The Perseids – Shooting Star Gazing

Hello again

It is not often that I use quotes from my own translation work to post here, but I want to make an exception here. Tonight is the culmination of the Perseids, a shower of shooting stars. Each year on or around 12th August, they make an appearance in the skies of the northern hemisphere. Sadly, here in Oban, the sky is anything but clear so I doubt whether I can make a wish tonight and know it will come true.

But if you live in Switzerland or in the Lake Constance area, you might stand a chance.

German concept artist Olaf Nicolai has created a series of events called

Welcome to the Tears of St. Lawrence –
An Appointment to Watch Falling Stars

So, if you're interested in art and astronomy, you might want to travel to Kartause Ittingen in Thurgau, Switzerland, tomorrow Wednesday, 12th August, 2009. Be there for 9pm to catch a talk by astrophysicist Dr. Roland Brodbeck, who will explain the phenomenon of the meteor shower from the astronomer's perspective.

The Kunstmuseum Thurgau will host German concept artist Olaf Nicolai and his latest work, Welcome to the Tears of St. Lawrence. It directs attention to the visual sense and draws our gaze to the meteor shower of the Perseids, also known as the tears of St. Lawrence.
The meteor gazing event is part of Olaf Nicolai's latest work, Welcome to the Tears of St. Lawrence, open from 8th to 13th August, 2009.
Visitors are invited to gaze at the sky streaked by the Tears of St. Lawrence. They are also known as the Perseids, an annual summer shower of up to one hundred meteors each night, culminating around 12th August.
The shower, which seems to radiate from the constellation Perseus, takes its name from its occurrence on and around 10th August, the feast day of St. Lawrence, whose hot tears the meteors are said to represent. According to legend, rather than handing treasures over to the Roman emperor Valerian, Lawrence distributed them among the poor, for which he was martyred by being roasted alive on a gridiron.
Welcome to the Tears of St. Lawrence was commissioned from Olaf Nicolai for the 51st Venice Biennale of 2005. The property of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Nicolai's piece will be on permanent loan from August 2009 to the Kunstmuseum Thurgau at Kartause Ittingen, whose patron saint is St. Lawrence. The saint therefore provides a direct link between the museum and the work.
An essential part of Nicolai's work is the artist's invitation to gaze at the sky. His posters, advertisements and brochure complement this year's event at Kunstmuseum Thurgau.
The event launches Olaf Nicolai's solo exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Thurgau, from 18th October, 2009, until 11th April, 2010.

Biography
Olaf Nicolai was born in 1962, in Halle/Saale, in the then German Democratic Republic, and grew up in Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt). He has a doctorate in German language and literature, and a diploma in applied arts. He lives and works in Berlin.
His works were shown at Documenta X (1997), and at the Biennales in Venice of 2001 and 2005. Having been awarded various grants and fellowships, he has participated in international solo and group exhibitions.
Nicolai's conceptual approach and use of diverse media question the way in which we view our everyday environment.