Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen. more
Die Zeit, 16.06.2005
Critical public discussion in Iran has relocated to the Internet, writes Jörg Lau. This has led to an explosion in the number of blogs (here
a selection), estimated to be more than 100,000. For both Lau and the
current regime, this digital underground represents an increasingly serious opposition. "The blogs take over the functions that the state-controlled print media are prevented from carrying out. They contain uncensored reports
and commentaries on the major political events in the country. For
example, the blog pages gave full coverage on the disqualification of
the reform candidates in the upcoming elections on June 17. With the
blogs, the system in Iran has gained one more absurdity: a flagrantly manipulated election about which the entire country is reading every detail in real time over the Internet."
China now has the best and liveliest film industry in the world, ventures
Katja Nicodemus, citing a selection of films. "Maybe Chinese film is so
very lively these days because it is filled with stories about disappearing lifestyles, but also about novel enticements
and new identities. Perhaps when a country is overrun by changes,
filmmakers have a different, more existential way of documenting life,
as their cinema is literally a way of holding onto something.
Because tomorrow, the people they depict might already be living and
working differently than they do today. But also because their
factories could be dismantled and their houses demolished – or buried
under the floods of the biggest dam project in the history of mankind."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16.06.2005
Göttingen-based political
scientist Franz Walter considers the new leftist coalition being formed by Gregor Gysi (former chairman of the PDS, the successor
to the communist party of East Germany) and Oskar Lafontaine (former
SPD finance minister and a harsh critic of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder)
to be the sign of an ageing society. "The days of a juvenile
political culture... are past. In an ageing society, the political
hero is no longer the bold lad who describes the Utopia of the future
with a cracking voice, hastening towards a better society with his coat tails waving behind him. In an ageing society, the social and
political veto is articulated softly if you like: traditionalist,
safer, more seasoned, maybe also wiser. Such a leftist party can
profit from this lifestyle conservatism. It doesn't have to protect
itself - half-hearted, embarrassed - against the accusation of
being a party of the 1970s welfare state.â€
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16.06.2005
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,
now 86, appeared on Russian television, to give an astonishingly open
dressing down to both the Kremlin and the White House, writes Kerstin
Holm. "As a down-to-earth fundamentalist in questions of
political justice, Solzhenitsyn believes that democracy only exists
where it emerges from an autonomous regional movement. That was never
the case in Russia. For him, the recently abolished governor's
elections are no loss, because they were undemocratic, corrupt,
fraudulent, or even openly criminal. But he is equally critical of the mission of the United States, which he says feels obliged to install "democracy"
from above and by means of bayonets all over the globe - democratic
power that deserves the name develops gradually, step by step."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16.06.2005
Gerhard Gnauck comments on changing attitudes towards the past in Silesia,
which until 1945 was part of the German Reich and now is mostly part of
Poland. While the German legacy used to be neglected, if not completely
suppressed, today it is the subject of renewed attention, both in archaeology and pop culture. "The local Silesian bard, Roman Kolakowski, sings: 'The German houses of Polish Wroclaw / yes, there lies my home'. The abandon
with which the Polish population not only did not invent, but practically
stumbled across and adopted a tradition has something poignant, at times
almost odd about it. The intellectuals are happy to live in a
city with a double base."
Die Tageszeitung, 16.06.2005
Harvey and Bob Weinstein are splitting up
with Disney. For Sebastian Moll this is the end of an era in
which mainstream and independent cinema combined to create a vigorous new industry. Since then, the boundaries between the two have been blurred. "Is an indie a film brought
onto the market by an independent producer?" asks Geoffrey Gilmore, co-director of the Sundance Festival of independent film. "Many
directors produce both for studios and independents. Does the money
have to come from independent sources? There's nothing more absurd
than calling a film an independent because its funding comes from
an investment bank rather than an international media group. Or is it
a film in which the filmmaker has complete creative say? Then
Steven Spielberg would be the biggest independent director of all
time."
Der Tagesspiegel, 16.06.2005
"wit" reports from the international trade fair Art Basel: "Once a year Basel is the artistic centre
of the world. That is when museum directors, collectors, and gallery
owners from the four corners of the globe assemble to take stock of art as a commodity.
Over 60 private jets are said to have landed in the city the day before
the 36th Art Basel opened. This year American collectors are taking the
opportunity to enlarge their own collections after a stop at the Venice
Biennale. Here there is an almost unlimited number of works on
offer: 275 galleries present works from the classic modern to the very
youngest contemporary artists on two floors." The most expensive work
is a portrait by Picasso of his son, priced at 100 million
euros.