something similar to this burning-wing-filled brilliance...
above: a balinese cremation, or ngaben. no-one cries as the corpse burns within an animal shaped sarcophagus. the ceremony's called ngaben and whilst i'm not religious and don't agree with the fundamental beliefs of balinese hinduism i find it extremely difficult to disagree with the celebration shown in the photo above. i could definitely be waved off in that fashion. failing that though and assuming a more 'traditional' cremation was the only option, there's only one place where i'd want to it to happen...
the 'hall of condolence' at treptow crematorium is one of the most visually striking rooms you'll see, mainly due its 29 concrete pillars randomly spaced throughout, seemingly detached from the ceiling and haphazardly surrounding a small pool of still water, above which floats an egg. in fact, due to its undeniably futuristic appearance it was used as a location during filming of sci-fi mega-flop æon flux; an interesting movie if only for its inspired filming location choices around berlin. the building was designed by axel schultes & charlotte frank back in 1996. more info here.finally, while i'm on the subject of death/awesome, for those of you who've never seen it before, below is the anatomical theatre in padova, italy...
the room was built in 1594 and was used to teach anatomy by way of human dissections. these would take place on the table in the centre of the room as students looked on from the many circular balconies which were arranged steeply to avoid the kind of headblock annoyance regularly experienced by cinema-goers. it's a uniquely beautiful and faintly creepy room.
sleep well.
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