My contribution to The Parthenon of Books

The Parthenon of Books - one of my favourite places in Kassel and perhaps the place I'll rather be than anywhere else. It's a majestic art work, a courageous project and the people's project. Because the banned books, the books from persecuted writers worldwide are donated by the us, because "we (all) are the people". 100.000 books are expected and there is still a way to go.

Except of having ice cream sitting on the stairs beside the books, today I did submit my contribution to this art work: Franz Kafka's Erzählungen. Kafka's books were banned during the National Socialism in Germany but also during the communist Czech Republic, although he had never directly criticized the political system or referred to real life situations. Nonetheless his works were described as "harmful and undesirable".

Thank you Jesús for capturing this moment :)

Want to donate a book? Find here the call for book donations.

Eine Performance für die Seele (A performance for the soul)

It's one of my favorite spots in Kassel, outside documenta as well: Kunsthochschule Kassel (the School of Fine Arts and Design).

During documenta the Research Laboratory for Experimental Building hosts an acoustic performance by Diego Jascalevich in Gernot Minke's earth dome: Earth - Sound - Space: Adobe Dome.

The Research Laboratory for Experimental Building at Kunsthochschule Kassel

The earth dome, built in 1992, is made of handmade, unfired adobe bricks following a new technique without framework developed in this research laboratory. It has a hight of 5 meters and a diameter of 7 meters.

Earth Dome, University of Kassel, 1992

When you enter the dome a relaxing silence welcomes you. Music coming from the top of the dome puts you in a dreaming, relaxed, meditative mode. Sounds you make are being heard very clear, though not very loud, but still a little unusual. It's best to sit there, when there are not so many people around (what could be hard during documenta, but I managed), even though it is fun to look on people's reactions :)

I call it a performance for the soul.