Thursday 8 September 2011

The Film Forum Duisburg

There are, I should say, eight fabulous Anselm Kiefers here.


Pocket Spaces

Q. Where are the nice bars?
A. In Dusseldorf

Q. What about Innenhafen?
A. It's made by computers

Spaces in between are pockets of resistance,
Fight escalated prairies of market perfection
By requiring either an informed local knowledge
Or a forensic informal nose for the nuance
That separates OK from possibilities
To learn more than the latest in high street fashion

In Duisburg the challenge is compounded by
Aerial poundings in the name of freedom,
An old town only by computer generation
In the Stadt museum; a docklands of cocktails...
Bolero ist gut, go to Innenhafen:
Identikit cultures - kubar, chilli-haus - come on...

...The rain doesn't help, sending inside helpful signs
Of independence, spirits unbowed by the mall's
Fierce grip; and a campus zoo university
Where Schliemann archaeologists must dig for life.
This victory's reward: to dream of Dusseldorf
Whose altstadt is the longest bar in the world.



Film Forum cafe, Duisburg, September 8, 2011.
A pocket of resistance.