Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 30.11.2006

"Materially and intellectually insipid" is Heinrich Wefing's verdict on British architect David Chipperfield's design for the James Simon-Galerie, Berlin's Museum Island entrance building. "Nothing about the project even slightly hints that this is the foyer for Berlin's world cultural heritage site which all tourists will enter when they go to see Nefertiti, the Pergamon Altar or the Market Gate at Milet. Chipperfield himself talks about the 'ambivalent appearance' of the house, which corresponds to its 'multifunctional character'. But it is precisely this ambivalence, timidity even which is has no place on the island. It's not necessary to heave this final building block onto the Museum Island with the same ruthless egomania as Messel's Pergamon Museum which ignored all relation to the earlier buildings. But it should be more than a prim little toilet house."


Der Tagesspiegel 30.11.2006

The entire archive of the Aufbau Verlag - the major publishers in communist East Germany with 1,350 crates of material on 450 metres of shelves – has been digitised by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, and can now be viewed at the Berlin State Library, Gregor Dotzauer reports. The programme for the "protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict" has been used for the first time to safeguard the material of a publishing house. "The scanning alone took around two years. About two thirds of this time was taken up getting things ready: removing staples and ungluing things. A monk's work. The result is 362 rolls of film, which are now stored in the 'central depot of the Federal Republic of Germany' in the Barbara adit of an abandoned mine in Oberried in the Black Forest. In airtight stainless steel drums, the rolls are stored near microfilms with construction plans for the Cologne Cathedral or Hitler's court files from the 1920s. Secure custody for eternity. Or at least 500 years, according to storage life prognoses."


Frankfurter Rundschau 30.11.2006

Christian Schmidt takes his cue from the Berlin District Court's decision in favour of the architect Meinhard von Gerkan (more here) to settle some old scores with Deutsche Bahn boss Hartmut Mehdorn's building projects all round Germany. "Right across the republic and always in the most prominent locations, Die Bahn has consistently made a pig's ear of its buildings... Alongside such hare-brained schemes as the one in Dortmund where the 'Train Station of the Future', is supposed to land in the form of a monumental recyled UFO, Deutsche Bahn has tirelessly invested in the redevelopment of its major stations, from Leipzig and Dresden to Frankfurt. Many a century-old glorious unfurling space has fallen victim to a new utilisation mix in the last decade. Out of architectural gesamtkunstwerks have emerged trumped-up shopping arcades, out of monumental turn-of-the-century achievements, vicarious experiences like the one in Dresden, where the sandstone plates have been replaced by an imitation-sandstone botch job."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 30.11.2006

"Germany is now making a mockery of itself right in the middle of its capital," comments Gerard Matzig on Deutsche Bahn's unsuccessful court case against architect Meinhard von Gerkan, who designed Berlin's Hauptbahnhof. The underground ceiling construction of the train station must now be rebuilt to correspond with the architect's original plans. "It's utterly absurd that the head of Deutsche Bahn should treat a public building like his own living room... The real scandal is that its CEO Hartmut Mehdorn had to be dragged through court to be reminded of his responsibility in matters of building culture. The Bahnhof joke is not the fault of a self-righteous architect. On the contrary, Mehdorn's ignorance, and his refusal to listen to advice is to blame here.... This is not just a victory for Gerkan, it's a triumph for public building culture."


Die Zeit 30.11.2006

In an interview with Peter Kümmel, dramatist Mark Ravenhill and stage director Thomas Ostermeier discuss cultural pessimism on the German stage, the poor relations between generations and the problem of the past: "Ravenhill: 'As an outsider I get the feeling that the Germans, who possess greater art than almost any other culture, at the same time harbour a huge hatred for art. So on the one hand: We have Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven...' Ostermeier: 'But we also had Auschwitz.' Ravenhill: 'Exactly. And these artworks tend to be treated like so many stones on the road to Auschwitz. The Germans hate art; but they keep making it, fantastic art made of hatred. Hate art.'"


Berliner Zeitung 30.11.2006

For over 40 years now Hermann Nitsch (website) has been celebrating his "Orgien Mysterien Theater" (of orgies and mysteries) with paint, blood and guts. Now the Martin Gropius Bau is showing a retrospective which has opened Sebastian Preuss' eyes "to Nitsch's significance in the history of post-war painting. He is Europe's self-confident answer to the New York School, and his works effortlessly stand up to the Jackson Pollock's famous 'Drip Paintings' or the magical colour explosions of Sam Francis or Morris Louis' concentrated outpourings – why has no museum curator ever dared to hang them together?"