last waltz (Paperback) | Released: 31 Aug 2021

According to some people, the Herrenhäuser Gardens are the only thing of cultural and historical value in Hannover. I think this assessment is exaggerated.

I visited and photographed the gardens throughout the years in 2013 and 2014.
In the past, the gardens represented a source of inspiration for me. In the meantime, this effect has diminished. This is partly because visiting has become outrageously expensive. If one has the impression that the price-performance ratio of whatever is disproportionate, annoyance is inspired at best. This is not fruitful for art. The admission price introduced under the Social Democratic -which was supposedly never to be more expensive than DM 1.50- is currently (2021) 8.00 and increases have been announced. Much too expensive for families. The price is a total price for the Herrenhäuser Gardens, the rather meager museum and the Berggarten. Hardly anyone will want to visit all these facilities, but must pay the entrance fee for all three compulsorily. Entering the museum with a camera is prohibited, but that doesn't stop people from snapping away with their mind-numbing smartphones. The amount of the entrance fee is also remarkable because the garden is financed by tax money.

Someone who only speaks English should avoid the garden, he will hardly be able to buy an entrance ticket because the staff often does not know English, which they try to compensate with high volume, but this does not work.

The care of the gardens seems to me to have visibly diminished as admission prices have risen. When the gardens are in operation, contemplation is disturbed by hedge trimming, lawn mowing and other sources of noise.

Annoying are construction works in the middle of the main season, making large parts of the garden unusable. Such prominent structures as the Friederiken Bridge lay derelict since 2013 and were demolished in 2020. Consequently, a building monument by Friedrich Laves no longer exists. In recent years, the impression. The philosophers' temples Karneades and Sokrates will be renovated during the main season in 2021.

Strange events like the Christmas market called "Winterzauber" serve exclusively the consumption of overpriced products. 3 euros for a bowl of greasy fries with unfriendly staff signaling that any service is abhorrent to them. At the international fireworks competition, most of the seating areas are closed off for "safety reasons". In the event of a problem, any attempt to escape would be pointless anyway, because the gardens are absolutely overcrowded for commercial reasons.

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Sometimes such an event consists only in heaping up rusty iron pieces, which the students of the technical college have defined as a work of art.

The grace quality of the gardens has declined in recent years. The garden is a popular place to photograph Turkish wedding groups and you risk trouble with muscular bearded men if you walk through the picture, which is hard to avoid given the size of these groups. One is also unwelcome in the background and likes to be shouted at in Turkish. If you complain to the garden management, they promise better supervision of these crowds in the future. In fact, nothing happens.

Since I can no longer find anything new in the gardens and am no longer inspired when I am there with Leica, Zenit or Rolleiflex, I forced a little inspiration and photographed them with a Holga 135, a magical little plastic toy. Film in it that has been expired for many years provides the inspiration that the gardens no longer provide today. The whole thing contrast processed by C-41 leads to a certain kitschy drama.