merkeldämmerung

A lot of the reasoned decisions that Angela Merkel has made during her leadership, spanning thirteen years thus far, have been characterised as reactionary when in fact they were very much premeditated, like the Engeriewende, mothballing nuclear power plants, that seemed to happen in the wake of the Fukushima disaster whose phasing-out was planned for a long time, or the choice to open the borders to asylum-seekers after not publically promising a young refugee that there was definitely a place for her and her family when the deliberation was measured and many were consulted.
Merkel’s announcement not to seek re-election was strongly hinted at in the summer, though the nature of her future plans were not fully limned out—that she would be retiring from politics altogether (those there’s always the chance for a much-deserved encore) and relinquish party-leadership while staying on through her term.  What do you think?  Endorsing no particular successor and vowing to bow out earlier should snap-, off-cycle-elections be called, Merkel hopes her departure and concession of an inflection point will help restore civility to a polarised and fractious constituency, which was marked by years of partnership and outreach with other factions.

the yellow emperor’s inner canon

I first heard about this provocative project a week ago or so when the individual behind it Kuang-yi Ku got an honourable mention at Dutch Design Week for his thought-experiment but thought the gross-out factor was a bit too high—and while the images are still disturbing, Project Tiger Penis, drawing on emerging advances in the biomedical sciences and the ability to grow, print meat in the laboratory to produce authentic substitutes for articles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Zhōngyī, 中医) did seem to resonate as a way of protecting endangered fauna and flora that are often tortured or poached for their ingredients, whose pharmacological merits are sometimes a matter of dispute.
It becomes even more relatable, I think, given the context that some religious figures have expressed a willingness to deem artificial meats in general and lab-sourced pork specifically as kosher or halal. What do you think? While reserving qualms for putting energy and efforts into making exotic potions might seem reasonable to non-practitioners at first blush (especially when examining it in isolation and outside of the customs that inform it), it behoves us to reason out that it’s presently highly questionable what good we derive from eating animals to begin with, while so many of us do as a matter of upbringing.  Without considering the impact and consequence of appetites for a moment, taste and choice are different than what can be subjected to science but one approach and way of thinking ought not to be privileged above the other because neither has found the panacea or cure for ageing. 

unkonstruktives misstrauensvotum

Following disappointing election returns in Bavaria and Hessen, Angela Merkel announced her intent not to seek to keep her position as chairwoman of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) party, a post she has held for eighteen years.
A change in party leadership does not, however, translate to an automatic departure from the chancellorship, the incumbent since 2005—soliciting both relief and consternation. The ballot outcomes were still good enough to keep her party in first place but the rather precipitous loss of a tenth of voters plus the eroding, splintered confidence in their centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD—die Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands)—came as a humbling shock.

bilancia dei pagamenti

Rome and its freshly-minted conservative and anti-establishment government’s on-going strife with the EU over its fiscal policy, the country and the supranational body at loggerheads over a magnanimous and expansive budget versus a perceived push for unpopular austerity, is resulting in credit rating agencies—arguably their own special variety of bully—downgrading the outlook on Italy’s ability to fund the country or service its debts.
Banksy’s self-destructing piece of art seems to be a very apt meme to reference for this awkward standoff and stalemate, though departing from civic norms is not the same as impugning the sacred cows of the auction house. Neither party seems willing to budge but Brussels has signalled that it does not want to court an open, public battle between a populist coalition and the sedate commitments of sustainability and stability. At the same time, negotiations continue and Italy believes a resolution will be reached without any rash actions and stop short of outright revolt or renewed threats to quit the union.

6x6

subscribe to our newsletter: having to compete with social media walled-gardens, websites have gotten to be pretty needy, via Nag on the Lake

torch song trilogy: Theresa May Dancing to Stuff, via Everlasting Blört
 
gifaanisqatsi: a rather soothing random mix of animations whose time dilations fit with the 1983 documentary about “worlds out of balance” (previously with GIF), via Things Magazine

got to go where the love is: a number from Van Morrison’s new album

safety matches versus strike anywhere: designer Helen Stickler creates messages of activism out of vintage matchbook covers

sortation: Pirate Party in Iceland proposes to select at random ten individuals to address parliament every month  

stadtbezirke

Since working in Wiesbaden, I get pangs of guilt for not having visited neighbouring Frankfurt am Main (previously here and here) terribly often—especially given the ease of exploration and ample opportunities, not to mention all the things we haven’t seen. I took a long meandering walk through the city, beginning with the post-industrial wastelands that surrounded the Hauptbahnhof—the Gutleut quarter, the former manufacturing sector of the metropolis, grown around the export hub and marvelled at the Empire Age power plant erected in 1894, burning coal until 1994 when it made the transition to natural gas.
With quite a few detours, I made my way across town to see the Poelzig Building—known as the IG-Farben-Gebaüde. Completed in 1930, the compound was the headquarters of the chemical concern (the synthetic dye industry syndicate—the then one of the largest companies in the world), architect Hans Poelzig’s design embodied the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement of the inter-war years.
The mammoth though airy and sparsely modern space was a deemed a fitting showcase for the company that not only pioneered synthetic oils and discovered the first antibiotic, the research of the conglomerate played an indispensable role in pressing Germany and the world to conflict a second time—despite being publicly reviled and scapegoated by elements of the far right. After the surrender of Nazi Germany, the complex became the Supreme Allied Command and until 1952, the High Commissioner for Germany—earning it the informal moniker, the Pentagon of Europe—the US Defence Department completed in 1943.
Afterwards, it hosted the US Army V Corps, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers with the US withdrawing and returning the building to the state in 1995.
The ensemble of buildings became the Westend campus of the University of Frankfurt and houses the departments of philosophy, history, theology, linguistics and North American studies. The nude nymph statue at the reflecting pool was removed, at the request of Mamie Eisenhower, during American occupation, the commanding general’s wife deeming it inappropriate for a military installation. Another feature that the main building is known for are its paternoster lifts—which were formerly accessible to the visiting public but are presently inoperable.

we’re all stoned or pacified while the boogeymen organise

We’re indebted to Hyperallergic’s Edward M Gómez’ graceful and accomplished interview with Yoko Ono’s urgent reprisal and nimbler, svelter remix of a selection of her earlier recordings with Warzone. Re-mastering her repertoire with the knowing passion that indeed our future depends on it, Ono (previously) with the help of keyboard artist Doveman and a chorus of animals revisits her classic anthems that have retained their resonance and taken on a new currency. Check out their encounter and dialogue at Hyperallergic at the link up top.

fancy dress party

In case you are in need of a bit more inspiration to come up with a Halloween custom as the holiday creeps closer and close, why not consult your friendly neighbourhood AI.

Outdoing last year’s training session, Janelle Shane taught her neural network (previously) on a dataset of over seven thousand outfit ideas and had her efforts profiled in the New York Times, with illustrations of the learning process, trial and error illustrated by Jessia Ma—even the ones that seemed to defy sense and representation.

Check them all out at the links above and perhaps find a character that speaks to you for trick-or-treating or your office party—and yes, there’s even a whole sub-set of ill-advised sexy costumes.

What are your favourites?