Gerhard Richter Painting

Art is one of the strongest, transcontinental languages. Paintings travel across the world and miraculously enjoyed by vastly different cultures. The German documentary, Gerhard Richter Painting, directed by Corina Belz, follows the internationally renowned artist, Gerhard Richter through his late artistic career and daily studio and gallery life. 

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden, Saxony, leaving school after the 10th grade to apprentice as a stage set painter before attending the Dresden Academy of fine arts. Two months before the building of the Berlin Wall, Richter escaped from East to West Germany. After his escape he began studying at the Kunst Akadamie Dusseldorf where he discovered Capitalistic Realism, an art form he utilized as an anti-style of art, "appropriating the political shorthand of advertising." Richter now lives and works out of Cologne. 

Richter's works generally depict "illusionistic space." His earliest works created during the early 60's and 70's are called photo-paintings, taken from newspapers, personal photos or books. In the late 60's early 70's his works turned along a more abstract path with his "Grey paintings." The film begins by giving a scroll by of his earlier works (photo-realistic), preceded by an early interview with him after his move out of the east, and finally shows Richter painting two different human sized abstract paintings. We watch his cheerful little minions cleaning up for him, and purifying his paint. Ah this is how real artists work (good to know, as an art student).

This documentary on the influential artist, Gerhard Richter, moves along at a slow, real-life pace. I would recommend the documentary if you are interested in German culture, art, and the workings of the mind of an artist. Despite the 10 minute waiting period, the beginning scene in which Richter paints on two canvases at once is highly interesting for the sake of watching an abstract artist's process. I think it is common for people, even artists, to walk into a museum and automatically disregard an abstract work as silly. However simply through watching the process and the artist in action that opinion could drastically alter, as mine has. Even though the movie progresses extremely slowly, I felt as if I couldn't look away for fear of missing an important scene of "art action." You can watch this documentary on Netflix.

Dorothy

It Takes All Kinds

Photo by Rick Bowmer, AP

The Seattle Sounders have one of the most ardent groups of supporters that I've ever experienced.  For the record, there was never a professional soccer team in my hometown of San Diego and our other sports teams are routinely below par.  Perhaps there are other MLS teams with equally enthusiastic fans but, nonetheless, I'm always impressed at the sight of a sea of blue and green on game days.
In Germany last week, a riot broke out at a DFB Cup match between Hannover 96 and Dynamo Dresden. This is the latest in a series of fan aggression in the last two decades. The following is from Deutsche Welle's report on the incident:

"Violence initially broke out before the match began when around 1,400 Dresden fans pressed against the gates at a section of the ground. Some 300 supporters then overran security officials and broke into the AWD Arena, clashing with police and delaying play for 15 minutes.

Dresden went on to lose the game 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes of play. After the loss, Dresden fans stormed the pitch, requiring police intervention. The violence left nine people injured and 18 fans were taken into custody."

I've done previous research on football hooliganism, such as the violence in Dresden, and I find it interesting that there are regions in Eastern Europe, South America, etc where football violence is extremely common.  But to my limited knowledge of MLS, this kind of occurrence is rare.  I asked some knowledgeable Sounders fan about fan violence before I went about drawing my own conclusions.

Point 1
There is little fan violence in the MLS as a whole.  Having spent a great deal of time in Seattle these past few years, I can vouch for the existence of fierce rivalries such as the one between the Sounders and the Portland timbers.  Rival fans will shout (often vulgar) chants at one another before, during, and after matches.  This is completely normal for the league and, some might argue, enhances the competitive environment.  But physical acts of violence don't seem to be tolerated.  In fact, my sources tell me that even the hardcore supporters' groups fpr the Sounders have a zero-tolerance policy.  This is in stark contrast to places in Eastern Europe for example where football hooligans have created a mafia-like system in places. (see Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World for more on this)

Point 2
It's only fair that I make a differentiation between everyday fans of a soccer team and the die-hards (or hooligans, fanatics  whatever you would like to call them).  I love my team, FC Bayern Munich.  LOVE.  But I cannot imagine inflicting violence on another Bundesliga team or vandalizing the stadium after a particularly merciless defeat.  I'm a rational human being and this is not something I would probably ever be inclined to do.  So, please note, hooligans are a special breed.  Please don't be scared to attend your local MLS match after reading this.

Point 3
The following observation is just an observation from someone who's grown up in middle-class suburbia in Southern California.  Please don't take it as the opinion of an expert and make of it what you like.  Football is different around the world than it is here in the US.  On so many levels.  It just is.  Here it's a middle-class form of entertainment in a way.  In places in Eastern Europe, it's the working man's way of releasing whatever tensions have built up over the course of a week.  There are more academic ways of saying this but the point I'm trying to convey is that the people that follow soccer here are not necessarily the same types of people who follow Dynamo Dresden.



To conclude, soccer/football is THE beautiful game.  There will always be people who act out and threaten to ruin it for the rest of us.  And if you really want, we could have a seriously intellectual discussion on football in Europe and its numerous impacts.  I'd be down for it.  From this piece however, I hope you take away just a few things.  First of all, all sorts of people consider themselves to be fans, in  one form or another.  Hooligans are fans; they're just really extreme fans.  Second,  American soccer ≠ European football.  Third, the next time you catch a match on TV, whether it's MLS or Premier League or any other league, please watch it for more than 30 seconds.  Try and look beyond the 0-0 scoreline.  And then maybe you'll become a fan too.


My many thanks to Peter Dwersteg, Andy Fulton, and Josh Larkin for providing me with more insight into this matter than I could have ever possibly hoped for.

Bis bald!

Movie of the Week

Many movies coming out of Germany revolve around WWII, East Germany, and conflict, including at least eight of the movies submitted by Germany for the Academy Awards since 2000. Perhaps this genre could be perceived as cliché, however it nonetheless provokes an undisputed emotional response and maintains reliability to modern affairs around the world.

The 2012 film, Barbara, directed by Christian Petzold, competed in the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February of the same year and won The Silver Bear for Best Director. The film was selected to be the German entry for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming 2013 Academy Awards.

TRAILER AND SYNOPSIS

Barbara takes place in East Germany in 1980, revolving around a physician Barbara (Nina Hoss, who also starred in A Woman in Berlin), who was employed at a prestigious hospital in East Berlin until receiving a disciplinary transfer because of having applied for an Ausreisantrag wishing to leave East Germany. She is placed near the Baltic Sea where the Stasis order the chief physician to spy on her as she attempts to flea East Germany to be with her lover in the west. The film is full of dramatic suspense, surprises, romance, struggle, and oppression. I'll leave the rest of the plot up for you to discover

Dorothy