Lobe den Tag

Gerade beginnt man sich so ein bisschen in diesem Alltag einzurichten, oder? Zumindest geht es mir so. Ich bin nur noch selten an meiner Arbeitsstelle, arbeite viel von zuhause aus und mache tausend Dinge, zu denen ich sonst nicht komme. Ich habe meinen Chef schon vorgewarnt, dass ich nach dieser Coronakrise vermutlich für immer für einen Job im Büro verdorben bin. Ich habe das Gefühl, das geht gerade vielen so. Fast jeden Tag zum Beispiel unternehme ich einen langen Spaziergang mit der jüngsten Tochter, die ihre Kamera dabei hat und für ein Schulprojekt Berlin fotografiert. Heute waren wir in Friedrichshain. Wir sind über das RAW Gelände geschlendert, das fast ganz leer war. auf dem RAW Gelände Wieder sah man, wie gestern, hauptsächlich Mütter mit Kindern, Einzelspaziergänger oder Zweiergruppen. In der Buchhandlung lesen & lesen lassen , die heute zum letzten Mal ihre Türen geöffnet hatte, haben wir vier Bücher gekauft. Mir sind Sophie Calle Das Adressbuch und Na...

I am reading a biography about Agnes Martin , the american artist, who spent so many years in or close to Taos. I started reading it, shortly before I departed for New Mexico last August. That said, it is obviously, that it takes me an awful long time, to finish the book. So, this morning, I started to wonder, why that was the case, and the first answer was: this book is demanding. You can not just read it. It often reads like a scientists paper in art history. Many informations on places, she lived, the artists and circles, whom one could encounter there, pages and pages of  descripitions of her paintings, which I would rather expect from a catalogue of a workshow, not from a biography. The book is often filled with knowledge, which did not help me personally, to understand Agnes Martin. Fact is: she grew more and more distant. Constructions considering her mental illness (schicophrenia), which probably are researched impeccably, but still, the artist remained distant, like someb...

"The place of stillness that you have to go to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world." -Jonathan Franzen- I want to become still enough to hear myself. I always wanted that. I don't think I have been to this place very often yet. My Self is not that constant stream of comments and words running through my mind, I fear, even when I am asleep. I often wake up so exhausted, that I am pretty sure, thoughts have been rushing through my head all night long. Like a herd of very young, very wild horses. That is not My Self. My Self lives much deeper, under all those layers of protective tissue, much much deeper. It is this stillness, in which I connect with everything that matters. This Everything has not so much to do with the demands of my everyday life. Then again: it has everything to do with my everyday life and its demands...

The painter  Agnes Martin  would have been 101 years old today. The interview with her is really inspiring and speaks deeply to everything I believe, to everything I think about. She lived like a buddhist nun or a mystic in the desert of New Mexico and tried to reduce her live, her art, herself to the essence of life, of being. A mystic and a great artist. In may a  new book  about her will come out. It was supposed to come out last march, celebrating her 100th birthday. So I hope it will come out in may! I think I might get it. Another book of writings by her  Agnes Martin: Writings/Schriften  is unfortunately out of print and if you try to get it second hand, say on Amazon, it will cost  you several hundred euros. Wow! Couldn't they just reprint it? I am sure it is a good book! Hello publishers, I am sure you could make some money with it! I wanna read it. Does anybody have it and would borrow it to me?