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Culture

Musicals on the big screen

In front
West Side Story (Photo: seatlletim/ Flickr)

'Whatever happened to people launching into song for no reason?' 'They stopped doing it: it was ridiculous'

by Carlos Indovino Lúquez // 05/09/07

France - Italy: head-butting sweethearts

Food, fashion, politics, football … a snapshot of the two countries in Alberto Toscano's words

by Elisa Marengo // 06/09/07

FOCUS
(Photo: Atamaii.com/ Flickr)

The musical: a phoenix from the flames

With new stories, new audiences and the latest in technology, the musical is back with a bang in Europe’s big cities

by Fernando Navarro Sordo // 05/09/07

REVIEW
(Photo: 2007 Kingsnorth and Clements Limited)

Jihad: the Musical

Appears only the name of the six-member US production courted the real controversy in Edinburgh this August

by Carles Matamoros and Nabeelah Shabbir // 05/09/07

AGENDA

Jesus in Italy, Mary in London

Our pick of the best musicals on tour around Europe this autumn

by Elisa Marengo // 05/09/07

Man on the line (Photo: Filippo Lubrano)

Ramon Kelvink Jr: 'there's not many of us in the world who do this job'

In Liguria, north-western Italy, we come face to face with the French tight-rope walker, 35, and hear his views from above on Europe and the world

by Filippo Lubrano // 01/09/07

AGENDA

September culture vulture

Basel dances, Barcelona premieres the best international short films and four cultures head the dialogue in ód, Poland – our monthly cultural calendar

by Jannik Pfister // 31/08/07

FEATURE

'La dolce vita' of gays in Berlin

The German capital is a real paradise for gays and lesbians. Despite the high level of general tolerance, the reality is that discrimination in the workplace and violent attacks still continue

by Silvia Cravotta // 29/08/07

FEATURE
Marx and Engels statues, Berlin (Photo: FNS)

Berlin - breakwater of nostalgia

The death and rebirth of two city icons provide an impressive picture of the nostalgia that characterises Germany

by Fernando Navarro Sordo // 29/08/07

Portuguese village (Photo: Peppin de Cuccavipre/ Flickr)

Plunge into Portugal

Journey to the southwest of the European continent in quest of ancient villages and avant-garde buildings

by Valeria Ibello // 28/08/07

FEATURE
Sziget (CB)

The other Sziget

Pink, Faithless, The Chemical Brothers, Nine Inch Nails; alongside more than 1, 000 musical events, young people show their commitment to the festival's 'Civil Village'. But for how much longer?

by Katharina Kloss // 27/08/07

PANORAMA

Sculptour through Europe

Great enthusiasm or an impatient rolling of the eyes – these are the two extreme reactions that 21st century sculptures that feature in today’s metropoli provoke

by Lam Thuy Vo // 03/08/07

AGENDA

August culture vulture

Despite a slow start to the summer weatherwise, Europe’s festivals – even outdoor festivals – are in full blossom. THE event overwiew for August

by Karsten Marhold // 02/08/07

Alex, John, Giovanni and Svein at <i>Summercase</i> 2007 (Photo: Fernando García Acuña)

All you Europeans, Dance!

Hundreds of Europeans arrive at the second Summercase festival, the first music event to be held at two 'airports' at the same time

by Fernando García Acuña // 27/07/07

INTERVIEW
A scene from <i>Elephants Dream</i> (Photo: Blender Foundation/ www.blender.org)

Elephants Dream

Released in 2006, Elephants Dream was the first animated film made exclusively with open source software and released online as a free public download. Café Babel speaks to the film’s director

by Marco Riciputi // 26/07/07

(Photo: VJ zeD/ Flickr)

VJs to steal DJs' spotlight?

VJ-ing is a new fast-spreading discipline, which consists of mixing images and sound live

by Eloïse Bouton // 26/07/07

ANALYSIS
Davy Jones (Photo: kashif.pasta/ Flickr)

Invisible special effects

Travelling through time, meeting surreal people in unreal places … Nothing is impossible at the cinema

by Marco Riciputi // 26/07/07

NEWS
(Photo: © Kunstuniversität Linz - Physical Computing and Hybrid Interfaces at Interface Cultures/ www.aec.at)

Ars Electronica: when Second Life becomes First Life

From 5 to the 11 September Linz will host one of the most important digital arts festivals. For the occasion one of the main streets in the city centre will be transformed into its virtual alter ego

by Filippo Lubrano // 26/07/07

PICTURES

The eastern punk Svieta Songako

Art is politics. The fourth and last chapter of our portraits of artists who are attempting to resist the ‘cultural Chernobyl’ in a Belarus that is in Alexander Lukashenko’s stranglehold

by Jef Bonifacino // 24/07/07

FEATURE
Digitally generated artist's impression of one of the reading rooms in the planned National Library in Prague, by Jan Kaplicky (Render, Kaplicky Studio)

The future’s a bitter pill to swallow in Prague

The audacious design of the new National Library in Prague unleashes intense debate

by Xavi Hervás Vigueras // 19/07/07

PICTURES

Political choreographers: Alexandre and Natalia Furman

Art is politics: the third part of our series on portraits of artists attempting to resist the 'cultural Chernobyl’, which reigns in Belarus, a country asphyxiated by the authoritarian regime of president Alexander Lukashenko

by Jef Bonifacino // 16/07/07

Aldiss in his office (Photos: Nicholas Newman)

Brian Aldiss: 'I told Kubrick it was impossible he make a film of my story'

The British science fiction author, 82, on working with Hollywood greats, being caned for 'telling stories' at school and Europe being a 'wonderful idea'

by Nicholas Newman // 13/07/07

REVIEW

2 Days in Paris: 'the French are apparently perfect'

Julie Delpy’s multicultural comedy with bite, starring her parents, US actor Adam Goldberg and Germany’s Daniel Brühl, opens in French cinemas on 11 July. Reviews from both sides of the Rhein

by Nathalie Six/ Karsten Marhold // 11/07/07

PICTURES

Men creating men in Belarus

Art is politics - the second part in our series of profiles of artists trying to resist a ‘cultural Chernobyl’ in a Belarus stifled by president Aleksander Loukachenko

by Jef Bonifacino // 09/07/07

REVIEW
Museum Fridericianum (Photo: Julia Zimmermann/ documenta GmbH)

Documenta 12: the web of art

A round trip of Germany’s most important exhibition for contemporary art, 'Documenta 12', which asks questions and tightens the link between avant-garde and the viewer

by Anika Kloss // 05/07/07

AGENDA

July culture vulture

Between Italian jazz and Nordic tango, Slovenian saxophone and Scottish rock, Spanish bull running and German contemporary art – check out the July issue of our Vultures for Culture calendar

by Jannik Pfister // 04/07/07

PORTRAIT

Belarus rocks

Art is politics: the first part of our series on portraits of artists who attempt to resist the 'cultural Chernobyl' which reigns in Belarus, a country asphyxiated by the authoritarian regime of president Alexander Lukashenko

by Jef Bonifacino // 02/07/07

REVIEW
‘St Kilda – Island of the Bird People’ (Photo: Le Phénix/ Valenciennes)

In Europe's opera wings

It's billed as a unique opera project which will occur simultaneously in five EU countries - but during the performance of ‘St Kilda – Island of the Bird People’ in Valenciennes, Europe made itself scarce

by Katharina Kloss // 28/06/07

REPORT
Songs for a conservative, Christian orthodox land (Photo: Natalie Gryvnyak)

Pink revolution

Over 200,000 people flooded Independence Square on 16 June to see British singer Elton John's AIDS-awareness free concert - publicising a dark aspect of Ukrainian society, with estimated adult HIV prevalence of 1.4%

by Natalie Gryvnyak // 27/06/07

ANALYSIS
The solitary Sicilian orphan lives in a small house by the sea (Photo: Antonio Parrinello)

'Depressing' new Italian cinema

Quentin Tarantino's sweeping May statement finds an exception in current Sicilian-set offering 'Salvatore - This Is Life'

by Maria Lombardo // 22/06/07

REPORT
Gabi Jiménez: Caravan-Drying Laundry (Photo: Pim de Kuijer)

Of Roma art and Charlie Chaplin

On 7 June the Venice Biennale saw the grand opening of ‘Paradise Lost’, its first Roma Pavilion. Gipsy kitsch, or the artistic emancipation of an oppressed people?

by Pim de Kuijer // 17/06/07

FOCUS
The Curzon cinema in Soho, where the festival is set to kick off (Photo: Tom Royal/ Flickr)

London, Berlin and Madrid: cine-pigs

Between 8 and 14 June London hosts the third part of ‘Picture Europe’, the first film festival taking place simultaneously across different European cities

by Fernando García Acuña & Abla Kandalaft // 08/06/07

Gilbert Varga, director of the musical orchestra of Euskadi, from the Basque Country (Photo: Patricia Sevilla)

Playing it by ear in Brussels

The prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Competition also acts as an international assembly, uniting the best piano soloists in the European capital in May and June 2007

by Sophie Zimmer // 25/05/07

Louise Lecavalier, Canadian choreographer and dancer (Photo: Angelo Barsetti)

Fabbrica Europa redresses Florence

There's more to Florence than its stuffy museum setting. The Tuscan capital is host to a contemporary art festival, whose lights go out on 31 May

by Maira Bartoloni // 24/05/07

DJ Laurel, Nikolaï Khalezin and Natalia Koliada after performing in 'Generation Jeans' (Photo: Jef Bonifacino)

Free Theatre of Minsk: onstage resistance

The Belarusian independent theatre company uses black humour and underground performances to protest against 'Europe's last dictatorship'

by Prune Antoine // 22/05/07

Free Theatre of Minsk in images

Extracts from 'Breathing Technquies In A Place Without Air' and 'Being Harold Pinter,' by artists-in-residence the Free Theatre of Minsk at the Alfortville studio theatre, Paris, May 2007

by PA // 17/05/07

PANORAMA
National Theatre in Prague (Photo: Alfi/ Flickr)

New wave in theatre

Free from the shackles of Communist oppression, Czech theatre has discovered its own identity, lying somewhere between pop culture and experimental drama. Presenting three portraits of this new generation

by Stéphane Pocidalo // 15/05/07

REPORT
Marija and her lovely ladies (Photo: Indrek Galetin/ Wikipedia)

Eastern Europe dominate Eurovision

Over to Belgrade next year, as Serbian singer Marija Šerifovi, 23, wins the 2007 song contest. Ukraine and Russia came second and third in Helsinki on 12 May

by cafebabel.com // 14/05/07

REPORT
Slovenian opera singer Alenka Gotar will be exercising her vocal muscles in the final (Photo: eurovision.tv)

Serbia win Eurovision

Inaugarated one year before the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the Eurovision Song Contest celebrates European diversity. All eyes are on Helsinki during 5-12 May

by Milena Fayt // 11/05/07

FEATURE
Hitchhiker's guiding thumb (Photo: mondovisione/ Flickr)

Hitch-hiking from Brussels to Berlin

A journey through Belgium, Germany and their citizens image of Europe

by Jan Scharlau // 09/05/07

Well and truly Lynched (Photo: Max Hidalgo)

Lynch’s Empire

After the release of his latest film Inland Empire, the 'Air is on Fire' in Paris - an exhibition revealing David Lynch's disturbing world

by Max Hidalgo // 12/03/07

PORTRAIT
(Photo: Gonzalo Ovejero/ almostdesign.com)

DJ Krush - Tokyo-ing Barcelona

One night in Barcelona's famous 'Apolo' club, where the 'international master of turntablism' divides clubgoers with his mellow electronic strains

by Nabeelah Shabbir // 07/03/07

FEATURE
Fòrum: clouded by former Olympic success (Photo: Cien de Cine/ Flickr)

Olympic city - dizzy Catalonian heights

A long tradition of international events and Olympics throwbacks - like Fòrum 2004 - have regenerated urban Barcelona, but haven’t always helped improve its European image

by Nabeelah Shabbir // 07/03/07

REPORT
The future? Opera-Bastille, Paris (Photo: Julien Henry/ Flickr)

Verdi on the web

Can more young people enjoy opera, asks a congress in Paris

by Martin Schneider // 02/03/07

FEATURE
The house for contemporary art in parliament-palace, Bucharest (Photo: Martin Zickendraht/ Flickr)

Bucharest: dictator's throne to democracy

Ceauescu erected the Romanian parliament in the second largest building in the world

by Annett Müller // 02/03/07

Krull as a youth (Photo: Estonian Literature Information Center)

Hasso Krull, voice of a new Estonia

As Estonia prepares to celebrate independence from the USSR, poet and intellectual Hasso Krull explains why Russian will never be an official language

by Giovanni Angioni // 26/02/07

PORTRAIT
Ennio Morricone, melodious genius (Photo: Wikipedia)

Honorary Oscar for Ennio Morricone

The Italian composer for the likes of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' and 'Bulworth' takes home an Academy Award on February 25

by Valeria Ibello // 22/02/07

OPINION
(Photo: rent-a-moose/ Flickr)

Masks and carnival, immortal combination

The masked festivities of Venice and Vienna have increasingly become commodified as tourist attractions. Amidst European celebrations, masks have lost their social function

by Joshua Craze // 16/02/07

FOCUS
Visual delights: Chalga star Emilia shows it's not just about the sound (Photo: Gergana Ivanova)

Chalga folkpop: 'forget yourself in our rhythm'

Arabian disco, gypsy rock and house music boom from buses, taxis and radios throughout Bulgaria. But the knives are out

by Srebrina Bognar // 09/02/07

Rajmont is currently working on a Stoppard piece (Photo: www.divadlo.cz)

Ivan Rajmont - from Kundera to Stoppard

The Czech stage director explains why 'European theatre' doesn't fit snugly into one box

by Vitek Nejedlo // 09/02/07

Erri De Luca, solitary thinker (Photo: Sassier/ Gallimard COUL2)

Erri de Luca, Neapolitan, generation '68

Winner of the 2002 Prix Fémina for Foreign Writers for his splendid Montedidio – written in 'very Neapolitan Italian' – Erri de Luca reflects on Europe, the Mediterranean and the passing of generations

by Adriano Farano e Fernando Navarro // 09/02/07

OPINION
A typical scene from the Berlinale (Photo home page: Berlinale)

European cinema, screeched to a halt

Of the 26 films that the Berlin Film Festival is showing from February 8 - 18, 12 are European. A lack of fresh faces?

by Arnau Segarra Braunstein // 07/02/07

Berlin, star haven

The cinematic world looks to the 57th Berlin Film Festival on February 8, which showcases a host of talent, from Daniel Brühl to François Ozon

by Stéphane Pocidalo // 06/02/07

The EU's Mr. Erasmus (Photo: European Commission)

Don't fear the Polish plumber

Integration must happen in-situ, with your neighbours - not with Brussels, says Slovak Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training and Culture

by Jane Mery // 05/02/07

FEATURE
The 1956 monument (Photos: i-ypszilon group)

Stalin's jackboots

Fifty years after the 1956 revolution in Hungary, and Budapest's emblematic monuments betray a continuing uncertainty - what exactly did it all mean?

by Joshua Craze // 31/01/07

Paul Verhoeven: 'So what if it’s commercial?'

The 68-year-old Dutch film director behind ‘Total Recall’, ‘Robocop’ and ‘Basic Instinct’ is back home in Europe to complete a different project

by Carles Matamoros // 30/01/07

Marjane Satrapi (Photo: Maria Ortiz)

Marjane Satrapi: 'the Iraq war was about nothing but oil'

We spoke to the Iranian graphic novelist, 37, in January, after she shot to fame with her black-and-white comic book ‘Persepolis’. It's currently hitting movie screens in its animated French version

by Inga Pietrusiska // 27/01/07

Illustration: Henning Studte

Zidanean gods and heroes

by Martin Schneider // 17/01/07

'Mademoiselle' Abbagnato, strikingly beautiful (Photo: Marco Glaviano)

Eleonora Abbagnato, shooting star

Through dedication and perseverance, this 28-year-old Sicilian has risen to the ranks of prima ballerina in the Paris Opera

by Mariona Vivar i Giulio Zucchini // 17/01/07

FEATURE
View of the main building of Parc de la Villette (Photos: Anna Karla)

Parc de la Villette: culture not cows

The Parc de la Villette in Paris is one of Europe’s leading art centres. Here art, music, science and technology all rub shoulders

by Anna Karla // 17/01/07

PANORAMA

Factories of culture: forging new from old

All over Europe, former industrial buildings are being rebuilt as centres of culture. Residents cherish the special charm of these old factories

by Clotilde de Gastines/ Martin Schneider // 17/01/07

FOCUS
The 'Blomme' building prior to its renovation in 2001 (Photo: copyright Cardoso, courtesy of Wiels)

WIELS: artful brewing

On May 25, Brussels’ largest contemporary art centre will open its doors in what was once the Wielemans-Ceuppen Brewery, close to Midi Station

by Clotilde de Gastines et Gabriel Hahn // 17/01/07

REVIEW
Let's laugh about Hitler: a Madame Tussauds creation, London (Photo: kö/ Flickr)

‘Mein Führer’: black comedy about brown fellows

Jewish director Dani Levy has broken taboos with a controversial new comedy about Hitler. The Germans once again ask themselves: Can we be allowed to laugh about Hitler?

by Karsten Marhold // 15/01/07

OPINION
Almodóvar as depicted in the Fallas festival of València (Photo: Xabo Collazo/ Flickr)

Golden Globes: Almodóvar, again

The Spanish director is favourite to take the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, for Volver. It would be his third award in just a few years. Why does Hollywood love Almodóvar so much?

by Carles Matamoros // 15/01/07

Illustration: Henning Studte

Analyse this, anglicise that

 

by Louise Bongiovanni // 10/01/07

INVESTIGATION
EUR building in Rome, built during the fascist era (Photo: mermaniac/ Flickr)

Rome wasn’t built in a day

How does the ‘Eternal City’ juggle the need to preserve its past with the equally important need to construct its future?

by Chris Reynolds // 09/01/07

Strictly come cafe: Claudio Magris (Photo: Mariona Vivar)

Claudio Magris – ‘When Europe is one state’

He wrote Danube in a café, and it's in a café that we meet the Triestine novelist, translator and very European intellectual

by Giulio Zucchini / Mariona Vivar Mompel // 08/01/07

NEWS
Kirsten Fuchs, the Berlin writer who took part in ScrittureGiovani 2006 (Photo: Michael Werner/ Kirsten Fuchs)

European litera-tour

‘ScrittureGiovani’ is the newest slice of European literature projects. Five writers, five different countries, five short stories, one theme - the focus is on young literary talents

by Marco Riciputi // 05/01/07

PORTRAIT
Sibiu's old town (Photo: Ramona Binder)

Sibiu: freestyling in the European arena

The Romanian city of Sibiu, in the Transylvania region, is making waves alongside Luxembourg as joint European Capitals of Culture 2007

by Ramona Binder // 04/01/07

Gilliam, l'enfant terrible (Photo: Miguel Ángel Chazo/ Jesús Paris)

Terry Gilliam – eternal youth

Terry Gilliam spent half his life in London, where he created Monty Python with a group of like-minded comedians. At 65, the actor-director’s spirits remain as imaginative and animated as ever

by Carles Matamoros Balasch // 22/12/06

An ambitious young woman in her Vilnius boutique (Photo: Patricio Diez)

Baltic style

33 year-old Daiva Urbonaviciüté is a stylist in Vilnius. Her original brand, both stylish and comfortable, seems all set to infect the West.

by Evangeline Masson // 21/12/06

FOCUS
Leonard Orban: calibre zero? (Photo: European Parliament/ Wikipedia)

Multilingualism: ‘English is not enough’

27 states, 23 languages; Leonard Orban, Romanian Commissioner-designate for multilingua