Category Archives: Hands

Hugs, fabrics, moss, … haptic experiences!

Veronica, Hanami & Co

Jetzt ist er da.

Little forrest of moss, lilac, wisteria, peione, almond, Fukubana cherry, maple, magnolia, lily of the valley, akleia, chess flower, anemone with its friends gingko and the japanese larch.

“Nose” category for double smell: wisteria and lilac, “Ears” for all the birdies and “Hands” for all the planting and soil digging action!

Ruby Slippers everywhere

We all known the magic Ruby Slippers which transport Dorothy – who’s been ignorant of their magic powers while wearing them for the better part of her journey – back home at the end of “Wizard of Oz”:

The iconic magic Ruby Slippers.

A bit less known might be “The Red Shoes” of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fable of that title, who bear their wearer – not home, but to their doom – ingeniously amalgamed into a ballet-themed movie by Powell & Pressburger in 1948:

The Red Shoes (1948). Magic, surreal, lethal!

Movie-makers of today: watch and learn, is all I can say.

The pope on the other hand (foot!) does not wear Prada, the pope wears Christ:

Papal fashion.

In yet another inspiring analysis on aeon.co, the question of how one of the oldest technologies of humankind acts as a symbolic foundation for human identity and has both enabled us to explore otherwise unattainable terrain as well as distanced and estranged us from earthly contact (“down to Earth”?) is discussed.

Personally, I prefer a fluffy approach to the ruby slippers. The home office movement has opened the possibility to a “fuck it” attitude towards work day fashion, for example like so:

Home office fashion (hot shit of Neukölln).

“Ruby” felt slippers by Lieberfilz, Berlin, socks by Red Wing Shoes, lounge pants by unknown korean designer, sweater by Kapital, Japan.

Put on those red fluffy slippers and dance the blues! (long time no see)

Category “hands” has to be read “feet/legs” this time!

Eternally Unfinished

Men speaks many different languages, the king said
Children speak only one: the mother language
Mothers don’t speak; they hear
For men don’t know what to say, but this is okay
For older people don’t hear nor do they speak
For having come before, they learned how to see
How to decay, while they observe” [1]

Sometimes we are above, sometimes below, but we are Eternally Unfinished, even if we knew ALL the languages, as I sometimes wish.
The second guided tour I had the pleasure to experience with Juan wasn’t any bit less intriguing than the first, which was this one:


I am therefor very happy that a centrepiece of that exhibit has found its way into my realm, where it can remind us of the most universal und powerful language of all: silence.
As Juan emphasized back then, the skull is a symbol of life, not of death. As we unearth it, layer by layer, we uncover and discover his-story, auf Deutsch: die Ge-schichte(n). Just as we ourselves are many-layered stacks of stories, some of them lost, some hidden, some fragile and fading, but some strong enough to provide us with a skeleton that supports us for some time.
Which stories will remain?


The skull (category: Brains) is a multi-layered symbol of life.

And those you fear neither Death nor Hell nor the Florence Foster Jenkins of Finnish Tango go back to www.petersch.at and make sure their browser doesn’t block audio autoplay. Qui vit sans folie … (category: Ears) 🙂

[1] from Juan Arata: “What makes us human? – A model of Migra Tion”, Booklet for Ruberoid Festival 25-26 Sep 2015, ACUD Kunsthaus, Berlin

Nehmt das Leben nicht so ernst

Mira las flores:

Listen and remember your favourite things:

Trinket alle daraus (aber hofft nicht auf ewiges Leben – es ist die Hölle).

Hier ist er übrigens gefunden, der “Heilige Gral”. Bernie’s search for the Holy Grail. Ist die Suche deshalb zu Ende? Oder: wurde sie jemals begonnen? Die Geheimnisse des Lebens sind – wenn überhaupt – immer ganz klein gedruckt, in Nebensätzen von längst vergilbten Büchern (und blogs), geschrieben in Sprachen, die niemand mehr spricht oder die wenigsten die Geduld haben zu erlernen. Meist frappieren sie in ihrer Ähnlichkeit zu Trivialitäten … wer hat denn die Blüten wirklich angesehen? Natürlich ist die “dragon scroll” ein leeres Blatt Papier, der Heilige Gral eine leere Flasche Wein. “Kommt noch etwas im Leben?” – Natürlich nicht! Oder solltest vielleicht zum leb’n vagess’n ham?

… et l’enfer, c’est les autres, comme vous le remarquez tous en ce moment à la maison:

Och när han kommer (“Vänta ett ögonblick! – Så säger ju alla!”), du kan ju försöka att spela schack med honom, men … jag rekommenderar att bara följa med honom, som med en gamla vän (Är du beredd?):

Sinon, faites comme Simone et Jean-Paul

.. eller bilda Olsen Banden (skidegod):

Was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält

Kann ich’s riechen, kann ich’s schmecken?
Mir mit köstlich nasser Traube,
Sanft die Seele zu beflecken,
Dort in jener Joiser Laube,
Sei stets ein Trost – dort find’ ich sie:
Tank’ Ruhe, Zen und die Balance,
Der Freundschaft nun: ein Brindisi!
Ambrosia schenk’ uns die Chance,
Der Sinne Schranken zu durchschlagen,
Lass kindlich sehen uns was die Welt,
Trotz Mühsal, Weh und tausend Plagen,
Im Innersten zusammenhält:

Ein Joiseph-Quintett in seiner natürlichen Umgebung: im Zentrum der Welt.

Xandl: Tausend Dank!