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Culture news, previews, reviews and essays – newest first.

30 Oct
20:57
FILMUlrike Ottinger: Cinema begins long before the camera rollsPhotographs, drawings, fabrics: to mark the release of “Die Blutgräfin” (The Blood Countess), a portrait of Ulrike Ottinger’s filmmaking through the visual arts.
30 Oct
20:54
LITERATUREAnother prize for Bazyar: How does literary consensus emerge?Two juries, the same novel: Bazyar’s awards show how literary judgements take shape and gain traction in the book trade.
30 Oct
20:49
VISUAL ARTSWhat world did the Folkwang’s founder collect?“Nach Damaskus …” (To Damascus …) examines the Islamic arts in the early Folkwang — and the European gaze that selected them.
30 Oct
20:42
STAGEWhen Childhood Casts Its ShadowsChristmas classic or uncanny childhood tale? Christian Spuck’s Berlin ‘Nutcracker’ takes Marie’s perception as its starting point.
30 Oct
20:12
STAGEWho has the right to speak for the common good?A finding is not yet a political mandate: Sapir Heller’s Munich premiere of Ibsen leads into a dispute over truth and the common good.
30 Oct
20:12
VISUAL ARTSSophie Calle: Who writes a museum’s memories?Vanished GDR symbols, an abandoned hotel and a new gift: Sophie Calle encounters a museum’s politics of memory.
30 Oct
20:11
FILMSaving buildings does not necessarily mean preserving a cityWho gets to stay when an old hall lives on? On the Buser film: a look at the contracts behind the conversions.
30 Oct
09:06
EDITORIALThe Freedom of UncertaintyOn the fragility of artists’ lives, the responsibility of institutions and the courage to relinquish certainties.
29 Oct
17:41
EDITORIALOn Art, Thought and the Future of the DigitalBernd Bartolome works at the intersections of art, philosophy and artificial intelligence. His work combines artistic research with new forms of knowledge, communication and publishing.
29 Oct
17:16
STAGESuzie Miller: How much certainty can the stage bear?When your own family becomes a test of your convictions: what makes Suzie Miller’s ‘Inter alia’ compelling material for the stage.
29 Oct
17:15
STAGEOff Axis, Into the Pulse: Ballet Between Forsythe and EyalClassical technique in a state of emergency: Ballett am Rhein pairs William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated” with Sharon Eyal’s “Strong”.
29 Oct
17:14
VISUAL ARTSLee Ufan: How an art prize becomes a museum acquisitionLee Ufan is to receive the Wolfgang Hahn Prize. Behind it lies a model that combines an honour with an acquisition for a collection.
29 Oct
14:57
CULTURAL POLICYWho decides which cultural assets are saved in an emergency?Priority lists determine what should be salvaged first. How museums, archives and libraries prepare rescue operations – and what remains unresolved.
29 Oct
14:56
VISUAL ARTSExhibiting women artists – and then collecting differently?“HER STORY” explores the women artists in the Albertina’s collection. Donations and knowledge of the holdings reveal what lasting visibility depends on.
29 Oct
14:55
FILMHow much artistic individuality can cinema afford?Three countries, public funding and personal commitment: what Ottinger’s “The Blood Countess” reveals about the costs of artistic freedom.
29 Oct
12:08
EDITORIALAccessible, but not ownerlessListening to a work, opening an archive, using data: why we should distinguish more carefully between the things we are entitled to ask of art.
28 Oct
16:26
EDITORIALAgainst the finished storyNot every gap needs to be filled. On a culture that looks closely without defining people and history once and for all.
28 Oct
16:10
EDITORIALAn open door is not an invitationFree admission helps. But socially inclusive cultural policy must also consider time, travel and the feeling of being welcome in a museum.
28 Oct
15:51
EDITORIALBeing There Is Not Yet ParticipationArt depicts people; institutions invite them in. But who sets the rules? A case for participation that goes beyond visibility.
28 Oct
14:28
MUSICWhen a concert changes the exhibitionbela is to develop a site-specific performance for Kunsthalle Friart. A concert as an additional event – or as an intervention in the exhibition?
28 Oct
14:28
LITERATUREShida Bazyar: The village as contested memoryAn invented place, a suppressed past: Shida Bazyar’s novel asks what home conceals and what literature can bring to light.
28 Oct
14:27
VISUAL ARTSAnouk Lamm Anouk: Expectations of an Artistic PersonaPared-back painting, queer visibility and the pressure to present an artistic persona: Anouk Lamm Anouk comes to Linz.
28 Oct
14:26
FILMThe stage does not remain. Its traces do.A film drawing on recordings and images approaches Einar Schleef. Yet theatre also consists of what no archive can capture.
28 Oct
14:25
CULTURAL POLICYBetween commissions: who bears the earnings risk of freelance art?A new KSK pillar is intended to cushion gaps in income. The Bundesrat is calling for it – but specific rules and funding remain undecided.
28 Oct
14:25
VISUAL ARTSShowing illness without defining people by itForty portraits and conversations bring Koelbl’s project to the Kunstmuseum Bonn — and raise questions about image selection, voice and interpretation.
28 Oct
14:24
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGNLongevity takes more than a durable piece of furnitureAn exhibition in Cologne makes the case for repairable, circular design. What matters is not just the material, but also what remains possible after purchase.
28 Oct
14:24
STAGEFallada’s ordinary people and the big question of securityIn Fallada’s novel, a young couple fight to avoid sliding into poverty. Luise Voigt stages the novel in Frankfurt as a revue spanning an era of crisis and the present.
28 Oct
14:24
FILMA machine as a friend: Who pays for human connection?An artificial friend is meant to ease loneliness. Ishiguro’s story asks who orders this intimacy – and who bears its cost.
28 Oct
14:23
STAGEErfurt’s new theatre leadership: transition is part of the programmeRota is expected to take over in 2028, Jagels as early as 2026. In between, Theater Erfurt will not simply be keeping things running, but preparing for its future leadership.
28 Oct
10:33
EDITORIALThe appearance is not the achievementWhat remains after a premiere, an award or a temporary exhibition is decided behind the scenes. That is where cultural policy should look more closely.