JEAN-GUY LECAT ON BUILDING THEATRE TODAY: “The difference between a true space and one that is not lies in the criteria that favours or disfavours life. That which favours this concentration is thus legitimate while that which shies away from it is not. Continue reading »
Filed under Europe …
CULTURE KLATCH | Trans Europe Halles grapples with art for social change in Europe and the Arab world
Twenty-five artists and cultural operators from Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey will be guests at Trans Europe Halles Meeting 76. They will offer inspiration and examples of how they work in independent culture under harsh conditions and to share their stories of how culture actions can lead to social change and a more open society. Continue reading »
DEADLINES | German foundation seeks exchanges between artists and cultural institutions in Germany and African countries
What follows is a call to German cultural organizations in all artistic areas to engage in new forms of artistic collaboration with African partners. Continue reading »
LITERACY STRATEGY | EU pledges €2.5 billion to fight literacy problems
At least €1.5 billion will go to the future Erasmus for All programme (an academic exchange programme between EU and overseas universities, which has helped pupils improve their education by gaining experience of studying abroad). Continue reading »
THEATER TALK | House of Sweden hosts Swedish and American dialogue in D.C.
Artistic Director of Backa theatre Mattias Andersson who specializes in creating and staging theatrical projects grounded in sociological research methods will discuss this hot topic with Robert McNamara, artistic director of SCENA theatre and Otis Ramsey-Zöe, Lecturer of Theatre Arts at Howard University. Randy Gener will moderate the talk. Continue reading »
ON FOREIGN-FILM DIPLOMACY | Why this year’s Golden Globe Awards are so Eurocentric
Have you noticed that the French and the Scandinavians dominate this year’s Golden Globe nominees for best foreign language films? To a disproportionate degree. So what exactly happened that only the French and the Scandinavians grabbed most of the Golden Globes booty? Are the best of the best among this year’s foreign language films really so Eurocentric? Continue reading »
FILM-FLAM DIPLOMACY | Will you accept a post of culture minister in Siberia if you were Gérard Depardieu?
The Siberian region is notorious for its Stalin-era gulag prison camps. It is also the same area where one of the members of the punk band Pussy Riot is presently serving a two-year sentence for reciting an anti-Putin prayer in a Russian orthodox church in February 2012. Continue reading »
Slide show | Alan Cumming, Rivka S. Katvan, Tom Viola, Randy Gener talk fine-art photography and Broadway behind the curtain
Please join Gallery 138 and Soho Photo Gallery on Wednesday Sept 12, 6-8 pm at Soho Photo Gallery,15 White Street, in NYC for: BROADWAY BEHIND THE CURTAIN Conversations on Photography and Broadway with Alan Cumming, Rivka S. Katvan & Tom Viola RSVP is required as space is limited. contact@gallery138.com, or 212 633 0324 ALAN CUMMING, … Continue reading »
Slideshow | German director Wim Wenders (“Pina” and “Wings of Desire”) exhibits his landscape photography
For those who are curious to glimpse the personal photography of filmmaker Wim Wenders exhibited in “Places, strange and quiet,” click here to view a slideshow. Continue reading »
Dramatic photographs of North Korea, Greece, Afghanistan exhibited at France’s international festival of photojournalism
This festival is a unique event for those who share a love and passion for photography. For one week each year, the Palais des Congrès in Perpignan becomes the centre of the photojournalism community. The Festival exhibits the greatest photojournalist work from around the world in exhibitions across the city. Continue reading »
GPS | ROMANIA: Horia-Roman Patapievici, curajos erou, a declarat că va demisiona de la conducerea Institutului Cultural Român”
A gallery exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York displayed the Cărtureşti spirit. Cărtureşti is a cultural venue that functions as a bookshop, tea studio, and project space, taking direct action towards revitalizing the Romanian artistic life, urban pleasures and social responsibilities. Continue reading »
Romania’s Cultural Institute under siege | Politics won. Leaders of Romanian Cultural Institute resign from their posts
The siege is broken. The culture war in Romania is over. National politics won. The leaders of the cultural institution responsible for putting Romanian arts and culture on the world map are stepping down. Continue reading »
GPS | Romania: Acting workshops of Andrei Şerban Traveling Academy in Mogoşoaia
“Brancovan Palaces” Cultural Center in Mogoşoaia hosted the workshops of this traveling academy. The actors worked on Shakespeare and Romanian classic playwright Ion Luca Caragiale (the centenary of whose death is celebrated this year) Continue reading »
Romania’s Cultural Institute under siege | Ponta’s online minions attack character and integrity of ICR leadership
A new communiqué, sent via email from Ponta’s online team and dated June 28, 2012, is accusing ICR of “financial and legal irregularities” as well as “dysfunctional aspects,” without actually offering any tangible evidence. In quick reaction, ICR’s executive board members have drafted a point-by-point response that calls this communiqué full of “disinformation and blatant lies.” At issue: 10 million euros, the annual budget of ICR. Continue reading »
Performance review | Is “Pâquerette” penetrating, or merely a dance with penetrating elements?
Pâquerette is a duet between a man and a woman who re-discover their childlike innocence through the intensities of penetration. Continue reading »
Not a performance review | French choreographer David Wampach spoofs John Waters film, dances with shaving foam
“Auto + Batterie” matches up two enticing signature works, in which French choreographer David Wampach conspicuously foregrounds the theatrical relationship between dance and music. Continue reading »
Performance review (NSFW) | Italy’s Ricci/Forte serves up queer fantasia in “Macadamia Nut Brittle”
Macadamia Nut Brittle is excoriating, sexy, hallucinatory, viciously funny. The plot steals from the mode of a reality-TV show, but its stance is subversive and punk. As the noisy evening unfolds, Ricci/Forte detonates, again and again and again, the illusory logic of this TV genre Continue reading »
Play excerpt: Jeton Neziraj’s “Yue Madeleine Yue,” a tragicomedy about anti-Roma discrimination
The play tells the story of a Roma family that was forcedly expelled from Germany to Kosovo. In their new reality, this family confronts the challenges of living in a recently newborn state. One day, a Roma girl named Madeleine falls in a hole that was created by a construction company. The girl falls in a coma. As she fights for her life, her father strives to pursue justice. He faces bureaucratic officers, businessmen, policemen and embassy workers. Continue reading »
Because it Cannes: Agence France Presse wraps French city with glamorous photos of movie stars
The selected photos in Cannes have a lot of pointing and waving in them: Alfred Hitchcock fingering the viewer directly, Michael Douglas waving in the air, Tony Curtis also pointing a finger, Quentin Tarantino with two palms up in the air, and Sophia Loren also with her arms up Continue reading »
Dutch composer JacobTV remixes images of democracy, world leaders, global media into musical “News” commentary
PITTSBURGH: ”The rules of democracy are under pressure,” states the Dutch avant-pop composer JacobTV. “Our government makes decisions without asking the parliament for permission. The Dutch government bailed out corporations and paid too much money. Everything in the world is changing right now. In a way, that has always been the case, but I think we … Continue reading »