The fire rooster cometh
East Asians celebrate New Year on January 28, and for the Chinese, it’s the most important holiday of the year. Leaving windows and doors open and lights on all night is said to bring good luck; fireworks and firecrackers scare away evil spirits.
The Hamburger Kunsthalle art museum, which holds works from a good eight centuries (such as Caspar Friedrich’s “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”, pictured here) is celebrating its 150th birthday. A comprehensive program of events kicks off August 23.
Lauryn Hill, U.S. rapper and former frontwoman of the hip-hop group Fugees, only produced a single album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That was 21 years ago, but it’s regarded as a milestone of neo-soul. This month, the singer is performing in Germany: August 27 in Cologne and August 29 in Berlin.
I took this on the waterfront in Vancouver, looking toward Vancouver Harbour and the North Shore Mountains. “Digital Orca, 2009” is a sculpture by Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland, and to me, it’s both wishful and optimistic.
Kamil Bialous, photographer, Vancouver, Canada
According to Apulian legend, the venom from a tarantula bite makes you dance like crazy, which is where the festival La Notte della Taranta gets ist name. An array of concerts, folk dances and wild parties, it is held all over Apulia, southern Italy, every August.