At one party, I was introduced to a gentleman from Switzerland Tourism.
I do not believe it is only myself, but when you meet some Swiss for the first time like this, we usually softly ask a question, as a hook between small talks, “So how many languages do you speak?”

“Yes, German, Swiss German, of course, French and Italian as they are necessary. Romansch? Yes, I understand fairly well. As you know, Switzerland is a multi-language country, and that makes Switzerland unique. Well, that’s what is expected, I believe…,” he continued. Although I understood he spoke those languages perhaps due to his job requirements, I recall he spoke 7 languages.

If you take a TGV in the morning from the Zurich central station, you will be arriving in Paris by noon. You can just go over to a winery farmhouse in Alsace, or to the German border to buy a piece of furniture. Or it’s not unusual to be asked to go to Milan since it is the sale season.

In the country like Switzerland, its neighboring country, France promotes its own country. I wonder it is at the other end of the spectrum of the approach to the people living in Japan.

I had a chance to interview with one woman who is in the forefront of the industry.
She is Ms. Stéphanie Borge Mueller, Swiss Branch Deputy Director of French Tourism Development Agency.

She moved to Zurich after having stationed in New York. With respect to the biggest difference between New York and Swiss markets, she said, “Many people casually go to France on weekends by car, train or bicycle, or even on foot.”

Now I wondered if it was not here, then where would be, in which direction.

Interestingly, even without specific incentives, the place that keeps high score for the Swiss is not southern France, nor Tahiti, but Bretagne region of northern France, I hear.

All I could think of are the names like Nantes and Rennes and Mont Sait-Michel, a world heritage site. However, looking at the huge photograph, displaying rocks rising up on the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean, or mysterious humongous stones which looked like fallen from the outer space, or houses carrying Celtic melancholy, I started to understand somehow the reason why “the Swiss love” such places.

While segmented plans are positioned to target to the wealthy Swiss, with the concept that every thing they experience will be first class including hotels and restaurants, for the mass, one character will be launched from February through various media.
For the people who visit France for the first time, or for those who want to enjoy France in non conventional way, they introduce, as a guide by responding to personal questions, from charms of big cities and country side to seaside resorts or wellness spots in the mainland France, including trips to the tropical regions such as its territory, New Caledonia and places in the Caribbean Ocean.

One unique edge is a wise idea to introduce mountain walking or bicycle tours in French countryside or mountains, so that the Swiss can still enjoy their habits in France as well.
Although it may be some plan that might have been possible, the clue to the development can be easily understood once we analyze the reason why Bretagne is such a big hit for the German-speaking area in Switzerland.

Photograph by Pirmin Rösli. The article is published in the column “Life is So Precious!” featuring working women in the world’s 4 major citiies, in the top page of the currently available March issue of “Precious” Magazine.

www.franceguide.com

http://web-precious.com/

Silent One, 2010 Oil on linen 35.7 x 30.5 cm / 14 x 12 in

© Christopher Orr, Hauser & Wirth Zürich,IBID Projects,London

One old beer factory with a lion mark in Löwenbrau-Area, which is the base of Zurich’s modern art, is currently going through a large-scale 2-year development.

Although many prominent galleries around the world used co-existed in this area, such as Ｍigros Ｍuseum für Ｇegenwartskunst, Eva Presenhuber, Hauser & Wirth, Peter Kilchmann and Bob van Orsouw, all these galleries were moved altogether last year. For the time being, Hubertus Exhibitions in Kreis 9 area will be the location for activities.

If it were in Tokyo, it would be like going to the bay area. It was getting dark and I was heading towards the direction where you may see fewer people. As I was not farmilier with that area, I took a wrong tram, but somehow I managed to get there, with a little help from a friend over the cell phone.

It was the opening party of Ｍigros Ｍuseum that night. Since the party had started earlier, some people were already coming out. At the entrance of the building, people who looked like art students got together, enjoying smoking in the cold air.

Up on the staircase, I saw Ｍigros Ｍuseum für Ｇegenwartskunst on the right, and 2 galleries on the left.

Bob van Orsouw was introducing the latest works of Nobuyoshi Araki. As might be expected, they had a good collection. Next to that was Hauser & Wirth, which really demonstrated the luxury of the top-notch art world.
While it has been the custom that you could look at other galleries on the opening night of one gallery, with this building, the floor gave the impression of a united floor when each gallery left its door open, which I found very interesting.

I saw an enigmatic picture.
From the entrance, some peculiar light was inviting me, like saying, “Come over here.”
The author was Scottish Christopher Orr. A picture which I felt like I have met somewhere long time ago. However, it was a false illusion, and once you stepped into this odd world of this contemporary artist, by tracking back the genealogy of surreal or fantasy paintings, I soon realized that the origin of his images had to go back another century.

Orr was a German scenary painter, and it has been said that he was very much affected by British Joseph Mallord William Turner or by the romantic expression by another German scenary painter, Caspar David Friedrich, who shared the same epoch.

Whether it was ruins or rainstorm, it was a scene of something crumbling. Appreciating its peculiar uneasy beauty of romanticism, and traveling back and forth between fiction and constructivism, this artist worked his way by erasing the borderline of reality and fantasy.
While it suggested as well as symbolized something, the abstractiveness of Orr was just like a trip back and forth between the energy of fetal movement like magma burning deep inside the earth and illusion, which still continued to the story of the present and the future.

The texture created by painting in so many layers and figures. Or scraping the paint off by knife in order to have a mysterious shape suddenly appear at the bottom of the canvas.

Most of these 13 new works exhibited here were rather small, F0 or F3. Those small things were inducing words here and there out of the tranquil wall, and the meanings that the pictures represented were crossing from every angle of the world.

At 9:00 pm in the venue, sceneries of fiction that were neither uneasy another world or this world, were placed side by side, and the lyricism of light and darkness was set free.
http://www.hauserwirth.com/

©Josef Stuecker

One very chilly evening, we were driving along the lake. Since we were once told that the basement parking of the Park Hyatt was convenient, I have been using this parking lot whenever we come here.
Opera House stands on the right side of the Lake Zurich, and on the left side, there is another historical building that can be the hub of the Zurich culture. It is Zurich Tonhalle (a music hall.)
While the Opera House was built in the current location in 1891, this music hall was built 4 years later. The hall situated inside the Congress House has very elegant and wonderful interior decorations such as ceiling paintings and columns, while boasting its acoustics as of the world’s top level. The small hall where mini concerts of solo or chamber music are held, also gives breathtaking sophisticated elegance and beauty.
The “Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich,” establishing this hall as their main music hall, may be well known for classical music fans for their many CDs. Especially in the recent years, increasing number of fans are found in various countries because of their great success as the world’s top orchestra. Founded in 1868, it is a distinguished European orchestra with a long history.
Orchestras that played a major role in the musical culture were non-existent, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland where vigorous religious transformations took place.
Although it was lost in fire later, the Zurich Opera House was built in 1834, at a different location from the current one. The need for an orchestra to play for the opera became obvious, and a small orchestra was formed.
It was about 160 years ago. Wilhelm Richard Wagner exiled himsealf to Switzerland, and stated to live in the mansion of Otto Wiesendonck who was a successful silk trader. The masion is now Museum of Rietberg.
Wagner, who made his name one after another by conducting major music pieces including his own, at the Opera House, held concerts very often. In response to this influence, a plan to found an orchestra gained momentum among the intellectuals in Zurich.
Before long, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich was born as the oldest Swiss orchestra, having the Zurich Opera House orchestra as the mother orchestra.
The first conductor was Friedrih Heger. Since Heger was an ardent admirer of Brahms, Johonnes Brahms, who stayed in Zurich often, was also a frequent guest conductor.
In 1895, following Brahms, Heger took a baton, and the Tonhalle Zürich (a music hall) was finally opened.
While the principal conductors for Tonhalle have been mainly German, from Hans Rosbaud, Rudolf Kempe, to Christoph Eschenbach who was appointed in 1982, Hiroshi Wakasugi from Japan served as the principal conductor for 4 years after that.

©Priska Ketterer

In 1995, David Zinmen, who was born in New York, was appointed as the principal conductor. Since then, the well-known “Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich” has been proactively involved in overseas concerts as a leading European orchestra, changing the history boldly at the same time. It has created many opportunities to foster young conductors as well.
Furthermore, not only the concerts in the hall, but also their energetic idea for recording have accelerated their fame as the world’s Tonhalle.
They have produced CDs for Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, and complete symphonies of Beethoven. They have realized a huge amount of CD recordings, and created a new environment to listen to the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. The richness of its performance surprises the critics and fans around the world.
Zinmen himself also is very active around the world as a guest conductor. 100 musicians that he leads and excellent and exciting guest conductors perform roughly more than 50 programs, making about 100 performances per year.
The New Year Concert this year was conducted by Muhai Tang from China. He is a well kown and a very popular conductor of the Tonhalle.
The first half was composed of 3 pieces; early springy joyful prelude of “Die Fledermaus” of Strauss, 2 pieces of Mozart, and one piece from “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” which was a big hit last year at the Opera House. For the latter half, following the elegant prelude of “La Scala di Srta” by Rossini, the aria from Chaikovski’s opera “Eugen Onegin” was performed by a Finnish giant, Matti Salminen.
Muhai Tang who was energetic, even showing the wild streak, and Salminen displayed some relaxed easiness. Then especially the thrill of excitement by the nostalgic mezzo-soprano sung by Mariana Carnovali from Buenos Aires in South America, was so sexy that you would feel that you heart was just squeezed tight. She was as young as 23, and her bronze skin was beautiful.
The people with a bit flushed cheeks with excitement were descending the gentle spiral stairs, smiling.
I heard that Salminen was making an appearance to the table where the CDs were displayed.
If you seek for it, you will have a chance to meet such an outrageous talent in such close proximity. I am blessed to be able to listen to such music in Zurich.

https://www.tonhalle-orchester.ch/

Swans are floating on the lake.

Squirrels and foxes in the forest
are looking for food by digging holes in the snow with their heads.

We, living with humans,
all got together to celebrate the new year,
and slowly started to get going again.

We wish for a happy year,
and hope to expect many fun things to come.

We wish you that this year will be a peaceful one.

We appreciate your continuous support for another year.

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Photo:© Schweizer Milchproduzenten SMP • PSL

http://www.swissmilk.ch

There is a building of a newspaper company called NZZ near the Opera House.
When you walk on the road along the lake from this street, you will find some interior shops like select shops.

I went there to find 6 angles one day before Christmas.

As a matter of fact, I wanted them last year but I inadvertently forgot to purchase them. After a doubtful look on her face for a second in response to my question, the sales person replied, “Oh yes. We have them,” and brought them on her both hands from behind the door.

Somehow my poor pointless explanation as “They are very small angels, and each has different gesture, with the face that you may want to place them in different places,” was understood, and 6 angels were revealed from chiffon cloth one by one.

Although it could be an interesting idea to display each in unexpected places, like sitting or lying down and so on, when we have guests, I decided to have them play around the wreath during the time when the candles of Advent Krantz are lit.

4 weeks before Christmas, counting from Christmas Eve. This year, the fist candle was lit on the last Sunday of November, and the fourth was lit this Sunday.

Fur trees are brought from the nearby forests, as well as from farther north in Europe.

It is our tradition to decorate them on the 24th.

Since the big snow three weeks ago, the temperature has dropped considerably in Zurich. A snow-white world welcomes you when you get up in the morning, and you hear the elementary school children throwing snowballs on their way to school.

The big twinkling Christmas tree decorated with Swarovski crystals is stood up as usual in the Christmas market at the Central Station. As many as 160 venders are busy, selling cheese, dry sausages, raclette, wooden crafts of traditional Swiss arts and crafts or handmade natural stone accessories, as well as sweaters from Peru or silks from China.

It is the busiest time of the year. Finishing up your work, meeting people, small parties to attend and so on. Although fixed appointments will gradually disappear from your schedule once it’s done, there are things that tend to be put off later.

They are decorating inside the house, confirming the menu for Christmas Eve, looking for presents, and baking cookies and so on.

Whether you are religious or not, this custom has become a familiar event for me, even though I feel some temperature difference in the enthusiasm of religious Europeans. However, besides that, if you somehow plan to celebrate the Japanese-style New Year, you have to be in high spirits and energetic just for the sake of these several weeks of the year. In order to enjoy every process, some cheering voices may be required in your mind.

Many small presents will be prepared for one person. When you think of the presents to give to the people you expect that night, the number will be several times the number of people, which is really something. You buy several types of winterly wrapping papers and ribbons, and start wrapping each one by changing the color of paper and adding some decorations in place of sign.

While I knew it was about time to browse and look for such things, I hurried through the street by avoiding the people among the vendors, telling myself that I would come to the Market some other time to take a good look. The fluffy fraglance of cinamon and anis just passed me.

Snowflakes started to flutter down on the city streets in the twilight.

The temperature is probably around -5℃. Lots of people have gathered around the hot wine vendor. Having a little flushed cheeks and displaying heir breaths like smoke, they seem to have been chatting there for quite a while.

My feet headed from the street where brand shops stood side by side, to the plaza of the financial district.

Although you may find many Sprünglie, a well-established chocolatier, in town, I somehow end up with this shop. Since they do not have this brand in Japan, it is the place where I buy my souvenirs or presents, just like going to Akasaka all the way to buy the sweet bean paste of Toraya in Japan.

Holding some boxes wrapped in gold packing paper, I chose the black truffle freshly made today for myself.

As the light was so beautiful that I decided to walk to the post office.

Medieval stone-paved lanes often branch off in narrow paths. Restaurants are lit, and numerous miniature bulbs are everywhere, just like falling from the sky, lighting up the people’s faces passing by.

The next corner is where I am heading.

The church bells are ringing loud and clear in the freezing sky.

http://www.spruengli.ch/

When you go to see an opera, and especially when you have booked a nice seat, you try to have a good sleep the night before, as much as possible.
In a small space with a seating capacity of 1100, such as Zurich Opera House, the distance towards the stage is not that far. Unless your seat is close to the ceiling, as the acoustics of this opera house is very good, you need proper physical strength as well to receive the impact of real elite human being performers.

However, I also enjoy the footwork of dropping in the opera house by reserving a seat online if still available, when I am feeling good and have enough time. Unless it is premiere or a premium seat, I believe wearing an outfit that is not so fancy is acceptable to your neighbors. As far as you feel comfortable, that’s all matters. In such a manner, by keeping your shoulders relaxed, you can enjoy just like the time warp into the extraordinary world of opera.

A good friend of mine from Japan came here. She was well versed in plays and Kabuki. One of her goals of this trip was, of course, to see an opera. Luckily I found out that “Les pêcheurs de perles (The Peal Fishers)” by Bize would be showing when she came.

Having won the “Roma Prize” which was the gateway to success for French artists, Bize returned to Paris from Italy. This work was written when he was 25 years old. Soon after the premier of “Carmen” that was performed in about 10 years after his return, he died of illness at the young age of 36. Having established an important position in the opera world and his great talent that could have changed the history was suddenly gone. There is no doubt that if any opera piece had been created after “Carmen,” how wonderful the opera world would have been.

Although he was not prolific, probably due to his low number of pieces known in opera, the size and the composition of “Pearl Fishers” is quite often compared with those of “Carmen.”
It is said that “The Peal Fishers” has been transformed quite dramatically after Beze’s death, and this piece is still continuously developing with changing details by many unique directions.

Although Carlo Rizzi, the conductor, defines that “Carmen” is a more sensual and exciting dynamic opera with full of life, he says;

“When Bize wrote the ‘Pearl Fisher,’ he was not really debuted yet in that era. He was young, and because of his youth, I believe, this piece has a sense of purity or transparency. The story is very simple and easy to understand. Anyway, the melody of each piece of music is clear and very beautiful.”

It was the latter part of the 19th century France. While the popularity of Italian opera was still dominant, it was an epoch when a “French opera” was born, which gave a new trend to the world of opera.

I wonder such a historical backdrop has affected the story.
The director was Daniel Herzog, who was known for his strong dramatic impression. He captured with a little storng social nature.

Although the scenic art or the lightings of Zurich Opera House quite often incorporate some devices that surprise the audience, no complicated structures were found this time, probably due to the easy-to-understand story.

The scene was a beach in ancient Ceylon.
The stage did not move much. It was structured in 3 layers from the very beginning.
According to the previously mentioned , “First of all, look at the very bottom. Here you see the peal fishers all lined up, and this is the sympol of laborers. The middle is the middle-class, and the very top layer with a run-down monastery is the top of the system of the ‘Pearl Fishers’ world.”

Also in order to clarify such a structure, the pearl fishers remained on the stage.
Tens of pearl fishers stayed there all the time, by moving their hands wearing orange color gloves all together, which dragged weirdness of the power of a mass.

Baritone Franco Pomponi played Zurga, the newly chosen head of the pearl fishers, while Nadir, his childhood friend, who once had loved the same womanand had conflict with him, was performed by tenor Javier Camarena.

The priestess Leila, once was a lover of Nadir but sent here to the beach to pray for the safety of the pearl fishers, was performed by soprano Malin Hartelius.

Bass Pavel Daniluk played Nourabad, the Brahman high priest who brought Leila.

The priestess Leila was asked by Zurga never to remove the veil and to remain virgin, only to pray for the safety of the pearl fishers.

However, by listening to Leila’s voice, Nadir realized “That’s her,” and both of them recognized each other.

With the snow-capped Alps in the far distance, the ridgeline of the mountains is sharp and clear.The village of which I took a picture a few weeks ago, must be beautiful in the deep fall colors.

Dairy farmers who made cheese in the mountain lodges in the Alps meadows during summer, come back to the villages at the foot of the mountain, bringing cows with them. The cows are decorated with colorful flowers and special costumes, and walk through the village ringing the bells. This is called “cow parade” descending the mountains. At the Chästeilet (which literally means “dividing of the chees”) Festival held in the village, the faramers divide the piled-up huge round cheeses to the dairy farmers depending on the amount of milk they used. It is a traditional festival seen in various areas in the Alps.

Out of the milk from one cow, approximately 6 pieces of huge cheese, weighing more than 10 kg, can be made during one summer. I understand they have a traditional method of calculation, telling which cow of which farmer has given so much milk. This seriousness really sounds like Swiss.

Once I have seen this festival in a very thick photo book. Under a clear blue sky, they wear traditional clothes and hats handed down through generations in the village, and proudly carry the cheeses. I thought it would be great to meet some cattleman with a deep wrinkled face, a mustache, and mysterious eyes just like a mountain avatar.

I searched in the Internet and made a phone call to the department that looked appropriate. It seemed 2 weeks too early for the “Cheese Dividing Festival.” However, I was told that there is a small dairy farm house that gives away, not divide, cheese over the weekend. As the weather turned out beautiful, we decided to go for a drive to the Alps.

By train, the station you get off is Zweisimmen in the Province of Bern. It is well known as a summer and ski resort.From here, you may take the mail bus, which runs one every hour, to get to the house, the venue of this day. However, this place was farther from our place than we had expected, and due to the gridlock on the way, we missed this bus.

“We have to drive very close to the edge of the cliff roads without guardrails. It can be quite dangerous driving such winding roads,” said my husband, who had weakness in heights, and much hesitated to drive. Wether we would wait for 1 hour or drive up the road. Consequently we decided to drive and we input the address on the navigator, but it did not show on the map because it was such a small village. Before long, we came to a halt.

We were lost, and asked some people who were resting in the middle of their walks. They said, “Go back a little, and turn at the water fountain; we think that’s the place you’re looking for.”

1800 meters above sea level. The chorus of yodel started to surround us. The language might be ancient Swiss German. Although I was not able to hear the words, the voices of the singing group of 10 people wearing sky-blue uniforms, echoed in the Alps and reverberated in transparent vibrato.
Huge mountains standing in front of us, scattered houses, green farmlands, and plants and flowers in the plateau. The tone resonating to the wild nature was too beautiful, and it touched my heart like somewhere unknown, which made me very emotional. 

Although it was before lunchtime, wooden tables and benches were almost full. We were able to sit where we could see the mountains in front of us, and we ordered the local beer, cheese, and fresh ham.

Although people gathered together, it had a quiet atmosphere just like a pre-celebration. We came to realize that this was the house that produced the cheese for the village. We were guided to the storage where all the cheeses were neatly arranged side by side.

The person who guided us was the eldest son of Mr. Santschi, who provided this venue that day. We learned that his morning ritual included soaking a total of 800 round cheeses, each weighing 15 kg, into the salt water then placing them back into the original locations.
There is a famous sport called , which is like a cross of Sumo and wrestling, originated from the Alps kids’ play. It is a fighting sport and Swiss national sport where you swing your oponent around to put him down. He was a player of this sport. We saw him as a macho man with muscled chest, but we realized that he trained himself with cheese, instead of dumbbells, every morning.

We were given some share of this year’s cheese from the storage, and we went back down slowly, enjoying looking at the cows eating grass or taking a nap with the Alps in the background.

Every house and store in the small town at the foot of the mountain had full of red or pink geraniums, which were gently in harmony with the delicately carved preserved wooden architecture that is unique to this region.

As Switzerland has unique breads by each region, we dropped in at one bread shop first. Here, we got the address of a cheese shop of this town.
We selected Gruyere, Emmental, Reblochon, goat cheese, and fruit cheese.

That night, we tried those cheeses with figs and grapes for dinner with our guests from Germany, to go with La Côte, white wine from the Lake Geneva. Every cheese demonstrated wonderful flavor.

Downloaded the photos into my computer, I clicked sceneries that were postcard-like even when cut at any angle.

While Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, I feel things move slowly compared to Tokyo. The biggest difference is the fact that we have forests and lakes within the city. Even on boulevards, you see spring water everywhere, and you can bring your lips closer to drink. It is crisp and cold, the water from the mountains.

People here fully enjoy weekends, and days for annual paid vacation is 50 days or longer. Having said that, the stress level suffered by the people working in the center of this financial world is abnormally high. I hear that those men who wish to quietly move to a remote village in the Alps and become “cattlemen” are not a minority.

I cannot imagine the severity of the Alps when locked in the snow, and I don’t believe that cows will be cooperative all the time.

Although I understand that most of them fail during the apprenticeship and return to the city, one former elite banker in his 40s was introduced as a success story on TV. He lives with cows, has leaned how to make cheese, and have become a successful farmer living in the Alps.

We once went to an island called Grand Canaria in Spain for holidays one year.
It was about 30-minute drive form Las Palmas, the capital. The beach used to be a desert, but became a white sandy beach under the strong sunshine when the ground had physically moved in part. You can see the Northern part of Africa from this beach.

Although I don’t recall seeing any Asian people, I wonder any Japanese businessmen working for trading companies live there. Anyway, there were many German guests for long holidays, and German language was more popular than English at the hotel.

Away from city life, in the resort where everything could be done within the hotel, for those who usually stay for 2 weeks or as long as 1 month, a small society-like system is born, although you could be lazy and footloose. You will be required a certain sociability that maintains a certain distance from each other within the group.

On the Asian beaches, even at some prestigious hotels, you can be an easy goer, not paying too much attention to what you wear.
Compared to that, it is quite a different story in European hotels in high season.

It is forbidden to wear the same clothes everyday. Rules are slightly different for breakfast, garden lunch, and dinner.
Large pearl pierced earrings seem to be the norm for a group of madams by the poolside. Some madam with presence has a loose hair updo with heavy-looking gold necklace. Bathing suit and jewelries…

Well made up faces. For those who do not swim, that works since they don’t put their faces in the water.
On their feet, stilettos instead of rubber flip flops.
Of course, bikinis will change everyday. Therefore, the color of the stole and sandals will change accordingly.

Doesn’t it require lot of energy?

This overwhelming gesture to show off something casually was one of the biggest culture shocks for me when I moved to Europe.

While we enjoyed several dinners in the restaurant in the garden at night, we went out occasionally, as we got tired of after a few days.

One evening, we asked for a taxi to take us somewhere near the port.
Several simple restaurants were seen in the surroundings of a quiet port.
The hunch in this kind of situation cannot be complained even if it does not prove right.

Right beside an old poster of a sun-tanned girl in bikini, the pictures of shrimps, lobsters, squids, octopuses, and other fish which names I did not know, were pasted on the wall one by one, and the menu had pictures of the dishes they served.

Everything looked good. I would love to try all.

Squid or octopus.
My husband loves mollusk. If it was hard to decide, we could order both, but 2 plates of mollusk were not easy to take for me. Finally, after much agonizing, I decided on the squid.

After a short while, 8 Spanish people that looked like a family and friends, lead by a man who looked like the father, came to sit at the big table next to us.
They opened the menu and closed it after a quick glance. It somehow appeared to be a confirmation work, and no hesitation was observed. Anywhere in the world in common is that the dishes that locals eat are the best.

On the plate brought shortly after, a huge octopus, I was sure it must have measured at least 30cm in length, was placed with its legs boldly rolled up, in front of each member of the group. 8 Legs, which meant they were all the legs of one huge octopus. It was quite an overwhelming sight.

Of course, it was not a decent manner to observe other tables in a restaurant and we fully understood that, but we could see as it was in sight.

It appeared that the octopus was easily cut by knife. And, we could feel its juicy texture that we imagined judging from the softness of the flesh despite its large size.

I was not saying that our squid was bad.
After a long swimming in the North Atlantic Ocean, just unloaded this morning from the small boat of a fisherman, the squid was delicious, of course.

However, since this place was not on our itinerary for the following night, I could not come here again the next day and order, “I would like to try the octopus today!”

Since then, whenever we go to some island, my mind is thrown into chaos between octopus and squid. However, I would love to see a huge soft-looking octopus legs placed in front of me, like that family, and I still dream of eating that without hesitation until my stomach is full.

Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, impresses us every time with its unusual visual.
This is a series advertisement for nasal decongestant called, “Let The Sea Help You Breathe.”
The series consists of 3 images of octopus, crab and sea horse. After all, octopus is the player. This bold visual communication is a success.

It was created by Saatchi & Saatchi in Tel Aviv and Switzerland, and developed in Sweden.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Client: Novartis

Brand: Otrivin

Media: Print

Title: Let The Sea Help You Breathe

Description: A print campaign for Otrivin nasal decongestant.

Advertising agencies: BBR Saatchi & Saatchi Tel Aviv and Saatchi & Saatchi  Switzerland

Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio at the Great Jones Street, New York, 1985
In front of Untitled, 1985, Acrylic and oilstick on wood, 217 x 275,5 x 30,5 cm (detail)
Private Collection, Photo: Lizzie Himmel© © 2010, ProLitteris, Zürich

If Jean-Michel Basquiat were alive, he would be 50 years old.

Basquiat was born in a Caribbean immigrant family, and he suddenly appeared in the art world from the underground world of New York, just like a sudden explosion of hot air.

He was invited to “Documenta,” a contemporary art exhibition, held in Kassel, Germany in 1982, which made his sensational debut. To explain how sensational that was, is just like, for example, a 21-year old unknown artist was invited to a biennale.

Having this opportunity as a momentum, and as soon as the top galleries in New York City started to recognize his work, he climbed to the summit of the worl

d’s top artist at a furious speed.

It was when Basquiat was 22 years old. Ernst Beyeler, the founder of Bayeler Foundation, invited him over for the exhibition entitled, “Expressive Painting after Picasso.”
Basquiat loved Europe, and since then he traveled to Italy and France quite often. Especially he loved Switzerland and occasionally stayed longer to create many artworks.

Bruno Bishofberger, a famous gallerist in Zurich who collected the works of Basquiat, introduced him to Andy Warhol in 1983 and later to Francesco Clemente to suggest collatorations. These collaborative creations ended up to be a ciritical part of the works of Basquiat in his later years.

Those who shared activities in the same era are; Fab 5 zfreddy, Vincent Gallo, Keith Haring, Debbie Harry, Madonna and so on.
Extremely outstanding gifted talent, symbolizing such an era, also enhanced his charisma further more.

Completely ignoring the class system of the white society or any academic rules, and inspired by everyday events, he continued to create works with a passionate power, making us wonder when he had ever slept.

A year after the death of Warhol, Basquiat suddenly left this world due a drug overdose. He was only 27.

He was a painter, actor, poet, musician, and a graffiti artist. He was active from the latter part of 70s until mid 80s, only 10 years.

He contibuted his works to dynamic porjects at The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art（MoMA）in New York City, Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou in Pairs and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, as well as exhibitions of private collections for gallerists or collectors such as Bruno Bishofberger.

“BASQIAT,” the first large-scle European exhibition is being held at Bayeler Foundation Museum, which consists of more than 150 pieces of paintings, drawings, objects and films.

The glass ceiling by Renzo Piano receives and accepts the summer sunshine, and brings into the venue just like filtered soft light. Whenever the clouds in the sky move, the light changes, and so do the beat and heat emitted from huge artworks.

Comments written for the catalogue by Keller, Director of the Museum, and the curator, Dieter Buchhart, are quuite brilliant and impressive. This collection book is also full of respect for Basquiat, same as the exhibition.

Until September 5, 2010.

http://www.beyeler.com/