Swiss Design - starring Hans Erni

'Connecting Thoughts 1993'



'Dove and Pegasus 2005'


Commemorating his 100th birthday next February 21, 2009, we can safely say that he is one of the greatest artist, Switzerland has ever seen (and almost forgotten). Still alive and active as usual, he produces paintings that may lead some layman like me to remember MC Escher, Picasso or Paul Klee. He combines geometric, strict forms with artful colors and soft lines.
His works reflect art and politics, and have been internationally acclaimed. Some appeared on post stamps, or some supported the Red Cross, or have been related to the UN. 20 years ago, a museum dedicated to him opened as part of the 'Verkehrshaus' (Transportation Museum) in Lucerne, his hometown in Switzerland.

get insipired and visit:
www.hans-erni.ch

Financial Institutions I

Before anyone did anything, Matsukata did [almost] everything.

Sadly, if you study financial development and institutions, you rarely come across prominent figures from Asia of the 19th century, as most literature deals with Western financial development. The more fun is to read about a Japanese (seemingly) multitalent. His story (according to wikipedia, as of today).


He was/is:
Matsukata Masayoshi (松方 正義), 1835-1924, prince, president of the Japanese Red Cross Society, privy councillor, gijokan, member of the House of Peers, and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan. Later, he was given the title of prince and genrō.

He did/acted as:
- governor of Hita prefecture (1868-71?)
- drafted new Land Tax Reform (1873-81): highlights: pay taxes in money, not in rice, fixed rate 3%, calculated on price of estate.
- Home Minister in 1880
- Finance Minister 1881: fiscal austerity, boosted confidence in currency and fin. institutions
- tried to protect Japanese industry (at the time: uneven treaties with West), launched big government industries, (needed to) hand over to private sector --> evolved into zaibatsus.
- established Bank of Japan (issued paper money) in 1882.
- wrote Meiji constitution (1889) articles 62-72
- Prime Minister 1891/92 and 1896-98 (and simultaneously finance minister)
- produced at least 24 children
(Alexander Hamilton has done much, but could he meet this standard:-)?)

On Wisconsin Ave

The journey starts in the center of a fanzy shopping mile - M Street - in Georgetown. You pass a building with a golden dome, formerly a farmer and merchants bank (today PNC is in there). Numerous galleries, nail shopes, restaurants, boutiques etc. are along the quite narrow road.
The more north you get, the broader becomes Wisconsin, less crowded, less colorful, less upscale. Brick buildings here and there, a Safeway, a public library.
Then, on the left, a huge territory and a tall, white-grey building (a hybrid between a palace and a bunker): the Russian embassy.
Further north, just past the intersection is the beautiful National Cathedral, built between 1907 and 1990 (probably one reason why the Indiana limestone-structure is still so clean and nice: it's so young). The central tower is 301' 3" high. Highlights are Woodrow Wilson's sarcophagus and the extensive underground rooms (about half of the cathedral has underground chapels/walkways etc). And ... we're in America ...: one of the busts on the Northwestern Towers depict Darth Vader (I did not see him, it was already dark, but check out the website).

http://www.nationalcathedral.org/about/darthVader.shtml

Beyond the cathedral complex, there are many apartment buildings and you wouldn't get the feeling that you're actually in DC. Just when it get's a bit downhill again, there's Fannie Mae on the left-hand side, the big semi-public (given its inception in 1938), private (since its chartering by congress in 1968) and now entirely public (since Sept. 6, 2008) mortgage enterprise.
Nearby is also the embassy of (the Republic of China on) Taiwan, or how the plate says: "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US" (the building is much nicer than the name).

Further north is Tenleytown and some American University buildings with radio antennas (WAMU 88.5 FM, National Public Radio). Walking back via Albemarle Street (through a nice neighborhood) and Connecticut Ave (past DC University), I encountered a chanting crowd: protesters call for a free Palestinian state (cf. the recent Israeli action in/against the Gaza strip...).


At an earlier point, but time and again worthwile a visit is the Smithsonian museum on American Indians
http://www.nmai.si.edu/

A Day in Downtown DC

Small, but beautiful: whenever you go to DC, go to the Renwick Gallery (how convenient, it's just next to the White House).
Not only are its temporary exhibitions breath-taking (if you think we glass is only useful for windows, think and watch again, cf. picture, source of the picture: http://www.linotagliapietra.com), but worth-a-visit is also teh George Catlin Indian gallery.

Lino Tagliapietra is a son of Murano, the famous Italian glass-blowing industry island nearby Venice. The connection to the US: he became acquainted with a glass blowing school in Seattle and helped to create talented people over there.

George Catlin (folk art?) anticipated the trouble between the Indians and the White Man and painted a couple of hundred pictures to contribute to the preservation of Indian tribes.
Besides him, you can find other stunning oevres, such as a seemingly veiled clock, whose perceived covering linen is actually wood (very fanzily made; even from a 2 feet distance you can't tell that this is actually wood, it's made so wel).

It's not just cool that there is no admission fee, but also that the museum actually consists of two buildings (i.e. the second part of American Art is together with the portrait gallery at F Street further to the East, let's call it the real SAAM).
The SAAM houses an amazing amount of presidential paintings and other inspiring pictures about American history. And if you fall almost asleep (e.g. because you sleep not enough also during your holidays), then you get a boost by a coffee and "gourmet" cookie at the "Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard" (i.e. the courtyard is covered by a 900-ton (really? so says the flyer), 28'000 square feet glass roof consisting of 864 individual glass panels.

go there and enjoy:
http://americanart.si.edu/

In times of trouble, it's always good to reinforce your confidence in democracy, its institutions and recall its ideas. Ideally, a walk on the Mall makes you thinking and inspiring.
But not only - a closer look, and a healthy portion scepticism reveals that the many lights on a Saturday evening 8pm in the many (and the many big) federal office bunkers, ahm, buildings along/around the Mall, is most probably not because zealous and hardworking employees...
People here seem to talk much about change, how to relaunch the economy ... and about climate change (watch out, the oil price is down to around 40$/b compared to the 145$/b this July...!). Why only talk and await a big push in the green direction when everybody can make a (little) difference on his/her own - AT NO COST? It just takes the willpower of a second to switch off the light in the evening and switch it on in again in the morning.
[if they have a central on/off switch for the whole bureau, why not use motion-detectors, so you won't even need to do the job on your own?)?
Energy efficiency does not just mean MPG (miles per gallon, which is here ridiculously low anyway) and it's not coming from big companies only, but from the bottom - from each individual. If we do not believe in change and our OWN capacity/discretion to (at least initiate it), then we do not need to listen to people promising us the same. Both need each other - otherwise it's not going to work, whether the world is flat, hot or crowded or not.

What makes you tick?

"to commit every nerve, every muscle, and every drop of sweat to a work, to a great task; to grow with the work, to become greater oneself in the struggle with one's betters - and then to be able to say at the end: I die, but there remains something that is more important than my life and will last longer than my body: my work."

[Morgenthau, H.J., (?) School Composition, "Was ich von meiner Zukunft erhoffe, und worauf sich diese Hoffnung gruendet", as cited in Frei, C. (2001). Hans J. Morgenthau: An Intellectual Biography. (p. 80) Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.]

My home is my castle

Would you like to see an example of America's infrastructure?

"....Address the Lauinger Problem", as The Hoya (student newspaper at Georgetown University) put it in an editorial (issue of Friday, Dec. 5, 2008). Indeed, our campus' main library is not only not known as a beauty, it has some other severe drawbacks.

I can't put it more vivid terms than the editorial: ".. not just because it's physically ugly, outdated and decrepit. (Earlier this semester, for instance, Lauinger's ceiling was leaking so much that many stacks had to be covered with blue tarp to protect them from water damage.
In its current configuration, Lauinger stifles the intellectual life of our community. With only a handful of meeting rooms and woefully inadequate study space, it remains stuck in an obsolete notion of what a library should be. In the 21st century, a library must be more than a warehouse for storing books."
And it goes on: "Changes must reflect the need for expanded study and meeting space, and for the development of a more inviting learning environment. Lauinger must become a destination, not a mark of shame on our campus."

It's indeed a sad reality: Tables and chairs are worn out and seemingly never clean, the restrooms seem to be not properly taken care of, the computers are slow (except those in the Media section on the first floor), the heating system is crazy (either too hot or too cold, and the air filter are either too loud or (but usually and) not really working well so its a stuffy atmosphere to work in. Copy machines are often out of order and ...
And one wonders about the ridiculous security measures (whenever you enter, show your ID; as if that would prevent somebody to make nasty things...; however, sometimes the guards are too much into a conversation among themselves...).

However, one must point out that the staff is really friendly and always ready to help. And, a big advantage compared to the University of St. Gallen: you can download journal articles and papers online from home by logging in - you do not need to download them on the campus.

A nice idea from Singapore: RFID chips to make everybody able to check out books individually instead of waiting in line for too long and bothering the circulation desk guys (who are students, and sometimes do not seem to be very committed to do their job).