Daily Inspiration #357 by Feininger’s Cat

September 29, 2012 Daily Inspiration 19

Hello Steve!

Today I want to tell you about Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. It’s the main square in the former capital of the German Democratic Republic (the socialist part of Germany until 1990) and hence the general feel of this place is still pretty “communist” which I like a lot (talking about design here, not politics!) It’s always a good idea to visit Alexanderplatz because it has become a meeting place for anyone who considers himself an artist. There will always be someone performing something, may it be christian techno DJ preachers, your average singer/songwriters, rock bands, fake snake charmers, breakdance performers… you get the idea.

So here are some photos of performers i took on Alexanderplatz.

#1: This guy climbed up the “Fountain of friendship of nations” and had his moment of glory up there, Lumix GX1 / Lumix 45-175mm@45mm, F7.1

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#2: This is “The Angery Man” of Reverend Shine Snake Oil Company (http://shineonline.dk/) a band I highly recommend and which I got to know because I ran into them performing live on Alexanderplatz, Olympus E-P3 / Olympus 45mm, F1.8

#3: Two people tangoing, Lumix G3 / Lumix 25mm, F1.4

 

My URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feiningers-cat 

Hope you like my photos! Thanks for the great work you’re doing with your site!

Greetings from Germany,

Feininger’s Cat

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19 Comments

  1. Great photos! 

    A thing to keep in mind: we are photogaphers and as that we document reality and with our personal style we create art. Something can be interesting and even beautiful while having a bad history. 
    When I went to Wevelsburg to make photos I was called a nazi for not putting up a disclaimer. When i made photographs in The red square moscow and called the place impressive I was a communist. When I went to a site of the Lithuanian resistance movement I was called an anarchist, the list goes on.

    We all know the facts of the totalitarian regimes and as grown ups we should be able to have two stones in the air at the same time. 

  2. I am sorry about the things you have suffered but i didn’t make *any political statement at all*. I even said that it’s not meant in a political way. I just said i like the design of the communist/socialist era. I didn’t endorse the politics and actions of the goverment of the GDR and it’s really nuts that this is what you read out of what i wrote there!

  3. Dear Feiniginger´s Cat
    I don´t know your nationality neither your political background.
    The former DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) or GDR was never democratic neither socialist.
    It was simply a communist state of the hard bone and evil ones. My 2 Cents

    • Who cares? Capitlism, communism, socialism, conservatism, liberalism, facism, religionism, it doesnt matter because all human beings are faulty, and as such, everything man touches will fail. You can have the perfect system, but once you have man in the picture, it will always fail for man is bound to destroy himself or others, been that way since the beginning of mankind. Look around your world today, people here, there and everywhere are killing others for anything and everything, money, religion, you name it, it’s being done.No country is innocent, no society is guilt free.

    • I am german. “German Democratic Republic” was the official name and the country considered itself “socialist” not “communist” as “communism” would be the end goal and “socialism” is the way that leads there. But please don’t turn this into something political, i am talking about design here not political views, I clearly stated that.

      • Sorry…you started with a politcal statement which IMO was totally nuts! You new reply shows that you either never lived in the GDR or never suffered the political hardships there. Guess you bore between 1985 and 1991! Still in pampers when the reunion happend. BTW in 2 days 22 years ago.
        As a prisoner of the STASI, for 4 years as a teenager, just for visiting the Prague spring in 1967, I cannot accept your rose glass view of that terrible state.
        Sorry. Lay your camera down and read history books. I might help. My 2 Cents.

    • So what is it exactly that the OP said wrong about the GDR? Apart of course from his obvious misunderstanding, helpfully pointed out by someone else, that Alexanderplatz would attract “artists”?

  10. Well i beg to differ. And my photos proof it. Of course you have money beggers, sausage sellers and people wanting to sell you Amnesty International subscriptions and the like but still i have seen quite a lot of free culture there. Maybe you just have been unlucky?

  11. Great picts, makes me lust more and more after that 25mm and 45mm. I am not German but spend at least a year living in Berlin, and definitely Alexander Platz it’s not the place for artists. It’s a touristic place full of people who go their to ask for money from the turists. I loved Berlin but definitely Alexander Platz it’s not what you might call a place for artists….

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