Do You Hear What I Hear?

Nothing makes a day quite as grand as getting to interact with modern art. And Nacha, Ivanka, and I did just that last Sunday; which made for a marvelous afternoon.

ZKM is an amazing modern art museum (which I have mentioned before in a previous post) and it has recently put up some new exhibits. It's main exhibit is called Sound Art. As the name simply implies, it's a whole bunch of modern art that has something to do with sound. Now I must admit that I found some of the pieces quite strange, but on the whole there were some pretty amazing things to look at, and many that you could interact with. The girls and I had a field day with the interactive ones, probably breaking all sorts of museum etiquette rules haha. But what's art with out a dash of fun?

I've decided that instead of writing a wordy blog describing my favorite pieces, that I would just show you a majority of the pictures I took (more pictures than I usually post in my blog posts) because you will get a better grasp of the epicness. Of course, you won't really be able to experience it like we did considering I can't provide you with the sounds that accompanied the art. And for that I am truly sorry, and offer an invitation to visit me here in Karlsruhe so we can go to ZKM together. Because art should be seen and experienced and shared by all.

T.V.'s with windup toys moving about, and the background music being the Macarena. No joke. We found this room to be creepy, so Nacha was being all funny and pretending to be the girl from 'The Ring.'

Singing wine glasses (those devices do what the tip of your finger usually would do).

Ivanka, Nacha, and I just chilling out barefoot on a vibrating floor. We were actually required to take off our shoes for this piece, which made me feel all giddy. I mean, when do you get to go barefoot in a museum?! Never. Well, except for this time.

This is Ivanka and I walking about my favorite interactive piece. We walked around with those devices in our hands listening to the sounds that were emitted from each light bulb (each had a different one). The more we turned up the volume on our device, the more the all the sounds meshed together. The lower the volume, the clearer we heard each light bulb singly. So neat.

Couldn't figure this one out. But I think it looks pretty.

Me, horrified, standing next to the creepy beehive of microphones emitting sounds that would be right at home in a horror movie.

I have no idea why Nacha is hugging the creepy microphones haha.

Ivanka listening and watching virtual flies get killed. Art at it's finest.

The sun! Not sure what this had to do with sound...

No idea what this technically is, but I think it looks beautiful.

These little guys would move in different directions due to sound vibrations. Neat, right?

The girls and I having a vanity moment in front of a black sheet of metal. For some reason in the picture it doesn't look like a black surface at all... I didn't even use flash!

This was a pretty epic interactive piece. Ivanka and Nacha are yelling into microphones, and I was making crunching the rocks with my feet (off camera). Why? We were making music of course.

"Ooo this looks so cool! I wonder what it does." *pushes button*...

*WAAA BAMMM* "AHHHH OHMYGOD!!!"

No idea why a map of America was in this exhibit, but this is me pointing to where home is, very, very excitedly.

Ivanka and I listening to some sounds on an old school VHS machine.

The main lobby even has some musical art... music notes made out of metal and old speakers.

Close up of old and new speakers emitting a low buzzing noise.

For each main exhibit ZKM does, they have art out front that is visible from the street. This is what they chose for the Sound Art exhibit: a bunch of old and new speakers piled together making the same exact noise. Amazing? Annoying? Pure Genius? Your choice.

Hope you enjoyed this post and got a little sound bite of our afternoon because of it!

Dinosaurs, Bunnies, and Eggs, Oh My!

The idea that bunnies lay eggs is pretty hilarious. But for some reason we as a society have come up with an idea that a bunny hops around on Easter hiding eggs for children to find. I mean, if you think about it, it's a pretty hilariously crazy idea. But it's a big part of Easter celebrations in the States (and here in Germany as well). Of course the main reason for Easter is Jesus rising from the dead, buuut bunnies are much more fluffy and adorable that a crown of thorns, so society focuses on the bunny and his egg deliveries.

Bunnies are of course adorable, but I don't have a bunny. So when it comes to Easter I focus on eggs (and Jesus duhh. But this post shall be all about eggs). I love and hate them. They can be so delicious, but often if I eat too many within a couple months I can't eat them for several months after. Obviously Easter is a time were my belly sees a lot of eggs. And this year was no different. My friend Nacha and I did two different egg related crafts this Easter weekend, so we ate around 30 eggs collectively (with help from friends). But needless to say, I will be happy to not see any eggs for quite some time.

A very typical craft in the U.S. (and in Germany from what I've seen) is the dying and decorating of eggs. I can't remember an Easter that didn't involve said tradition of hard boiling eggs, dying them, and then adding various decorations like stickers. I loved getting dye all over my fingers and creating strange hybrid colors and patterns. I still do. So Nacha and I decided to dye 10 eggs one afternoon. She was super excited because she had never dyed eggs back home in Chile. Her boyfriend Bernie on the other hand, who is also from Chile, had dyed eggs before. So we set out the typical tools of the trade: hard boiled eggs, bowls filled with water, vinegar, and food dye tablets. Then we began dipping the eggs in the bowls; Nacha going for the tradition colors (yellow, green, blue, purple, pink/red), and I mixing and matching as usual. We set our newly dyed eggs on paper towels to dry. Once they were completely dry, we proceeded to draw on them with Sharpies. Which is something I have never done before, but it was extremely fun. We made designs, wrote things, drew pretty pictures; I even made one a dinosaur egg. Once finished, we decided that we had so much fun that we needed to decorate more eggs. So we decided to meet up the next day to be even more creative and try a craft that I've always done with my grandma for Easter.

Nacha dying an egg pink.

Me drawing on an egg while Nacha shows off another of my creations.

Nacha and her finished eggs!

Nacha's polka dot egg.

Me and my finished eggs.

My dinosaur egg.

Our egg-tastic creations!

 My grandma is a creative genius. She is the one who fostered my love for all things artsy. So it's no surprise that she has a craft that we have done every Easter since I can remember. It involves eggs (surprise, surprise) and is quite simple, yet requires some skill for it turn out beautiful. Nacha and I felt up to the challenge, so we gathered the needed supplies and got to work.

Supplies:
1. Various types of paper napkins with cute patterns cut into medium sized squares (we got three different types)
2. Watered down white glue
3. White glitter (make sure it isn't too fine)
4. Ribbons (optional)
5. Something sharp to poke holes in eggs (we used a thumb tack)
6. Bowls to hold napkin pieces, glitter, and glue
7. As many eggs as you desire (just make sure to get proportional amount of other supplies, we made 20 eggs)

Our work station.

Directions:
1. Poke small hole in each end of egg.

Nacha poking holes in egg.

Eggs with holes.

 2. Blow egg white and egg yoke out of egg shell. Then rinse off with water and pat dry with paper towel.

Me blowing the egg white and egg yolk out of egg shell.

3. Apply watered down glue onto the egg with your finger. Then take a piece of napkin and gently place the napkin on the egg, smoothing it to be flush with the egg. Then repeat until the whole egg is covered with napkin.

Applying napkin squares onto egg.

 4. Once egg is covered, roll egg around in the bowl full of glitter. You can also just sprinkle the glitter on.

Our now very glittery eggs.

 5. Let egg dry. Once dry you have two options. With a hot glue gun you can add on a bow and create a little ribbon loop so you are able to hang the egg, or you can just leave it as is. Since we didn't have a hot glue gun, we opted for the second option.

A great place to let them dry is in their original egg carton.

 6. Display in a bowl somewhere (preferably with fake grass) so that all your friends will see your awesome craft skills.

See how awesome a basket makes these lil guys look?!

Ta-da! You have just created one of my favorite Easter memories. Yes, it's slightly a gluey glittery mess of a craft, but what's a good craft without a little mess? Nacha and I are very proud of our eggs. Of course they come no where near to how awesome my grandma makes them look, but that's okay. Hopefully someday I will be just as awesome, telling my grandkiddos how to make these eggs.

So that is all I have to say about eggs. I am egged out. My dear reader, I hope that you and your family and friends had a wonderful Easter. Frohe Ostern!

And remember... He is risen! He is risen indeed.