Vienna waits for you (part 3)

 

 

This BBC documentary about Vienna by Joseph Koener goes for 1 1/2 hours, an intriguing look at one of the most explosive moments in modern history.

‘Vienna was the site of one of the most explosive moments in history. 100 years ago, this city gave birth painfully to the most radical new movements and ideas.Viennese visionaries and demagogues dreamt the dreams and nightmares that shaped our modern lives, in art and architecture, in literature and music, in philosophy and politics, revolutionaries like Freud, Schiele, Klimt and Schoenberg created the modern world by scandalising it while Vienna’s terrible apprentice Hitler plotted destruction here.

It was in Vienna where much of what we think of as distinctively modern burst forth, where the ideas that still challenge us were first thought, what was special about this city? Why of all places here, where an old world lingered were everywhere else collapsed.

I am on a personal quest as well. In 1938 my father a Jew was forced to leave his birthplace here, yet he returned to Vienna obsessively, with us, his family in tow. I am trying to find out what drew him back to this scene of his trauma, city of dreams?’  Joseph Koener

Vienna waits for you (part 1)

Great short film about Vienna by  Austrian filmmaker and photographer, Georg Riha.

sparkles in those Tyrolean mountains

In 2003, the Swarovski Crystal Palace collection visited Australia. I was working in a Sydney architecture office,  and the furniture showroom DeDeCe that shared our building, was the exhibition venue.

The ‘modern chandelier’ had been birthed with some interesting international designers such as Tord Boontje and the Campana Brothers commissioned to reinvent the concept of the chandelier and modernise it. Since then, Swarovksi have gone on to commission over 62 new designs for the Crystal Palace collection, such as Zaha Hadid, Yves Behar, DillerScofidio, and Tokujin Yoshioka.

In Innsbruck, Austria, a new boutique and mueseum has opened displaying some of the Crystal Palace pieces, in addition to showcasing the history of Swarovski crystals in Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe’s `happy birthday Mr President` dress, Lady Gaga`s crystal monster shoes displayed with Nicole Kidman’s neck piece from the film Moulin Rouge. A popular chandelier, Vincent Van Duysen`‘Cascade’  featured in the film Oceans 13, is on display.

Swarovski have since forged and rebranded itself as a modern fashion and design company.