Dear Friends,
Welcome to the first issue of transforum in 2011, and, incidentally, issue #10!
Once again, we hope you will make use of the opportunity to revisit some of the great programs and events we have hosted over the past few months, read the press reviews, and listen to live recordings of some of our concerts and discussions.
I am particularly proud of our last exhibit, “Serbia – Frequently Asked Questions,” which was accompanied by a host of events at our New York partnering institutions: A meeting with playwright Bilijana Srblijanovic, sponsored by the Romanian Cultural Institute, a Serbian film week at the Czech Center, and symposia at Columbia’s Harriman Institute and the Open Society Institute were extremely informative and successful.
The exhibition was seen by more than 3,000 visitors, who often spent more than an hour in the gallery spaces. Many visitors were curious émigrés from former Yugoslavia and from other parts of Central and Eastern Europe living in the greater New York area. In addition, we instated regular tours and gallery talks that featured special guests, artists, writers, and collectors. These meetings were extremely interesting, as were the numerous visitors who came to join us for these events. I felt particularly satisfied with the tour with a couple from Washington, DC who made the trip all the way to New York to see the show because they wanted to learn more about the war in Yugoslavia. A chilling moment occurred when an elderly Austrian émigré involved the group in a serious discussion about politics, and proceeded to show us his prison-camp serial number from Auschwitz. More visitors than usual left written remarks in our guest book – most of them positive.
The show also managed to spike quite a bit of interest, and even controversy, in Belgrade and Vienna, and received some wonderful reviews in Art in America and Artforum, among other places.
The exhibition catalogue turned out beautifully, with 40 images and several controversial texts on the show which put the subject of Serbia in a more historical-political context. If you are interested in obtaining a catalogue, please send us a note at catalogue@acfny.org
I would also like to mention the successful second installment of the annual ACF Translation Prize (www.translationprize.org), which honors excellence in translations of Austrian Literature. This year’s winner is David Dollenmayer, who submitted a superb and nuanced translation of Austrian author Michael Köhlmeier’s novella Idylle mit ertrinkendem Hund. The award ceremony took place here at the ACFNY on December 6th, with members of the distinguished jury on hand to congratulate Professor Dollenmayer.
Incidentally, the ACFNY Translation Prize was one of many creative ideas by Deputy Director Martin Rauchbauer whose cultural diplomatic mission here at the Austrian Cultural Forum is coming to an end after four years of passionate activities in the fields of literature, film, and debates. We wish him much health, joy, and success in his next career steps!
In that same vein, we wish to extend a warm welcome to his successor Hannah Liko, who will take up her duties at the beginning of February. Hannah has a background in Archeology and has served at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations.
In October we hosted the annual ACFNY Fall Jazz Festival, and launched a partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola. With stellar performances from Austria (Martin Reiter, Wolfgang Puschnig and Sabine Kopmayer) and the United States (Jamalaadeen Tacuma, Jack Walrath), we even made it onto Chinese television! Also immensely popular was the concert tour by Vienna’s Vegetable Orchestra.
And last but not least, these past few months have seen the launch of our latest publication, Raimund Abraham & The Austrian Cultural Forum New York, a book we published to honor the late architect of this great building we have the pleasure of working in. The book features a host of new photographs by the wonderful David Plakke that reveal perspectives never seen or published to date.
As always, I encourage you to come and meet us here at the ACFNY in person, browse through our website, borrow a book from our library, and follow us on Facebook or Twitter!
Yours warmly,
Andreas Stadler
January 2011
