On Sundays, some of Munich’s best museums are open to the public for only €1.
Locals and tourists alike pour through their open doors, starting their week with the wonder of great master paintings, modern models, and Bavarian history.
I started my day with the Pinakothek Der Moderne. The spherical tin spaceship by the entrance the perfect introduction to the building’s futuristic feel, reminiscent of the 1970s perspective on the aesthetic.
The architect, Stephan Braunfels, took advantage of the building’s open space. Wielding windows and white walls to bounce and tunnel sunlight into its spaces.
Premiering in September of 2002, the museum is approaching its 20th anniversary.
Boasting four museums under one roof, the Pinakothek Der Moderne displays first a collection of art, second work-on-paper, then architecture, and finally design. Their composite making the museum home to one of the largest modern and contemporary art collections in Europe.
As I walked through the exhibitions, my attentions were drawn to two of its distinct collections.
Design Für Olympia
A million tongues to say the same:
We challenge you.
Wir fordern dich heraus.
We charge at your records, seu sucesso, lou manuia
at your pride.
tua superbia.
We are better than your finest.
Nous sommes meilleurs que vos meilleurs.
The lines you ski into this powdered soil are nothing.
We carve, we carry, we achieve!
Your common colors stand
in stark contrast to our victory.
But us, our individual, who do we choose?
Country or Culture?
People or Pride?
Does it matter?
What is loyalty but to ourselves?
Will our millions cheering carry our best
through their final breath on the world’s stage?
An exhale of warm air makes the same cloud
blown from different mouths.
Aren’t we all imposters in this game?
Stretching our bodies into ancient shapes.
Taking archaic tradition
and calling it our rite.
| Wir fordern dich heraus | We challenge you (German) |
| seu sucesso | Your success (Portugese) |
| lou manuia | Your success (Samoan) |
| tua superbia | At your pride (Latin) |
| Nous sommes meilleurs que vos meilleurs. | We are better than your finest (French) |
Mix and Match Collection
Side by Side & Stretched
into industrial shapes.
Your camera-flash red and my smog gray.
Your overlap and my outline.
Drawn faces,
through zigzagged truths, speak.
With the voice of photographic snaps,
still in their motion.
This perpetual pulling- closer
& closer they beckon.
Arent we better at a distance?
Drag your tired body far enough
to appreciate our curves.
No eyeglass exposé of our gaps.
Just watch,
light bulb minds & naked limbs dancing
with stagnant yearning- bursting from form.
Begging to scream a million of life’s secrets
in each harsh stroke, to tell
trapped truths in each arched eyebrow,
every severed line asking you to fill its empty.
Nomadic Thread 