Absentee-ism

A recounting of events from this past weekend, in no particular order. The weekdays in Berlin seem to follow the same pattern as those in San Francisco, Thursday is the new Friday.

As S previously mentioned Thursday we went to an opening at the residency center Kunsthaus Bethanien. There were 3 artists displaying work in a building that was built in the late 1800's and used as a hospital for most of the 20th century, with an awkward balance between decoration and sterility. By far the most interesting work was by Marianne Vierø. Her 12 photographs of brick walls (built by the artist) were hung in a tomb-like room saturated with fluorescent light. I only mention this about the surroundings because it was the kind of exhibit that you walk into and want to turn around and immediately leave. As a result the room was empty, serving as a perfect place to escape the crowd filling the hallways and sucking down beer and cigarettes. The longer we stood there the more the work unfolded. The brick walls in the photographs gave way to become like ready-made Sol LeWitt's. Work that would have been invisible to the attention deficit viewer.

After the opening we went our for drinks with friends and a friend-of-a-friend PD who was visiting from Milwaukee. We ended at a restaurant in Kreuzberg with called Hannibal, whose mascot was an alligator and served Pan-American cuisine. You know everything from nachos to burgers and pizza to milkshakes. I decided on a Long Island Iced Tea and french fries (pommes frites). We spoke with PD about his interest in moving here and our mutual desires to set up studio spaces in Berlin. The conversation turned towards politics, literally the American electoral system and Presidential Candidates. Our discussion about absentee ballots and everyones' interest to participate in the upcoming presidential election revealed some disheartening information.

It appears that there was a large campaign locally to promote absentee registration and voter turn-out for Americans living in Germany. Living and working on the German clock all of the ballots were collected and turned in early for the election. But if you recall, in the 2004 election there was an error made with the absentee ballots and the only absentee ballots that were counted were of military members serving abroad. This brought back the bitter taste lingering from the last election. Reminding us that with all of our hopes placed into this election and the rhetoric of the 'every vote counts' electoral system, the political system is fundamentally broken. I have a strange feeling that no matter who wins the next election, it is going to be a hard pill to swallow.