Albrecht

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

from Berlin Night in Soundings

Dürer

The architect's life was transformed after he studied the etchings of Dürer on the life of Christ. His investigation centered on the relics of Christ: the wooden cross, the crown of thorns, the robe and the iron spikes

"Doing it for the love" / Dürer's story

**DO NOT READ THIS**

It was never his real name, nor would he have ever wanted it to be, but it helped him get his point across. People didn’t know who he was and they didn’t care, they like what he was doing. He called himself Dürer.

When he was a student he attended class with a certain zealousness. He was the black sheep, the ugly duckling and the lone wolf all in one mess of a child. Dürer was special. Not in the retarded sense, but rather the gifted sense. He was of the creative sort and most that knew him would tell you about his constant longing to be approved of. Dürer found out early on that he would never be liked for who he was but rather of what he was capable of. He had to create an approval without anyone knowing who they actually approved of. Why does a toddler want everything that’s brightly coloured and shiny? Exactly, that’s why! He wanted to tap into this instinctive fondness, make himself brightly coloured and shiny. Not literally, proverbially speaking, of course. Hence his impeccable class attendance. He needed to learn in order to disguise who he really was.

After a couple of years of school he started to write. Forming new ideas about good and evil, down and up, naughty and nice, hot and cold, tea and coffee, hire and fire was all up to each individual person, he was merely the catalyst. He instigated change but did not force it. He was smart. Throughout his professional life his texts seemingly enlightened those that would read them and frustrated his critics, for his logic was bullet-proof. In the end he succeeded. His texts not only subverted everything that came before them, they also documented a slow change in an archival chronological fashion. Yet Dürer did not notice everyone change around him, he was the only one who remained unchanged. Since he could not accept himself, his obsessive quest to make everyone accept him meant he remained the only one unchanged and un-acceptant. He had convinced everyone except himself.

Now he is too old and past the age of adaption; he won’t change anymore, as hard as he tries.

He is remembered as Dürer.

No one remembers his real name, they never liked that one as much.

Horse latitude

"Horse latitudes or Subtropical High are subtropic latitudes between 30 and 35 degrees both north and south. This region, under a ridge of high pressure called the subtropical ridge, is an area which receives little precipitation and has variable winds mixed with calm.

The term "horse latitudes" may owe its name to tradition. Early colonialist sailors, while traversing the oceans, would become stalled in the low winds and little current. The confused sea often slowed colonial ships for days to weeks due to lack of propulsion. The crew would throw horses overboard in order to conserve water and food. This also reduced the weight of the ship, thereby lightening the load and increased the speed of the ship in the low winds."


Are we meant to throw something overboard?

#43 - Dürer

> my number is 43
> my corresponding "character" is Dürer - Dürer's structure
> the character is from something called "Berlin Night"
> Berlin Night is a publication by John Hejduk
> Hejduk has created a large body of theoretical work: publications such as Mask of Medusa, Lancaster / Hanover Masque and Vladivostock.Berlin Night is one these publications.
> Part of these publications are collections of vignette sketches (characters) each with their respective number (43) and name (Dürer - Dürer's structure).

"It's like a puzzle. I like puzzles...."