Madeleina Kay

Sep 258 min read

A Crash Course in Bavarian Culture

My friend invited me to stay in Bad Reichenhall, a Bavarian spa town on the border with Austria. The area is famous for being the filming location of the Sound of Music - but I thought it was a bit too naff to do one of the tourists musical bus tours.

Museum der Moderne Salzburg

I was rather disappointed by the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, it was nice enough to visit but there was nothing particularly inspiring or engaging for me personally. The mosaic in the entrance foyer was probably my favourite thing.

There was randomly an "artwork" which comprised of a pingpong table and TV screen which invited you to try and hit a moving dot on the screen. Which was kind of fun, but I wasn't convinced of its artistic merit?

My favourite art of the exhibitions was the work of artist Rose English. A feminist, performance artists whose work ranged from costume and photography to sculpture and installation art. I especially loved this series of colourful, ceramic women.

There was also an interesting installation featuring white horses, some wearing shawls and copies of country life magazine - as part of her exploration of the materiality and symbolism of objects.

I also liked this contrasting photographic work, which gave the impression of walking through life burdened by the materiality of objects. I forgot to make a note of the name of this artist.

Obviously I had to pose for a photograph with this wall-hanging....

Given my interest in flags and banners, I quite enjoyed this artwork which featured a series of hangings in bold colours with text printed on them. Although I felt the materials and execution were not very sophisticated.

This particular message made me laugh....

We also visited the Museum der Moderne Salzburg Altstadt (Rupertinum), which primarily contained photographic and video works - which weren't especially interesting to me.

Although I was fascinated by this artwork map, 'Urban Cosmologies', which traced a journey in photographs, chalk lines and text - a piece created by artist, Ofri Cnaani in collaboration with her students at the Salzburg International Summer Academy. The artwork documents a journey around the city, and the annotations reflect 'the spatial infrastructure and temporal rhythm of urban life'.

Chiemsee

We visited Lake Chiemsee, with JEF Bayern, and took a boat to the Castle Island.

The Castle was built in the style of the Palace of Versailles and the Island also featured an exhibition on the German constitution.

Because of my interest in propaganda material, I particularly enjoyed this booklet created by the British government during WWII.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to see the whole exhibition as I was experiencing worsening pain due to a medical issue which was making it difficult for me to walk. By the time we made it from the exhibition to Herrenchiemsee Castle, I was feeling so dizzy and faint that I had to abandon the castle tour and sit in the café waiting for the others.

Allotment-ing

My friend took me to his allotment so we could dig up potatoes for Kartoffel-pfannkuchen. We also harvested the tomatoes whilst we were there - some were still green so we left them in the kitchen under a tea towel to ripen.

He also prepared another traditional Bavarian dish, sticky potato balls, Rohtkohl mit Apfel and tofu with a (Vegan) gravy sauce - and a bonus salad just for laughs.

And of course we had to have a Schnapps tasting session... My favourite was the Apricot flavour.

Museum Brandhörst

We also visited Museum Brandhörst in Munich, which had a temporary exhibition of Warhol and Harring - who are not my favourite artists but my friend was keen to see it. Even though which I have been to the museum twice before, this artwork, 'Party Room' by Pope.L, in the permanent collection, always captivates my attention and I spend a long time looking at it. I think it's the tragic juxtaposition of childhood innocence and alcohol abuse which stirs my emotional engagement.

There was a couple of artworks in the permanent exhibition, which I hadn't seen before which I aprticularly liked.... 'Crossing Guard' by Aaron Gilbert. I especially loved the use of colour to create a lumniscent haze as well as the urban setting of the painting.

This collage/painting, 'Recuerdos, Not in the Chair' by Raymod Saunders also drew me. There wasn't any text description to explain what the work was about, but I loved the complexity of the textures and layers, which meant you constantly noticed new elements the longer you looked at the artwork.

We also had a quick wander around the permanent collection of Cy Twombly artworks, who is also not my favourite artist but this particular painting matched so well with my outfit that I had to pose for a photo.

Party of Life - Andy Warhol & Keith Haring

I have never been a massive fan of Warhol, as I have always found his work to be flat, disinteresting and hyper-commercialised. His fixation with celebrity and the ills of capitalism also irks me. I enjoyed the BBC Series 'Andy Warhol's America' about his life and work, although it didn't endear me any more to his work - I think because I find his work so unrelatable in content and style to my own life and interests. The same goes for Keith Haring, I don't want to discredit the merit of his artwork - it's just really not my style and the content is not especially interesting to me.

My favourite Warhol artwork in the exhibition was this depiction of the last supper, although what the blue and black symbol overlaying the linework represents remains a mystery to me.

In contrast, I hated Warhol's 'Ladies and Gentlemen' commissioned paintings featuring "transvestites" who are "completely anonymous and impersonal". The sitters were paid $50-100 dollars whereas Warhol earned $900, 000 for the commision - which came across as exploitative.

Equally, this work by Haring particularly irritated me, I just don't get why it's interesting.

As a badge fanatic, I did however enjoy the selection of merchandise from his "pop-up shop". I think his designs are well suited to this sort of commercial item.

I found this silkscreen artwork by Warhol depicting Haring and his partner quite disturbing. The third figure in between the to men is a compilation of the two men - 'through superimposition, [Warhol] seems to insert himself into the intimate embrace of the two.'

One particularly stark observation, was the contrast between Haring's portrait of Warhol, 'Andy Maus' made in1985 and the portrait he made of Andy after his sudden death in 1987.

In the earlier portrait, Haring's naïvely cartoonish style depicts Warhol's obsession with capitalism and commercialism- featuring Mickey Mouse and the American Dollar as symbols. The contrasting later portrait, is far more graphic, disturbing and bloody - expressing Haring's grief at the loss of his friend and mentor.

I was interested to see the more political activist work of the two artists. I preferred Haring's work here, supporting campaigns such as LGBTQ+ rights and the AIDs crisis - I thought his style was well suited to the propagandist nature of the works.

Conversely, Warhol annoyed me again here. As I found his political work to be more superficial and about "networking" than authentic activism. Not least because this campaign poster for the German Greens was commissioned by the influential artist, Joseph Beuys. Warhol was 'accused of "making a political statement without even knowing what it meant".'

Equally this portrait of Joseph Beuys, feels like schmoozing more than embodying any authentic belief in Green Party poltiics.

Oktoberfest

Afterwards we visited the Octoberfest - one of the biggest folk festivals in the world.

I have never been before, so I was excited see the cultural phenomenon - however, I rapidly realised it was far too crowded, noisy and over-stimulating for my taste. My friend was happy to show me the Octoberfest but also wasn't a massive fan since it has become hyper-commercialised and it takes so long to get served - it's more fun to drink and eat elsewhere.

I also felt out of place, since the majority of visitors (including my friend) were wearing traditional Bavarian dress; Lederhosen and Dirndl. I actually own a Dirndl, but as we hadn't planned in advance on going to Octoberfest (I mistakenly assumed it didn't start until October!), so I didn't bring it with me in my suitcase.

Salzburg Bier Festival

I much preferred the Salzburg Bier Festival which was a much smaller, less crowded and traditional affair - where it was relatively easy to get served at the bars.

I also had fun throwing some poses in the Mirabell Park...

Mozart's Balls

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows anything about classical music that the city of Salzburg and the region milk Mozart for as much commercial potential as possible. The city is populated with small confectionary shops selling "Mozart Balls" (chocolate, marzipan and pistachio) - I bought some for my Dad since they are a local speciality. Bad Reichenhall also had an entire cafe and shop dedicated to him - although I will admit that the Austrian coffee was vastly superior to the German cafés I visited whilst there.

Freilicht Museum

The Salzburg Freilicht Museum is an outdoor historic museum which shows the traditional culture of Austrian regions. We visited on a dad when there was a farmer's market and tried some delicious local apples, vinegar, oil, dried fruits and whisky. I really enjoyed seeing all the traditional buildings including the "Sauerkraut hut" where the fermented cabbage was traditionally made in a well. There was also an exhibition in a house dedicated to different types of Mouse Traps - most of which seemed rather inhumane.

Lake Thumsee and the Wasp

We visited a lake in Bad Reichenhall, called 'Thumsee' where we could try paddle boarding. It was a beautiful day with stunning scenery and we had a lovely picnic...

Unfortunately the picnic was so nice that the wasps also wanted to share it with us and it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows how often I get bitten by insects - I got stung. I am allergic and despite taking prescription antihistamines as a precaution - my arm still turned bright red and swelled up to twice its usual size for several, rather painful days. The pharmacist in Bad Reichenhall helpfully gave me some Hydrocortisone and antibitotic gel - and I thankfully avoided another deep-tissue infection, which happened the last time I was stung by a wasp.