Every two years since 2000, a small and sleepy English seaside town is vivified — hosting an art festival unlike any you may visit. Without the swarming and frenetic rubbernecking that turn such festivals in carnivals, Whitstable —celebrated locally for its oysters— has… More—
Aue is the German word for floodplain. It is also an anagram of the French word for water, eau, which becomes evident when trying to find oneʻs way through Documenta 13ʻs greenest venue, the Karlsaue park. What had in fact a symmetrical, baroque layout was later turned into the sort of landscape garden that blurs the boundaries between nature and garden, a solemn retreat of meandering paths and wild meadows.
I’m grasping my umbrella, jumping over ponds of mud. It has been raining, on and off, for weeks. The paths have become creeks and the river Fulda that flanks the Karlsaue resembles a sidearm of the Mekong. Stepping into a clearing, I face a tall and ghostly white sculpture with the face of a monster More—
