spuntino

Recently a team of archaeologists uncovered a delightfully well-preserved “fast food” counter from the ruins of Pompeii (previously).  In the Empire such thermopolia (singular thermopolium) catered to merchants as conveniences and those without the means to set up and staff a kitchen at home—whose value menus included such on-the-go and processed (fermented and thus the domain of Bacchus rather than Demeter) fare as mulled wine, lentils, baked cheese and preserved fish.

8x8

interview mit bauhäuslern: a curated exhibit of the art and design movement’s journal (previously), published from 1926 to 1931

it’s 10 pm—do you know where your children are: the history of American public service announcements

erisology: the new discipline of agreeing to disagree—named for the goddess of discord that started the Trojan War

symbol and cipher: Louise Borinski explores how abstract shapes acquire meaning

audience-share: a gadget that helped marketers gauge what engaged radio-listeners in the 1930s

kannen: radical Japanese concept art of the late 1960s—see also

nattåg: Sweden plans to revitalise overnight train services in a push for more environmentally friendly travel options

less is more: the life and work of Maria Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in graphic novel format 

nengō

The always interesting Spoon & Tamago showcase the tribute that logographic artist Issei Nomura has created to honour the passing of one imperial era and coming into being of the successor one.
This ambigram (previously) perfectly distils the interim and transition from one reign to the next, reading either as Heisei (平成,which can be interpreted as “universal peace”), the period named for the one hundred and twenty-fifth emperor lasting from 1989 until his voluntary abdication on the last day of April or as Reiwa (令和, which can be understood as “beautiful harmony”), from 1 May onward depending on its orientation. Learn more at the links above.

true grit

Though not to be invoked on those small annoyances that can nonetheless snowball cumulatively and become overwhelming, the Finnish concept of sisu—which does not have a straightforward equivalent in English (see also)—signals an especially tenacious form of bravery and resilience that emerges at one’s most dire moments and boosts courage, energy and resolve from a reserve that one did not realise one had to persevere despite of oneself and past failures.
It’s always a bit tricky and judgmental to say that something in our behavioural quiver is reserved for extraordinary circumstances since sisu gained common-parlance during the 1939 Winter War and invasion by the Soviet Union and its continued cultural resonance surely meant it has been called on during less harrowing times, so try not to assess the threshold of others and yourself too critically. The stoicism of not indulging counter-measures too readily and ordering things in perspective is an internal process that develops naturally and is also a demonstration of the same unimagined strength no matter what crisis one is facing.

spring cleaning

Our village held what was billed as a Ramadama—a new term to me, from the Bairishe dialect (see also) for “Räumen tun wir!”—that is an organized tidying up effort, I suppose like #Trashtag challenge.
A tractor took a group of people out past the main road and they collected litter from the field and side of the road, a noble effort certainly though this area pretty clean to begin with. The first such call for volunteers goes back to 1949 when the lord mayor of München rallied over seven thousand to clean up rubble from the war by his side and has been a civic exercise organised by communities, schools and clubs ever since.

münchner räterepublik

Only lasting through early May to be occupied by the German Army and paramilitary Freikorps, the Bavarian Socialist Republic (Soviet meaning advisory council or committee, Rat oder Berater, in Russian) was established on this day a century ago, emerging from the failed breakaway state of journalist, theatre critic and revolutionary Kurt Eisner’s (*1867 - †1919) People’s Republic of Bavaria—which similarly expressed the former Wittelsbacher kingdom’s unwillingness to align itself with the newly minted Weimar Republic (previously here and here).
In the power vacuum that followed Eisner’s assassination by unionist and royalist Anton von Padua Alfred Emil Hubert George Graf von Arco auf Valley (*1897 - †1945) and encouraged by news of a left-wing uprising in Hungary, communists took power, exiling the successor socialist executive who set up an opposition government in Bamberg, while Expressionist playwright Ernst Toller (*1893 - †1939) was installed as president of the republic in Munich. Extolling a revolution of love and promoting many utopian ideas—though failing with effective cabinet and commissarial selections that could enact or at least not be antithetical to the principles, the new regime was labelled as a bunch of coffeehouse anarchists.
After six days, Toller’s rule was toppled and replaced by Eugen Leviné, whose reforms were highly effective but whose methods were also highly draconian. With the support of Vladimir Lenin, Leviné’s government expropriated private property, rededicated churches to the Goddess of Reason and took members of the upper-class hostage. Factional fighting between those loyal to the administration based in Bamberg and the government in Munich grew increasingly violent and eventually drew in the national army. The communists were defeated with much bloodshed on 6 May and the Free State of Bavaria (Freistaat Bayern) was declared within the Weimar Republic under its new constitution on 14 August.

værktøj

Via Colossal, we make the acquaintance of the Copenhagen atelier PUTPUT, whose metaphysically dysfunctional everyday objects cause us to pause and meditate on form informing function and the degree of design, engineering and intentionality taken for granted that goes into what we use as tools and use as ornament. Much more to explore at the links above.