Bøger udgivet af Edition Axel Menges GmbH

Christopher Nolans Werk bildet ein Corpus, aus dessen Analyse sich eine Poetik ableiten lässt. Den Schlüssel dazu stellen THE PRESTIGE und das Skript der Zaubertricks dar; sämtliche Filme Nolans nach INSOMNIA sind davon geprägt. Die Analyse zeigt nicht nur, wie herausragend Nolans Filme sind, sondern sie erweisen sich auch als überraschend politisch. Der Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT verkörpert den Neoliberalismus, und mit Bane profitiert in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES ein Populist von der Zerstörung, die dieser anrichtet. INCEPTION stellt eine Allegorie aufs Filmemachen dar, die vollständig vom Skript der Zaubertricks bestimmt ist. In INTERSTELLAR und TENET geht es darum, wie die Menschheit auf die Klimakatastrophe reagiert: In INTERSTELLAR bleibt ihr nur die Flucht ins All; in TENET schlägt die Zukunft gegen die Gegenwart zurück. Mit der Atombombe gibt der Protagonist von OPPENHEIMER der Menschheit die Macht, sich selbst zu vernichten. Er läutet damit nicht nur das Nuklearzeitalter ein, sondern auch das Anthropozän.Weitere Themen sind unter anderem: der Angriff auf die Kiewer Oper in TENET und der russische Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine; die Bezüge in INCEPTION auf SOLARIS von Andrej Tarkowski; die toten Frauenfiguren in Nolans Filmen und Edgar Allan Poes THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION; die Flugzeuge in Nolans Filmen transformieren die Kanarienvögel in THE PRESTIGE; die Evakuierung in DUNKIRK ergänzt die Flucht von der Erde in INTERSTELLAR; die Wechselwirkungen zwischen INTERSTELLAR und Zack Snyders MAN OF STEEL; Michael Manns Thriller THIEF und der Neoliberalismus; die Anspielungen in TENET auf den James-Bond-Film SKYFALL von Sam Mendes.Aufgrund des letzten Punkts beschäftigt sich ein Exkurs mit SKYFALL. Vor dem Hintergrund des sich wandelnden Geschlechterverhältnisses sucht Bond nach einer neuen Identität. Silvas Homosexualität ist eine Chiffre für Misogynie, und der Femizid an Sévérine rekurriert auf den Tod von Joan Vollmer Burroughs. Dabei wird geklärt, weshalb Bond in Terence Youngs DR NO auf seine Beretta verzichten muss und statt dessen von dem >Triumvirat< Walther PPK, Aston Martin und Wodka Martini durch die Filmreihe begleitet wird. Diese Befunde werden in Beziehung zu den folgenden Bond-Filmen mit Daniel Craig gesetzt.

Europe, indeed the whole world, is littered with concentration-camp memorials, information centres, memorial plaques, and other signs that have been set up as a reminder of the atrocities committed by the National Socialists and their numerous willing helpers. In the United States alone, there are around 100 Holocaust memorials. In Germany, there are over 500 of all kinds of memorial facilities commemorating the Nazi victims (without the uncounted »Stolpersteine« by Gunter Demnig installed in memory of individual Nazi victims). Perhaps without these facilities, the deeds of that time would have longsince been forgotten. Nevertheless, the memories of what happened are fading everywhere. Almost all of those once affected, victims and perpetrators, have now passed away, and many of us today would rather not be bothered by it.How should we deal with this? Remembrance can only be present and have an effect in the future if those dealing with the subject succeed in touching us emotionally in such a way that what we hear, read and see causes us to beginto deal intensively with what happened and and ask questions: How could so many of our ancestors be so merciless, so inhuman? How could these monstrosities happen? How was this possible, especially in Germany, against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, German Humanism, German Classicism, German Romanticism and the highly developed German culturein general? And as the present unfortunately shows, much of this has since been repeated - even in places where one would no longer have expected it.The author has visited over 60 memorial sites himself in the last 40 years and has been personally involved in many of them as an architect, designer and artist. The book presents his views on the design of Nazi memorials and information centres with numerous examples of his own, illustrated with photographs and drawings. For the author, the creative confrontation with the Nazi past is a means of naming and visualising the suffering and cruelty of which people are capable, using all the artistic means at his disposal.

What all these buildings have in common is that with the availablematerial, wood, and the most modest means, places of worship,centres in the villages, were built with much feeling and love. The constructions in wood were derived in an old tradition from the dwellings and farm buildings of the peasant population. Their architecture with their typological forms probably penetrated into this seclusion as anidea. »The idea of a church as a building«, brought with them by clergymenand wandering master craftsmen from the more fertile plainsand the rich, large mining and trading towns. The oldest churches were built as early as in the 15th century, most of those still standing were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and quite a few are still being built today. Many were destroyed in the two world wars, many fell victim to ethnic cleansing after 1945. Many were destroyed in the two world wars, many fell victim to ethnic cleansing after 1945, some fell into disrepair during the Soviet era, others were burnt down by lightning or short circuits, and quite a few simply gave way to the more »represen-tative« stone churches as early as the 19th century. But a large number are still standing, consecrated, and believers gather in them. In fact almost of them in the various Carpathian countries are protected monuments, and many have been lovingly restored in recent times.More than the architectural-historical value, the question ariseshere of the aesthetic assessment of these small buildings. It is not arefined canon of forms of great architecture that can be derived andproven from the history of architecture that inspires us so much. Basically,they are not overly sophisticated constructions in terms of craftsmanship, they are safe and beautiful in their simplicity. Their aestheticappeal, however, also includes the surface-weathered material,deformed structures, colour improvisations, recently ornamentedsheet metal, inside wall paintings, altar and iconostasis furnishingsderived from Renaissance and Baroque periods, but above all theirlocation in the village, mostly isolated, often elevated, surrounded byold trees, enclosures and graves without cemetery order.Siegfried von Quast came from an old Prussian noble family. Hisgreat-grandfather, Allexander Ferdinand von Quast (1807-1877), wasa pupil of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and from 1843 the first Prussianstate conservator. In addition to his work in Prussia, he also took partin Schinkel's considerations for a royal residence for Otto I on theAcropolis in Athens. Siegfried von Quast (1931-2017) first studiedphilosophy, German literature and art history, and then architecture(among others with Egon Eiermann in Karlsruhe). As an architecturalphotographer, he was a sought-after partner for renowned architecturalfirms. His freelance artistic activity was primarily the photographicrecording of the wooden churches in Eastern Europe. He devotedhimself almost exclusively to this task for many years.

»In seiner Anmerkung zu der in England 1994 als Landscape as Inspiration erschienenen Ausgabe meines Buches Neue Landschaftsarchitektur / New Landscape Architecture vergleicht Geoffrey Jellicoe meine Zeichnungsüberlegungen mit den Arbeiten Paul Klees. Was zunächst etwas hochgegriffen klingt, ist insofern richtig, als ich mich in allem, was ich zeichne, entwerfe und realisiere, nicht ausschließlich im banalen Alltags- und Funktionsraum bewege, sondern immer zweite und dritte Surrealitäten mit reflektiere. »Kunst gibt nicht das Sichtbare wieder, sondern macht sichtbar«, so formulierte Paul Klee den Vorgang. Zu Recht könnte jeder Betrachter und Leser die Frage dagegenstellen: Was haben derartige Kunst-äußerungen mit der Alltagsarchitektur zu tun? Ich denke: sehr viel, und zwar deswegen, weil alle Architekturprobleme und deren Lösungen mehrschichtig sind, genauso wie reine Kunstwerke. Jeder Bau faßt seine architektonische, städtische, dörfliche und landschaftliche Umgebung zusammen und definiert sie neu. Gewollt oder ungewollt, übertrieben oder zurückhaltend, jeder Bau kann wirken wie ein Meteor- oder Bombeneinschlag, eine unauffällige Anmerkung oder ein Verschönerungsattentat. Mich interessieren an einem städtischen oder landschaftlichen Ort die Vergangenheit, die Gegenwart und die Zukunft. Mein Blick will archäologische Arbeitsweisen genauso integrieren wie Funktionserfüllungen und phantasievoll-surreale, manchmal auch utopische Ausblühungen. Ich würde niemals so weit gehen zu behaupten: Architektur ist das Notwendige, und Kunst ist das Unnötige. Natürlich wird jeder Künstler-Architekt, der sich auf diesen kompliziert-komplexen Weg begibt, Schwierigkeiten mit der banalen, scheinbar oberflächlichen Alltagsrealität in der Natur, der Landschaft und der Stadt bekommen. Deswegen ist es nicht verwunderlich, daß ich nur wenige Architekturen und Bildinszenierungen verwirklichen konnte und daß ich im Laufe der letzten Jahrzehnte zunehmend in die Bühnenbild- und Gestaltungsbereiche abgedrängt wurde. Im Augenblick interessiert sich, dank der ökologischen Bewegung, kaum noch jemand für die Verbindung von Kunst und Architektur. Wichtiger sind Nachhaltigkeits- und Nullenergiehäuser, bei denen sich kaum noch die Fenster öffnen lassen. Könnte es sein, daß Baukultur, ja die gesamte Kultur, bald in grünen Urwäldern und riesigen Feuchtbiotopen versinkt? Oder werden vorher fremde, kriegerische Völker unsere Städte und Landschaften zerstören oder besetzen und neu kultivieren?«

The dream of owning a home in the countryside has led to cities expanding more and more, growing together and destroying unspoilt nature. In addition, however, the need for affordable and attractive living space in cities is also increasing. Proximity to work and good infrastructure are clear advantages of city life. The »Penthouses for all« concept focuses on people's individual living wishes. It shows that sophisticated architecture can be affordable for all and is also possible in cities in the course of densification. The new living space for all is developed by building on flat roofs, which are plentiful in urban areas. Unfortunately, in the past the possibilities of targeted development of roofs remained largely unrecognised, especially in the newly built districts. So far, flat roofs here have mostly only been planted or used for energy generation. Here and there they are also built on later, but as a rule they remain unused for residential purposes. The situation is very different in many southern countries. There, it is a matter of course to use flat roofs for living and to include them in the planning right from the start. The book gives an insight into the inexhaustible possibilities of living on roofs. Numerous examples show that the dream of a home in the countryside can also be realised in the city. Not only small, low-cost roof houses are possible. With special »construction kits«, larger units can also be put together; alternative forms of living can be thought of and realised as well; nothing remains utopian. Ultimately, the aim is to make living in cities more attractive again in order to prevent urban sprawl and destruction of nature, and to give people back a home and identity even in the city. However, new building laws and development plans must create the prerequisites for this. So far, subsequent building on roofs is often prevented by building laws or rejected for aesthetic reasons. Further construction on roof areas is paralysed by the requirement to adapt to the existing building. Thus, only roof superstructures are created that are hardly recognisable as such or that take up the given monotonous design elements in order to adapt to the existing buildings.

The third volume of Erdmut Bramke's catalogue raisonné is devot-ed to »art in architecture« and temporary works in public spaces. It complements the two volumes already published with the presentations of paintings and works on paper. This makes the artist's work accessible to the public in its entirety. The richly illustrated catalogue presents the artist's competition entries from 1974 to 2002 in chron-ological order. The reconstruction of more than 20 realised and unrealised projects on the basis of unpublished material and personal notes from the artist's estate provide an insight into her working methods and allow a detailed view of the process of creating the works. Both the sketches and designs and the executed works show an incredible joy for experimenting and variability in the use of materials, ranging from painted metal sheets, holes drilled in wood and stone to tiles, fabrics, canvas, graffiti, glass and paving stones. Embedded in the discourse on »art in architecture« and its gene-sis in the 20th century, Bramke's works are presented in the context of the design process. Characteristic of her interventions in public space is her sensitiveness to the surrounding space which does not see her work as an addition to the existing architecture, but rather uses the architectural space to evoke quiet, contemplative mo-ments through intense colour experiences or to make the space experienceable. The »Bramke system« manifests itself even with the early, expansive work for the University of Constance. The form-giving element is a variable order structure. The arrangement of the same elements with slight changes and nuances, but following the same laws in rows, condense into a structure and become a vibrating lineament. Even 50 years after its completion, the work is considered as a successful example of how »art in architecture« can have integrative and functional qualities without losing its artistic value. Between this first major work for the University of Constance from 1974 to 1976 and the expansive work for the cental library of the University of Tübingen at the end of her life constants in the »Bramke system« become apparent. At the same time, the overall view clearly shows the development of a

An ode to light sings the way of the wandering light, which comes from the universe and is born from the union of night and light. Wandering, it lingers for a short time in each place it visits, wandering around it, going from door to door and leaving its gift of light behind. It overcomes boundaries, falls in love, is angry, shows the future and laughs. It visits places of humiliation, powerlessness and hopelessness, and gives them a home, courage and protection. The wandering light tries to understand each place it visits and shows itself to them in different guises: as a shimmering cube, a folded labyrinth of light, as a pulsat- ing vibration in rainbow colours, as a diamond light floating above the horizon, gently humming the music of the night.It dissolves boundaries, unites continents in the air, transforms what is fear, is here and there at the same time, lifts up the reality of time. At the end of its wanderings around the earth, it moves on into space, but not before leaving behind its scent, like the scent of time and its omnipresence.Beijing, Agra, Barcelona, New York, Gerona, Ankara and Zaatari are the places it encounters on its journey. The movements, frozen for a moment, allow us to sense its vibrations and its pulse on its way around the earth.

Seit jenseits der Zeit erkunden Regenbogen-Blitze das All, hüpfen von Stern zu Stern und formen wie dort auch auf unserem Planeten Lichtwesen und Kristalle aus Licht. Sie sprudeln, flammen, züngeln, blitzen auf, weben ein Netz aus Licht, ziehen sich an, verdichten sich, werden Raum, der inspiriert und in den man hineingehen kann. Werden Figurinen, Kuben, gurgelnde Himmelsscheiben, fliegende Labyrinthe - Kathedralen des Lichts ! Vibrieren, dehnen Zeit, lachen, erquicken, explodieren traumgleich in Knospen des Lichts, sind zeitlos und vergehen. Besonders von Städten fühle sich die Regenbogen-Blitze angezogen. Dort funkeln sie magisch RosaRot, JasminGelbGold, BlumenBlau und hauchen ihnen neues Leben ein. Schönheit ist ihr Ziel. Wäre ihr Licht Klang, welch' süßer Wohlgesang ! Welch' überfließendes Glück regnete herab ! Welch' LichtWeltenKlang !Die Reise der Regenbogen-Blitze Reisen geht u.a. in die Mongolei, nach Belize, Rom, Kathmandu, Guilin, Norwegen, Dubai und Japan. Die für einen Moment eingefrorenen, sprudelnden Blitze und Lichtkristalle lassen ihre Schwingungen auf dem Weg um die Erde und ins All erahnen.

Architects usually try to create »finished« buildings, i. e. coherent works of architecture for eternity. But does this claim stand up to reality? Should that be the claim at all? After all, it cannot be ruled out that the building will change after completion. Inspired by references from architectural history, art and anthropology, the young Kaiser Shen studio developed various theses at the beginning of its practice and tested them on the basis of its own projects. Central to this is the question of how buildings change in their lifespan due to external influences and what this change means for permanence in architectureand for the idea of space.In earlier times, it was common practice to build on existing structures. Thus, in most buildings that have survived for several centuries, countless layers of time overlap. This can be seen particularly clearly in the additions and conversions of churches for example. Due to new framework conditions and requirements for use, buildings were always pragmatically developedfurther in the currently valid architectural style. Often, only experts are able to distinguish between the different time periods. Only a few buildings are considered so outstanding by society that they are conserved and musealised in a fixed time layer. However, such conservation is rather unnatural and can only be justified in exceptional cases. In this book, therefore, promising strategies are to be pointed out as to how »unfinished« houses, with rooms lacking special qualities, can be further built and adapted to the present framework conditions.For Atelier Kaiser Shen, a good structure means developing a future-proof spatial idea, and this cannot be reduced to the supporting structure. When building further, it should be possible to build on this architectural-spatial idea. Since a con- version can even destroy it in extreme cases, it is important to create a potential that is recognised and taken up by thosewho continue to build. Ideally, the building should have such a strong spatial idea that it can survive future renovations and still be viable.

Das Schauspiel, aber besonders die Oper haben nur scheinbar wenig mit unserem alltäglichen Leben zu tun. Die Oper ist zwar eine sehr artifizielle Kunstform, in der die Wirklichkeit dennoch präsent ist, jedoch in einer Weise verdichtet, daß sie uns über die Zeiten hinweg anrührt. Beim Erleben von Opernaufführungen werden wir so zu Gefährten des Sängers Orpheus in Monteverdis Oper L'Orfeo, der mit seinen Klageliedern den Tod seiner geliebten Nymphe Eurydike betrauert. Wir verwandeln uns in mitfühlende und mitleidende Brüder und Schwestern von Orpheus, Wozzeck, Tosca, Tristan, Isolde oder Jenufa und werden damit ganz direkt auf die Fährnisse - und auch Freuden - des eigenen Lebens verwiesen. Um die visuellen und klanglichen Dimensionen einer Oper für das Publikum erlebbar zu machen, ist ein enges Zusam-menspiel von Dramaturgen, Schauspielern, Sängern, Tänzern, Regisseuren, Bühnenbildnern und Technikern erforderlich. Welche Rolle spielen dabei die Bühnenbildner? Haben nicht manche Aufführungen ihren Erfolg vor allem dem Werk des Bühnenbildners zu verdanken? Die Bühnenbilder von Hans Dieter Schaal, der an fast allen deutschen Bühnen gearbeitet hat, aber auch in vielen bedeutenden internationalen Theaterorten, darunter in Wien, Salzburg, Zürch, Brüssel, Paris, Moskau und San Francisco, entfalten durch ihre visuelle Kraft immer wieder eine so nachhaltige Wirkung, daß sie für lange Zeit dem Gedächtnis des Publikums verhaftet bleiben. Der erste Band über die Bühnenbilder Hans Dieter Schaals umfaßte die Jahre 1982 bis 2000. Mit diesem Buch erscheint nun ein weiterer Band, der den Arbeiten aus den Jahren 2001 bis 2021 gewidmet ist. Das Buch besticht nicht nur durch eine Fülle von großformatigen Photographien und viele Entwurfszeichnungen, sondern auch durch die von Schaal selbst verfaßten ausführlichen Texte, die erkennen lassen, wie intensiv sich der Künstler mit dem jeweiligen Werk ausein-andersetzt. Er erfindet dabei Bilder, die oft eine ganz neue Sicht auf die Werke auslösen.

Cities, estates and routing systems develop, change constantlyand fundamentally cannot be planned. Claims to ownership, landand building regulations, planning decisions and political interventionsmake it difficult for settlement structures to adapt to constantlychanging requirements to such an extent that meaningfuland totally ecological use of the surface of the earth is becomingincreasingly difficult, although new techniques and flexible planningmodels mean that a connection could be found with the self-designingprocesses of urban-development history.Plants are anchored in their location on the face of the earth, animalsand human beings have mobile territory and encampmentsthat become static with increasing density. Human settlements areorganisms, but they are not hereditarily anchored in their form likecorals, sponges or beehives. They often grow and shrink at thesame time. Their form can almost never be called chaotic. Typicalself-formation processes lead to astonishing genetic optimization inthe course of time. Processes of change have become so rapid todaythat current urban-planning theories have been overtaken.But high effectiveness of self-created, in other words unplannedsettlements in terms of energy and biology is totally achievable todayin »natural« town and transport planning and leads to ecologicallymeaningful solutions that are also full of beauty.The study was written in the context of special research into»natural constructions« by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,and has hitherto been available only in German and as aworking paper for circulation between those involved in the researchproject.Frei Otto is one of the 20th-century's most important architecturalvisionaries. Although at a first glance his buildings like theGerman Pavilion for the 1967 World Fair in Montreal, designed withRolf Gutbrod, the roofs for the Olympic buildings in Munich designedby Günter Behnisch or the project developed with ChristophIngenhoven for a new main station in Stuttgart seem to be inthe tradition only of the great constructors of this century like FelixCandela or Pier Luigi Nervi, his work goes way beyond mere construction.He is a technician, artist and philosopher in one, and hiscentral concern is for a new and all-embracing link with nature inbuilding.