Not a babelian yet?
Not a babelian yet?
With their French and Spanish novels, Despentes, 39, and Etxebarría, 42, override the superficiality of cultural critics and the need to write about the female body
The film school in Poland's second largest city is home of directors Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski and cameramen from 'The Pianist' and 'Black Hawk Down' - an American film student's experience
Since its first broadcast on 24 May 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest has seen hundreds of songs battle it out for the titles of the worst, the funniest and above all the best
Modest budgets, amateur singers, no dance troupes: the song contest is open to people living in Finland with non-Finnish origins
One million more tickets, and ‘Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis’ (‘Welcome to the Sticks’) will become the most successful film in France since 1945. Can the French comedy break all box office records?
The absence of eastern European titles is the main story at Cannes from 14 – 25 May, amidst well- known western names including the Dardenne brothers, Wim Wenders and Italians Sorrentino and Garrone
The Grammy-nominated British RnB artist, 26, helped make garage music mainstream in the UK in 2000. Eight years wiser, he talks his fourth album, grime music and bulking up
Released on 25 April in an English-dubbed version, a review of Franco-Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi's Oscar-nominated animation of a girl displaced in Vienna
Where do these bands get their names from? We sweep the UK, Belgium, Switzerland and France for our monthly music pick this April
Enjoy the year's first rays at Walpurgis night in Sweden, a vintage computer festival in Munich or the spring festival in Seville
Female architects are suffering from social historical invisibility. Creating more gender-based networks can raise awareness about gender inequality and social recognition
Most blogs devoted to architecture cover the whole of Europe through their importance, often even the whole world, by not limiting themselves to the presentation of this set of themes exclusively within the author’s country of origin
Controversy erupts as an artist turns his residence into an ‘Abode of Chaos’, with heaps of scrap metal and works of art
Openness, transparency, efficiency: which buildings need a democracy? We span the European parliament, palace, court of human rights and Central Bank
Berlin, Bucharest, Vilnius and Warsaw - four examples of what to do with those eastern state building dinosaurs
Young, extremely successful - and extremely annoying for some. Why are teen bands like Estonia's 'The Bedwetters' and Denmark's 'Dúné' storming the charts across Europe?
Everywhere you look, display windows, promotional offers, Easter markets and cards are covered with bright, beautifully decorated Easter eggs
Face2Face is a unique and edgy photography show by French and Swiss friends JR and Marco, They stick the Israeli-Palestinian conflict right under European noses
Culture crosses borders in Europe this March, as Spain visits Nantes, the Balkans accept a second invitation to Brussels and Irish beer takes over the continent
Plus charming French-Finnish duo 'The Duo', a tasty Swedish morsel of Jens Lekman, chic Danes 'The Fashion' and slightly unusual Italians Avvolte Kristheda - the best bands in March
From Madrid to Bucharest, Europe's streets of art are bursting with creativity and new talents
No curtains, no stage. No cushioned rows of seats, no peep-show principle. The Stuttgart theatre group perform outside in urban spaces, right where the action is - be it in an airport, train station, underground station or buses driving their daily routes
In the truest sense of the words, the Romanian artist, 39, produces art from the dusty rubble of his home city
London, Cologne, Venice, Tokyo: the German design pixel group pixelate city visions and hail themselves as a jazz band. They are guilty of simply improvising the definitive concept of ‘urbanity’
The Mister Cat phenomenon falls somewhere between anonymous marketing and ‘involuntary communication’. Spotted on rooftops from Geneva to New York, the feline seduced passers-by before moving on to museums
This year, the northern Italian city becomes a laboratory of large-scale projects such as industrial conversion, development and eco-compatibility
Taunting performances and installations on the edge – in pixels. We meet the Canadian musician in the virtual 3D world
Europe was well represented at the 80th Oscars ceremony on 24 February in LA, with wins for actors Javier Bardem, Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton
The story of the EU through the real life stories of its inhabitants; an event organised to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on 25 March 2007
Between 9 and 14 February, the German capital played host to 350 up-and-coming film enthusiasts from all over the world
Antonio De Curtis, or the Italian ‘prince of guffaws’, was born on 15 February 1898. Watch an English subtitled video of him, ‘Peppino' and 'the Bitch’ in action in 1956
The German anatomist has created quite a furore with his ‘Body Worlds’ exhibition throughout Europe. Since November 2006, visitors to the Plastinarium workshop in Guben have observed how corpses are plasticised
Does art have to be beautiful? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Five portraits of artists who dabble along the limits of aesthetics, morality and comfort zone to constantly try and provoke society
How far can art go? What taboos remain? Art often both fascinates and disgusts, in an attempt at containing cultural boundaries
The Polish sculptor, video and installation artist, 45, probes the theme of the body as a costume - what it is like to be a ‘real woman’?
San Francisco feelings, Danish bands with French names and a rap collective named after a freedom movement: Europe's best music crop this month
Magazines in auction rooms, high consumption in the art market - trend review
Better processors, improved data management possibilities integrated into consoles. Report from the 'Future Film Festival' in Italy
Public opinion in Poland is stirred after the American professor's post-war publication is released
May 1968 was a turning point in world history, but it was also a rupture for women's history. Feminists of yesterday and today tell us about their war
Rue de Seine, Paris 1952. ‘Never work’ is chalked on a wall. Two words about the philosophy of the 'Situationists' who transformed May 1968 and who still inspire activists today
In France, the fortieth anniversary of the May 1968 student revolts is fast approaching. Like it or not, the memory of this working class uprising is ever-present. The young people of France take the lead in their own style
Spain, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland and Germany - spinning through Europe's uprisings during that infamous year of rebellion
Talks of a European anthem were recently dropped, but to some Spaniards, it seems a shame to splice lyrics and lose what makes their country’s anthem unique
To shop or be shopped? The EU wants to tighten up the 2004 Intellectual Property Rights Directive. Many member states have already agreed on appropriate measures
The Italian-writing, Paris-dwelling, prize-winning Albanian writer, painter and photographer, 39, describes beauty as disturbing, discusses her inspirations and is hopeful for Kosovo
The district in south-west Germany is a pioneering development that puts into action innovative rules for communal living in a unique environment. But this paradise of purity is not without its faults
Plus carnival fever in Venice, cartoons in the south of France and Arab hip hop in Brussels - our guide to the month's best cultural titbits
30-year-old author of the book ‘New Romantic’, the journalist and editor of gay magazine ‘Dik Fagazine’ talks politics, left-wing politics and emotion-drained religion
New Year kicks off with Mexican aspirations, Norwegian mix up of styles, a French princess of the turntables and a surprise coup from Hungary. This is the European music agenda for 2008!
As we celebrate on 21 December 2007, for residents along the Hungarian border, Schengen is a historical event with bittersweet results
Oft dismissed as the childless 'loser generation’, twenty-somethings have unexpected talents. Our German and French correspondents give them a chance to have their say. Part IV of a series from Paris and Berlin
From his Madrid studio, the Spanish singer-songwriter, 33, justifies how songs contribute to improving the world and his take on what 'canción de autor' music is
Twenty-something baby losers. Often disparaged, yet the 'eighties generation' harbour multiple talents. Third part of a series of portraits exchanging Paris and Berlin
Joining the current wave of Romanian films in European cinema, Cristian Nemescu, who lost his life in a tragic road accident in 2006 aged 26, offers us a vision of a country which he wanted to and will change
Jacek Dukaj, Toni Maguire, Nathalie Rouyer and Christian Semmelroth on our carousel of featured writers
Writer, actress and ‘TV jester’ – Luciana Littizzetto has made a career from her own irreverent brand of self-parody – with great success
English teens, the Swedish Aimee Mann, pure Italian pop and the latest Polish hopefuls on the music scene this winter
Berlin sparks and pixels, free Splash electro in Paris, European student cinema festival in Manchester and eat yourself to death in Lodz
TCK. Three letters that stand for a phenomenon: tecktonik. Similar in style to electro, it has been a sensation amongst teenagers in France, Belgium and Holland over the last six months - and is also a registered trademark
'In art transgression is a duty,' says the Italian photographer, author of the latest shock campaign with French anorexic model Isabelle Caro. 'Brussels don't want to know a thing about my European vision'
In adverts, stereotypes of countries and nations are often exploited to commercialise certain products – a trip through German television
Unfocussed, unattractive, lacking a strategy? French marketing expert Georges Lewi lays all bare in his new book
Politicians in advertising, advertising in politics – an ambivalent relationship
The Academy of Spanish Cinema undermine short films by excluding the medium from the world of television. Spanish short films are currently airing in francophone territories
The project proposed by a joint committee of historians is chalked for the beginning of 2008 but is charged with problematics
From Helsinki avant-garde cinema to factory fairs in Switzerland, your guide on where to be a culture vulture this month
A very personal journey through a Europe of five (or six) senses with the French anthropologist and sociology professor
The third international festival of reality comics is underway. It's a new kind of neo-realism with innovative trends, small budgets and international celebrities
Not overly handsome, but wickedly sophisticated. Neither being excessively ribbed in the torso department, nor metro-sexual in the feminine sense, here is a whistle stop tour of five 'vintage' men, all of who are ‘made in Europe’
The French and German translations of J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows' are published at the end of October - but pirate translations were available only days after the July publication of the English original
