Used as postcards and for advertising,
phono postcards were a single-sided phonograph record stuck on a card with a hole punched through. The
Weco cards stand out with their use of photography (with the clothes sometimes painted on) and see-through vinyl.
posted by tellurian
on Jul 29, 2009 -
12 comments
NRW 1946—2006. Short articles chronicling North Rhine-Westphalia. The site has one rather large shortcoming though, the video clips cannot be accessed (only available on VHS within the State!).
posted by tellurian
on May 12, 2009 -
10 comments
Thomas Graz has a collection of glasses with pictures on them. Mainly from the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the German Empire, but including some other countries too. A novel way to navigate history, architecture, people and landscape. Oh! and he
needs help with some of them too.
posted by tellurian
on Aug 5, 2007 -
6 comments
The Angora rabbit project was an SS-administered program to breed rabbits for their soft, warm fur, one use of which was to line the jackets of Luftwaffe pilots. The rabbits were raised in luxury not far from the maltreated prisoners in 31 Nazi concentration camps in Germany, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and
Dachau.
Here is a photograph of the hutches taken by
Lee Miller.
posted by tellurian
on Mar 29, 2007 -
31 comments
What should we get Erich for his birthday? How about
a desk set with a radio, a thermometer disguised as a TV mast, a clock topped with a tank, a calendar, and four ballpoint pens disguised as missiles.
Iconographia socialistica from the GDR.
posted by tellurian
on Feb 21, 2007 -
16 comments
Ahmad Nadalian's work can be found all over the world. He is an artist that carves symbols on rocks and then leaves them at the site where they were created (sometimes
burying them).
posted by tellurian
on Aug 2, 2006 -
7 comments
Glassy eyes. The
German art of glass eye blowing was developed in Lauscha, Germany in 1835 using cryolite glass. It's a dying art, Australia has only
one practitioner in the country. This slow loading but fascinating
video [sorry, Windows media] shows the process (apparently in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea). With a family history in the trade and a
pioneer in contact lens development, this man's daughter feels that her father is in need of a bit of recognition.
posted by tellurian
on Aug 22, 2005 -
12 comments
Unless you are German you may not have heard of
Winnetou and
Old Shatterhand, characters created by
Karl May. A possible
D.I.D. sufferer, he had never set foot in America and began to write his Wild West stories whilst in jail. Popular with readers across Europe, his
books have been translated into over thirty different languages. Spaghetti Westerns partly came about because early 60s films
[test your knowledge] based on his books, inspired Italian producers to invest in
Westerns. His
life story was made part of Syberberg's trilogy in
1974.
posted by tellurian
on Aug 9, 2005 -
26 comments
