01.28.2012 Lange Nacht der Museen

Long Night of Museums.

First, this poster was such a disappointment. Berlin has many other posters made that are slapped on walls better than this. But I didn't have a generic this-was-my-evening photo for this event so forgive me. Moving on, it's museum night! Also known as, the "Long Night of Museums". I've been looking forward to this night since I translated the poster. I even put two alarms on my phone about it. This is an annual event in which a slew of museums all over town are open from 6pm to 2am, for the price of one ticket, transportation and shuttle included. I made a list of ten museums to checkout throughout the night, and upon leaving, my flat-mate wished me good luck saying, "I hope you are able to finish at least half of your list tonight!"

board games for the blind

The plan was to check out all the small museums because the large ones would be crowded, and I actually want to spend my time leisurely in the large ones. So the first stop was the Deutsches blinden museum, the German museum for the blind. I was curious, and I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely ended up spending quite some time here. The "museum" is just the second floor of a building with three rooms. The rest of the building is probably a centre for the blind, but I'm not sure. 

1. the blind (me) looking for the blind.               2. Place these goggles on to feign blind sightedness and try and play a board game with a friend.

sorts

artifacts. ways of seeing.

a typewriter

 

There are only six keys on this typewriter. Of course, there is no need for QWERTY here. The typewriter on the left is a traditional machine, and is still being used today. In fact, this hunk of metal gets lugged around like a laptop. Typically, children start and learn with this sort of machine, and then transition to the newer digital kind, which is a bit more complex, but less primitive, and faster. Nowadays, some kids just start with the electronic versions and never have to learn to adapt from the traditional ways. It is not a well accepted method among the older generations, but it's probably the future. The machine on the right, isn't exactly the new kind, but has similar properties. I think the one on the right is just an adaptor for an IBM. I'm not sure about its utility.

1. large braille,                                                                2. visually impaired volunteers talking about stuff

Writing. I found this to be quite difficult in the beginning, but it could be because I was not given any instruction. A piece of paper is placed between the metal plates and the "poker" pokes holes to make each letter. However, the paper is backwards and mirrored! It's kind of like writing "help me!"on the inside of a frosted car window for driver-bys to see, except in Braille. Also, how does a blind person do this? Or is this like a method of translation? 

1. braille printer,                                                                                               2. Harry Potter, the entire series! woohoo!

It's nice how every subway station is different. Always a surprise!

The second stop was the Zeiss Planetarium. I didn't know there was a closer one, so I trekked it out to this one. I don't think I've been to a planetarium before, I thought it was just a place with telescopes and an observation deck. (isn't it?) There was a line-up when I entered. I never know what is going on, so I waited patiently, until finally I went to take a look to see what everyone was actually waiting for. There was a closed door, with a sign that said 2330 on it. It was 11:18pm. Was it a show? Was it going to be some educational film about stars narrated in German? Was it an open observatory? I had no clue, so I left, thinking that I could probably spend my time seeing more, other museums instead of waiting for this one. (such impatience!) And then, down the stairs and two meters out from the door, I changed my mind and returned to my spot in the planetarium line. What's to lose anyway I figured. I'd never come back anyway. (It's in the middle of nowhere)

1. narrator,                                                                                                  2. projector...?

It's 11:30pm. The doors open and we fill the planetarium hall. The chairs lean back so you are comfortably angled to face the dome shaped ceiling. So I guess it's going to be a show.

The narrator talks in German, telling a story about the winter night sky, the trajectory of the stars, Orion and his friends: Aries and Taurus, and landing on the moon. Even though I don't understand a word he is saying, he has a nice bedtime story telling kind of voice as the domed ceiling becomes projection of an artificial starlit sky. So it was nice. The stars were all fake, but I can live with that.

The planetarium also does shows with themes like alien invasion! and Queen! (the music)

1. pretty spacey right.                                                                                         2. zaap.

Berlin Automobile Forum (by automobile, 3/4 of the space is Volkswagon's)

Almost halfway through my list! I stumbled upon a photo exhibition by Anders Ryman titled, Riten des Lebens (Rites of  Life). Here, on display is a collection of photos depicting rites of passage in different cultures in places all over the world like, a wedding in Nepal, an initiation ceremony in South Africa, or cremation in India. 

A Volkswagen exhibit about electric mobility for 2013. "It's the future," they say. "Energy efficient and sustainable."

I got here pretty late, so not many people were around. Mostly, the staff were eyeing me as I boorishly climbed onto the bike to try to get that little race car to move on the track. It didn't budge. Maybe it was disconnected..

1. entrance,                                                   2. hemp waffles,                                                                 3. hipster.

The last stop I could squeeze in for the night was the Hemp Museum -- it's probably as exciting as the Sugar Museum (meaning, not exciting). The windows were all foggy so perhaps they were actually growing stuff on the inside. The "bait" for the place were these hemp waffles they serve in their underground cafe. They were as interesting as whole wheat bread. (= not interesting)

Reassurance!

And that was it! Four and a half out of ten museums is not too bad.. The evening was crisp and clear and it just started to snow. Of course there was a bunch of time spent getting lost in between locations and a bit of silly running, (to make up for time wasted getting lost) thinking that would make the time go by slower.. But next time, I would either start earlier, or perhaps even skip out on the event entirely. Maybe the bigger museums have more to see, although I think I would still enjoy going to see the museums at an easy pace instead of trying to marathon them all at once haha.