Searching for the soul of the city
CityPoem 34 - Portland
By Hans Karssenberg
25-02-2007 /views: 2449 in past 12 months.
Poetry used as a protest against war.
Photo: wülfen-cükie!!!!
Both the poem and the projection on the street by http://www.objector.org/.
Portland CityPoem: General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle, Bertolt Brecht
General, your tank
is a powerful vehicle
it smashes down forests
& crushes a hundred men.
but it has one defect:
it needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful
it flies faster than a storm
& carries more than an elephant.
but it has one defect:
it needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly & he can kill.
but he has one defect:
He can think.
(referring website: www.objector.org)
About the author
Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was an influential German communist dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century.
Brechtian is a term used by drama critics in regards to anything recalling Brecht's particular style and approach to theatre. Brecht's influence can be seen in the cinema. Such filmmakers as Lars von Trier, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jean-Luc Godard were influenced by Brecht and his theory of the Verfremdungseffekt, a theatrical and cinematic device by which the audience is "alienated" from a play or film.
Paul Haggis quoted Brecht ("art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it”) when he accepted the best original screenplay Oscar for Crash.
Brecht wanted the answer to Lenin’s question ‘Wie und was soll man lernen?’ ('How and what should we learn?'). He created an influential theory of theatre, the epic theatre, wherein a play should not cause the spectator to emotionally identify with the action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the actions on the stage. He believed that the experience of a climactic catharsis of emotion left an audience complacent. Instead, he wanted his audiences to use this critical perspective to identify social ills at work in the world and be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change.
Brecht described his plays as "a collective political meeting" in which the audience is to participate actively. One sees in this model a rejection of the concept of the bureaucratic elite party where the politicians are to issue directives and control the behaviour of the masses.
For this purpose, Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself, which he called the Verfremdungseffekt (translated as distancing effect, estrangement effect, or alienation effect). Such techniques included the direct address by actors to the audience, transposition of text to third person or past tense, speaking the stage direction outloud , exaggerated, unnatural stage lighting, the use of song, and explanatory placards. By highlighting the constructed nature of the theatrical event, Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction and, as such, was changeable.
Another technique that Brecht employed to achieve his Verfremdungseffekt was the idea referred to as historification. The content of many of his plays dealt with fictional tellings of historical figures or events. His idea was that if one were to tell a story from a time that is contemporary to an audience, they may not be able to maintain the critical perspective he hoped to achieve. Instead, he focused on historical stories that had parallel themes to the social ills he was hoping to illuminate in his own time. He hoped that, in viewing these historical stories from a critical perspective, the contemporary issues Brecht was addressing would be illuminated to the audience.
In one of his first productions, Brecht famously put up signs that said "Glotzt nicht so romantisch!" ("Don't stare so romantically!"). His manner of stagecraft has proven both fruitful and confusing to those who try to produce his works or works in his style. His theory of theatre has heavily influenced modern theatre, though it is believed that the effect of the epic theatre wears off after watching a few similar plays. Some of his innovations, though, have become so common that they've become theatrical canon.
Although Brecht's work and ideas about theatre are generally thought of as belonging to modernism, there is recent thought that he is the forerunner of contemporary postmodern theatre practice. This is particularly so because he questioned and dissolved many of the accepted practices of the theatre of his time and created a uniquely political theatre, that involved the audience in understanding its meaning. Moreover, he was one of the first theatre practitioners to incorporate multimedia into the semiotics of theatre.
Original German text
GENERAL, DEIN TANK IST EIN STARKER WAGEN
Er bricht einen Wald nieder und zermahlt hundert Menschen,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er braucht einen Fahrer.
General, dein Bombenflugzeug ist stark,
Es fliegt schneller als ein Sturm und trägt mehr als ein Elefant,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er braucht einen Monteur.
General, der Mensch ist sehr brauchbar,
Er kann fliegen und er kann töten,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er kann denken.
is a powerful vehicle
it smashes down forests
& crushes a hundred men.
but it has one defect:
it needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful
it flies faster than a storm
& carries more than an elephant.
but it has one defect:
it needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly & he can kill.
but he has one defect:
He can think.
(referring website: www.objector.org)
About the author
Bertolt Brecht (born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was an influential German communist dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century.
Brechtian is a term used by drama critics in regards to anything recalling Brecht's particular style and approach to theatre. Brecht's influence can be seen in the cinema. Such filmmakers as Lars von Trier, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jean-Luc Godard were influenced by Brecht and his theory of the Verfremdungseffekt, a theatrical and cinematic device by which the audience is "alienated" from a play or film.
Paul Haggis quoted Brecht ("art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it”) when he accepted the best original screenplay Oscar for Crash.
Brecht wanted the answer to Lenin’s question ‘Wie und was soll man lernen?’ ('How and what should we learn?'). He created an influential theory of theatre, the epic theatre, wherein a play should not cause the spectator to emotionally identify with the action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the actions on the stage. He believed that the experience of a climactic catharsis of emotion left an audience complacent. Instead, he wanted his audiences to use this critical perspective to identify social ills at work in the world and be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change.
Brecht described his plays as "a collective political meeting" in which the audience is to participate actively. One sees in this model a rejection of the concept of the bureaucratic elite party where the politicians are to issue directives and control the behaviour of the masses.
For this purpose, Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself, which he called the Verfremdungseffekt (translated as distancing effect, estrangement effect, or alienation effect). Such techniques included the direct address by actors to the audience, transposition of text to third person or past tense, speaking the stage direction outloud , exaggerated, unnatural stage lighting, the use of song, and explanatory placards. By highlighting the constructed nature of the theatrical event, Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction and, as such, was changeable.
Another technique that Brecht employed to achieve his Verfremdungseffekt was the idea referred to as historification. The content of many of his plays dealt with fictional tellings of historical figures or events. His idea was that if one were to tell a story from a time that is contemporary to an audience, they may not be able to maintain the critical perspective he hoped to achieve. Instead, he focused on historical stories that had parallel themes to the social ills he was hoping to illuminate in his own time. He hoped that, in viewing these historical stories from a critical perspective, the contemporary issues Brecht was addressing would be illuminated to the audience.
In one of his first productions, Brecht famously put up signs that said "Glotzt nicht so romantisch!" ("Don't stare so romantically!"). His manner of stagecraft has proven both fruitful and confusing to those who try to produce his works or works in his style. His theory of theatre has heavily influenced modern theatre, though it is believed that the effect of the epic theatre wears off after watching a few similar plays. Some of his innovations, though, have become so common that they've become theatrical canon.
Although Brecht's work and ideas about theatre are generally thought of as belonging to modernism, there is recent thought that he is the forerunner of contemporary postmodern theatre practice. This is particularly so because he questioned and dissolved many of the accepted practices of the theatre of his time and created a uniquely political theatre, that involved the audience in understanding its meaning. Moreover, he was one of the first theatre practitioners to incorporate multimedia into the semiotics of theatre.
Original German text
GENERAL, DEIN TANK IST EIN STARKER WAGEN
Er bricht einen Wald nieder und zermahlt hundert Menschen,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er braucht einen Fahrer.
General, dein Bombenflugzeug ist stark,
Es fliegt schneller als ein Sturm und trägt mehr als ein Elefant,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er braucht einen Monteur.
General, der Mensch ist sehr brauchbar,
Er kann fliegen und er kann töten,
Aber er hat einen Fehler:
Er kann denken.
Inspiring Cities Museum of CityPoems
Inspiring Cities has collected many citypoems over the years, as well as organized salons with citypoets and cities doing special projects. We have two criteria for what a citypoem is: the intention must be poetic, and it must be in the public realm of cities. Shapes, form and locations can and do differ.
The Museum of CityPoems has citypoems from cities all over the world. From Alhambra to Zonnebeke, from Taipei to Lima.
Got one yourself? Mail us your pictures (free of rights) and description, and we will publish.
On Friday 28 November 2009, Erik Krikortz visited Inspiring Cities and Stipo in Amsterdam for a lecture on his project Emotional Cities. On a website
Thursday 10-12-2009 is the second Inspiring Cities Night in Amsterdam. Topic: The Urban Screenscape, the use of urban screens in the public domain.
The highlights of an Inspiring Cities salon in Rotterdam, June 3td 2009.
The 29th October 2009 was Inspiring Cities night in Amsterdam. Approximately 40 people talked, dreamed and laughed about possible applications for aug
Inspiring Cities organises Jane Jacobs day in Rotterdam (31st of October 2009).
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