Book Fair Bits 1: Old is new/New is old

Heavily bombed during World War II (shown in the photo on the right of a timeline in the historic part of the city), Frankfurt lost and later reconstructed many buildings (old buildings are new).

A Dance Palace/Reading Tent at the Frankfurt Book Fair is flanked by newer structures; the architect of the building on the is Helmut Jahn.

Frankfurt was surprisingly quiet. Am I too used to Manhattan's din? Or, are Frankfurt's citizens intensely-silent introverts? Perhaps providing a key to a few stereotypes, the late W.G. Sebald described how Germans survived the war years through sheer force of denial. An excerpt in The New Yorker was both fascinating and horrifying. Sebald, who lived in England, died in a car crash in 2001. On a lighter note, the colors look great the reflected on the wet strasse.

The acid-colored poster for performances of Georg Buchner's plays echoes his highly-charged (but very short) life. Robert Wilson, Tom Waits, and Kathleen Brennan collaborated on an also highly-charged version of Buchner's Woyzeck; the album "Blood Money" contains numerous songs from the Wilson/Waits/Brennan opera, including one of my faves, "Coney Island Baby."

Immigression

Svenja Knödler, a talented designer who came to New York from Germany early in 2009, wrote such a clear and gracious e-mail of introduction addressed to Beth and Suzanne, that even though BTD has no openings, I wanted to meet her.

I was awed to see the depth, quality and simplicity of Svenja's book, Wasserwesen, conceived, photographed, and designed as her thesis the Fachhochscule Düsseldorf. Knödler implies the presence and effects of water without literally showing water itself. Taking the plunge into the new world, Svenja also produces a self-initiated project called "Immigressions." I love one of her pieces that also implies water.

The immigressions also make a great impression as a group.


Svenja Knödler's work covers the heights and the ultimate in earthy; the former in the form of a postcard for The High Line and the latter art direction for Jacques, a saucy-naughty mag for men.