04 maart 2007

Beer versus Art (by Tobias and Violeta)

As our days on this blog are numbered – but there is
still so much to write about - we don´t want to miss
the opportunity to mention, very briefly, the
architecture in Berlin. To give a review, we thought
it might be helpful to present the extremes: the
(definitely) most ugly and a really beautiful
building.
Our first example is called BIERPINSEL (literally
translated: BEERBRUSH – no joke!) and looks a bit like
of space ship. It was built in the
70s and marks the crossing of the inner-city motorway
and a shopping street. Inside there is a bar and a
club but we never went and we never felt like it!
Could there be anything disturbing like that building?
Why is
it called (Beer)Brush although it doesn’t really look
like one?
Now – we heard - they want to paint it in golden
colour. We don’t doubt it but we doubt if that helps.
The opposite example is the museum NEUE
NATIONALGALERIE by Mies van der Rohe. Isn´t it a
beautiful building? Calm, reserved, based on a clear
ground plan and coming with large glass fronts it is
situated near Potsdamer Platz. Easy to see, it was
built for art and not for beer! The exhibitions mostly
take place in the large basement-show-rooms so that
the paintings or sculptures or other works can not
disturb the emptiness.

It´s up to everyone to decide, but we prefer the
second building…