44th international pedigree show in Nuremberg, Germany. (Daniel Karmann, Zuma Press, wsj.com, January 9, 2018)
Is that all it is, just beauty?
“This is how the world is, this is how humans are,” he says. “Everything that exists must disappear. Now, our art is something that basically cannot be owned, cannot be purchased, cannot be kept. It is ephemeral, and therefore it is free — and it is beautiful.”
Is that all it is, just beauty? Christo furrows his brow, as if not understanding the question. No, nothing more. What should it be? Then he smiles indulgently and says with a shrug: “Now it is there. Soon it will be gone.” And that’s all.
~ Arno Frank, Christo’s Colossal Project in Germany in Spiegel Online. (March 14, 2013)
American artist Christo’s work, titled “Big Air Package,” was meant to be the largest inflatable object of all time. Its volume would rival the ill-fated Hindenburg blimp, still the largest airship ever created. The inflatable package, 94 meters high and 54 meters wide, of “Big Air Package” is made up of 20,350 square meters of specially made milky-white, translucent material the artist calls “ETex Christo.” A specialty firm in the northern city of Lübeck spent 2,800 hours completing 12.5 kilometers (7.8 miles) of stitching. The 600 panels of fabric are to be held together by ropes and Velcro, which are meant to allow the 5.3-metric-ton formation to hold as much air as possible.
But all that is just numbers. And numbers can’t describe the experience of stepping through the airtight revolving doors and climbing the stairs — or better put, floating up them as if you were in the interior of a surreal rain cloud. Those who want to step into this transcendental space must make their way to Oberhausen. It’s the kind of pull toward the heavens that people in the Middle Ages must have felt when they first entered a gothic cathedral and looked up.
Notes:
- See More on The Big Air Package
- Photo of Big Air Package by Frank Augstein, AP
- Source: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels
T.G.I.F.: It’s been a long week
Polar bear Wolodja takes a nap in its enclosure at the Berlin Tierpark zoo in Germany.
Rest Wolodja, rest.
Source: The Washington Post, (Maurizio Gambarini/dpa via AP; Jan. 8, 2017)
T.G.I.F.: It’s been a long week (Out with the X-Mas tree)
Elephants feast on discarded Christmas trees at Berlin’s zoo.
Recycling. Au Naturel. Who knew?
(Source: wsj.com by Sean Gallup, Getty Images)