Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Martin Kippenberger

The Paris Bar was founded in 1950 by a French chef. Students of the nearby art school at Hardenbergstraße were the early guests and over the years it got a bohemian touch. In 1976 the restaurant was taken over by two Austrians who developed into a place, where the rich and famous met. There are many gossip stories from that area. Artist Michael Kippenberger should have given the owners artwork, to be served here at any time without paying and Madonna did not understand that she could not have the table that was reserved for Gina Lollobrigida. But celebrities and vips are migratory and so, in the end, the two Austrians went bankrupt and were even sentenced for tax dodging. But the Paris Bar is still open. I have never been in there, maybe next time I´ll try it.

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior". It is claimed, that German artist Martin Kippenberger and friends met in the 1980s and 1990s in the Café Central and in the neighbouring hotel Chelsea. Today the "Neue Wilde" ("Young Wild Ones"), "neo-expressive" artists of the 1880s, seem to have moved away. At noontime this a a nice and very quiet place. Some palmtrees adorn the terrace.