Korridorium

♫ Malträtarium ♫

40/398

I enter the corridor. Its walls are composed almost entirely of book spines. (Not like Matej Krén’s installations or Ishwori Sapkota’s bookstore in Kathmandu, where books are seamlessly stacked horizontally, sometimes even mirrored to create endless, walkable tunnels, but densely packed vertically.) Tilting my head, I study the titles in bewilderment. Someone seems to have made a self-referential joke here.

Back to back, there are, among others,

• • Im Korridor der Sterne by Alexander Kaiser,
• • Le deuxieme couloir by Georges Barguet,
• Corridor of Storms by William Sarabande,
• The Corridors of Time by Poul Anderson next to
• Corridors of Time: 1,700,000,000 Years of Earth at Grand Canyon with an introduction by Carl Sagan,
• Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor Volume 2 (where is volume one?),
• Korridor der Blicke by Camill Leberer,
• Corridors of Light by Eleanor G. Brown, Ph. D.,
• Petits bruits de couloir by Philippe Guillard,
• Il decimo corridoio by Marco Meini,
• L’ultima stanza in fondo al corridoio by Alessandra Brisotto,
• Corridor de Vie by Camille Sabatier,
• Corridors of the Mind by Caroline Lupfer Kurtz,
• The Locked Corridor by Marilyn Ross,
• The Corridors of Fear by Clarissa Ross,
• Der lange Korridor – ein Arztroman by Catherine Cookson,
• The Silver Corridor by Harlan Ellison (here perhaps? No!),
• The Golden Corridor by Jody and Ric Hornor,
• The Smoky Corridor: A Haunted Mystery by Chris Grabenstein,
• La mistica nel corridoio by Luis Casasús Latorre,
• the comic Sunset Corridor by Régis Franc,
• Der dunkle Korridor – klassische Erzählungen aus Russland by Hanjo Kesting,
• Yao ye hui lang by Julian Lee,
• Night Corridor by Joan Hall Hovey,
• Corridors by Candlelight: A Family Album with Words by Anna Clyde Plunkett,
• The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock,
• Flucht aus dem Grauen Korridor by Clark Darlton,
• Les couloirs de l’espoir by Corinne Vomscheid,
• The Corridor of Mullah-Kajar and Other Stories by J. M. DeMatteis and Roy Thomas,
• Tumithak of the Corridors by Charles R. Tanner,
• Il corridoio del flaminio by Aldo Toffoli,
• Le corridor des invendus by Bernard A. Chevalier,
• Corridor of Whispers by Edwina Noone,
• Dans les couloirs du labyrinthe by Emmanuel Matateyou,
• Echoes Down the Corridor by Arthur Miller,
• L’Enfant dans le corridor by Yves Thibault,
• L’homme assis dans le couloir by Marguerite Duras,
• The Ladies of the Corridor by Dorothy Parker,
• Série X numéro 122: Dans le couloir de l’amour by Tracy O’Toole,
• La fille au bout du couloir by Jacqueline Remy,
• Ma princesse disparait dans le couloir by Brigitte Smadja,
• Mon père s’est perdu au fond du couloir by Philippe Garnier and
• La vérité est au bout du couloir by Sam Richez,

in between are the scripts for

• Korridoren by Bengt Bratt, Bengt Forslund and Jan Halldoff,
• White Corridors based on a novel by Helen Ashton,
• Corridor of Mirrors after a novel by Christopher Massie,
• Les couloirs du temps: Les visiteurs 2 by Christian Clavier and Jean-Marie Poiré,
• Whispering Corridors by In Jung-ok and Park Ki-hyung, as well as
• Shock Corridor by Samuel Fuller

plus a videocassette with the handwritten label

• En el corredor de la muerte,

then more books:

• Corridor Ecology: The Science and Practice of Linking Landscapes for Biodiversity Conservation by Jodi Hilty et. al.,
• Corridor naar de Rijn by Hen Bollen,
• Ostpreussen und der Polnische Korridor by Wilhelm Deuticke,
• Club és folyosó: Politikai ötletek és rajzok by Kálmán Mikszáth,
• The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia by T. H. Vail Motter,
• Le couloir de Dantzig by Général Gomer Castaing,
• Der Gansu-Korridor: Barbarenland diesseits und jenseits der Großen Chinesischen Mauer by Sabira Stahlberg,
• L’île au bout du corridor by Marie-Antoinette Liaudet,
• Camera e stanze – Il corridoio racconta by Lucio Tisi,
• Kubismus im Korridor by Susanne Friedli et. al.,
• a photography collection Corridors of the World – Places of Arrival and Departure,
• Au-delà du couloir by Marion Brodeau,

even a volume titled

• Analysen der Verkehrswege zwischen dem alten und neuen Bundesgebiet dargestellt am Korridor Rhein-Main und Thüringen-Sachsen,
• from Die Spannenden Geschichten Nr. 71, Deutsche Panzer durchbrechen den Korridor,
• Le corridor des Panzers (Vol. 1 et 2),
• Korytarz śmierci by Perry Moore,
• Through the Corridor by Daniel Pearson,
• Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who by Robert Shearman and Toby Hadoke,
• Im Korridor geht der Mond by Elisabeth Alexander,
• “Cunning passages, contrived corridors”: Unexpected Essays in the History of Lexicography by Michael Adams,
• Voci dal corridoio dell’anima by Trotti Nardo,
• Le couloir de la pieuvre by Olivier Descosse,
• Meine Freunde ziehen mit einer fahrbaren Plastikmaus über den Korridor by Thomas Böhme,
• God in the Corridors of Power by Michael Ryan and Les Switzer,
• Messages de vie du couloir de la mort by Roger W. McGowen,
• Memorias del corredor de la muerte by Joaquín José Martínez,
• Chimerical Corridors by S. Vasuki,
• El entrenamiento del corredor de orientación by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación,
• Portals and Corridors: A Visionary Guide to Hyperspace Travel with a foreword by Terence McKenna,
• Corridor of Uncertainty by Paul Hill,
• Paranormal n12: Le couloir sans fin by Engle, and finally
• 100+ Stairs and Corridors from the 100+ Tips, Ideas series by Fernando de Haro and Omar Fuentes.

I shouldn’t have curiously pulled that last one off the shelf; it unexpectedly gives way, collapses, and buries me beneath it.

After I’ve finally extricated myself from all these corridors, I decide (since I’m already here) to arrange the fallen books alphabetically by author. (Maybe, while I’m at it, I could transcribe some passages and publish them online—perhaps as a daily blog?)

♫ Xerox Maxixe ♫

127/398

I enter the corridor, my heart pounding in my chest. Time and again, I’m struck by the fact that stories, paintings, photos, and films of corridors leave me cold. But being there, physically experiencing the architecture—that’s what gets my heart racing and sends a shiver down my spine!

Here, I find extraordinary, one-of-a-kind corridors, akin to the unique buildings, castles, temples, dwellings, and villas found nowhere else in the world, in places that resonate with a special sound in my ears:

• Hauterives in France with the Palais idéal,
• Lemgo with the Junkerhaus,
• Szekesfehervar in Hungary,
• Ében-Emaël near Liège with the Tower of the Apocalypse,
• Calipatria in California with Salvation Mountain,
• La Frénouse in France,
• Chandigarh in India with the bizarre Rock Garden …

Here, obsessive visionaries have built their castles in the air, often in secret, and frequently over decades. I enter living testaments turned to stone—and the strain of the long journey, the jet lag, it all vanishes in these moments.

Filled with awe, I look around. These structures seem to have sprung from dreams—or perhaps nightmares:

• the Mystery Castle in Arizona,
• Villa dei Mostri in Italy,
• L’Hélice Terrestre in France,
• Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron in Wisconsin,
• Josep’s Labyrinth in Spain,
• The Grotto of Redemption in Iowa,
• Taródi-vár in Hungary,
• the Catedral de la Nuestra Señora de Pilar near Madrid,
• Chateau Laroche in Loveland, Ohio,
• La Maison Picassiette in Chartres,
• Helen Martins’ Owl House in South Africa…

On most visits, I take the time to create a drawing in one of the often artistically designed hallways and passages—which bear the signature of their builders down to the smallest details—inspired by the strong feelings that this fantastic architecture evokes in me. I use these sketches to adorn the corridors of the cellar vaults I’ve been secretly excavating beneath my property for over thirty years, expanding them bit by bit, corridor by corridor.