Dear Readers of transforum
NineteenEightyFour
After exploring 1989 with its democratic revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe as a pivotal year in the 20th century, we are now presenting an exhibition that has less to do with historic events than with George Orwell’s most successful novel. The participating artists from Europe and the USA show us that the related issues and problems are as relevant as ever, albeit no longer in the sense of the totalitarian control of fascism and communism.
Of course even today we have unsettling government and corporate control associated with issues like surveillance cameras and Internet espionage. Today, too, power is created, projected, and maintained by a vigorous manipulation of language. At least in Western democracies - with their traditional division of powers - an attempt is made to ensure appropriate limits through legal regulation. However, it remains astonishing and worrisome to many that despite our efforts to encourage and maintain diversity and dissent in democratic societies, we end up all too often debating side issues of minor importance rather than negotiating and disputing existential issues. How can it happen that the tabloid media, for example, are mostly interested in the private affairs of public figures that essentially have no meaning in relation to the condition of our lives? How can our attention be diverted from the major issues of war and peace, global environmental survival, and great inequities in the standard of living? (click here for the full director's statement)
Crises are what make Europe strong
Just when we thought we had been saved by the massive anti-recession and stimulus programs of 2009, we see ourselves confronted yet again with nervous twitches of the stock indexes. But this time, the epicenter of the financial quake is in Europe, in Greece to be exact. From a New York perspective, it’s interesting to note that this crisis has arisen at precisely the moment when the European Union was finally able to celebrate the Treaty of Lisbon coming into effect. But EU skeptics should be reminded of the fact that in the history of European integration it was above all the crises that forced Europe into motion. Every phase of crisis or expansion in the last decades was soon followed by a phase of integration, and the European Union of now 27 member states will likely refocus on its inner and social cohesion in the next few years. The ACF, in any event, will be tracking this European issue through our programs.
- Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Michael Spindelegger, and Andreas Stadler at the opening of the exhibition "1989: The End of History or the Beginning of the Future?"
EUNIC: The European Union National Institutes for Culture
The European Union is not only growing within Europe. With the new European Foreign Minister and Council President, it is gaining visibility and definition toward the outside as well. For instance, the European cultural institutes of the 27 member states have formed a cluster in New York in order to showcase European diversity in the USA. Last year, together with a number of other New York institutions, we poignantly explored the topic of Islam in Europe, and for this coming fall we are preparing a series of events on the subject of “Perpetual Peace.” Named after a treatise by Immanuel Kant that forms the basis for today’s international law, the series invites us to discover this work’s particular relevance in light of the current realities. An affiliated project is an exhibition at the ACF supported by EUNIC titled F.A.Q. Serbia. Contemporary art, a series of films, and a scientific program will examine the question of how the two lost decades of nationalism in the former Yugoslavia could come about in the first place.
Music and evil
In June, the musical highlights at the Cultural Forum will be particularly delectable. Vienna’s Chief Cantor Shmuel Barzilai meets Miles Davis’s keyboarder Adam Holzman in a first collaboration with the Jewish Heritage Museum. One of the reasons for this partnership is that our concert hall is simply too small for this kind of engagement. The composer portraits will continue with Fabien Levy and Johanna Doderer. We are also presenting Sound of Music star Theodore Bikel for the first time with his accompanist in life and music Tamara Brooks. And the partnership with the Vienna Konzerthaus will also continue, this time with Istan Vardai and Balasz Födei. Finally, the Wiener Konzertschrammeln and the Radio String Quartett will both celebrate their US debut at the ACFNY.
Just in case you think that’s already too much of a good thing, we will also be exploring the topic of evil from the perspective of literature and criminal psychology.
Austrians go US
It’s astounding how many creative people connected with Austria have influential positions in the USA. A new person in this group is Fabio Luisi, chief conductor of the Vienna Symphonic, who has become the first guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic. This fall, Sabine Breitwieser will start her position as chief curator of media and performance at the MoMa. We’re also pleased to note that Franz West’s sculpture Das Ich und das Es will continue to inspire joy and reflection at the southeast entrance to Central Park.
Coming and going
One of the long-time partners of the ACFNY, Prof. Gary Cohen, will be leaving the Center for Austrian Studies in Minneapolis after ten years of tenure there. We look back on a very fruitful partnership and bid him a fond “Na Shledanou” as a dyed-in-the-wool expert of all things Bohemian.
Finally, closer to home, I’m sad to report that three of our staff members are leaving this summer. Maria Simma, who publishes Transforum with me and was the head of our communications department, will be going to Berlin. Trude Desmond, the librarian who brought life to this island of calm, will be transferred to London as part of her diplomatic rotation, and Elisabeth Haider, the head of our gallery and visual arts program, is going to Beirut. We would like to thank all three of them and wish them the best of success.
Once again, I invite you to come by for a visit and to get involved with the Cultural Forum. In this spirit, I remain
Yours sincerely,
Andreas Stadler
Director
