Arthouse Cinema am Roßmarkt

The Arthouse Cinema in Frankfurt is located at Roßmarkt 7 (take subway to Hauptwache). There is another one in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen, but this is a but further for me, and I really like the Roßmarkt Cinema for the venue and the movies they pick. Quite frequently there are also special events in which the director or producer is invited for a question and answer session. I got myself a rebate card, and found it very easy in the last few weeks to break even, because there is so much to see. The list below is just my start. I am not a cinema critic, but I also wrote a few words how I found the films

The lobby of my favorite movie theater in Frankfurt, The Harmony Arthouse Cinema.

1. Das stille Klassenzimmer (The silent classroom): excellent

2. The Post (Die Verlegerin): kitsch

3. Die stille Revolution (The silent revolution): too many platitudes, Jannike Stoehr did a great job in her interview

4. Zwei Herren im Anzug (Two men in a suit): excellent

5. The Mercy (Vor uns das Meer): trying to make a romantic story of an idiot trying to sail the world

6. The Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri: excellent, not what I expected

7. Sami blood (Das Mädchen aus dem Norden): interesting

8. Drei Tage Quiberon (Three days Quiberon): interesting, but hard to think myself into Romy Schneider's tragedy

9. Death of Stalin: so bad that I left the cinema half way through

10. Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire): still very good, digitally remastered, and rare chance to see on big screen

Dreaming of a White Easter

The pictures below would not be anything special, if taken in Frankfurt during the time December to February. But now, getting off for my morning run on March 18th, this is quite a surprise. It should be spring-ish by now. 

Bockenheim residential street

Our "parking space".

Highway underpass in Niddapark which is also used as a graffity gallery.

Niddapark, Frankfurt am Main

Chilling North

I spent the last few weeks in Malta and now came to Frankfurt. There are things to prepare here this week. Back in Malta I was giving guest lectures, joined the Malta Photographic Society and got to know a nice little creative network called the Malta Creative Collective which is brining together people from various creative industries.  Also, there were some events related to Valletta being the European Capital of Culture 2018. Some individual performances were not too bad. But all over, at least at the moment, this appears to be an uncoordinated melange of procured contributions and "Maltese Humpapa". At least it's lively though. Perhaps it becomes better in the high season. Frankfurt yesterday had it's coldest night of this winter at below minus 10 Degrees Celsius. That's very late, given that by the meteorological calendar spring is at the gate. However, the sky is blue and it is a nice and crisp atmosphere. I also took the chance to finally see Vermeer's Geographer in the Städel Museum, and strolled through the Rubens exhibition hosted there. But Rubens is not so much my thing. Or perhaps it's just because I only arrived from Malta and couldn't appreciate further seeing obese women. I liked his painting of Prometheus though, and recalled one of Johann Wolfgang Goethe's better poems. I also revisit the Jil Sander exhibition in the Museum of Applied Arts, specially to look into the garden design again, which is outstanding. A very nice discovery for me became the Arthouse Movie Theatre at Roßmarkt, where I watched Phantom Threat, and this was an enjoyable break from digging into Bayes Theorem and Marcov Chains for my Saturday Quant lecture in Mannheim. 

Crossing the Main River from the Museum side.

Frankfurt, opposite the Opera House on Sunday afternoon.

Vermeer's Geographer is one of my favorite paintings and it was not in Städel for quite a while, being lent to museums abroad. Now it's back with the Old Master section. Go up the staircase and turn right.

Ruben's Prometheus painting

"Prometheus
 
Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus, mit Wolkendunst und übe, dem Knaben gleich, der Disteln köpft, an Eichen dich und Bergeshöhn; musst mir meine Erde doch lassen stehn und meine Hütte, die du nicht gebaut, und meinen Herd, um dessen Glut du mich beneidest. Ich kenne nichts Ärmeres unter der Sonn‘ als euch, Götter! Ihr nähtet kümmerlich von Opfersteuern und Gebetshauch eure Majestät und darbet, wären nicht Kinder und Bettler hoffnungsvolle Toren. Da ich ein Kind war, nicht wußte, wo aus noch ein, kehrt‘ ich mein verirrtes Auge zur Sonne, als wenn drüber wär‘ ein Ohr, zu hören meine Klage, ein Herz wie meins, sich des Bedrängten zu erbarmen. Wer half mir wider der Titanen Übermut? Wer rettete vom Tode mich, von Sklaverei? Hast du nicht alles selbst vollendet, heilig glühend Herz? Und glühtest jung und gut, betrogen, Rettungsdank dem Schlafenden da droben? Ich dich ehren? Wofür? Hast du die Schmerzen gelindert je des Beladenen? Hast du die Tränen gestillet je des Geängsteten? Hat nicht mich zum Manne geschmiedet die allmächtige Zeit und das ewige Schicksal, meine Herrn und deine? Wähntest du etwa, ich sollte das Leben hassen, in Wüsten fliehen, weil nicht alle Blütenträume reiften? Hier sitz‘ ich, forme Menschen nach meinem Bilde, ein Geschlecht, das mir gleich sei, zu leiden, zu weinen, zu genießen und zu freuen sich — und dein nicht zu achten, wie ich!"

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Mein Viertel (my quarter)

Frankfurt's University Quarter is mostly Bockenheim. Then there is the "Westend", which has offices of mostly financial institutions, advisory services and upscale residential developments. This connects to the Alte Oper (Old Opera House). There is a new Opera House also, which is more suitable for all the technology which modern stages have. But the Old Opera also has an amazing programme. Then specially the University area is lively and has numerous small theatres and stages. 

Bockenheimer Depot is a converted train depot now serving as a theatre stage.

Subway entrance Bockenheimer Warte

Alte Oper (Old Opera House)

Bockenheimer Turm on a gloomy day.

Christmas Eve in Frankfurt

I truly have not seen a major city as empty, as Frankfurt on Christmas Eve. Only a few Chinese were running around looking desperately for luxury shops. The few others were on their way to see their family and loved ones. And there was the atmosphere of preparation for something important to come. I had an extra piece of cake in Café Laumer. Then went to the Museum of Applied Art to see the Jil Sander exhibition, which I liked. Merry Christmas. 

Alte Oper (Old Opera) in Frankfurt. Nobody around.

Café Laumer, Frankfurt Westend. You can still sit outside. 

Train along the Rhine river: Frankfurt - Bonn - Frankfurt

I often take the train along the Rhine from Frankfurt to Bonn and back. It is not the fastest, but the most beautiful connection. Most people take the fast InterCity Express which goes on a more linear track. They don't have the time I have. My trick is, that I get up at 5 a.m. That's why I have the time. I love that route because it is my home. And I have not been home for a long time. 

Tonight, a man with a large empty suitcase passed by to collect the empty deposit bottles, which he can refund against cash. He was well mannered and polite. When the conductor came and asked for his ticket, the man just continued without response. So, the conductor performed his duty, correctly but he was not doing right. I asked the conductor to take a seat beside me, which he did. Then I requested him to agree that the man got on the train the station before and will get off the next one and that I will pay for his ticket. I also asked him, whether he could turn a blind eye to it if the bottle collector would not get off the next station, but continue to a place of his convenience. We don't want to drop a poor man somewhere on the Rhine river at night, right?  It was very quiet, just between the two of us. The conductor calculated the fare, took out his private wallet and paid for the man's ticket himself. Then he took 50 Euro and put it discreetly into the hand of the stowaway passenger, said "Merry Christmas" and walked on. I continued watching through the window the forest and the river passing by in the dark. And I decided never to complain about the delays of the German Railway anymore. There are great people working in that company. 

These were the trains of the German Railway when I started taking this route. Today already much more modern (Nostalgiekarte, Ansichtskarte Nr. 73)

"Mein Viertel" in Frankfurt

"Mein Viertel" means my quarter, and refers to the immediate surroundings of your home in a city. For me, it also refers to where I know the people I meet on the street, where I go to the market, buy groceries and have my post office. It also includes a few broader landmarks which I relate to. Here a few snapshots of my quarter in Frankfurt am Main.

Bockenheimer Depot - Now a Theatre at Bockenheimer Warte, just beside the Goethe University Library.

A residential road leading to the European Central Bank, close to the Main river.

The former watchtower at Bockenheimer Warte.

Frankfurt Christmas Market 2017

Die Becher-Klasse (The Becher Class)

The first class of photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher defined photography as a form of art. Without it, today there would be literally no photography in a fine art museum. It was the foundation of the Düsseldorfer Schule (Duesseldorf School). The class was composed by Volker Döhne, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Tata Ronkholz, Thomas Ruff, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Struth and Petra Wunderlich. A selection of their work is exhibited in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt Main under the title: Fotografien werden Bilder (Photographies become pictures). The exhibition is on until August 13th. I really liked it and I spent three hours there, taking a lot of ideas with me - some of them related to photography, and others on how such a class brought it into not just mastering, but shaping a new dimension in arts. 

Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Städel Museum Frankfurt

The Städel Museum is one in a row of museums on the Southern bank of the river Main in Frankfurt. But it is for sure the most outstanding one, and among the top arts museums in Germany. We took the chance for a visit on a still relatively sunny day, having also our "annual sandwich lunch at the river" this time at the Main. This comes in the row of Northern Canal in Beijing, Trent, again Northern Canal in Beijing, and the river Lahn. The museum really has an impressive collection. And also the attached book shop is of a quality which most of today's museum bookshops don't reach. Only little disappointment was, that Vermeer's Geographer has been lent to a partner museum in Russia until next year. Another good reason to come back.

"The Geographer" (1669) by Johannes Vermeer (copyright: public domain)