Art

I went to the Altische Museum on Friday. In the revolving exhibit, I got to see the bust of Nefertiti. It was a piece of art that I had always seen in books but never imagined seeing in person. The figure was exquisitely preserved and skillfully created. Nefertiti’s lips were twisted upwards only slightly, just barely hinting at a smile or a secret. Shanga might appreciate this, because my impression was “what a character”. The craftsman had created and defined his own version of Nefertiti’s character in paint and statue. We try to create and define versions of our characters with our own bodies. Nefertiti’s head is most definitely art; in that case, the performance of our characters is art, without question.

It was never a question, really, that art has many forms that include theater and visual art. Yet the complete realization that our compositions are a form of art is has now dawned upon me.

On one hand there was the Egyptian museum, and ancient things that have been preserved and can still be identified with humans. I saw something 40,000 years old that could have been made and used today. The ancient jewelry resembled things that I could find in the Turkish market. There were swastikas on ancient boxes in Mesopotamia. On the other hand, I have seen four live performances in Berlin so far. So while Nefertiti continues to half-smile at all her visitors, the performances will live on only in memory.

noBody was quite the spectacle. I didn't try to understand it at all, but I let it have whatever effect it might have. And this is what I mainly thought: it must take so much time and effort to choreograph and direct that piece. To time everything so accurately, especially because different things were happening at different times, must have taken patience and a very clear vision. Everything was intentional. The actors were not improvising; there was an intention in the speed of their jumping, in the motion of their hands, in their exact placement upon the stage. I liked how the shadows in the background were evenly spaced and leveled although the actors were scrunched up and thrown around every which way. Emotionally, I was pretty uncomfortable through the whole thing. The airplane noise was eating away at any happiness that was left, and the actors kept making agonizing motions. I was afforded no relief save the lady walking slowly around the stage - and yet even this was no comfort. The things that were "familiar", such as the bell costumes, made me even more uncomfortable because they were out of context. I wanted to run when the dancers started screaming, because it was just torture. Again, I wasn't trying to understand the meaning of anything: this was actually how I felt. This also was interesting: it was very easy to perceive the presence and absence of compassion throughout the piece. The dancers running in a group towards a fallen fellow, or a dancer carrying around someone like a bag. The latter made me cringe, and the inconsistency of their compassion made me cringe more.

Highlights of Fidelio were the music (hats off to Beethoven) and the set. The opera singers were really excellent in their command and range, and the vocal performances were strong. I liked the scheme of the set, which consisted of raised platform with square holes. It served as a road, but then transformed into a prison. I didn't understand that until there were walls on all side, and the square at the back of the stage displayed floating clouds. The acting was not enough for me to learn the story without German, however. It would have been helpful to speak German, or at least know the entire story, before viewing the opera.

The play, on the other hand, was more accessible to me (not able to understand German). It is true that we did go through the plot of Maria Magdalena before viewing it, but the play gave an insight into the story that the opera did not offer. The characters were distinct in their clothing, tone of voice, expressions, walking styles, interaction with others, and other features that do not require German-speaking ability to communicate. The small details, such as Klara taking her father's jacket and throwing Leonhard's jacket on the floor, stood out and crossed the language barrier. I could empathize with the tone of their voices, if not with their words. noBody made me feel a wave of emotions, but I could not empathize well because the dancers often acted un-human. Empathy with Fidelio's character existed, but was limited by an emphasis on the music. Maria Magdalena brought things into perspective so that I could really connect with that piece of art.

I was nervous about attending my last performance. It was classical music, Haydn, performed by the Konzerthaus Orchestra in Berlin. I was nervous because I haven't played violin for a while, after leading a violin section in GHS symphony orchestra. I thought I might never get over the competitive nature of violin playing; I always analyzed other concerts and fretted over bow strokes and details of the violin parts. So there I was, in an amazingly beautiful concert hall. They played four pieces, including a french horn conerto and a violin concerto. And I surprised myself: I loved it. I really loved it. I surrendered to it, and received it like I have been receiving live performance since the ballet in spring quarter. A simple combination of notes carried so much emotion during the violin solo; later, different instruments strived towards creating an atmosphere of...who knows what exact atmosphere? The people sitting in that hall could have interpreted the music in their own way. I experienced classical music in a different way, because I put away the expectation and just let it fall towards me. Is that not the task of the audience?

Andreas Paeslack, an artist we talked to last week, said that the making of art is not in the hands of the artist but in the hands of society. I agree, because art occurs when there is a specific interaction between creator and receiver. Paeslack said that we don't know what effect his art will have, but it was clear that his group was interested in provoking people for a reaction. Their art was interactive, as was that we saw with the graffiti artist (cleaning public windshields, for instance). Graffiti in turn is art because it has an effect on the people and surroundings. Claire Waffel's notes that she left around the city is art because she wanted to see what effect it had on the audience, ie whether or not they would come to the designated location. Similarly, she was interested in our reaction to her videos. Claire, however, said that she was not interested in the audience, but created art for herself. This seemed contradictory. The Paeslack group, however, knew that they sought a response with their art.

One of them brought up Stephen Jay Gould, and I was really surprised. Gould came up in computer science, linguistics, psychology: basically anything related to the brain. "These artists read Gould, they must be intelligent, and they choose to do art with their life" was the immediate childish thought that ran through my head. But then, it all came together, really. Gould's Mismeasure of Man mentions the human tendency "to convert abstract concepts into entities" - and this is exactly what art does. The artist translates abstract concepts (like emotion or instinct) into compositions or other forms, which must be converted back into an abstract concept by the audience.
(Whew that was long, hopefully I can edit soon but I had to get it out)

P.S. It was thus really interesting that we visited the neurobiologist that just published in Nature Neuroscience. The conversation between Tobi and the Carlo was separated by a huge range: on one side the possibility/power of technology, on the other side the number of teslas that power modern mris.

Interview with Raj*

Sunday August 31
*Name has been changed.

Raj was a German exchange student who came to my high school around three years ago. We were both in my school’s orchestra. I got in touch with him through Facebook and conducted this interview via Skype so that I could get a better understanding of German youth.

Raj lives in Gottingen, which is about four hours away from Berlin. He just graduated from Gymnasium, and is about to head over to university in the UK. He wants to study psychology, but has to choose two other subjects as well. It is common for young people of sufficient means to study outside of Germany, though German universities are funded by the state.

Raj was born in Germany, but his parents are from India and immigrated because of his father’s job. He was eager to tell me his hobbies: soccer, badminton, table tennis, flute, and piano. “And, of course, my studies” he added. As in the US, there are students who give highest importance to academics. Raj says that he was more “socially active” than politically active when asked this question. “There are people who write in newspapers and such, “ he continued, “but I did things like the student union, I was head boy, I had meetings with headmasters.” It was clear that I was interviewing the valedictorian of a Gymnasium school – an individual who is clearly at the upper end of the education spectrum.

I asked about volunteering, and if community service was a requirement as it is in Washington State. He was surprised about this, because he responded that here there is a required year of civil service after graduation. How does a national rule that requires service affect the youth and the greater society as well?

It seems to me that community service is both highly valued and highly rewarded in America. However, youth must be influenced and taught to give to society, and this creates a large breadth of motivation. We see American youth who change the world beyond the requirements, and we also see nihilism and violence. You will find those extremes in Germany youth as well, but the difference is the strong influence of the state in the civil service requirements. In my high school, not doing the 60-hour service requirement only meant that you would not graduate (resulting in a lower graduation rate for the school itself, which has ramifications because of the Patriot Act, and so on). In Germany, a student who does not plan to go to University still must spend a full year doing civil service as enforced by the national government. The inevitable year creates less motivation to volunteer through high school, but it also decreases the numbers of youth who will never perform community service in their lives.

Raj educated me about the German system of education (before Professor Isensee transatlantic education talk). There are three types of school: Gymnasium, Realschule, and Hauptschule. The Gymnasium is “like all the AP classes”, the Realschule is “for average students”, and the Hauptschule is for “really bad students, like from the poor districts.” Raj was nonchalant in these statements. It can be inferred that Gymnasium parents and students share his attitude towards the other schools. After fourth grade tests, the student is put on a track into one of the three schools.

I was surprised at this system, for it seems like it would really split up “youth”: young people would identify more with their type of school rather than other youth as a whole. I asked Raj what he thought about the system, and he said, “I think the system is good”. I asked whether there is interaction among the three types of schools and he said, “I could not imagine a really good Gymnasium student having talking to a Hauptschule student”. Raj revealed that German youth indeed are split up. When I asked him whether he thought the German education system is good, he said yes.

These are Raj’s thoughts on Berlin:
The hub of history and music (rappers and hip hop are all from Berlin)
Big city (he did not know about the youth nights of Kareem’s experience)
Berlin people have a different, “funny” accent

These are Raj’s thoughts on the wall and East Germany:
They don’t really think about East Germany
Saxons
“Rundown, little crappy”
E. is racist
Conservative
Accent is “a little weird”
The quality of life is not as high

What I noted most in this interview was Raj’s implicit emphasis upon quality of life, something that came across as very important to him. He was not driven by political activism or religious motivation or dreams of changing the world, but was most interested in securing a good quality of life in the future.

Vlog

Composition Day One

I had so much fun with these compositions! It was a good day.

I’ve always observed things closely – and so I had in fact noticed the distinct walks of Michael, Jackie, Elizabeth, and others in the group as well. However, before today I never really thought about imitating or becoming that person. I would never have tried to act out their character. It is completely different from observation. I had to engage my leg muscles in addition to the muscles that focus my eyes – and that changed the way I thought about the subject of observation. The way we move is deeply linked to our emotions, and our emotions are linked to our thoughts. Moving my feet in a certain way brought on a different set of emotions, a new take on that might allow me to better understand how this person thinks. The engagement of the body takes our research’s scope to a new level.

As for the compositions themselves, they were really different because our group has gotten to know each other. The atmosphere was much warmer than when we were strangers. A backdrop of support allows us to take greater risks.

Risks! Some things stood out, like including people for the fold-up seats on the train station, the use of props instead of miming, imitations of other people. The main risk was getting out there and trying something, putting all our effort into creating something and then showing it to other people. One of my personal problems with performance in the past has been an inability to let myself go completely. I’d always form some kind of a barrier (a wall, let’s go ahead and throw that word in here) between the audience and me. If I showed the audience all of my enthusiasm or whatever other emotion, I would feel exposed. I left all that behind before this class, but it is nevertheless a risk to perform. Thus, compositions become this great, risky adventure. What a thrill!

I look forward to the next composition day, especially because we will always fill an opportunity to create new things.

On religion, human nature, and walls

Yesterday we went to visit the Sehitlik Mosque in Berlin. It is a beautiful work of Ottoman architecture, replete with abstract art, calligraphy, and stained glass. The mosque serves as a devotional place for many of Berlin’s large Turkish community. Our tour guide was expressive and practiced. He was telling us all these things about the nature of Islam, and we saw so much goodness in the ideas upon which the religion is formed. Yet I am one to think that is true of almost all religions. I went to preschool in a Church, spent Fridays with a Jewish family, grew up in a very liberal Hindu home, was fascinated by Sufi poetry, and contemplated the peace found by Gautam Buddha.

Faith is a truly beautiful thing. Of all human emotions and needs, trust in a higher being is possibly the most abstract and hard to define. Religion can be a set of guidelines, a motivation, a restriction, an interesting thought, or a capstone of someone’s identity. I have always thought of religion as a single phenomenon with different forms. The tour guide, similarly, was open to comparing and contrasting. He acknowledged similarities between Islam and other religions, but he was also surprised at some of them. More importantly, he thought that we would be surprised at some of the similarities. Indeed, if we were surprised at similarity, would we not think that the norm is difference? Though it might be approached and crossed and not too wide, a norm of difference is nevertheless a wall. Furthermore, this wall may be impenetrable in some eyes – for instance, the xenophobic graffiti outside the mosque. All my multireligious experiences have led me to the belief that there is no wall and no true difference between these religions. Yet since I am not researching myself and am researching Berlin, the tour guide’s attitude towards comparing religions showed that he too saw the existence of a wall (no matter how progressive his thoughts about it).

A lot of my friends are atheists. That too is a personal decision, but it is often because people give up on the purity of faith. Religion has been corrupted to extremes. Terrorism comes to mind, but I am also thinking of the devadasi system, political evangelism, and the many cults that have killed followers. Time and again, religion has been used to control people, as an oppressive force rather than an uplifting, personal connection. And how can such pure theology become a tool for negative ends?

I don’t know if humans are innately evil or innately good. I do know that humans can corrupt faith or commit actions that will forever stain history, as we have seen here in Berlin. The Topography of Terrors, the wars and spying and killing, Sachsenhausen…all these things have made me wonder at humanity. Individuals have proposed theories such as the Lucifer Effect, but I cannot really say that I agree with any one of these explanations. The lack of compassion and empathy that has been demonstrated throughout history remains a mystery.

Yet, on this trip I have also seen triumphs of the human spirit. The Turkish football club’s story is inspiring. It is the only soccer club that competes on a professional level and contains Turkish players. Currently it has nineteen teams of all genders and ages. To get to this point, the club has struggled against discrimination from the government as well as from fellow soccer players. Even today, there is threat when traveling to eastern Germany, where neo-Nazis have taken over the football clubs. This was interesting: poverty in eastern Germany led to a vacuum that allowed neo-Nazis to establish strong influence over the population. The financial support was accompanied by a flow of backward ideals. The human power to hate is so strong, but I think that the Turkish soccer club’s love of football keeps them going against all these things. The director was charismatic and sincere, a combination that inspires confidence in those he leads. The club works with youth to give them a goal, confidence, and motivation. Furthermore, the club supports homosexual soccer clubs and teams (“Gaymes”).

This unity of groups that are being oppressed is kind of revolutionary. Before, there were many walls: one between Turkish population and others, one between gay people and others, one between religious minorities and others. That unity means that within these groups there is now only one wall. It separates open and closed minds.

Lens and Theoretical Framework

My topic is huge. The identity of Berlin’s youth is too big for me to research: in four weeks, I could get a great breadth of information but not much depth. In my time here, I have observed much (which I will blog about separately). These observations make me want to narrow my focus so that I can see a concrete way to get an appropriate lateral and vertical complexity.

I know that the wall, in the context of Berlin, has been done and redone, but I see it everywhere in my research and in this city.

Julie’s initial guidance included the creation of a theoretical framework, which included the lens through which I choose to view and research Berlin’s youth.
I choose to define identity as the meta-identity, yet I choose to view youth identity with respect to walls.
• The Wall and how youth today react to it
• wall between youth and the older generation: how are lives different because youth do not directly know life under the wall
• wall between youth in different socioeconomic classes (Gymnasium, Realschule, Hauptschule)
• internal wall due to imposed identity – for example, multiple allegiances
• wall between youth due to religious/ethnic differences

The two questions that I want to answer:
⇨ Do these walls exist and to what extent?
⇨ How do youth deal with the walls or their absence (the effects)?