Biennial • Timișoara (3,653 km)

(Timișoara, 28.06.2025-30.06.2025) I have visited Timișoara several times, most recently in 2023, when Timișoara was European Capital of Culture. The university city is the historical, economic, and cultural center of Banat, a multi-ethnic border region between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary. The Romanian revolution against Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist dictatorship started here. Was Timișoara's designation as Capital of Culture just a flash in the pan? No, because the economic boom in Romania's third-largest city was already noticeable before that, and this trend has gotten stronger over the last two years. The biennial currently taking place and the rich cultural offerings are eagerly embraced by young and old alike – including me. Brutalism and lost places can also be found here. The S.T.P.T. tram depot will have to wait until my next visit to Timișoara.

https://artencounters.ro/en/bienale/ebienala-2025/

Bruralism • Belgrade (3,399 km)

(Belgrade, 25.06.2025-28.06.2025) Long before "The Brutalist" came to theaters and won numerous awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Film in 2025, I was interested in Brutalism as an architectural style. While in Sarajevo it was the lost places that captivated me, here in Belgrade it is the Brutalist buildings that fascinate me. Even if Brutalism has a negative connotation, I would like to dispel a common prejudice. Brutalism goes back to "béton brut," French for raw concrete or exposed concrete, used by star architect Le Corbusier, who founded Brutalism. His works are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the buildings in Belgrade are in no way inferior. Nevertheless, I fear that sooner or later they will give way to new urban development projects, such as the prestigious Belgrade Waterfront, which was developed by the Serbian government in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates. Everything is still new, shiny, and comfortable, and Belgrade's upper middle class, including many expats, are happy to invest in supposed concrete gold, while at the same time the real concrete buildings are falling into disrepair, which is totally unnecessary. But they're popular as backdrops for music videos. Do you recognize my photo motifs in the video "Netzwerk" by the Austrian group Klangkarussell?

https://youtu.be/T63MfO3BnrQ?si=E8xqQKZkBhj5MCWj

Lost Places • Sarajevo (3,034 km)

(Sarajevo, 22.06.2025-25.06.2025) Sarajevo is renowned for its lost places. Such a lost place and a street art location of superlatives is the Olympic Bobsled Track, which was built for the 1984 Winter Olympics. The Trebević Cable Car takes you up to 1,160 meters in seven minutes, and it takes an hour and a half to walk down to 583 meters. A lost place of a completely different kind is the Old Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo. It is the largest Jewish cemetery in Southeast Europe, founded by Sephardic Jews as early as 1630. In Naples, I was still a film tourist, but here I am already an urbexer; that's short for an urban explorer, someone who discovers lost places. Is the whole of Sarajevo one big lost place? No, not at all, but you do get the impression that time passes more slowly here. I was last here about forty years ago, and the city hasn't changed that much. The ice cream and lokum seller in Baščaršija, the bazaar in the historic old town, is as loud and witty as he always was. Old men play outdoor chess in the city park. A chain of stores is called "sovietlostcommerc" and the convertible mark is the national currency, which was first pegged to the German Mark and then to the Euro. Did you know that? The Bosnian War, which created these lost places in the first place, or at least affected them, ended thirty years ago, but its traces can still be seen at every turn. Whether it's the images of Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić, a war criminal serving a life sentence, on the route to Sarajevo, or the Eternal Flame in the city center, which commemorates the victims of World War II and the Bosnian War. "Swords to Plowshares" becomes "Bullet Casings to Ballpoint Pens"—who needs plowshares anymore...?!

Additional photos of the Olympic Bobsled Track:

https://www.amazon.de/photos/album/b_KIDBapRdSFLfWMJw-ilg

Additional photos of the Old Jewish Cemetery:

https://www.amazon.de/photos/album/3B2Ep4euQiO0xg72kpQPOg

Overtourism • Dubrovnik (2,764 km)

(Dubrovnik, 21.06.2025-22.06.2025) The Dalmacija, originally christened Oslofjord sailed in Scandinavia, now sails from Bari to Dubrovnik in glorious sunny weather and calm seas. In August 2024, the German newspaper taz reported on "Overtourism in Dubrovnik - The Malaise of the Clone Cities". Statistically speaking, each of Dubrovnik's 41,000 inhabitants, including babies, is visited by 37 tourists every year, a total of over 1.5 million; a good proportion of them - it feels like - have already been there today. For fear of drowning, I don't let myself be swept away by the stream of people flowing down the valley towards the old town and stay safely above the city. Dubrovnik is also very attractive, especially when viewed from above. That's enough for us and we're off again, quickly away from the coast and up over the mountains to...?!

Bella Italia • Bari (2,742 km)

(Bari, 19.06.2025-21.06.2025) Bari is my last stop in Italy, time to take stock. Over the past two weeks, we've been to progressive Milan, elitist Modena, picturesque Siena, diverse Rome and, most recently, the Sodom and Gomorr(h)a of Naples. But it is only in Bari, with its port, historic old town and colorful evening hustle and bustle under palm trees, the promise of "Bella Italia" is fulfilled. Nowhere else in my perception were the citizens so at peace with their city as here in Bari, but decide for yourself!