Cassiano drying himself after a swim at a lake in Berlin, shot on medium format Ilford Ortho Plus 80. September 2023

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Evening at Teufelssee - Rainer Fetting

German , b. 1949 -

Oil on canvas , 220 x 200 cm.

A l'orée de Grünewald

Mes yeux sont si secs La forêt semble encore plus touffue de loin Elle paraît si haute et si large à côté de nous On doit la traverser pour aller se baigner C'est juste l'histoire d'un quart d'heure et c'est bon Mais plus on s'en approche, et plus je me sens saisi La clarté du bois me coupe le souffle Et je sens mon esprit me quitter, sans résistance …

Je me retrouve dans cet espace sans fin Sans lumière, sans personne Je sens que mon âme se dilue dans ce lieu froid et familier Sans comprendre, je trouve un certain confort dans ce vide J'arrive à ressentir le vent dans les branches La fraîcheur du sol meuble, l'ombre qui tombe sur le passants Des siècles de sentiments, de rire et de silence me traversent Si bien que je finis par en oublier ma personne

Mon chagrin et ma fatigue s'assoupissent calmement Et c'est alors qu'un diablotin apparaît au bord d'un lac Tu ne devrais pas rester ici trop longtemps Tu es encore si jeune, n'accorde pas tant d'importance à la mort Je me sens alors aspiré par de grandes respirations Mes amis sont quelques mètres devant moi Ce lieu et ses habitants se nourrissent de notre joie de vivre Il est alors temps de les honorer de notre baignade

Teufelssee à Berlin.

Teufelssee in Berlin 👍

On my last day in Berlin went to a lake near Teufelsberg (Teufelssee, devil’s lake lol) where about a hundred people were bathing and sunning themselves in the buff. It’s kinda an institution around Europe. So I’m like cool and I join them, get nakey in nature and swim around in a nice cool lake. Definitely fewer full frontal women than men, and being young as well, felt very conscious of gaze, but also wanna get naked like everybody else and felt it was my right. Suss the towel spot for weird dudes, spot a few — just guys with gazes that aren’t quite right — but on second glance they’re, like, fine. Not actionable level creepy. There’s one man nearby who gives me some solace, an old-ish guy in cool glasses and long hair for whom it is just clearly nonsexual chillin’. Exchange a wordless hello.

Swim, come back, blah blah. I’m stoned and had spent the afternoon in the forest gazing at bloated Nazi oil tanks hidden off the main path. The tanks with which I’d had an almost religious interaction turned out to be American, supplying the spy station atop Teufelsberg during the Cold War. The Nazi part is the unfinished university underneath Teufelsberg, which is an artificial hill formed of rubble because the Americans found this strategy easier than using dynamite. Truth isn’t always stranger than fiction but it does have a way of being unsentimental. So I’m ready to go at this point, had had a nice time swimming, knock the kickstand to my Lime app bike, when I look up to see a sort of ageless nude man (young face, salt-pepper hair) has materialized among the the trees. Wasn’t the water really cold? He asks me.

I shrug. It was fine. He squats down next to me as I kneel to tie my shoes. His long, coltlike legs sort of cross over his penis. He has been watching me swim and sun, he says. He thought I was a refugee, a Syrian immigrant! Ha ha. He noticed I’m alone. Yes, I’m alone. Traveling alone! Wow!

Ah — I remember him. One of the guys scattered around my way when I put my towel down. A quick exchange of glances, not the best vibe, and then he made himself forgotten.

I ask him what he does for work. He says he’s an investor. Inexplicably the idea of him investing in my art flashes through my brain and I become so conscious of appearing opportunistic I almost knock over my bike. And me? Social media, I tell him. His brother has a media agency, he says. Mostly the money in Germany is shit, but it’s pretty good in media, advertising. Germany has a great train that goes unlimited over the summer for 50€. I can explore the Germanic countryside unhindered. His name is Mark. He would love if I might take down his contact info. It’s too bad he caught me right as I was about to go. I am about to ask him for his last name so I can, like, google him but something stops me. Why google?

It’s not until I leave it dawns on me how weird that was. Every day here, a new man wants to be friends. I tell them about my boyfriend. Doesn’t matter. Not necessarily weirdos — a married writer, an IT guy from Damascus, a ballroom dancer from Toulouse, a composer at the Louvre. A guy at an ambient show, a friend of a friend — could feel the energy running through his finger, his hand casually placed near mine. I’m practically folded into the corner seething, I think he’s flirting, but not sure if I’m making it up. I told him I had a boyfriend already. Later he says “not to be too forward but you can stay at my place if your hostel is too far.” I’m trying to think of what to say to this.“What do you mean by forward?” Beat. “but I told you I have a boyfriend.” “Oh, I didn’t know what that meant since you’re backpacking through Europe and all.” By the end I’m practically screaming at the IT guy. “I HAVE A BOYFRIEND. I AM NOT INTERESTED. WE ARE WALKING TO THE CLUB AS FRIENDS. PLEASE SIGN HERE.” Still, little things. Hearts. An offer to share a bed.

Women never approach me. I had felt men watching me, yes, when I had been swimming. But you couldn’t tell that I was naked. I’m a damn good swimmer! Ugh. Sometimes I pretend to be stupid.

Zum Grunewald - Brand:

Ich habe heute Mittag Polizei und Feuerwehr alles schon telefonisch und per E-Mail geschickt aber, damit ich selber gleich gut schlafen kann, hier noch das gleiche noch Mal:

Bild 1 mit den Feuerwehrwagen müsste dem Parkplatz identisch mit Markierung 1 zeigen

Markierung 2 ist der S kurvige Schotterweg zwischen S-Bahnhof Grunewald und Teufelssee auf dem ich rechts neben diesen auf einen Weg für Pferde und Fußgänger aus Sand seit 2004 in 5 Durchgängen in Eigenregie den Weg sauber gemacht und bestimmt 15 kg radioaktives Graphit rausgeholt habe, was an den Oberflächen Spuren zeigt, wie man sich das von der Havarie des Atomreaktors Tschernobyl 1986 vorstellen kann. Von dort wird übrigens seit Jahren ein großer Teil des Graffitis, wie auch das radioaktiven Fußes vermisst und nun sind im Ukraine Krieg auch mehrere Dutzend radioaktive Isotope Markierung weg gekommen.

2004 entwickelte das Graphit mit dem metallabrieb auf der Oberfläche in der Sonne noch einen nicht unerhebliche Beta-Strahlung, 2021 habe ich einen strahlenschutz Experten mit einem Geigerzähler rübergehen lassen der zumindest wenn das Material nicht bewegt wird und bei Raumtemperatur lediglich nur noch ein Rem, bzw. Bequarel pro Sekunde und ausschließlich nur noch Gammastrahlung für 50 Gramm Material abgibt.

Wenn das Material allerdings provoziert wird also durch Öffnungen hätte durchbuxiert, oder gestoßen, oder auch nur auf 60⁰C erhitzt wird, steigt die Strahlung auf mehrere hundert Rem/Bequarel an.

Was allerdings meiner Meinung nach sehr problematisch ist, dass die Graphitsteine über die Jahre hinweg feinsten Staub abgegeben haben, der im Sand noch drin liegt - und natürlich mit Hitze und Wind von dem Feuer massiv reagieren kann.

Beim letzten durchgang hatte ich mich mit zwei Passanten unterhalten die beide von sich aus gesagt haben dass es ein extrem unangenehmes Gefühl ist selbst mit Schuhen auf dem Sand zu laufen.

3 zeigt die offizielle Angabe der Stelle des Entstehung des Brandes, der sich allerdings mit dem Wind aus Richtung Südosten direkt auf Markierung 2 zu bewegt. Ich am Mittag sogar ohne geruchsbelästigung lediglich nur war die rauchwolke optisch über mir sichtbar in Steglitz auch über 10 Mikrotesla noch etwa 10 km entfernt in der Luft gemessen.

Daher habe ich hier das Strahlungssymbol zur Kennzeichnung der Stelle nach meinen besten Wissen und Gewissen als Laie verwendet.

20.07.2022

SOME MEMORIES NOT SO GOOD; SOME GREAT

It was hot as by the end of the week so we headed for one of Berlin’s lakes for a saunter & swim. Getting there in the heat was arduous as we rented shithouse bikes that caused various problems and had a bad day navigation-wise. The lake, Teufelssee, is a clothing optional lake which is cool but was also kind of gross as the lake is rather small and I felt more like I was hopping into a dirty bath with 40 others. In the evening we had some lovely pizza on Maybachufer by the canal and discussed the merits of pop punk briefly as there was a Pennywise poster on the wall.

We’d hired a car to drive around Germany which was organised in advance but collecting the car was a nightmarish experience according my comrades who went to pick it up while I read my book on the apartment balcony. Headed for Dresden, we were out of Berlin and legally speeding on the autobahn promptly. German road houses are few and far between and when you do find one the food they offer is sausages on those hotdog rollers like they have in Kwik E Mart or fried cheese and chips over schnitzels. The servos all sell beer cold though. It was hot but the car’s aircon was fierce, which we were extra glad about as they say that if you roll the window down when driving through Germany you’ll know by the smell when you’re in Saxony (thanks to the pig farms).

Dresden... They say [the bombing of] Dresden was revenge for the Coventry Blitz, but once the bombs had fallen and the flames extinguished it was politely referred to as ‘a severe case of over bombing’ by the victors. While we weren’t inside the RAF bombers as the city was burnt to a crisp, we did have our own reasons for regretting entering the place.

A Desdener behind the desk at our accom advised us to visit a specific pub up the road for dinner and then sit at a street square to people watch as it is the Dresden way. We duly followed and after a schnitzel and pint headed up to the square. Many were seated along the gutters and shopfronts of the square drinking and playing music but the atmosphere was relaxed and our evening was winding down rapidly. We switched to a round of radlers as a joke before going home and after a few sickening sips of the lemon flavoured beer we were approached by a guy named Oliver asking if we’d like accompany him, and his two friends who had been sitting on the shopfront next to us, to a bar that should just be getting busy, Groove Station. Alas the place was pumping and our man Oliver wouldn’t let us away from his horrendous rounds of Bloody Mary-esque shots and tequila/beer mixers. He insisted on buying every round, despite our protests, as he had just mad €40k from a couple months of work in the military. Not sure what was going on there but we acquiesced and stayed long into the night.

With debilitating hangovers we checked out and got going early as I was eager to carry out my plan to force us to the Richard Wagner Museum that day in Bayreuth. This venture further south also marked our entrance to Bavaria: land of bier and meat. We started our Bavarian campaign with pace via a pork knuckle and bier at centuries old Franconian tavern in the middle of Bayreuth. Plagued by hangover we gritted through our leaden meals and slumped down Richard Wagner Straße to the eponymous museum. The exhibition was really hard to navigate with random space shoot lifts hidden behind dark walls and an audio device which didn’t work which is fine because I prefer reading but all the didactic info was in written German. From what I could make out Wagner and his wife were bad people that made good things and had a really cool house, especially the fireplace in the living room, a room where Hitler had a habit of delivering diatribes to the Nazi elite who hung out there regularly. I took ages to figure all this out and after being asked to leave due to closure I joined Tom and Louis, who had left long before, at a cafe and we left for Nuremberg. On the drive there we sat on 150kph and listened to the ecstasy of gold and it was euphoric until Tom’s work on the aux cord fell to pieces and he played a row of shockers, including an Aerosmith song, before relinquishing the cord under pressure.

Mostly due to being tired from the Dresden Incident, as well preserving ourselves for Munich, we stayed in at the overpriced Nuremberg accommodation and made travel plans for August. In the morning we visited Court Room 600 which was mostly under construction as well as the Reichsparteitagsgelände rally grounds which were mostly derelict and got back on the Bahn to Munich.

Berlin 35 Grad 🔥❤️❤️‍🔥❤️🔥 (at Teufelssee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfU1IW9KWku/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Im Dezember 2020 wurde das Netz der Fluglärmmessstellen rund um den #Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg um vier neue Messstellen erweitert. Heute wurde die #Messstelle Nummer 34 in #Ragow auf dem Grundstück von Bürgermeisterin Maja Buße in Betrieb genommen. Die weiteren neuen Messstellen stehen in #Königs Wusterhausen auf dem Gelände des Museums #Funkerberg, am Müggelsee auf einem Gebäude des…

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Hollunder by DirkBe Source: http://bit.ly/2IcHQbO

Berlin isn't a warm city But lately it's being extremely warm And the day never fully ends 너무 더워 • • • • • #hotsummer #fx #lgtb #vsco #fuji #fujipro400h #fujisuperia #classicchrome #fujifilm #fujixt2 #teufelssee #berlin #gay #photodiary #photographer #lake #sunset (at Teufelssee) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByVvmoMi3io/?igshid=1dpjkcv0u0rrp

Teufelssee

From the other day, and 5 minutes before dipping into refreshing #teufelssee and surviving aggressively nosy water birds #abbaden #autumnisokay 🍁🍂🍁 (hier: Teufelssee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUcpou1MGLv/?utm_medium=tumblr