Schillerndes Dunkel is coming...

A new book about the goth/dark scene will be release next week. Seventh Sin and the Muse both contributed articles and photography to this project. If you're going to be in Leipzig for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen there will be several book readings at the Sixtina: 23. May 11:00 a.m. Book Presentation, and at 1:00 a.m. (so actually 24. May already) a night time reading from Schillerndes Dunkel. Several contributors to the book will be performing and showing their work at the festival including: Nik Fiend (Alien Sex Fiend), Gitane Demone, Peter Webb (Attrition), Alexander Nym (Orgonautic), DJ Thomas Thyssen, Gerd Lehmann, Oswald Henke (Goethes Erben) and Peter Matzke.

Vernissage

14. March 2010 saw the Vernissage for Seventh-Sin's first photo exhibition "Viewpoints" in Leipzig. We won't say that it was his first exhibition overall in this lovely city, since our dear man is maybe overly fond of the large street front windows in his apartment.

Kenji Konishi from Osaka, Japan provided live music.

The exhibit is located at DarXity on Ranstädter Steinweg 5, 04109 Leipzig-Germany and remains open daily through 11. April

http://seventh-sin.de/pages/Exhibits/DaxXity/darxity.html
http://www.darxity.net/

Kawasaki Matsuri

(yes, we know this is months overdue.)Seventh Sin and the Muse awoke on Samhain to drumming and chanting. A quick passport check revealed that they had not (legally) entered Mexico during the prior evening's adventures, so they grudgingly went out into the sunlight at mid-day to discover the Kawasaki Matsuri, the anual citizens' festival. All of the local shrines were being carried through thestreet by hordes of people toward the main festival ground, errr, the local ball field, where vendors of food, crafts, and genuine junk had set up for the day. Fashion ranged from traditional...to modern Harajuku for boys...and of course at least one Shibuya girl was tottering around on her silly ill-fitting heels with the pre-requisite couture bag.

Trödelmarkt Leipzig

The Muse had occassion this summer to bring her Japanese brother to the monthly Trödelmarkt at the Leipzig Agragelände. While there are treasures to be found at every gathering of old things, the flea market in Leipzig is a very peculiar brand of strange. "Ostalgie" fans scour the place for furniture and toys from the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany). Military collectors find their place amoungst the stalls full of GDR and USSR and USA vintage paraphanaellia. Discount clothing produced in Asia for American markets is available three to ten seasons too late. Then of course there's the Sternenburg beer and Thüringer sausages to be chased with Mutzemandeln, which are deep fried dough balls topped with sugar (oishii, ne ^__^)

The Muse's Bounty for the day:

Velvet and fake fur coat... 1 EUR
Crucifix (large)... 5 euro
Crucifix (small)... 8 eur
GDR Gasmask... 3 EUR
Handful of rusted skeleton keys... a smile and a short skirt

The Winter and the Loneliness

We all know those feelings, mostly called Winter Depression, as the days get shorter and shorter and the weather in Germany especially gets dark and grey. Fog puts its mantle over the hills and forests, hiding the shiny cities in black and white and shade of grey. Many people hate this time of the year and desperately wait for spring.

But it is also a good time; spending hours of walking alone through the grey forests, letting your thoughts fly in that sweet feeling of loneliness and sadness. Sadness is nothing wrong; it belongs to us as joy and fun and excitement but mostly we neglect it, it feels wrong in some sense. This is why most people dont like the late autumn, all colors fade, the light fades and darkness dominates. But if you just open your eyes you might recognise the beauty of the landscapes at this time of the year, the softening fog reduces unnecessary details, the foggy air gives everything more depth and transforms a simple path into a mythical experience.

Walking along these paths gives you an inspiration of eternity since all is somehow hidden and yet visible. Diving deep into these shades of grey you can live your intrinsic sadness to discover that this can be as deep as falling in love, a valuable emotion that opens your mind deep towards a vision of new. Without the dark days you can not enjoy the bright days, there is no light without shadow. Nowadays too many of us seek for the kind of perfection which marketing teaches us, that kind of perfection we never reach. The resulting sadness and despair is, in contrast to the healthy sadness, self destructive.

You can find satisfaction in any thing as long as you acept that nothing is forever, everything is bound for death and destruction to give room for new. The death of nature in Winter is only for new birth of life in Spring. The storm that destroys a beautiful tree lays the foundation for a whole basket of new life. The building that falls ruin might serve as a ground for a new garden or might be revived by new life.

We choose to find solace in the short days and grey skies. We do not fight against the sorrow but rather we savour it.

Virtuous Sins

This is the birth of a new Blog. Some might think it's useless; some might like it. Purpose and Aim are to show a little bit of our view of this world, of birth, death and rebirth and of Beauty within the ruins of civilization.

Found in Leipzig, 2009

We invite you to follow us across continents and through hidden alleys, down moonlit paths and into the blinding metropolitan midnight glare.