Yesterday I went into downtown Nuremberg for some street shooting, but the weather was super miserable, it was snowing heavily but due to the above freezing temperatures it melted immediately into a big soggy mess. So I decided to escape the streets and took my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 12-40 F/2.8 Pro Zoom into the “Neues Museum Nürnberg“, our modern architecture art museum within the historic city walls. It currently features a special exhibition “On the Art of Building a Teahouse – Excursions into Japanese Aesthetics”, a topic that fits perfectly to a fascinating book I recently read – “Wabi-sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers” by Leonard Koren. For more photos and some more information about the exhibition continue after the jump….
The exhibition centers around the traditional Japanese teahouse culture, since the days of the ancient tea master Sen no Rikyū (1522-1591) a place of spiritual experience. As also described in detail in the mentioned book by Leonard Koren, Sen no Rikyū understood the tea ceremony as a spiritual event in a simple tea house using objects made of materials that are vulnerable both to wear and tear, but with aesthetics of lightness, fragility and of simplistic beauty, which links Japan’s tea culture to Zen Buddhism.
Eye-catcher is the installation of a floating mountain scape by Yasuaki Onishi, made out of super light plastic foil held by strings of petrified hot plastic glue.
A large video installation by Japanese cinematographic pioneer Masanao Abe showed films of cloud formations around the summit of Mount Fuji he filmed in 1926.
A fascinating object is also the blue disc by famous artist Makoto Ofune , hanging from the roof symbolizing the moon, with the resting chairs and the light beam on the ground being like islands in the ocean.
Also featured are zen- like photographs by famous contemporary Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, where is shows the horizon between sky and sea in various states of visibility, a boundary that in reality is non-existing, as sky and sea never meet. Another featured photographer isNaoya Hatakeyama.
The Neues Museum Nürnberg, a museum of north art and design, opened in 2000 and is well worth a visit, also because of its stunning architecture.
Great of all of us photographers is that you can bring your camera and are free to shoot, as long as you don’t make use of flash and tripod. All of the shots in this post were taken handheld, slowest shutter speed was 1/25 sec which is no problem whatsoever for the PEN-F with its great image stabilization.
I wish you all a happy, peaceful, relaxing and creative Sunday!
Marcus
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Very Interesting. Little known displays in a fascinating museum.
Thanks, glad you like it! Marcus
What fascinating works you’ve shared with us through your beautiful photographs — and what a wonderful tip as well. Thank you for both, Marcus.
Thanks, Heide, as always 🙂 !!
Marcus, I returned back to look at these stunning photographs!
They are so creative and interesting. I wish we would have the interesting exhibitions were I live.
Greetings from Utah.
Thank you, Kaya, your kind words mean so much! There is so much beauty in Utah, I would love to have some of this natural wonders close by 😉 Maybe we need to trade?
I love a good museum and they are the perfect rainy day place to visit. Thanks for sharing a glimpse into your local museum Marcus! It looks like a wonderful exhibition. 🙂
Glad you like it, Amy! Museums are great places to shoot! Need to try the Portland Art Museum next. Maybe next rainy weekend 😉
Thank You for making time in your very busy schedule for sharing.
Thank you for your kind words, this is so much appreciated! Marcus
That was the perfect place to nourish the spirit and relax the body…
Perfect words….thanks for commenting! Marcus
It’s a very good idea. In a museum there are a lot of moments to catch! And it’s a very good “invite” for people to visit museums 🙂
Thanks, Raffaello, perfect words! Marcus
I love the floating mountain top. I have never been to an art museum. That will change.
Thanks for commenting 🙂 ! Museums in general are great places to shoot, not only art museums. But somehow those always get my creative juices flowing 😉
What an interesting art museum Marcus, and great photos too! Hope you enjoyed a good weekend.
Thanks, Marion, glad you liked it! Weekend was great, last week was totally insane. And my summer vacation is a gazillion years away….but I have a week NYC coming up with my wife, only a good seven weeks away, that’s my silver lining for now….
Love! Wish I was there. Such fun and thoughtful art. Great pictures.
Thanks so much, love your comment! Marcus
Thank you for this…most likely I will not have the opportunity to wander about this museum…so your images are second best…in person, of course is number 1 best. I’m currently studying rhythm and your third image sang to me.
Thank you for your great words, they mean a lot! No-one ever told me my image sang 😉
Amazing shots. They gave the desire to visit this beautiful museum as I love modern architecture. SO interesting!
Thank you Zahra for your kind words 🙂 Marcus
You are welcome 😊
I agree with Carly. Wonderful shots. I love photographing in museums myself. Somehow, especially in newer, dedicted art buildings, the rooms seem to be made for photography. Combine that with the Japanese sense of space and the environment is ready for the taking.
Great comment, Peter, so much appreciated! Marcus
Great shots, and I love the contemporary art on display!
Thank you so much, Carly, highly appreciated! Marcus