last summer pics

here we go with some last impressions from Israel. they seem to be happened years ago but I try to give some information.

me and some other Germans went 5 days from, border to border. from the very north to the south.

we just realised that Israel is a small country.

hard to define a conclusion for the hole trip. the country definitely is worth it to visit. Seeing Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and some places at countryside makes you realising how strange the situation is down there. unique places with unique feeling but they are drawn together somehow, because they need to. It's Israel the state of the Jews.

I loved being there and to get to know a place we only know from TV.

this is not the last good bye. I guess.

next to the Lebanese border. We were swimming in 5m waves till the sun set.

the Golan Heights. between mine fields and weird soldiers some high falls. 

the street to the Dead Sea. 400m below the sea level.

Dead Sea: weird guy who could realise how it works. but don't get the water into the eyes!

1st Herzliya Biennial for Contemporary Art

as announced earlier, I was at the Biennial a week ago. Herzliya is situated some kms in the north of TLV.opened from 5pm to 11pm it has quite strange opening because it's dark then.

the curators created a very good connection between the urban space of Herzliya's centre. The Pieces and Exhibitions are situated in streets or old parking building, warehouses etc. Very ggod introduction into a scene I haven't expected here. also the adience. Berlin like and much more krasser. was'nt brave enough to shoot. but...

some black and white and colors beside:









some broadcasted documentaries about the Defence Fence and Palestinians spoilt a bit the evening.
but good to see that they show critical stuff across all art medias there.

I wont ride my bicycle again

shalom shlomo!
I have to admit that I'm very lucky with my working term here. every bunch of days the period is interrupted by some holidays. this Fri, Sat was Jom Kippur as I previously wrote. the none+ultra holiday for Jews. absolutely everything sleeps then and going by vehicles is prohibited.
we took the chance and rode some bikes through the kids flooded streets. it was a kind of strange atmosphere. the city that never sleeps (too) was so quiet. just little kids, skaters, boarders and pedestrians were walking in the streets and highways. like an apocalytic scene but friendly in the feeling. the switched iPod would have destroyed all this wonderful seconds of silence. therefore it slept, too. Jom Kippur lasts 25 h from Friday 5pm to Sat 6pm.
yesterdays after 8, TLV was quite the same like every Sat. Why couldn't this last forever?
Me for myself vote for some vehicle free Sundays in Germany now!













actually nothing to see. but I need to tell the dirty story behind this wonderful riding. it's israel! it can't go the normal way!
we were supposed to bring the enormous number of 7 bikes back today. fine, no problem but some of the group just locked them yesterday nite next to the store, cause they travelled today. I did not, because my feeling said that's 'too hot'.
so I decided to bring my bike back today with Paul another German. We were appointed but he didn't appear. my mobile was down and the charger in the office and that is miles away. finally I found him telling me that he lost the key for the bikes. humm. punch. but the second key will be avaible at noon and we will bring in the bikes in the afternoon. okay, office first and later the bikes... meanwhile Paul broke another key while trying to open the lock with the missing key. 2nd punch.
at work the rental guy called. the others locked the bikes to a tree and thats not allowed. some fees impending. he needs the keys I had with me. urgent of course. I decided to send them with a messenger. little roller boys that seem to be quick. from time to time the guy called me. the keys, keys. I said, the messenger is on the way.
after 2h I got very nervous and decided to drive home. and the keys still didn't arrive after 3h. finally he got it after 3.5h (est. distance 5 km). 5 of 7 bikes now are save at the shop. level 1 accomplished.
now at home I'm still waiting for the alternate key for the remaining 2 bikes next to me. I hope this nightmare will end soon and I probably will be able to enjoy the opening of the 1st Herzliya Biennial for Contempory Art * later this afternoon. Later this week will rent a car...har har.

*and if this website isn't workin. it never did. update: it works with the famous and beloved internet explorer, but not with the crappy firefox, neither the sh*tt* safari. my fault.

I enjoy my time here and still like Israel, I enjoy my time here and still like Israel, I enjoy my time here and still like Israel, I enjoy my time here and still like Israel...

desert express

it's time for some dusty pictures.
with some fellows I went at the holidays (Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year) to the south of Israel. squeezed between Egypt and Jordan the wannabe Las Vegas city Eilat was the spot to reach. at the Red Sea.
we slept in a catholic hostel (hui) and continued Thu morning to the Jordan border. in Aqaba, Jordan we rented a car and headed the antique sight Petra. everything sounds so easy, doesn't it? but actually it was a mess at the beginning:
the call agent of the famous Israeli bus company messed the dates so that we had no valid tickets for the trip TLV - Eilat. after some urgent calls and detaining the bus driver we were supposed to pay again and to stand for 5h in the bus. the floor was everything but not inviting to sit down. Eilat finally was not my cup of tea. bad beaches, empty streets (New Year) and this religous wanna read the bible accommodation.
so the border crossing the next daywas an highlight. took us 1andahalf hour and some departure taxes. behind the border: Arabia! Bargaining! Taxi, Rental Car...everything. I love it. you never lose the feeling to be fooled. So my famous digusting view was cut into my face (helps bargaining).
we saw Petra slept and one night in Jordan after a dinner in a men dominated city. no girls neither in the cafes, restaurants, nor streets. our hotel was called Venus Hotel. What a name! but anyway no hot water in the pipe.
on Fri we stood some hours in the Wadi Rum, a desert in Jordan. the group prefered also to ride Camels. Peer pressure forced me to rip my ass and tought me, never again!
back in Eilat at Fri night we spend a night in the most beautiful Youth Hostel I've ever seen. Clean rooms with fresh flowers and sea view, breakfast buffet and tons of Grannies and her husbands or lovers. strange world. I missed the German Jugendherberge with the crappy cheese rolls.
At Sat we went snorkeling in the sea. which was very interesting and nice. we also found Nemo but had no time for a BBQ.
The 5h bus trip we were allowed to sit on payed seats, a fact that actually kept us away from our new favorite activity: silly sleeping people watching. but okay. no complains. we slept instead. beautiful like prince and princess.
back in town I fight for the money refund and try to rent some bikes for the next holiday, Jom Kippur. a day where Israel pretends to be dead. No shopping, eating, drinking, dancing, driving, smiling, sex and no leather on the body not even shoes.
we will see where the sox will carry us to...


some selected impressions:


autumn. empty beaches and the sparely visited Port.

the Dead Sea

Negev desert

someone messed it up? ei, ei...
l 2 r: Bernhard, Paul, Janette, Viktoria and me.



Petra is clompletely cut into the stones.

like 2000 years ago





the Wadi Rum. May you can't figure out the scale but under the tree in the left are 4 people, 5 Camels and a jeep. we climbed high to see nothin but stunning landscapes.

what's left to say is that I beg for one trip that really works from the beginning to end. but I guess this is the wrong region. I take it with humor and cry it into my pillow.

I hope some pictures of the snorkeling will follow. my cam was empty then but I try to catch some of the others.
thanks for scrolling!

hebron, westbank.

this is actually a post for that nothing pops up to my mind. or it's just popping but not in cohesion.
yesterday I went with an organisation called Breaking the Silence to Hebron in the Palestinian Westbank. Let's called the occupied area. it is max. 2h away from sin city at the beach but light years away from normal life like in TLV.


on the way to Hebron. Hostile Palestinian land.

Hebron H1. A ghost city.

A lively Arabic market street. Arabs are not allowed to go there. Security reasons. For 7 years now. People livin in the houses are not allowed to leave it via the front door...

...so guys like them are forced to climb over roofs and walk long ways around the restricted streets. security reasons.

a post at the boarder to H1 (Palestinian)

we were not allowed to pass the street because we wanted to visit a Arabic family. security reasons. If we'd liked to visit a settler's house...no problem. For a woman of us with a Norwegian Diplomatic Passport it was also no problem to pass. security reasons?

security fence seperating Israel from the Palestinian areas.

all in all a shocking trip beyond the principles of democracy and partly far beyond humanity. the settlers in Hebron are famous for their violence against the Arabs. spiting, throwing trash, stones and physical attacs are daily life. children beat children beat elder and women. the IDF's task ist to protect the settlers, if they intervene for the Arabs they might be attacted verbally or physical, too.
If... 17 - 21 years old boys with M16s and an incredible power, but no idea about life (I had not then).
In fact the settlers can act like outlaws. And some do.



I saw just one side of the medal, much less to judge the political acting of the State of Israel. But seeing that someone surpresses human rights you could lose your believe in the good of human. but how will end up then?
in millions of security reasons.

the holiest place on earth.

the Mountain of Rock. the place where the world was created. nowadays the acess is restricted to tourists and Muslims because it's a holy islamic place. to prevent riots Jews better don't go there. as I heard Jews shouldn't go there also, because no one is holy enough anymore to have the right to be there. or sth like that, the highest rabbis decided.
former PM Ariel Sharon in 2000 thought it would be a good sight for livin' together with the Palestinians and went up there. of course it belongs to both religions... but some didn't agree and the 2nd Intifada started. Some say because Sharon some deny...
you see everything is totally complicated. in whole Jeruslaem. 3 religions clashing into one place. I don't like the atmosphere there. it's like under tension on every corner.
feels always good to ride back to sin city at the beach where cafés are the religion. holy shit look at this cake!

1st of all some pic of my work here. the model, in that I'm right now cutting streets (my heart is breaking)
and my desk. about the other project I will talk later. not sure if I'm allowed now (high-tech!).

*home is where the turm is.

a small arch exhibition. unfortunatelly in hebrew. but located in a very nice bookstore

we found a nice bar here in TLV. 'Suzanna' a roof top open air bar with very good coctails. on the pic is jannette. we studied the 1st years together in Dresden. she's now in Berlin and we met here accidentally, couse she's workin here, too. what a small world.

yesterday we went to Akko. partly with Sheruts, kinda service cabs, where passengers give the money from hand to hand to driver. you meet the world in there. some from Uruguay, Palistinian medicine students from Bochum, GER and so on. just be funny, laugh a lot and let it go with you.
Akko is a small Arabic town near Haifa on a reef. narrow alleys, strange smells and totally not Israel. reminded me to Cairo.

scroll and see!














extra scroll stuff from my mobile!
°German insider: Tokio Hotel at position 1 in the Israeli Charts. That's what I call Stupid.
°I still don't like the flowers
°just do it!