One of Weimar Germany’s most important artists was the mysterious Otto Dix (1891-1969), who was famed for his striking portrayal of both bourgeois society and the seedy underclass, as they struggled in a rapidly degenerating Berlin society.
The motivation for the realism of his work, particularly arising from his war service as machine gunner in WW1 is highlighted in a 1963 interview:
‘I had to experience how someone beside me suddenly falls over and is dead and the bullet has hit him squarely. I had to experience that quite directly. I wanted it. I’m therefore not a pacifist at all – or am I? Perhaps I was an inquisitive person. I had to see all that myself. I’m such a realist, you know, that I have to see everything with my own eyes in order to confirm that it’s like that. I have to experience all the ghastly, bottomless depths of life for myself.’
Living in post-Kaiser Berlin, the absence of censorship resulted in Berlin becoming a New Babylon, providing ripe material for Dix as the city went to extremes to satisfy the every desire of anyone with hard foreign currency. One of his more famous subjects was the German dancer, actress, writer, and prostitute, Anita Berber - a daughter of Bohemian parents who was dancing in cabaret in Berlin by the time she was 16, and working nude by the time she was 19.
The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber: Weimar Berlin’s Priestess of Depravity
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Imagine if you will the following scenario.Someone is killing the great modernist artists of early 20th century Europe - principally by separating their heads from their bodies.
But what of the addictive blue absinthe that painters around Paris have been using to enter famous paintings in a transcendental psychadelic trip? Who is the mysterious “Blue Lady”? Could this hold the key to the murders?
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Although this absinthe is not in ready commercial distribution in Australia, there is mail order and notable tourist-based personal import, to the degree that the fine folk at the Fischer Schnappsmuseum in Vienna felt it necessary to produce a template customs declaration for Australia to verify that it contained less than the legal 10mg/kg of thujone.
I never got the chance to use this customs declaration when I picked up a bottle in Austria, because those *!@#@-wits at Heathrow Airport and British Airways decided to lose my bags for two weeks enroute back to Australia (despite multiple assurances that the luggage would be on board after missing a connection…look- don’t get me started or I’ll rave on about the pure incompetence of BA…needless to say I am among the thousands who will now refuse to go through that hell hole of a transport hub or travel on that airline).
Anyway, my bags were eventually returned with the absinthe, so fortunately I can bring you my particular thoughts on this somewhat unusual product…
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The 2008 Sydney Festival is on again in January next year, and the season looks set to be a blistering one. The 2008 line-up features as it’s centrepiece the High Priestess of Art Rock, Björk, who will be vocalising as only she is able in the Opera House Forecourt, under the stars on January 23. She of the Swan will be performing songs from her new offering Volta, which is a return to a more pop-oriented sound, albeit one carried by thundering electronica and saturated in relentless, violent colour. This show is a sell-out and should set a new festival benchmark.
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Kübler 53%
Blackmint Distillery, Motiers, Switzerland
Reviewed: 8 December 2007
With/without sugar? Both.
Kübler 53% is a distilled Swiss La Bleue absinthe, produced in the Kübler ancestral distillery in the Val de Travers, dating to 1864. Interestingly, Kübler was the first absinthe in Switzerland to be produced legally post-prohibition, thanks in part to distiller Yves Kübler’s idea to trademark the word ‘absinthe’, thus allowing him to sell his product as such when others could not. The absinthe is presented in a shouldered olive green bottle with a cork stopper. This cork closure turned out to be more of a problem than one would expect, as the ‘lid’ or external part of the stopper came away from the cork, meaning your taster had the delightful experience of opening his bottle of Kübler with a pair of pliers. Oh, the romance… (If this happens to anyone else, try to avoid opening the bottle with a cork screw, as this perforates the cork totally and may lead to evaporation of your absinthe. However, if you just can’t wait and have the corkscrew at the ready, replace it with a T-cork and make your life much easier in the long run.)
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The stunning blog banners we have been showcasing over the past week have been plucked from the spongy grey matter of Sydney-based digital artist, musician, DJ and master of several trades, NeoTokyo.
He’s made us look kind of special, thus we think he is kind of special, and feel especially inclined to give him a big plug and highlight an upcoming Burlesque show where you can catch him cranking out those nasty nasty tunes that he plays so well.
Friday 14th December in the beautiful Art Deco Blue Mountains town of Katoomba (NSW), Jingle Belles will be like the Christmas you caught your mother doing something lewd to Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe…….
How festive!
Burlesque & Beats & Belles - what more could you want stuffed in your Christmas stocking?
But have you been naughty or nice….hmmmmm?
In an artistic exhibition of a different kind showcased by France’s National Library, rutting satyrs, degenerate aristocrats and lusty clergy went on display as part of its extensive collection of prohibited erotica.With cataloguing starting in the 1830s, the library’s special pornographic section, officially entitled “Enfer” (Hell), has dropped its strides and bared all in priapic glory as it has a long, hard (in fact, very long and hard…) look in the mirror of contemporary moral values.
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The reviews section of our site is due to expand significantly in the next few weeks, including photos and detailed tasting notes, so keep your eyes peeled. We plan to add our five cents’ worth fairly regularly, but look for these reviews in the nearest of futures:
Mansinthe
Matter-Luginbühl Distillery, Kallnach, Switzerland
Kubler
Blackmint Distillery, Motiers, Switzerland
Moulin Roos
Tambourine Mountain Distillery, Queensland, Australia
Does your antique absinthe set look slightly odd sitting next to your brand new 21st century flatscreen home computer? Do you find yourself wishing that those things we have come to rely on in our daily lives, like home computers, mobiles, scanners and iPods were a little more in keeping with your decadent, eldritch 19th century absintheur soul?
Well, it would appear you are not alone.
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Time.com has a feature story regarding the recent ruling which allows absinthe to once again be sold within the United States, (thanks largely to the hard work of the ridiculously knowledgable and dashing Ted Breaux, amongst others).
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