Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts

World Bodypainting Festival Seeboden, Carinthia, Austria

amazing painting, body paint woman, Body Painting FestivalWorld Bodypainting Festival

The World Bodypainting Festival is an annual festival held in Seeboden, Carinthia, Austria during the third week of July every year. It is the biggest annual event of the body painting culture and community. Drawing over a hundred artists and models, and thousands of visitors, from all over the world every year, the festival redefines the word "art". Each artist has the opportunity to show his/her own specialities - bodies painted with many different materials and techniques, and sometimes combined with the most fantastic costumes, masks and effects.

The festival lasts a week, of which the first four days consist of special workshops and lessons, and the last three days consist of the actual festival event, which is open to the public without prior reservation. The festival event is open for both adults and children, and many families come there together. The artists compete in three categories: brush and sponge, airbrush, and special effects. At night time there is also a special UV effects contest.

As well as the body painting, the festival holds many live music events from various minor bands all over the world, and has several snack bars and cafes. It also includes a “Body Circus”, a fantasy ball within the historical walls of the castle. The medieval castle “Burg Sommeregg” will transform into a mystical fairy tale location with guests arriving in costume ranging from bodypainting, body decoration and masks, to extreme make-up and fantasy fashion.

Pictures from Vienna

Lying Pinocchio on high chair with spider on his nose

Belvedere
Important-looking building

Bought this for myself on Charles Bridge in Prague

Hedgehog marzipan for Val

Because not everybody has an imperfect picture of the Austrian Parliament Building

By the canal at Vienna
Einstein Cafe

From the demonstration for better treatment of asylum seekers that I went to

Really tame bird pecking at my dinner. I gave it pieces of my pita after the photo op as thanks.

The hills are alive (this would be creepy if the verse ended here) with the sound of music


Had a really fun night with Elia, Susi and Rex (I'm not sure if that's how to spell her name), my hosts, and another Israeli Couchsurfer named Boaz, watching The Sound of Music, haha! I haven't seen it in years, and as a child I never really did appreciate the historical background of the era that it depicted, so it was really interesting to watch it again. And the landscape! Susi and Rex apparently lived near the place that the movie was shot, and even got baptised and went to weddings in the church where Maria married Captain von Trapp.

It's so fun watching it with Austrians as they protest at all the Austrian stereotypes and stuff the Americans probably made up to rhyme the songs with ("Who eats schnitzels with noodles??") (And, while we're at it - apparently people also said "gloomy pussies" back in the day. *cue juvenile smirk*). Also fun is all the singing to the words, though Elia didn't know them, but Susi, Rex, Boaz and I were all swaying to the music. Especially the part with the puppets, the best part of the show obviously, as a kid I would rewind the tape and watch that part over and over again. Ahh. Good times.

Elia's bringing me to a demonstration tomorrow for a girl and her family who are going to be deported back to Kosovo. Looking forward to it.

Down time

I actually wrote like, 3 blog posts today, when I had my netbook with me while roaming the city. But I'm not in the mood to post them now. Partly it is because two of them are about how I got lost in the city and everything, and right this moment I am acutely aware of my ignorance about Austria and Europe in general. I keep telling myself it's alright because I really didn't have time to do any travel research or read about Austrian history (or Czech, or Italian, or any of the 7 other countries that I'm visiting), and I'll come back again, better prepared - but it just feels awful when my host tells me certain places and events and is completely astounded when I know nothing about them. Just like I was astounded when she said she hasn't watched Sound of Music before (The movie's set in Austria).

I hate this feeling of knowing that I'm missing something completely awesome that is right in front of me but I'm too dumb to recognize it. I know I can't know everything in the world but not knowing anything just sucks horribly =(