The Vienna Review 1-2/2012

The

Vienna

February 2012| Vol. 10 No. 1–2 | € 2,50

Vienna Review of Books House of Exile, Sci-fi: The Black Mirror, Sacred Spring, Why Translation Matters

R eview

www.viennareview.net

Kaffeehaus Austrian Ambassador to the U.N., Martin Sajdik arrives in New York

Pages 7–10

Voices of the New Europe

Events Calendar

Ideas & Trends

The definitive guide to theatre, concerts, art, food & nightlife this February

Lederhosen and Dirndl are conquering the cat walk

Pages 23–26

Page 32

The ORF has long been under party influence. Now, journalists fight back

While some see the sunny side of Europe, others see pure propaganda

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Croatia-EU: Questions Remain

by Barbara Matejčić A popular TV series cuts to an ad: A young Croatian family in a car, meandering through the idyllic Tuscan landscape. At a crossroads, they ask two carabinieri for directions. When the police officers realise where the lost travellers are from, one of them starts gushing about how the Croatian prosciutto is better than the Italian – he should know, he spends his summer holidays in Croatia! – and sets off into an argument with his colleague, who thinks this cannot possibly be true.

This is not an advertisement for Croatian tourism, nor for Croatian prosciutto. It was part of the campaign to inform Croatian citizens about the European Union (EU) ahead of a referendum on their country’s accession to the club. The video ends with a message saying that the EU cherishes the traditions of all its members; this will be the same for Croatia, once it joins this family of nations.

When the referendum came, on Sunday 22 Jan., 66% backed Croatia joining, while 33% were against. As a result, provided that all 27 existing EU states now ratify the deal, Croatia will become the Union’s 28th member in July 2013.

Yet the turnout for Croatia’s referendum was just 44% – remarkably low for a decision of such consequence. The government’s yes-campaign, then, was met with little enthusiasm. The question was why.

Closed Doors While some Croatians’ idea of the EU is not far removed from the simple verities of the government’s campaign, others Continued on page 11

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Gustav Klimt at his easel, an homage in wax at Mme. Tussauds in the Prater

Vienna begins a year of celebration of the controversial artist who was the guiding force behind the Vienna Secession

by Dardis McNamee In his time, many people didn’t know what to make of Gustav Klimt: To the romantics he was trapped in ornamentation, to the purists in symbols. He was called a “purveyor of perversities,” yet also “provincial”. Traditionalists dismissed him as decadent, once naturalist described him as merely “irritating”.

But to a small circle of progressive artists, writers, musicians and intellectuals in fin de siècle Vienna, he was a veritable dynamo, a man with the vision, drive and personal charisma to launch a revolutionary movement of art and ideas.

Then a century later, Klimt began to turn the Austrian art scene upside down all over again, as his paintings reemerged from obscurity, and in the 1980s and 90s to join the French Impressionists as some of the most reproduced art in the West. And in 2005, after

a long, drawn-out restitution battle, his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer sold at Christie’s Auction House in London for $135 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a work of art.

Today Klimt has become big business: He has his posters relieve the dinginess of college dormitory walls and details of paintings like The Kiss or the Golden Adele, the Schloss Park at Schönbrunn or Unterach on the Attersee grace countless silk scarves and coffee mugs for sale in every souvenir shop in Vienna.

But Klimt was already something of a legend when he and a remarkable group of young artists broke away from the stifling traditionalism of Vienna’s Künstlerhaus to form the Wiener Secession.

This remarkable institution of which Klimt was president, was a collaboration that was to transform Austrian culture and C O M M E N TA RY

Journalists in Germany and Austria respond to the downgrade of nine eurozone countries by the U.S. rating agency page 2 Standard&Poor’s.

Vaclav Havel on the show of politics, Anton Pelinka blasts Viktor Orbán, Joseph Stiglitz on the euro’s future.

Media Monitor

launch the modernist movement across Europe.

In its first “heroic” seven years, before he and his closest colleagues seceded yet again to form the Klimt Group, these sculptors, painters and architects dominated the Viennese art scene, producing a profusion of highly original yet enduring work that seems radical even today. For while every one of them was a major talent, it was in their association that they truly flourished, stimulating and challenging each other; while also bringing in the avant-garde from abroad, they were feeding each other’s hunger for spiritual refreshment and tapping into a seemingly inexhaustible vein of creative energy.

Continued on page 20

Havel, Hungary, the Euro

pages 14-15

V I EN NA R EV I EW OF BOOK S

O N S TAG E

TR EASUR E HUNT

Austrian business has found opportunities and an able workforce. Is this the escape route from Europe’s crisis?

Each club had its Kaffeehaus: “a kind of revolutionary parliament of the friends and fanatics of football.” A history.

Thomas Vitenberg's tale of a rough group of hippies, who lightheartedly depict the quirks of communal living.

Time to have a ball! This month we provide you with shopping tips so you'll look and feel stellar on the dancefloor.

page 3

Football & Coffeehouses

page 8

page 18

I DE A S & T R EN DS

ON MUSIC

Meeting in Trieste, Central European countries band together for research - and possibly new industries.

In mid-winter, Vienna hosts the elite of the early music crowd. It is one of the most revered festivals of its kind.

Science in Central Europe

2,50

Die Kommune

page 12

Prepping For The Season

page 22

by Laurence Doering It was perhaps the Austrian broadcasting corporation’s (ORF) biggest hit: Launched before Christmas, the reality TV show “Who Wants To Be A Media Exec?” kept audiences in Austria – and Germany – under a spell until 18 Jan., when their favourite candidate, the dashing and dastardly Nikolaus Pelinka, quit the show saying he no longer tolerated “this undignified theatre”.

Only that this was no TV series; this was reality itself, played out in newspaper editorials, on Twitter and YouTube, and in heated meetings at the ORF headquarters in Vienna’s 13th District. At stake were some controversial job appointments by Director General Alexander Wrabetz, triggering unprecedented protest from ORF’s own journalists.

The deeper issue, though, was the public broadcaster's tenuous independence from gov-

ernment. With Pelinka down, the journalists have won a first victory. But the road to structural reform remains long.

It all began with an innocuously worded press release announcing “Staff changes at ORF for the new business period,” starting 1 Jan. 2012. But the statement’s timing was suspicious: the day before Christmas Eve, when many of the ORF’s top journalists had left for the holidays. Was the management trying to slip something past their employees?

If so, it didn’t work. The same day, the Editors’ Council (Redakteursrat) fired off a press release saying the appointments lacked “any substantive justification”. Instead, “they are evidently fulfilling the wishes of political parties in return for their re-appointment of the director general during the summer.”

Continued on page 5

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Away from the glitz: endless powder snow Photo: Christian Cummins

Take an insider's tour of the slopes and get the lowdown on skiing the Arlberg

Lech: Managing the Mountain Our fearless reporter Christian Cummins gave himself over to a freeskier in Lech, in Vorarlberg. He discovered that the chic town with 7 metres of snowfall each winter is not just a hub for the rich and famous, or as Cummins puts it, "like a high altitude St. Tropez".

Through majestic powder snow, tales of break-neck freeski stunts, warm Glühwein and achy legs, Lech takes visitors out of the every-day in many more ways than one.

Princes and princesses from Sweden, the Netherlands, Monaco and even Jordan visit regularly, mostly staying at the plush Gasthaus Post with its brown and pink façade, green shutters and, inside its thick walls, its open log fires.

But in actuality, for all the glitz and champagne, Lech remains “a skier’s village on a skier’s mountain”, just waiting to be discovered. Off to Lech!

See full story on page 28

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VHS Wien starts new semester – enrol now!

Resonanzen Festival

page 19

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In 2012 ,The Vienna Review keeps you informed on Klimt See Events Calendar, p. 24

S PE C I A L R E P O RT

The Chinese Solution

€

Photo: Heribert Corn

Gustav Klimt: Breaking the Mold

IN THE MAIL

The Vienna Review Published in Vienna P.b.b. 11Z039023M Verlagspostamt: 1010 Wien laufende Nummer 57/2012

Page 13

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In the Mail

The Vienna Review February 2012

From the Editor

News

Media Monitor Re-claiming the ORF Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 20 Jan.

The Brazenness Before the Fall

by Bernhard Lichtenberger Niko Pelinka threw in the towel, and his not-to-be boss Alexander Wrabetz waved the white flag of capitulation.

Of course, previously the ORF director general practiced the typically Austrian custom of “sitting it out”, in the hope that resistance against his political horse-trading would ebb.

But Wrabetz ultimately pulled out the chair from under himself.

Der Standard, 20 Jan.

The Battle for ORF

by Michael Völker The ORF itself emerges from this battle stronger; its director general, however, took a beating. He is the loser of this grotesque appointment-play. He lost face, and must now fight for his credibility...

This is about political influence in an allegedly independent media organisation, which is owned by the Republic, and hence belongs to the citizens. This independence was not – and is not – respected by politicians...

Hence the staff’s victory over the potential office manager Pelinka should be respected all the more. There was no support from politics.

None at all.

The notion that editorial freedom at ORF is greater than ever before is true. That can be put down to the ORF staff – which is not prepared to accept “business as usual” as being usual at all, and does not tolerate certain conditions simply because “they have always been that way”.

Die Presse, 20 Jan.

The More Ridiculous the General, the More Independent the ORF

by Michael Fleischhacker To sum up: The more the director general makes a fool of himself, the more independent is the ORF. Perhaps that’s true, then one should include the principle in the amendment of the broadcasting law – which the heroic editors continue to demand. That would make it easier for the parties to agree on a candidate, and it would spare the company too many changes of leadership.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 19 Jan.

The Editors Revolt: An Example for ZDF

by Dieter Wirtz Not only for Austrian circumstances this is a remarkable testimony of a public broadcaster’s struggle for independence. Yes, Pelinka’s appointment illustrated conditions characteristic of a banana republic. But the staff restored the reputation of a mature democracy.

By comparison, the internal protest at ZDF (Germany’s public service broadcaster) against the political isolation of the former editor in chief, Nikolaus Brender, during the autumn two years ago was rather pitiful. The ORF editors staged a real insurrection.

See also “The Revolution”, front page

V

Eurozone Credit Rating Die Presse, 14 Jan..

Why Buy Time, If You Don't Want to Use It?

by Michael Fleischhacker So, Austria no longer belongs to the circle of the most trustworthy debtors in the euro zone.

The justification given by Standard&Poor’s for the country’s downgrade from AAA to AA+ – Austria’s economic inter-connections with its problematic neighbours Hungary and Italy, especially in the financial industry – offers a temptation: The government could feel encouraged to place the entire responsibility for the potential additional costs in financing the country’s debt with the banks…

The Austrian state budget’s structural problem – which manifests in the country’s inability to service its existing debts without raising new ones – of course, has nothing to do with the Austrian banks’, doubtlessly risky, engagement in Central and Eastern Europe – on the contrary: Without that engagement, Austria would not have been able to take a disproportionate share of the region’s proceeds from growth over the last decade and a half.

The problem is rather that – despite this unusual economic growth – it hasn’t been possible to reach a balanced state budget.

Back to the Future On technology and the writing life

by Dardis McNamee At work on a story the other weekend and feeling trapped inside my four walls (as well as my head), I packed up my laptop, stuffed a couple of books in my backpack and headed out for Café Sperl. Perhaps the change of locus would snap me out of my stupor. Sperl is a great place to work: It’s quiet (no canned music) and commodious, with a pleasant staff, just attentive enough without getting in the way.

It was still early, not quite 11:00 on a Saturday morning, and to my delight, the protected corner table in the elbow formed by the glassedin foyer was free.

I moved in, spreading out on the upholstered banquette, plush and pleasingly worn, that soaks up whatever sound hasn’t already drifted up past the brass chandeliers to the ceiling six metres above. I scanned the menu; the food here is unusually good for a café and the coffee excellent.

It also has free WiFi.

Tageszeitung (Berlin), 15 Jan.

Committed to Their Own Clientele

by Ralf Leonhard If one accepts the international financial markets’ rules of play, then a reaction to the crisis symptoms would have been necessary much sooner.

The government’s frenzied efforts to change the constitution to include a debt ceiling (brushed aside as a hilarious idea five years ago, when the initiative came from then-chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, SPÖ) lack the necessary seriousness: At the same time, the government approved new debts for the upcoming budget.

To earn back the top rating, Austria has to consolidate its budget in a sustainable manner.

While this is undisputed, the governing parties SPÖ and ÖVP are blocking each other – for each of them, protecting their own clientele is far more important than making savings.

Handelsblatt (Berlin), 16 Jan.

Committed to Their Own Clientele

by Andrea Cünnen Is the vicious circle of downgrades and higher interest rates to be broken by bickering about it? No. Would a European rating agency do a better job? Also no.

The problem, rather, is that the agencies have become too important. Politicians, regulators, and investors themselves bestowed that power on the agencies: Banks are allowed to use the ratings as the basis on which to calculate their own capital requirements; and insurers may only buy bonds en masse if they have a certain rating…

The reason for this empowerment is convenience…Instead of analysing data and connections oneself, one simply looks at the verdict of the agencies – summarised in a few letters.

The Vienna Review Letters to the Editor To the Editor, We're happy to be new subscribers to The Vienna Review. As newcomers to the Vienna scene, having arrived in August for a three-year stint at the IAEA, we are especially keen on making the most of our time here and TVR has proved to be an excellent resource for us.

In fact just today I 'walked the walk' recommended by Duncan Smith in this month's issue and explored the Moelker Bastei. Thanks, Duncan!

-Mark Harper, Vienna To the Editor, Re: “Helmut Schüller’s Call to Disobedience,” by Laurence Doering, TVR Dec-Jan 2011-12: In my opinion, Mr. Doering’s article gives an authentic impression on the initiative’s [central] issue, pointing out its main requests clearly. Nevertheless there is one conceptual inaccuracy that might be misleading. The term “communion service” doesn’t specify its meaning well enough. Right now, lay people, men

and women, are actually allowed to lead liturgies of the word – including preaching – and distributing communion within that service.

Members of the Laity are not allowed to lead the service, if an ordained priest is present. A priest-led “communion service” is rather called the “Celebration of the Eucharist” which includes the act of “consecration of the bread”. Lay-people liturgies of the word with communion-distribution omit the consecration of the bread.

This consecration-act, which can be administered solely by an ordained priest according to the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican tradition, is the most controversial and crucial issue in the initiative’s request. The question is whether “The Call for Disobedience” not only demands that lay people do “communion services”, which they do already in the sense I described above, but to “Celebrate the Eucharist” with all due effects, or not. Literally the Pfarrer-Initiative declares only that they “will use the term ‘priestless eucharistic celebration’ for a liturgy of the word with distribution of communion”.

-Andreas Hofer SJ, Rome and Vienna

The Vienna Review

See also “The Ratings Scam”, p.14

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Writing in 1959, Friedrich Torberg, the great chronicler of the Viennese Kaffeehaus of the inter war years, mourned the passing of the literary cafés in the city that was again his home. Why had writers abandoned them, he wondered? Was the coffeehouse responsible?

“The fault,” he decided, “lies with technology, that has formed an eerie three-leafed alliance with politics and sociology. It’s because today’s writers write literature directly into their typewriters – which one cannot take along to the coffeehouse [too heavy and too noisy]; that they dictate their radio scripts to a secretary, whom one also cannot take along to the coffeehouse either (at least not for dictation)”; that producers, directors and editors all want to be visited in their offices. And, he pointed out, “they all have a telephone at home as well as the office, so don’t need to receive free calls in the Kaffeehaus. “ How times have changed. Today, my “typewriter” is a MacBook Pro, powerful and silent, that connects me instantly with staff and stringers, as well as the magic library of the Internet.

My telephone is in my pocket, waiting for words spoken, or texted when I don’t feel like talking.

For anyone who writes for a living, a Kaffeehaus is again the perfect retreat, where you can disappear for hours, eat and drink as much or as little as keeps one’s brain in gear and have the pleasure of human companionship that leaves you blissfully in peace. And get a lot of work done.

So, Herr Torberg, be comforted: Rather than signing the doom of the Kaffeehaus, technology may just have given it back its raison d’être. ¸

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February 2012

3

Swarovski operates 22 stores in Beijing alone, while the Austrian technology firm AT&S has its flagship factory in Shanghai (bottom) Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/APA (top), AT&S (bottom)

Ready to jump on the band-wagon: Austria's President Heinz Fischer and wife Margit (centre left), and China's President Hu Jintao (centre right) in Salzburg, 1 Nov. 2011 Photo: Franz Neumayr/APA

For decades, companies have ventured east in search of cheap labour. Now, they find a confident workforce, burgeoning consumer markets, and an appetite for high-technology. The shift is slowly being greeted with confidence, rather than fear

Is China the Answer for Austrian Business?

Austrian-Chinese trade (by commodities, 2008) Exports from Austria to China

Slovakia

Russia

Poland

China

UK

Hungary

Czech Republik

USA

7%

6%

4%

2%

0% 1%

Source: Statistik Austria

21%

Food and live Animals

51% Crude materials

Manufact. goods

40%

Chemicals

4,8% 4,5% 4,2% 3,8% 3,1% 3% 2,6% 2,5% 2,3% 2,1%

Machinery / transport

Slovakia

Russia

Poland

UK

China

Hungary

Czech Republik

France

USA

Switzerland

7,8%

France

Switzerland

Italy

Germany

Exports from Austria to China Imports from China to Austria

67% 32%

plains Raymund Gradt, Austria’s trade commissioner in Shanghai. The Chinese government, he says, is seeking to speed up the process, “even going so far as supporting workers’ protests for higher wages.”

China is no longer content with doing the assembly work for rich countries, seeking instead to shift to higher-paid, skilled work. With success: In three years, Gradt reckons, the wage level on China’s east coast may already be higher than in some regions in Eastern Europe.

Austrian-Chinese trade (by commodities, 2008)

Austria’s best customers (by share of exports, 2010)

Italy

An exploited workforce?

On the factory floor at AT&S, I am surprised to see just how many young women are operating the heavy, high-tech machinery.

“When these women get married, they leave the company,” explains Markus Potzinger, the chief financial officer, following my gaze. “The staff turnover is as high as 30 per cent a year.

What we’ve learned is that the Chinese workforce doesn’t forge the same close relationships with their companies as workers do in Europe.

As a result, after Chinese New Year many workers just don’t come back at all.”

Even though recruitment firms are helpful with finding new employees, AT&S has observed a notable increase in worker turnover. Most of eastern China, which remains the crucial region for foreign direct investment, is seeing the fluctuation of workers increase, just as the supply of qualified labour is getting tighter.

“When there is something that the workers are unhappy about they leave,” adds Peter Griehsnig, chief operation officer at AT&S. “From one day to the next they can earn double their wages for the same work somewhere else.

We have learned to live with this.”

The shift is forcing managers to change their assumptions. Workers no longer put up with

12-hour-days, seven days a week. And China’s selling expensively to China. The two most valuwork force is becoming increasingly expensive. able Austrian brands, Red Bull and Swarovski Although Chinese law sets a national minimum, Group, are widely known in China: in Nanjing, wages are still determined locally to reflect dif- I have often met local students who, keen to disferences in regional development. “We have [re- play their knowledge of Austria, list first Mozart cently] raised the wages by 15 per cent,” recalls and then Swarovski.

Florian Kuntner, general manager at Linz Textil’s The company’s fashioned glass jewellery plant in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province and trinkets have become a coveted luxury on the eastern coast. commodity in China. With over 200 official According to figures published by Wiener outlets – 22 each in the country’s boomtowns Zeitung last October, the median wage in Nan- Beijing and Shanghai alone – Swarovski prodjing is about €300 a month. In Shanghai it is ucts change hands at almost double the Euro€600. “For our workers to stay in our factories, pean price: “Recent Bangle M”, for example, we need to ensure they are offered incentives is priced at €160 (¥1,298) on Swarovski’s Euto stay,” says Potzinger at AT&S. The compa- ropean website, but at €271 EUR (¥2,200) on ny provides its staff with a shuttle bus service, the Chinese counterpart. free lunchtime meals, While Swarovski’s health checks, interheadquarters in Wat"Without our Chinese profits, net access, employee tens, Tyrol, declined assignments, and customers, we to comment, the profit clubs, sports facilities, as well as leadership is likely to be would have had to close down margin training and a career huge: The glass items our factories in Austria." planning service. are produced at a low Yet the shortage of

– Hannes Androsch, AT&S cost in eight different skilled labour, and riscountries, including ing wages in China’s China, according to coastal hubs are pushing factories ever further the company’s website. inland. AT&S is building a plant in Chongqing Nonetheless, Swarovski’s Beijing representathat will start production in 2013. Once com- tive assures me that their entire stock is imported pleted, AT&S will employ over 12,500 work- from Austria, as that is where the design is carers in China – nearly 10 times as many as in ried out. Clearly, the Austrian origin is viewed as Austria. essential to the luxury of the brand.

Austria’s best customers (by share of exports, 2010) However “low wages are not the only reason Yet while China’s burgeoning middle class why AT&S is setting up in Chongqing,” empha- can’t get enough of Austrian-designed glass sises Hannes Androsch, chairman of the supervi- jewellery and Vodka Red Bull, the Communist sory board and former Social Democratic (SPÖ) government’s interest in the Alpine Republic lies 32% politician. “We can no longer manufacture the elsewhere: its know-how in environmental susvolumes requested by our clients with the cur- tainability and high-tech engineering. rent factors of production.”

This reflects China’s desire to become a glo7,8% bal high-tech power. “As there has already been 4,8% 4,5% 4,2% 3,8% Customer is king a migration of low-paid jobs and 2,1% the 3,1% to 3% Vietnam 2,6% 2,5% 2,3% Another way in which Austria is benefiting Philippines, the government is trying to profrom growing bilateral economic relations is by mote investment in advanced technology,” ex-

Germany

by Philippe Schennach A swift, 30-minute drive separates Shanghai’s bustling city centre from the gleaming flagship factory of Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (AT&S ). As I put on my safety goggles, I am told that the machines here run for 360 days a year – allowing five days’ rest for the Spring Festival, the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. At all other times, the whitewashed production halls are teeming with 4,800 young Chinese workers, sitting at their stations, turning out 160 million conductor boards per year. Thanks to their work, AT&S has become the world’s largest manufacturer of conductor boards, supplying eight of the ten largest smartphone manufacturers.

As Europe teeters on the brink of recession, China is becoming increasingly important as Austria’s largest trading partner outside the EU. But the relationship is changing: For a long time, it was China’s cheap labour that attracted foreign investors, and allowed Austrian companies to sidestep onerous welfare contributions at home. But Chinese wages started to rise sharply at the beginning of last year, workers are making increasing demands, and the state is flexing its muscles towards the rest of the world.

The new imperialists?

For Austria, China’s growing demand for high-tech goods and services is a golden opportunity, as the economic recovery in America and Europe goes from slow to sluggish. Yet the shift has been accompanied by fear-mongering that China is buying up Western companies wholesale, and gaining power by financing the debt of Western states.

It is true that China has invested more than $800 billion in foreign firms, and holds the world’s largest foreign currency reserves (mostly in the form of U.S. government bonds), standing at $3,180 billion in January, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss daily.

But the more China invests in Europe, the greater its interest will be that the continent’s economy is doing well. This is clear from the response by China’s state news agency, Xinhua, to the recent downgrading of nine European countries by the rating agency Standard&Poor’s: “The news was like dropping a rock into a tranquil pond, causing strong market reactions. The news may reverse upward market tendencies gradually built up over the days.” Moreover, China’s government has been signalling that it wants to help Europe’s economy recover – which should come as no surprise, as Europe is the biggest buyer of Chinese products.

“Without the profits, the assignments, and our Chinese customers, we would have had to close down the factories in Austria,” explains Hannes Androsch as my tour of the factory is coming to an end.

Before Europeans become too afraid of Chinese companies taking advantage of Europe’s current weakness by picking its assets inexpensively, they should bear in mind that they too have been capitalising on China’s cheap labour.

China still remains the workshop of the world. But foreign businesses will have to adapt to the country’s changing priorities and rising wage levels. For Austria – and Europe – the shift holds more promise than peril. ¸

4

Austria

The Vienna Review February 2012

view the incident as anything more than a “regrettable mix-up”. This was followed by the mysterious leak of a statement from an anonymous eyewitness who claimed to have seen Brennan moving freely around his hospital room without his crutches, suggesting he was feigning injury.

The leak was made before doctors identified the broken bones in Brennan’s back.

News

Austria Briefs The Blitzkrieg ball Despite mounting protest over the choice of date – 27 Jan., the day the Nazi death camp Auschwitz was liberated – the annual ball of the Wiener Korporations-Ring (WKR), an ultra-right-wing student association, was planning to go ahead when the VR went to press.

The organisers faced pressure to cancel the event as the Austrian chapter of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, removed the entire group of “traditional Viennese balls” from its list of “intangible cultural heritage” due to the WKR party’s inclusion in that group, Austrian Press Agency (APA) reported.

The ball’s organisers stated in a press release that the date was incidental, as the event traditionally took place on the last Friday in Jan. The WKR’s ball, which attracts scores of protesters every year, was set to be held at the Hofburg for the last time, as the venue manager, Wiener Kongresszentrum Hofburg, declared it would stop hiring to the association, due to the “political and media aspect”.

Rising violent crime Violent crime and cyber crime increased last year, whereas burglaries and car theft declined, the Ministry of Interior announced.

In 2011, the ministry recorded an increase in murders, and in complaints about malicious injuries and rape.

A steep rise in cyber crime was also noted, with 5,100 complaints in 2011, compared to 600 in 2002.

Yet overall complaints to the police rose by only 0.8% in the past year, and burglaries actually decreased in Vienna by 4.5%, while the police’s overall detection rate (43%) was the highest of the past decade.

TV fee: no exceptions As of Jan., the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) has been charging user fees to all households that are technically able to receive its radio and television channels.

The move means that households can no longer sidestep the broadcasting licence fee even if they do not use their TV or radio connections.

According to the daily Der Standard, 98% of Austrian households are equipped to receive the channels by antenna and will be charged up to €61 a month for the use of the service.

Corinna Drumm, CEO of the Association for Private Broadcasting, says the change will add €20 million to the ORF budget in 2012.

Corruption inquiry The parliamentary inquiry on corruption was set to hold its first hearings in late Jan. The cross-party committee was to summon twelve witnesses on Telekom Austria’s alleged bribery of former members of government for favourable legislation and public contracts.

The former minister of infrastructure, Hubert Gorbach, was the most prominent figure to be summoned to give account at this stage.

Established in Oct. 2011, the parliamentary inquiry has no legal powers, but serves to report on government conduct in the Telekom scandal and five other alleged cases of corruption, including insider trading during the privatisation of public housing (“Buwog”) and the selling of citizenship to party donors.

Diplomatic passports row Former ministers may no longer travel on diplomatic passports, APA reported in Jan. Under new regulations, diplomatic passports are reserved for senior politicians and career diplomats, granting special rights such as a visa-free entry into certain countries.

With the amendment, the government was reacting to public criticism of the privileges of former ministers and their families.

The debate had been triggered by reports in the daily Kurier that some of the ex-ministers to be summoned to the parliamentary inquiry on corruption were in legal possession of such passports.

To protect and serve? An officer patrols Karlsplatz underground station

Photo: Herbert Oczeret/APA

Vienna’s police have a dismal record of racism, and the courts aren’t doing much to change it. Yet, there are signs of change

Your Friend and Helper?

by Jamie Hershing and John Hodgshon On the afternoon of 11 Feb. 2009, Mike Brennan stepped out of the underground at Vienna’s Spittelau station. Before he could walk away from the carriage, he was thrown to the ground, his attacker pushing his knees into Brennan’s back, fracturing two vertebrae, while another punched him from the side.

The assailants turned out to be plainclothes officers from the Vienna police who had mistaken Brennan for a suspected drug dealer travelling in the same carriage – apparently because they both were black. As Brennan, a sports teacher at Vienna International School, struggled to get compensation through the courts, the case focused international attention on racism in the Austrian police. Now, three years later, has anything changed?

Friedrich Kovar, Vienna police spokesperson for human rights, categorically denies that racial profiling – the stopping and searching of members of ethnic minorities for no other reason than their appearance – takes place in Austria.

The practice, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council, violates the human right to non-discrimination. Kovar points out that, since 2005, human rights courses have been a compulsory part of Austrian police training, focusing on case studies of how respectful treatment can be reconciled with law enforcement.

Yet in spite of this, reported incidents of racial profiling have actually increased. The annual Racism Report published by ZARA, an NGO in Vienna recorded 67 incidents in 2010. Striking-

ly, this figure has nearly doubled from before human rights were incorporated into police training: in 2004, 38 incidents were reported.

To Kovar, however, it appears natural that police officers searching for a suspected drug dealer with dark skin would also question other black people in the vicinity. Those who feel they are being interrogated for no reason, therefore, are simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

From victim to perpetrator It is precisely this elision – of racism and “reasonable” investigations – that makes racial profiling so hard to pin down. A clearer indicator of efforts to end racism within the police force, therefore, may be whether individuals who feel they have been held unjustly can gain redress swiftly. Yet this, too, is far from the case.

Wolfgang Zimmer, the spokesperson for ZARA, says that individuals who complain to officers about mistreatment, perversely, are often subsequently fined for aggressive behaviour themselves.

Similarly, Mike Brennan maintains that the officers who assaulted him did not produce their badges until his Austrian girlfriend arrived at the scene – a charge the officers denied. “I feel I was attacked the way I was because of my race,” Brennan says, “and also because of the way the officer treated me, for example, unprofessionally and disrespectfully.”

The authorities’ handling of Brennan’s case was uncooperative at best, if not outright fraudulent. Initially, the police force was reluctant to

Police: innocent as charged With police authorities appearing to close ranks, could pressure from the judiciary make officers more accountable? In Brennan’s case, investigations by the public prosecutor indeed resulted in criminal charges of negligent bodily harm against one of the officers involved.

The first hearing in the case, held in June 2010, raised hopes further, when the presiding judge decided that negligence charges might not be enough.

“Is there no other way to arrest someone suspected of committing a crime?” asked Justice Margaretha Richter at the time, before referring the matter to a higher court.

In January 2011, an initial verdict indeed found the officer guilty of negligent grievous bodily harm, fining him €2,800. Decisive factors influencing the judge’s decision were the police’s error in confusing Brennan with the drug dealer, and the error of assuming that Brennan would attempt to flee the scene – both arguably racist assumptions.

Yet this finding was partially overturned last September when, following the officer’s appeal, Vienna’s State High Court (Oberlandesgerichts­ hof ) reduced the fine to €1,680.

“The Senate has established that the act was committed under circumstances that come close to being justifiable,” explained the court’s spokesperson, Leo Levanic-Iwanski. “Moreover, the negligence was slight, because Brennan’s description almost matched that of the actual suspect.”

The High Court’s reversion to the racial stereotype, thus, completed the circle, offering backing to continued discrimination in everyday policing.

So, after a three-year ordeal, Brennan has still received no compensation for the injuries he sustained, and has no recourse remaining in the criminal courts. He is currently considering civil action.

“The case took entirely too long,” Brennan ventured. “I think it was very clear what he did.

There are facts, evidence, and witnesses. What else should there be?”

As the police cover their tracks, and the courts stall, pressure for more accountable and egalitarian policing could come only from politics. A good start, writes Katharina Leitner in a recent study by the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), is the commitment in the current government programme to raise the proportion of minorities in the police force itself. According to the study, about 7% of those currently enrolled in police training are first- or second-generation immigrants. This is still lower than the 18% that would be necessary to reflect their proportion in the general population, but it is better than Germany’s showing, where only 2% of police officers have a migration background, compared to 20% in the population at large. Austria may be making progress after all. ¸

An Abridged History of Violence: Notable Cases of Abuse by the Austrian Police May 1999 Markus Omofuma

The 25-year-old Nigerian suffocates after being bound and gagged

by Austrian immigration police on a deportation flight to Sofia, Bulgaria, a procedure that investigations later reveal was common.

The three police officers responsible receive suspended sentences for causing death through negligence.

They are allowed to continue in service.

April/May 2000 Richard Ibekwe

July 2003 Seibane Wague

August 2004 Edwin Ndupu

April 2006 Bakary J.

Feb. 2009 Mike Brennan

A 26-year-old Nigerian dies on 2 May in police custody. Police arrested him three days before during a narcotics raid in the 17th District.

While he officially died of an overdose, eyewitnesses at Ibekwe’s arrest claim police assaulted him. An investigation into police brutality is halted in February 2001 due to lack of evidence.

As the Mauritanian physics student suffers a mental breakdown in Vienna’s Stadtpark, he is restrained and beaten by police for causing a public disturbance. As Wague resists being restrained, emergency doctors inject him with a strong antipsychotic. Wague dies during the incident, and video footage recorded by a bystander causes a public outcry.

One police officer and emergency doctor ultimately receive suspended sentences for causing death through negligence, though both are allowed to continue in service.

The inmate at Lower Austria’s Krems/Stein prison officially dies from a fat embolism caused by selfinflicted injuries. The 38-year-old Nigerian allegedly threatened fellow inmates and prison guards with a knife. 15 wardens seize Ndupu to bring him under control.

They bind his hands and feet and put him in solitary confinement. He continues to resist, requiring sedation. Ndupu never regains consciousness.

Guards who came into contact with his HIV infected blood get a compensation payment of €2,000.

As the Gambian’s deportation flight is postponed, he is taken to a warehouse and badly abused by officers of the special forces unit WEGA, suffering a broken jaw and eye socket. After four years of disciplinary proceedings, two officers are dismissed from service. One of them receives the maximum fine: five times his monthly income.

The American teacher is assaulted by police in an underground station, suffering two fractured vertebrae.

The officers claim they mistook him for a drug dealer they were tracking. One of them is convicted of grievous bodily harm, but his fine is reduced by the final court of appeal from €2,800 to €1,680. Both officers continue in service.

Austria

The Vienna Review

February 2012

5

Vienna may top the rankings of quality of life, but what about those mysterious qualities that make it “the-place-to-be”?

Clichés Aside: Is Vienna Really With-It?

by Eugene Quinn and Christopher Anderson Several recent surveys have deemed Vienna the vanguard in quality of life (Mercer) or greenfriendliness (Siemens). But is Vienna fashionable? Is it ‘in’? The term ‘cool’ brings to mind the New Yorks and the Berlins.

What about Vienna?

Cities like New York never seem to grow stale; they remain at the cutting edge, always curious and changing. They’re creative and open, with a diverse social scene and vibrant nightlife.

But just what is it that makes them ‘cool’?

Clemens Foschi, a conceptual designer and producer for Name>It Positive Media, sits in the tremendously smoky Elektro Gönner, a grooving locale on Mariahilferstraße, reflecting on the concept of ‘cool’. “It means not showing excitement openly. Viennese are world champions at that.” Is it just because excitement comes on its own, with the cultural complexity of the territory?

A good place to see the city’s appealing diversity on display is on one of the riotous brass nights in Ost Klub. The Donaukanal has emerged as the new outdoor party scene during the warm months, identified by Foschi as the most interesting development in the city.

Donaukanal bar pioneer and entrepreneur Bernd Juni thinks Vienna falls short. “You need to suss out a space between your rivals and play with the possibilities,” he urges. “Who’s doing that around here? It’s not gay enough, not black enough, too few freaks.”

And despite all the beer, locals hardly let loose. The August 2011 Vienna Street Festival, in which trucks with sound systems and onboard dancers paraded along the Ring, illustrated such a problem.

At Berlin’s Love Parade, half a million people on the streets become the event. At the Viennese version, locals stood around watching and waiting for something to happen. It never did. They didn’t seem to get that they could be the event w REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED Continued from front page

Last August, Wrabetz was re-elected for a second four-year term as director general by the ORF Foundation Council (Stiftungsrat). This supervisory board also approves the DG’s choice of directors and sanctions the budgets.

The crux: according to the broadcasting law, most of the 35 councillors are delegates of political parties: 15 are the envoys of parties reflecting their strength in parliament, and another nine represent Austria’s federal state governments.

The remaining 11 posts are shared between the Audience Council and the employees’ union.

In theory, the Stiftungsrat is a “quasi-parliament”, designed to represent the interests of the electorate. In effect, the councillors may often have their parties’ power closer at heart.

Guessing what Wrabetz had to promise the councillors to secure their votes was simplified by the fact that some of them boasted about it afterwards. The truth of those claims was revealed with Wrabetz’ Christmas appointments: Robert Ziegler was appointed to the newly created post of “regional coordinator”, as predicted by the Lower Austrian delegate, Alberich Klinger. Similarly, the former online director, Thomas Prantner, was retained as deputy technical director, recalling the Freedom Party (FPÖ) councillor Norbert Steger’s dictum that “my vote will depend on the future of…Thomas Prantner.”

Hating Niko Pelinka But none of the appointments attracted as much ire as that of Nikolaus Pelinka, anointed head office manager (Büroleiter) for the director general – and thus Wrabetz’s closest assistant.

The son of Peter Pelinka, editor of the Austrian weekly News, Niko was a quick-starter. At 19, he was hired by the Social Democratic (SPÖ) Minister of Education, Claudia Schmied, to handle her PR work. Four years later, in 2010, the party put the whiz-kid in “strategic communications” in charge of the SPÖ faction in the ORF Foundation Council – the largest party grouping, given the SPÖ’s hold on government.

Hence, Pelinka was reported to have orchestrated Wrabetz’s re-election in August 2011. Now – so it seemed – he was being rewarded with a senior position in the ORF management itself.

Yet Wrabetz argued that he chose Pelinka because of his personality, not his politics. “He

Revelers letting loose at Ost Klub: Is this what makes a city like Vienna cool?

Photo: Nina Oberleitner

themselves, if they had the right approach.

This city, like many others seems to do better rethinking things they already do well. The Life Ball, for example, each year in May or June, and the Regenbogenball in February and their parade in June, have taken on a life of their own: A Viennese staple, redone for gay pride – wild enough for the most jaded.

On the airwaves of FM4, you'll hear a worldclass English-language station, adventurous, inviting, and progressive in its politics, in spite of being part of the state-run ORF. This projects a vital image, in contrast to other Austrian stations. “You cannot find similar stuff in Berlin”, says FM4 literary editor Zita Bereuter, adding, “and it’s a station people are envious of.”

According to public affairs entrepreneur Verena Ringler, politics are intimately linked

to places being in or out of the vanguard. “This town is the ‘new hip’ because it doesn’t just do one or two things well, but many things, and for many people.”

Initiatives such as the expansion of the bike lane network and reduction of the cost of an annual pass for public transport reflect this. Hence the accolades in the rankings.

“Vienna is not just hip for the rich,” she adds, “but for the vast majority. Cities whose ‘cool’ factor is democratically distributed tend not to throw that into the face of the world. ['Cool'] is part of the city’s programme instead of the city's performance at tourist fairs.”

Ground-breaking architecture plays a role as well. Consider the new Sofitel on Donaukanal, which glows after dark with the lush psychedelia of Pipilotti Rist’s three striking ceilings.

has experience, knowledge…, and my personal trust,” the director general told the Austrian Press Agency (APA) on 28 Dec. The statement failed to convince his outraged employees. Armin Wolf, the mercurial news presenter at the forefront of the dissent, told the weekly magazine Profil on 7 Jan.: “Every morning, the editorial computer system contains the topics for the evening news; from 6:30pm the entire texts…are in there. I can’t stand the thought of the SPÖ general secretary’s [Laura Rudas] closest confidant sitting there [reading them].”

rules for a fair selection process, as well as affirmative action laws. A manifesto for an “independent ORF” was signed by 1,316 employees – three quarters of the journalists. And an open letter to Pelinka asked him to withdraw his formal application for the post he had been promised.

In parallel, the journalists harnessed both old and new media to publicise their protest: Armin Wolf launched tirades on Twitter, but also wrote a biting editorial for the German weekly Die Zeit. And the ORF news team privately made a protest video which it posted on YouTube; it showed all 55 news editors in quick succession, reading out a manifesto stating that “ORF belongs to all Austrians.” Within two days, the clip had been watched over 400,000 times.

The same day the video went online – 16 Jan. – the Foundation Council itself turned. As APA disclosed, the chairperson, the SPÖ-affiliated Brigitte Kulovits-Rupp, wrote in an email to her fellow councillors: “I have today advised the director general Dr. Wrabetz to cancel his vacancy notice for the post of head office manager.”

But Pelinka pre-empted him: On 18 Jan., he withdrew his application for the job, stating that he did not want to be “a symbol for something that does not correspond to my personal values.”

Soon after, Wrabetz released a statement marking an almost perfect U-turn: the office manager vacancy will be dropped, as will the plans for the “regional coordinator” post promised to Ziegler.

Strikingly, Wrabetz also noted that the events had shown that “corporate governance rules should be evolved,” specifically by setting a mandatory cool-off period before councillors could join the ORF’s executive branch. The following day, the Foundation Council announced it would draft a corresponding code of conduct.

But while the sudden reform ambitions vindicate the ORF journalists, they are a cosmetic fix. A cool-off period for councillors would do nothing to change the council’s structure of party-representation, political scientist Peter Filzmaier commented on ORF evening news on 19 Jan. This would require re-writing the broadcasting law – something the main parties have little appetite for. “Parties having no say at all, that doesn’t exist in all of Europe,” SPÖ chancellor Werner Faymann said on 18 Jan..

As long as Austria’s parties appoint the Foundation Councillors, who in turn elect the ORF management, the hit-show “Who Wants To Be A Media Exec?” is sure to enter another season.

The protest widens While the party-controlled Foundation Council has drawn scorn for years, this time something was different. Since 2006 – ironically, under Wrabetz’s tenure – ORF’s editorial independence has greatly improved, breaking with the government-friendly reporting known under his predecessor, Monika Lindner. While this had buoyed journalists’ confidence, it also meant they now had more to lose: their credibility. “We are seen as a government mouth-piece, although we aren’t one,” Armin Wolf summed up the cause for their anger.

As editors returned from vacation, their protest took on an organised form: A letter to the director general threatened legal action against his appointments, claiming they violated company

SPÖ’s Nikolaus Pelinka with ORF Director Photo: APA General, Alexander Wrabetz

Although decades old, Hundertwasser’s playful interventions still break out of the urban mould, and his Spittelau incinerator still looks astonishing. How many other cities draw attention to their unprepossessing utilities, transformed in such a spectacular way?

Unlike some we talked to, Zita Bereuter remains positive in her outlook: “Vienna, unlike Berlin, has traditional stuff, but also new stuff.

Vienna builds on traditions, which can be a real treasure, and also a handicap.”

For film producer Peter Waldenberger, Vienna is “not at all cool. It's a boring city full of rich, xenophobic people.” In spite of his initial dismissal, he points out another vital element of the cityscape: “the outskirts, woods, nature. It's a really green city.”

As with jaded Londoners, the Viennese have that essential cool element of decadence, of sounding bored with their scene. A foreigner may enjoy living here more than an Austrianborn spouse. And it’s important to add that even those most critical of the city do continue to live here, rather than acting on their criticism by moving to somewhere supposedly more fresh.

Is the scene pioneering anything, or reflecting what has already been trail-blazed elsewhere, in music, design and fashion? Mostly, the latter.

More fresh air is needed. “[Vienna] doesn’t shout out like a market crier: ‘Hey, Check out how hip I am!’,” Bereuter explains. Instead, “Vienna whispers seductively, like a lover: ‘I show you something.’ But you need to be open to hear the whispering (in the evening, but also during the day).”

In the end, ‘Cool’ is unmeasurable, just a feeling in the air. It is also subjective – so don't take my word for it.

What do you think? What's cool about Wien?

What side of Wien will never be with-it?

Join the discussion at viennareview.net, or at www.facebook.com/viennareview

Service

Keys to the City Taxing the Expats U.S. citizens living abroad are required to file income tax returns. The United States is in fact the only industrialized country in the world that taxes its citizens’ income overseas.

Now, in hopes of upping federal tax revenue, the IRS is heightening controls abroad.

Americans working abroad have long been protected, at least to some extent, by the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), under which those who earn less than $92,900 (in 2011) are not required to pay income tax on their foreign-earned income.

The U.S. Congress has recently re-classified FEIE as a “tax expenditure,” putting it back on the table for debate. However, without the FEIE, the effective double taxation will dissuade American firms overseas from hiring U.S. nationals, the non-profit organization American Citizens Abroad (ACA) argues, and many Americans will not be able to afford to take a job abroad.

Another key component of the federal government’s push for heightened U.S. taxpayer compliance is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires U.S. citizens to report the peak level of investment and savings accounts in foreign banks in any tax year, which became law in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. Tax experts argue that through FATCA (which sounds ironically close to “Fat Cat”, a perjorative term used to describe the extremely wealthy) American citizens abroad are being disproportionately punished by laws aimed at money launderers and people using offshore investment for the purposes of tax evasion.

For furthur information contact: Esquire Group 1., Renngasse 12/16 (01) 533 72 11 schwoedt@esqtax.com www.nomoretaxtrouble.com/austria/english

6

Central Europe

The Vienna Review February 2012

Sulphuric acid solution leaking out of a mine entrance, Rosia Montana Photo: Cristina Rotaru Gabriel Resources would provide 2,300 temporary jobs during construction, and 880 permanent ones when the mine starts operating.

In addition, the company has pledged to invest €70 million to restore the region’s historical sites, including some unique Dacian-Roman mining galleries, in an attempt to attract tourists to an area that, so far, has attracted only controversy.

A mining project has attracted protests. But the source of the anger may be buried elsewhere

Romania: The Gold Rush is On

by Cristina Rotaru Romania’s president could have learned something from King Midas who, according to legend, turned anything he touched into gold.

Yet what had at first seemed like a gift, ultimately became a curse. President Traian Băsescu also has gold at his fingertips – and lots of it: Rosia Montana, a state-owned mining area in the Apuseni Mountains in the country’s North West, sits on one of Europe’s largest deposits of the precious metal. But once touched by Băsescu’s privatisation agenda – which brought rioting to the streets of Bucharest in January over health

care reform – Rosia Montana morphed into a target of popular anger.

For years, the mining region has been on environmentalists’ agenda. But since last autumn, protests have intensified. Activists have rallied in Romania’s major cities – Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, and Targu Mures – for spontaneous “flash mob” demonstrations ranging in size between a handful and several thousand. “Your government is robbing you blind! Your media is lying to you! They all want to buy your silence!”, demonstrators shout, wearing gas masks and holding up red cards to signal “stop!”

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-Session: MBA Info Vienna 7, Februar y

But stop what? The protesters’ immediate target is a bid by Gabriel Resources, a Canadian mining company, to take over the state-owned mines of Rosia Montana. Having lobbied for the licence since 1997, the company hopes the government will finally give the green light. “I support the project as I support any kind of industrial development,” Băsescu told the U.S. news agency Associated Press last August.

Rosia Montana – the “Red Mountain” – has a mining history stretching back to the 2nd century A.D., when the area was part of the Roman province Dacia. Today, Gabriel estimates that at least 314 tons of gold and 1,480 tons of silver are still underground. That’s more precious metal than all of the EU’s bullion reserves put together.

But Gabriel stirred controversy by announcing it would use a process known as “gold cyanidation” for the extraction, using a solution containing the toxin cyanide to separate the gold from the rock in an open-cast mine.

“We are fighting against the complete destruction of the village, against pollution, and the obliteration of our national heritage,” rockstar activist Mihnea Blidariu told The Vienna Review. “Not to mention the violation of the right to property of all those locals who do not wish to leave their homes.”

The concerns recall the Baia Mare disaster in 2,000, when 100 tons of cyanide seeped from a Romanian mine into Hungary’s Tisza River and the Danube, killing thousands of fish in Hungary and Serbia.

But Gabriel has been adept at countering the accusations. Romanian mines – including Rosia Montana – have been using gold cyanidation for decades. The company claims that its modern technology renders the procedure safer, emulating successful projects in New Zealand, Finland, and on Austria’s Erzberg. Cyanidation will occur transparently, in accordance with the EU’s strict regulations, and the decantation pond will be insulated with clay to prevent leakage.

“Why would we invest €2 billion in something we don’t trust?” said spokesman Catalin Hosu of Gabriel Resources.

Starving the village to save it While the assurances have done little to convince the urban activists of “Save Rosia Montana”, the locals in the mining village showed few signs of wanting to be saved.

“We’re all miners or miners’ wives here,” said Lida Blajan, who was born and raised in Rosia Montana, one of 16 villages in the area with a combined population of 2,600.

“The land is no good for harvesting, we have nothing else. If Gabriel’s initiative is not supported, we would have to relocate anyway, otherwise we would starve,” Blajan put it plainly.

“The sooner the project is approved, the better.”

And the opponents? Out of a total of 185 families in the village, only five oppose the project, unwilling to relocate to the nearby city of Alba Iulia where housing facilities are provided.

What if they continue to refuse should the project be approved? “We would re-open negotiations,” said Hosu.

12-006_MBA_gesamt_EN_135x205_KW03.indd

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17.01.12

12:07

A land for opportunists Not only the miners of Romania’s North West, but also politicians in the capital are looking to Gabriel for their salvation.

In 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis, Romania entered a sharp recession, reversing its previous growth rate of 7%. To cover its ballooning expenses, including a stimulus package, the government entered a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund – in exchange for committing to spending cuts and privatisations. While the economy has returned to a slim growth – projected at 1.1% for 2012 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – Băsescu is still determined to reduce the state’s budget deficit from 4.4% in 2011 to 1.9% this year, The Economist reported.

As such, Gabriel’s venture presents a welcome source of revenue: The state would retain 19% of the shares, and has recently raised precious metal royalties to 8% – a high level as most countries levy between 3% and 5% according to the World Bank.

For the protesters, however, Rosia Montana is emblematic of a government that is selling out to the highest bidder, be it to service foreign debts, or, worse, to furnish politicians’ retirement coffers. Large-scale privatisation of state-owned assets generally invites bribery and insider-trading. But in a country as plagued by political corruption as Romania, the risk is particularly acute; even one of the state’s most senior judges, Gabriela Birsan, is currently under investigation for selling favourable verdicts.

“Rosia Montana is just another example of how political decisions are made in Romania,” the activist Paul Socol said.

This, in fact, may be the true cause of distress – the dawning sense that, rather than being a land of opportunity, Romania has become a land for opportunists. According to a December poll reported in The Economist, two thirds of the population says they have faced wage-cuts or layoffs.

With parliamentary elections approaching this November, Băsescu will be under pressure to explain the need for the wave of privatisations, and demonstrate that he can carry them out cleanly. Otherwise, like King Midas, he may be poisoned by his gold. ¸

Protest at the ministry in Bucharest in 2006; Gabriel Resources currently has 485 employees in Romania; the churches of Rosia Montana Photos: (top) Save Rosia Montana; (below) Cristina Rotaru

The Vienna Review

of Books

The Vienna Review

February 2012

7

In House of Exile: War, Love and Literature, from Berlin to Los Angeles, Evelyn Juers weaves the story of the Manns and a generation of European artists forced from their homelands by war

One Family: Worlds Apart rope with his partner Nelly Kröger; his eventual dependence upon Thomas in Princeton and Los Angeles; Nelly’s depression and suicide.

The Mann brothers differed in personality and politics: Thomas was aloof, respectable, an individualist pleased at his own success; Heinrich was more sensual, engaged with leftist politics (in post-war Europe he was particularly lauded in the USSR and GDR). Yet their interdependence shines through as much as their frequent conflicts.

Throughout, Juers accumulates a supporting cast of artists, writers, and lovers. In more or less detail, we follow Franz Kafka, Berthold Brecht, André Gide, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, Virginia Woolf; as well as their contemporaries, Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Adolf Hitler. As these famous figures intermingle, the

At the heart of Evelyn Juers’ new biography of the Manns and their generation is the paradox: America represented freedom, but also a certain emptiness.

Heinrich Mann, the more sensual brother, was engaged in leftist politics

by Samuel Goff In 1940, the famed Mann brothers, twin giants of twentieth-century literature, met again in Los Angeles after a separation of several years.

Thomas, the younger, had lived in Princeton for a year before Heinrich finally abandoned Europe to an ugly war and the totalitarianism that had engulfed it. They left behind almost everything, save their families and reputations. Amongst other emigrés, such as Aldous Huxley and Bertold Brecht, they tried to find new footing in a world and a language not their own. It was an escape to a freedom that, they discovered, was also another kind of prison.

At the heart of Evelyn Juers’ new biography of the Manns and their generation is this paradox: America represented freedom, but also emptiness. As novelist Alfred Döblin put it in his seminal Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), “freedom [is] a fearful state of exile”. How does one live worlds apart from oneself?

To recreate the exiled generation of 1930s Europe, and to tell their tale of loss, Juers has taken a novel approach. Rather than rehash biographies from books and documentaries, she has, in

Illustration: Katarina Klein

her own words, woven a semi-fictionalised “collective biography set in an age of fragmentation and flux”. It is to her credit that reflecting this, she has nonetheless arrived at one of the most rounded, affecting portraits yet of Heinrich and Thomas Mann, their families, and friends.

Juers technique is to use the tools of biographers and historians – letters, diaries, eyewitness accounts – to imagine events from the lives of her protagonists, adding an emotional veneer to the narration of facts. In a simple typographic twist, Juers uses italics within sentences to indicate genuine quotes from original sources. In this way, ‘real’ history is unobtrusively mingled with literature.

At the heart of Juers’ story are the complex relationships between the various strands of the great Mann family, in Lübeck, Prague, Berlin, Italy, France, and finally the USA. Juers is thorough yet engaging, creating a brisk narrative abounding with information. Here is the childhood of Thomas Mann and his older brother Heinrich; their first steps as writers; their love affairs; Thomas’ marriage; Heinrich’s condemnation by the Nazis; Thomas’ emigration to the US; Heinrich’s travails in Eu-

Old World of 1930s Europe begins to resemble a goldfish bowl, where one couldn’t move without stubbing a toe on a persecuted playwright.

This was the bustle, the energy of life and a shared culture that America – for all its freedom – lacked.

Particularly impressive is Juers’ portrait of Emma Johanna ‘Nelly’ Kröger, Heinrich’s troubled wife. The traditional image of Nelly is of a lewd girl, out of her social depth in the Mann household, a gaffe-prone drunkard. This image leans on the accounts of Thomas, who found Nelly “unbearable”. Juers is at pains to treat Nelly with respect. Here, she speaks directly as biographer, and recounts her efforts to nail down Nelly’s family history armed with “a slim harvest of available facts”. To my mind, the chapter detailing Nelly’s immersion in the ‘great sardonic baby’ of Weimar Berlin – responding to its charms “as birds reply to light with song” – is the most affecting of the book.

Juers’ Nelly is vibrant, yet tragically worn down by circumstance. What’s more, Heinrich’s love for her is brought unquestioningly to the fore.

The style of House of Exile takes some acclimatisation. Switches from third-person fictional narration to biographical description, between omniscience and objectivity, are not seamless.

The accumulation of contemporary political developments alongside the bewildering array of characters produces a montage-style text that veers towards self-parody: “At the beginning of October, Germany annexed the Czech territory of the Sudetenland. Thomas smoked a cigar called Optimo…”

Juers strains credibility with her ventured responses of characters to books they may not even have read (“If Madame Bovary had fallen into her hands, I imagine what she would have loved most was its intimacy”). Yet on many other counts, the book is excellent: in its forays into the “milk-washed skies” of the Baltic landscapes of Nelly’s and the Manns’ childhoods, for instance.

Above all, Juers’ is a book of loss, where displacement is more meaningful than belonging.

Perhaps the most profound message of House of Exile comes in the very first chapter. The young ‘Heini’ and ‘Tommy’ have been squabbling over a violin that ends up damaged. Their mother, Julia, admonishes Heinrich with a phrase that, decades later, might have served as the Old World’s epitaph: “You see, it no longer matters if it was yours alone, or if it belonged to both of you, now that it’s broken.” ¸ House of Exile: War, Love and Literature, from Berlin to Los Angeles

by Evelyn Juers Allen Lane (2011), pp. 400

Service

World of Books Upcoming Literary Events WRITER’S LOUNGE Poetry is just a few clicks away. On the Writer’s Lounge website, authors from all corners of the earth have uploaded their works. Member can comment and browse over 2,000 poems in English, which are organized in categories including: love, life, growing up, politics and crazy. New contributors welcome.

Registration is free. www.writerslounge.net POETRY READING An evening of poetry read by Paul-Henri Campbell, Rebecca Farivar and Angela Hume.

10 Feb., 19:30 Shakespeare & Company 1., Sterngasse2 (01) 535 50 53 www.shakespeare.co.at DYLAN DALLYING A literary and musical evening dedicated to Welsh writer Dylan Thomas and singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The event features excerpts from Thomas’ play Under Milkwood, about a small Welsh village, and songs by Bob Dylan, who chose his alias in admiration of Dylan Thomas. In German.

13–18 Feb., 20:00 Theater Drachengasse 1., Fleischmarkt 22 (01) 513 14 44 www.drachengasse.at CORRECT ANIMAL  POETRY The Californian author Rebecca Faviar reads a selection of poems from her book Correct Animal, poetry on the life in death, with titles including “On finding a bird skull” and “On the market”. In English.

13 Feb., 19:30 Shakespeare & Company 1., Sterngasse2 (01) 535 50 53 www.shakespeare.co.at OSCAR WILDE: SALOME The Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr reads Oscar Wilde’s tragedy Salome at the Burgtheater, a one-act play telling the biblical story of Salome, who demands, as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils, the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter. In German.

27 Feb., 19:30 Wiener Konzerthaus 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 24 20 002 www.konzerthaus.at DONNA LEON BOOK SIGNING The creator of the beloved fictional character Commissario Brunetti will be in Vienna to sign copies of her books for her numerous, multi-lingual fans.

28 Feb., 15:00 Morawa 1., Wollzeile 11 (01) 513 7 513 450 www.morawa-buch.at DONNA LEON READING VENETIAN CURIOSITIES Brought to Venice for carnival, an elephant runs amok before he hides in a church. Meanwhile, prostitutes are employed by the municipality to counter homosexuality. The curious tales are fused with music of her favourite orchestra Il Complesso Barocco, playing pieces by Antonio Vivaldi. In English.

28 Feb., 20:00 1., Musikverein Bösendorfer Straße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at

8

The Vienna Review February 2012

The Vienna Review

of Books

How coffeehouse culture and football combined to create a “Golden Age” of Austrian sports between the wars

The Other Viennese School

Paul Meissner’s famous 1948 portrait of the Wunderteam, which hangs in the Wien Museum The following is based on two excellent books on the history and origins of Viennese football: Inverting the Pyramid, by Jonathan Wilson and European Heroes: Myth, Identity, Sport Richard Holt, J.A.Mangan, Pierre Lanfranchi, eds

by Samuel Goff The passion that enlivens derbies between Austria and Rapid Wien cannot mask that reality: that neither is a powerhouse of world football.

The Austrian Bundesliga often ranks below the Turkish and Danish leagues in European comparisons. And yet, as in so many fields, Austria and Vienna were once on top of the world, the hub of a footballing revolution that reflected the city’s fascinating and tragic inter-war culture.

The 1920s were Austria’s football heyday. A two-tier professional league founded in 1924 launched a decade of rapid growth; even in the first year, the Neues Wiener Journal reported, forty to fifty thousand people would turn up on bright Sunday afternoons in the capital to cheer for their side. Elsewhere in Central Europe, it was a game for the upper classes, introduced by British aristocrats, but in Vienna, Budapest, and

Prague, the game managed to transcend class boundaries and was soon picked up by both the burgeoning urban proletariat, and the intellectuals who populated the coffeehouses of these grand old Central European capitals.

Alongside the games of chess, newspapers, and political intrigue, the coffeehouses grew into hotbeds of football chatter. Specific establishments became the second homes to supporters of Vienna’s most popular teams: Austria Wien, a favourite of the city’s Jewish bourgeoisie, had their stronghold at the Café Parsifal (now Café Hummel) in the 8th District; Rapid Wien, favoured in the industrial suburbs, dominated conversation in the Café Holub. Traversing these club loyalties was the crowd at the venerable Ring Café. Here, between the wars, one could find what the Welt am Montag described as “a kind of revolutionary parliament of the friends and fanatics of football”.

Austria and Rapid each had their own star players, whose popularities reflected the divisions in the modernising city. Rapid’s hero was Josef Uridil, a hulking centre-forward hailing from the proletarian suburbs, who seemed to

match the team’s sense of muscular, workingclass identity. In 1922, he became the subject of a popular music-hall tune by Hermann Leopoldi, “Heute spielt der Uridil”. By 1924, his celebrity was such that he appeared in a film, Pflicht und Ehre, as himself, and took up a position as a music-hall compère.

His counterpart at Austria was the singularly gifted striker, Matthias Sindelar. Der Papierene, or “Paperman”, as he was known, was slight and wan, yet dazzled on the football field. The bourgeois fans of Austria Wien adored Sindelar, whom they saw as an embodiment of the cerebral atmosphere of the coffeehouse. “He had brains in his legs,” wrote Alfred Polger, the theatre critic who later penned Sindelar’s obituary. Sindelar was renowned for tricking the opposition defence, for spotting passes that no one else could see, and for scoring delightful goals like “punch lines”. With their media presence, commercial endorsements, and urban appeal, Uridil and Sindelar were, along with the stars of early cinema and the music-hall, in many ways the first truly modern celebrities in Austria. What’s more, despite their opposing fan bases, both Uridil and Sindelar were of Moravian immigrant stock, their success reflecting Vienna’s history of diverse cultural influence.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of this other ‘Viennese School’ was the manner in which it revolutionised tactics, and rose to the top of world football. As Jonathan Wilson explains in his history of football tactics, Inverting the Pyramid (2008), the 1920s saw the sport expand beyond the narrow-minded, anti-intellectual British game into social classes comfortable with theorising, deconstructing, and abstract planning.

A player like Sindelar, with “brains in his legs”, could play a new style of football based on technical skill and tactics. When Sindelar, Uridil, Josip Smistik and Walter Nausch played together for the Austrian national team, sparks flew. This so-called Wunderteam played a game of rapid interchanges: “the Danubian Whirl”.

Between 1931 and 1932, the team went on a 14-match unbeaten run.

When they faced the mighty England in December 1932, crowds thronged the Heldenplatz listening to a radio broadcast of the match, and the Public Finance Committee took a break to tune in.

In the words of the Arbeiter-Zeitung in 1931, the team represented “a tribute to Viennese aesthetic sense, imagination and passion”.

This Viennese School, as so much of Central European culture, met its end at the hands of the 1930s’ totalitarian politics. The Wunderteam was overtaken by the muscular Italian side of Vittorio Pozzo. In the 1934 World Cup, held in Fascist Italy, the Danubian Whirl came un-

stuck in a violent and controversial semi-final against the hosts; Italy won 1-0 after the referee seemed to ignore a foul on the Austrian goalkeeper. In the final in Rome, Italy triumphed over Czechoslovakia, another waning Central European force. Wunderteam coach Hugo Meisl died in 1937, and following the Anschluss, Austria was forbidden to compete independently in the 1938 World Cup in France.

Sindelar’s story mirrors that of his homeland.

On 3 Apr. 1938, he played in the notorious “Anschlussspiel”, a political show trial of a match between an Ostmark XI and Nazi Germany. In the first half, Sindelar missed so many easy chances that it is widely assumed that he was mocking the German team. Reports suggest that he celebrated too well in front of senior-ranking Nazi officials.

Whether or not this is true, it is well-known that Der Papierene refused to play for Nazi Germany, and made no secret of his Social Democratic leanings. Austria’s greatest ever player was found dead in his flat on 23 Jan., 1939, the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was 35 years old.

Conspiracy theories have abounded ever since, claiming that Sindelar was murdered by the secret police for his passive opposition to the regime, or else for being Jewish. These claims seem unlikely: Sindelar’s family was Catholic, and neighbours had complained before his death of a faulty chimney pipe. Yet the Sindelar myth suggests something of the time and place in which he made his name.

Given the horrors that followed, the romantic notion of interwar Vienna has even greater resonance. For good reason, it is important to remember the cosmopolitanism and innovation that this Central European capital embodied, and that its football reflected. The romanticised notion of the Kaffeehaus may today be a symbol of tourist chic, but that might be because we can never truly recover those afternoons spent singing the praises of Uridil and Sindelar.

Alfred Polger perhaps put it best in his obituary to Sindelar. “The good Sindelar followed the city, whose child and pride he was, to its death,” he wrote. “For to live and play football in the downtrodden, broke, tormented city meant deceiving Vienna with a repulsive spectre of itself… how can one play football like that? And live, when a life without football is nothing?” ¸ Inverting the Pyramid

by Jonathan Wilson, Orion (2009), pp. 384

European Heroes: Myth, Identity, Sport Edited by: Richard Holt, J.A.Mangan, and Pierre Lanfranchi, Routledge (1996) pp. 184

EUROPÄISCHE BÜRGERINITIATIVE Die Bürgerinnen und Bürger haben das Recht, gehört zu werden.

Ab 1. April 2012 steht in Europa ein neues Instrument für direkte Demokratie zur Verfügung. EU-Bürgerinnen und -Bürger können von der EU-Kommission eine konkrete Gesetzesvorlage verlangen. Dafür braucht es in Zukunft: • mindestens eine Million Unterschriften innerhalb eines Jahres • aus mindestens sieben EU-Mitgliedstaaten und • je nach Einwohnerzahl eines Landes eine Mindestzahl an Unterschriften (für Österreich z. B.: 14.250).

Werden Sie aktiv!

Wir unterstützen Sie dabei: ebi.zukunfteuropa.at

Eine Information der Europapartnerschaft, finanziert aus Mitteln der Europäischen Union.

Neu ab April

The Vienna Review

of Books

The Vienna Review

February 2012

9

Blending facts and philosophy in a first-ever anthology of two centuries of German and Austrian science fiction writing

Reality Re-imagined: Doomsday, Aliens and Absolute Zero

by Peter Diller “If a story of the future is to be believable, it must be related to reality and remain closely connected with experience,” wrote suspense novelist Kurd Lasswitz. “From the events of cultural history and the current state of science, one may draw various conclusions about the future, and in so doing analogy should be used as the natural ally of imagination.” And in that statement, the German-born author became the father of science fiction.

To most of the English speaking world, the history of German science fiction has remained relatively inaccessible. However with the 2008 Wesleyan Press publication of The Black Mirror and Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Germany and Austria, these hard-tofind stories came finally within reach. This rich compilation faithfully traces the history of the genre in the German-speaking world from its origins in the utopian novels of the turn of the 20th century, through the world wars, and into the current era. Editor Franz Rottensteiner’s dizzying introduction weaves the splintered back story of the emerging German language authors, as they worked in relative isolation from the universe of their English speaking counterparts.

Kurd Lasswitz’ 1871 publication To the Absolute Zero of Existence, in which a lovers quarrel in a society with no personal disagreements leads to tragedy, along with his 1882 utopian short Apoikis, where a traveler discovers descendants of the followers of Socrates living an Atlantian existence on a crystal island, both demonstrate the flexible forms from which the genre has evolved. Early sci-fi writers tended to lean heavily on philosophy, emerging sciences, and the future of war; and while frequently guessing at the reach of future technologies, no imagination, however bold, was able to foresee the true horrors of coming conflicts.

Other selections from this time period range from the hilarious 1906 short story by Austrian author Ludwig Hevesi, Jules Verne in Hell, in

Egon Friedell: a striking example of satirical tone emerging in sci-fi Photo: Wikimedia Commons

An alluring read, historian Robert Whalen’s inquiry into the role of religion in the Wiener Moderne is almost convincing

The ‘Sacred’ in Ver Sacrum

by Jessica Spiegel The role of religion in fin de siècle Vienna would seem a closed case. As society escaped the grasp of the Church and the political landscape turned increasingly secular, one could safely assume that artists – the intellectual prophets of the changing times – had renounced God as an authority or even an influence.

In Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin de Siècle Vienna, American historian Robert Whalen makes a decisive attempt to reject this assumption. On the contrary, according the book’s thesis, the essence of God and religion permeated every aspect of the Wiener Moderne movement, from visual arts and literature to music and theatre. This makes for an alluring read, if for nothing more than the novelty of the subject and the sheer ambition of the author. Still, it’s easy to open the first pages convinced that the author’s efforts will be in vain – and much more comforting than accepting the possibility of the theory’s success.

Whalen initially offers a brief history of 19th century Vienna – the ethnic tensions, contradictions and tumult of a dying empire, as well as a useful depiction of the heterogeneous and conflicted nature of the Wiener Moderne – the term used by the author for the group of artists, writers, intellectuals and musicians who fronted Vienna’s avant-garde movement.

Unfortunately, this initial coherence and insight is sadly lost for most of the pages that follow. The early chapters dwell on the movement’s focus on Christian themes of death and resurrection, utopia and apocalypse, what the author calls “a fascination with the divine”. Gustav Klimt, perhaps the movement’s best-known figure, becomes a common thread tying together

On the wall of the Secession, the title of the group’s influential journal Photo: Thomas Ledl an otherwise disjointed narrative.

A fascination with death is easy enough to find in Klimt’s paintings, which are satiated with visions of the frail, the dying and the dead. But other examples are less convincing, such as the paintings of Egon Schiele, more obsessed with the pain of living than fear of death. Whalen conjures examples from literature to further demonstrate this initial theory, though finding death in playwright Arthur Schnitzler’s recurring theme of failed romance (“death of love”) seems questionable, as does seeing critic Karl Krauss’ fixation on the collapse of the empire as an obsession with apocalypse. The author’s insistence on images of death and resurrection as synonymous with religiosity seems simplistic at times; death, after all, is an integral part of life, whether secular or religious. To be concerned, or even obsessed, with death is no more symptomatic of a belief in God than love of horror movies is of a violent nature.

Although the book is often unpersuasive, Whalen manages to cover an impressive array of themes, all supported a wide range of examples.

He covers substantial ground in chapters on death

which Verne is depicted taking a tour of Dante’s sibly support life is a chilling reminder of our Inferno and finding its methods and machinery own inability to recognize the intricacies of our dated, to the haunting tale of interplanetary es- communal existence.

Among other notable insights into the develpionage played out in Carl Grunnet’s 1908 story opment of the sci-fi genre, the anthology sheds The Martian Spy. light on the differing After the First lives of authors on eiWorld War, many Among other notable insights ther side of the wall.

German science ficinto the development of the While many authors tion stories took on science fiction and nationalist overtones, sci-fi genre, the anthology sheds of dime novels struggled a sub-genre the editor light on the differing lives of the to make a living in the elected to leave out of this collection. The authors on either side of the wall. Federal Republic of Germany, writers in examples from this the German Demoera that are included reflect the satirical tone that began to emerge. cratic Republic reaped the benefits of a captive Otto Willi Gail’s The Missing Clockhands: An audience while generally avoiding ideologies.

The title story, Erik Simon’s 1983 tale The Implausible Happening from 1929 and the Austrian polymath Egon Friedell’s Is The Earth In- Black Mirror, is a prime example. In the tale, two extra-terrestrials present the human race with a habitable? from 1931 are striking examples. truly one sided mirror whose reWhat is most notable about this verse side swallows anything it anthology, aside from the rarity of comes in contact with. After exits contents, is the thorough retellplaining the mirror’s potential for ing of the almost unknown history space travel and witnessing the of German-language science fiction. frenzy that ensued after earthlings Friedell’s short and poignant alledecide to attach a turbine to the gory for cultural misunderstanding dark side, the visitors realized they Is The Earth Inhabitable? takes on had made a grave mistake – “Bit by far sadder overtones in the context bit,” one comments, “they’ll throw of the author’s own story. Born as the whole universe into the black Egon Friedmann in Vienna in 1878, empty half.” Is this perhaps an allehe converted from Judaism to Lugory after all? Like all good writing, theranism in 1897 and changed his it works either way. surname in 1916, living as a wealthy The able translation by Mike Mitchell sets cloth manufacturer and writer and ran in the higher circles of the day. He was a friend of ar- the tone of this special collection of stories. chitect Adolf Loos and performed on the cabaret Spanning over one hundred years of history, this stage, all the while publishing regularly in Karl fascinating anthology of abstract fiction truly is, ¸ Kraus’ Die Fackel. He would commit suicide in well, out of this world.

1938 jumping from of his apartment window The Black Mirror & Other Stories as Nazi Storm Troopers arrived at his door to Edited by Franz Rottensteiner arrest him. The cold and calculated judgment Translated by Mike Mitchell, of extra-terrestrial beings as they note down a Wesleyan (2008) pp. 424

short list of reasons why Earth could not posand resurrection, but also tackles the much more abstract realms of dreams and visions.

Here, the author’s examples paint a more overarching, if vague, picture: Sigmund Freud, who sought truth by way of dreams, becomes an easy target. Hugo von Hofmannthal’s dreamy writings, along with fellow writer Richard Beer-Hofmann’s obsession with truth in dreams, indeed reveal an accented interest in the subconscious. Composer Gustav Mahler comes into focus with his Third Symphony, a work Whalen considers “hallucinatory”, an adjective that could be used to describe any number of Mahler’s works. And the importance of mystery in Klimt’s works – which consistently interlace vision, truth and the unknown – seems self-explanatory.

Discussion of the symbolic divinity of women is more convincing.

This theme is a must in such a book; from the seductive figures in Klimt’s paintings to Freud’s obsession with sex as the driving subconscious force, the presence of the feminine in fin de siècle Vienna is constant. The reader is left hanging, however, by Whalen’s half-hearted attempt to link the unveiling of a more dominant female figure with the divine. The closest he comes is quoting Italian professor, Paul Mantegazza, describing a woman in love as “more angel than human”.

Whalen does manage to paint a revealing picture of Vienna’s unique, if contradictory, approach to feminism with a vivid summary of Otto Weininger’s groundbreaking work Geschlecht und Charakter (Sexuality and Character). The simultaneously harsh, confident and paradoxical theory on the role of woman, which can be briefly summarized as “nothing” next to man’s all-encompassing “something,” is a fascinating, if infuriating, indicator of what women were fighting against. But again, it does little to prove women’s divinity.

Klimt returns to prove the author’s point.

The painter’s portrayal of women as powerfully erotic, sensual and dominant beings permanently at the centre of his works is certainly effective in signifying women’s increasingly powerful, if not divine, role in fin de siècle Vienna. However Whalen then takes the reader on a careful journey through Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, confirming the female as a means to salvation; women are not seen as creative or divine forces, but as beings that can show the path to deliverance. One thing, however, seems clear: the role of the “feminine divine” during fin de siècle Vienna could be a book unto itself.

What the author does manage to illustrate – both in his own words and borrowing from those of his contemporaries – is the conflicted mood of the turn of the century.

Wrought with class tensions, rampant xenophobia and destructive populism – all masked in the ‘nervous splendour’ of balls and parties, kitsch and consumerism – Vienna was mired in anxiety.

A look behind the curtain of Vienna’s modern-day façade, and a question jumps from the pages: has anything changed? Austria, for all its transformation, still straddles the border of an established West and a mysterious East, still battles with pockets of unbridled xenophobia, and still falls prey to populists – all the while clinging to its long-lost glory.

One can only hope that the inspirational force that transformed Vienna from the seat of a dying empire, imprisoned by tradition, to a bastion of creativity, barrelling headfirst into a new century, might rise again. If the author’s theory proves, true, perhaps living God will again find a place in the creative life of a great city. ¸ Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin de Siècle Vienna

by Robert Whalen, William B. Eerdmans (2007) pp. 339

10

The Vienna Review February 2012

by Cynthia Peck I first discovered the voice of Edith Grossman while revelling in her translation of Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. Of course I thought I was reading Márquez, but since I was not reading Spanish, I was actually reading Grossman. And while not conscious of this at the time, it is now clear to me that Grossman not merely translated, she “transmitted” the world of Márquez to me, into his luscious story of nearly unrequited love.

In the introduction to her elegant little book, Why Translation Matters, Grossman seeks to describe what a translator does, delving into a number of murky questions. First she, an impassioned translator, asks herself whether translation even matters at all. And if it does, to whom?

There are many parts to the puzzle: the author, the translator, the reader, the publishers and reviewers. She even considers the long-flaunted opinion that translation is impossible.

Is a translation merely a reflection in a clouded looking glass that will never mirror the true original? Is a translator merely a well-honed tool, a boring human machine soon to be replaced by Google Translate?

Why Translation Matters answers these and many other questions with a lyrical eloquence that is graceful and inspiring. In the process, Grossman reveals her passion for translating and gives us a very good idea of her craft. As she describes the best moments in her work: “On occasion… I have been lucky enough to hit the sweet spot, when I can begin to imagine that the author and I have started to speak together – never in unison, certainly, but in a kind of satisfying harmony.”

“Translation is a strange craft, generally appreciated by writers, undervalued by publishers, trivialized by the academic world, and practically ignored by reviewers.” In the first chapter she gives examples of all these, with careful arguments that are both powerful and intimate.

Translators not only get little credit, they are often maligned to boot: On the one hand, they create so-called “unfaithful beauties” (les belles infidèles), on the other, traduttore traditore, to translate is to betray. According to Robert Frost, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”

Grossman discusses this problem: “Of all the interpretive arts, it is fascinating and puzzling to realize that only translation has to fend off the insidious, damaging question of whether or not it is, can be or should be possible.” Luckily she does not linger here. Rather she develops her thoughts into a political plea: In “a world where both isolationism and rampaging nationalism are on the rise”, translation may be “one of the ways past a menacing babble of incomprehensible tongues and closed frontiers into the possibility of mutual comprehension”.

Grossman is a prize-winning translator of some of the most important Latin American authors of the last century, most notably Nobel

The Vienna Review

of Books

Why Translation Matter: how the thought and literature of distant times and places becomes readable in other languages

Edith Grossman: Words in the Looking Glass

Grossman: Fidelity yes, but “translation is not made with tracing paper” Prize laureates Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Indeed, as she points out dryly in Why Translation Matters, it is nearly impossible for an author to win the Nobel Prize unless he or she has been translated into English. To be sure, this is one reason for literary works to be translated, at least from the viewpoint of authors writing in “obscure” languages.

Of course Spanish is not obscure, but nevertheless, I for one cannot read it, much as I would like to. Nor will I in my lifetime ever gain even an inkling of the 6,000 languages extant on our globe, of which, as Grossman tells us, hypothetically 1,000 are written. We are in awe of someone who can read only ten languages, and even they

Photo: Drexel Publishing

often depend on translations. We all do.

The second chapter is entitled “Translating Cervantes”. Grossman’s highly acclaimed 2003 translation of Don Quixote follows a long tradition of English translations of this work that go back to the 17th century.

But as the New York Times reviewer commented, hers is the “most transparent and least impeded” of them all, certainly an endorsement that might inspire a re-reading. It is in this chapter that Grossman begins to take flight; here we see her joy in discovery and doing, the best reasons for pursuing a true vocation.

While it is literature that Grossman translates, her observations are often just as applicable for translations of ancient religious texts in

dead languages, or legal documents of the EU in all of its 23 languages. As she describes her work: “...we have to probe into layers of purpose and implication, weigh and consider each element within its literary milieu and stylistic environment, and make the great leap of faith into the inventive rewriting of both text and context in alien terms.” It is that leap of faith that Grossman seems to enjoy most.

In the third chapter, Grossman gets into the nitty-gritty of translating poetry. Far from a resigned Frostian “poetry is untranslatable”, we are shown a few detailed examples of her solutions to knotty problems: How she translates the hendecasyllabic lines (11-syllabled) of 16th and 17th century Spanish poetry into the iambic pentameter so common to English (the daDum daDum of “Jack and Jill went up the hill”). Or how she transforms Spanish’s rolling multi-syllables into English’s preponderantly (Germanic) mono-syllabic lexicon.

She zealously discusses tempo, rhyme schemes, rhythmic structures, and demands of syntax. And perhaps the most important of all when translating poetry, the “subliminal aesthetic pull between the tension of anticipation or expectation and its satisfaction or release.” Yet in all these seemingly technical discussions, there remains a clear lightness: Like any virtuoso, she makes her art seems easy and effortless.

Why Translation Matters is one of a relatively new series of books being published by Yale University Press: Why X Matters. The titles range from people (Why Arendt Matters) to history (Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters) to art (Why Architecture Matters). It is a gratifying attempt at offsetting a world where, it often seems, the only thing that matters is money.

In translation, is the quintessence of a text lost? According to Grossman, and I think anyone who believes that our feelings, thoughts and dreams can be expressed in words at all, it certainly is not. And as Grossman answers her own initial question, it most certainly does matter. It does because dialogue, in this case between two languages, “is crucial to our sense of ourselves as humans”.

“Where literature exists, translation exists.

Joined at the hip, they are absolutely inseparable and, in the long run, what happens to one happens to the other. Despite all the difficulties the two have faced, sometimes separately, usually together, they need and nurture each other, and the long-term relationship, often problematic but always illuminating, will surely continue for as long as they both shall live.” ¸ Why Translation Matters

by Edith Grossman Yale University Press (2010) pp. 135 Available at Shakespeare & Company 1., Sterngasse 2, (01) 535-50530 www.shakespeare.co.at

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19.01.2012 10:21:40 Uhr

Central Europe Saving money on clearing land-mines left over from the war may cost the country dearly

Safety “guaranteed” Mladen Crnkovic from the Croatian Mine Action Centre (CROMAC), the government body overseeing de-mining activities, disagrees, saying that his agency carries out a thorough survey of cleared areas before residents can return. Their safety, he maintains, is guaranteed.

The safety of the mine experts, however, is another matter. “If their employers want to do more square metres in the shortest possible time, that is up to them.”

Seventeen years after the war in Croatia ended, the mines are still taking a human toll. Their latest victim – the clearance worker Renato Spahija, aged 49 – was killed on 11 Jan. His death brought the death count on the job in the past 14 years to 26.

The market model, whereby private companies compete for public contracts for de-mining projects, was introduced in 1998 in order to make the process faster and safer, and to comply with EU recommendations to privatise the sector.

But Igor Vukorepa, president of the Humanitarian De-mining Union, says that the market model is problematic for his industry: companies competing for scarce funds are forced to offer increasingly low prices to stay in business. The union, therefore, wants a minimum price to be set.

Meanwhile, funds are scarce indeed, given the work that needs to be done, Vukorepa says.

Croatia still has some 754 square kilometres croatia-eu: questions remain Continued from front page

w

viewed it as pure propaganda. “Joining the EU was promoted as a guarantee that all our problems will be solved, without us having to do anything once we join,” says Zlatan Krajina, a professor of political science at the University of Zagreb. “We were promised unearned progress, or otherwise threatened with staying in the under-developed Balkans or returning to Yugoslavia.”

Vedran Horvat, head of Croatia office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, a Green think tank, agrees. “There was no willingness to show citizens how their lives would change without using rough stereotypes.” Moreover, “the fact that the EU sailed into a real storm in the meantime did not help the citizens of a new member country.”

But not only the current government – a centre-left coalition, lead by the Social Democrat Zoran Milanović, that gained power in December – faces accusations of communicating poorly.

So does the former conservative government under Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor that negotiated Croatia’s accession.

“While Slovenian negotiators coming back from Brussels gave statements to the press while they were still at the airport, Croatian negotiations were closed to the public for the entire six years. Last summer, some complex legal documents were released, but no interpretation or discussion ensued,” says Jelena Berkovic from GONG, a platform of human rights organisations in Croatia.

Economic worries Croatia’s politicians almost unanimously support their country’s accession to the EU. But they have so far failed to engage properly with people’s

February 2012

11

News

Central Europe Briefs

Croatia’s Explosive Business Plan

by Jelena Kopanja Mladen Jukicic loves his job – even if it could kill him. To go to work in the morning, he needs a special suit, a metal detector and a whole lot of nerve. Jukicic, 48, is a land mine clearance expert in Croatia.

There should be plenty of work for Jukicic: As Croatia prepares to join the European Union (EU) next year, it is in a hurry to remove some 83,000 land-mines thought to be left over from the Yugoslav War in the early 1990s.

But instead, Jukicic is struggling: the privatisation of mine clearance has resulted in tough competition between companies that is costing experts like Jukicic their jobs – and their safety.

Competition has brought mine clearance rates down to 3 kunas (€0.40) per square metre, from 10 or 12 kunas (€1.3 or €1.5) that were paid some years ago, Jukicic says. This means experts feel pressured to do more in less time – something people in this line of work could pay for with their lives.

“Not only is the safety of the mine clearance expert put into question, but also that of the people who will return to the cleared areas. It is possible we will overlook something,” Jukicic stresses.

The Vienna Review

Hungary in EU’s hot water

Forget picnicking in the Velebit Mountains of Dalmatia believed to contain about 83,000 mines and other explosive devices. Some 800,000 people, or about 18 per cent of the population, live in the 100 affected municipalities.

Idle resources Most of the areas thought to contain mines are forests, followed by agricultural land, meadows, and pastures. So, the continued presence of mines imposes a high economic burden on communities, deterring investment into their regions.

Swift clearance is hence high on the government’s list. Its National Mine Action Strategy wants the country to be mine-free by 2019.

“The biggest activities should take place between 2012 and 2015, and they will require the biggest financial means, HRK 2,060 million [€272 million],” the strategy paper reports.

But to reach the schedule, the number of active clearance experts needs to be doubled over the next three years, from the current 620. Yet clearance workers took to the streets last summer to protest being left sitting at home while hundreds of square kilometres remained mined.

In a statement ahead of Croatia’s parliamentary elections last December, the Association of Humanitarian De-mining Employers said that their companies were operating at half of their capacity “due to lack of funds and projects, which is in direct conflict with the national programme.”

At the current rate, Vukorepa says, Croatia would not be mine-free until 2032 – over a decade after the deadline set by the Ottawa Treaty, an international mine-banning agreement.

Croatia has the expertise, the workforce and the

Photo: ACfotodesign/F1Online/APA

technology to meet the 2019 deadline, says Vukorepa, but it lacks money.

The largest share of the de-mining funds – about 60% – comes directly out of the state budget. Another 22% comes from state-owned firms with a stake in the clearing of the mines.

Foreign donors pay for the remaining 18%.

Last year Croatia received €3 million from the EU’s pre-accession fund to de-mine its border with Hungary. Vukorepa is hopeful the EU will give more as Croatia’s accession approaches.

“If the EU wants to accept Croatia, it won’t accept it with mines,” Vukorepa says.

Djurdja Adlesic, the head of the Humanitarian De-mining Trust, said the country’s goals cannot be met solely by state funding. “We cannot do it alone,” he told the Croatian news portal Vjesnik last May. While the newly elected government, a centre-left coalition, has announced spending cuts to balance the state budget, CROMAC assures that mine-clearance funds won’t be affected. The agency expects to receive the HRK 320 million (€46 million) that it requested for this year.

“We’ve received a verbal promise that they will not cut our funding,” says Crnkovic. “It would be an own-goal to withdraw our funds, since we affect the growth of the economy.”

But even if they get all they are hoping for, they will still fall short of the funds called for by the national mine strategy by some HRK 200 million (€26.5 million).

“The deadline is realistic,” Crnkovic insists, before adding elliptically: “I can tell you better in 2015 what the deadline is.” ¸

to banks and corporations than they have to people,” she ventures. “Even if we can cross the border, that wouldn't help us much to get a job in Spain, where the unemployment rate has risen above 22%, or study in the UK, where students have been protesting against the introduction of sky-high tuition fees.”

Milos puts deteriorating prospects for young people down to the privatisation of public institutions and assets: “I'm opposed to [the EU’s] profit-driven neoliberal politics that subjects every aspect of society to the market… instead of a social Europe, we have seen the EU driven exclusively by the interests of capital.”

Yet Horvat feels the opponents’ claims are Left or right, and little in-between As a result, opposition to EU membership has overblown, often wrongly blaming the EU for grown in both left-wing and right-wing camps, Croatia’s existing problems. The public assets they claim will be lost says TV journalist Ivana Dragicevic “There is a sense that the EU is by joining the EU, “have already been lost Velickovic. “Those on a destination reserved for the in both legal and illegal the left criticise neoliberal capitalism, the few, while everyone else will be privatisation,” he says.

Horvat advocates position of workers, losers in the accession process.” an active stance. Rather issues of public resources, privatisation – Vedran Horvat, Böll Foundation than fearing foreign dominance, Croatians and the internationshould welcome the alisation of Croatian companies, as well as the crisis of the eurozone, chance to shape the EU at large: “In the EU, especially with the example of Greece,” Velicko- Croatia will have the opportunity to be heard at vic sums up. “From the right come slogans about the same table with both large and small member the loss of national sovereignty and the selling off countries, and try to build a more just and solidarity-driven Europe, which could be the only of Croatia.”

Jelena Milos, a student in Zagreb, voted way out of the current situation,” he says.

Or, as one Croatian politician deftly summed against Croatia’s accession. Although politicians promise that students will benefit from the it all up: “So far we have been on the menu, from EU – highlighting the ease of studying abroad, now on we will sit at the table.”

But for the Croatian public the question reand the resulting job opportunities – Milos has few illusions. “Sure, the borders will open, but mains: Who will really be making the decisions ¸ the borders have proved to be much friendlier at the table? anxieties about the impending membership.

As much as two thirds of the public believes that joining the EU will result in a lower standard of living, according to a recent survey carried out by the University of Zagreb. A majority fears that both Croatian agriculture and industry will collapse. Only a third of the respondents thinks that the benefits of joining will outweigh potential losses.

“There is a prevailing impression in Croatia that the EU is a destination reserved only for the chosen ones, and that everyone else will be losers in the accession process,” says Horvat.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has backed down from a proposal to merge the country’s central bank with the financial regulator, diffusing a standoff between his government and the European Union (EU).

After Hungary’s new constitution came into effect on 1 Jan., the EU Commission threatened legal action against three infractions of European law: a new central bank law susceptible to political control, judicial reforms forcing hundreds of judges into early retirement, and doubts over the new data protection ombudsman.

After the Commission formally declared legal action on 17 Jan., Orbán agreed to meet with Commission President José Manuel Barroso to negotiate a solution.

The standoff was the most memorable in EU history since Austria challenged the Union's fundamental principles in 2000 by forming a coalition government with rightwing politician Jörg Haider.

Hungarians fear for savings Austrian retail banks have registered a spike in inquiries from Hungarian citizens about opening savings accounts in Austria, amidst mounting concerns of financial insecurity in Hungary.

Hypo-Bank Burgenland, one of the larger banks in the federal state that borders Hungary, observed a four-fold increase in accounts opened by Hungarian nationals in the first week of 2012, compared to the same period a year ago, while Raiffeisen Landesbank, the state’s largest institute, noted increased inquiries but no significant changes in actual account movements.

Entitled to move their money freely within the EU single market, Hypo-Bank’s new customers state that “they no longer completely trust that their assets are safe inHungary,” said Berthold Troiss, head office manager for the board of directors at the bank.

Troiss also said that Hypo-Bank’s Hungarian private and business customers preferred holding savings in euro rather than forint, which stood at 239 per dollar on 18 Jan., compared to 202 a year ago, marking an 18 per cent decline.

The great paywall A ground-breaking media experiment implemented in Slovakia has also found an audience in Slovenia.

On 16 Jan. Slovakian company Piano Media launched a system by which internet users pay €4,89 per month, or €48,90 per year, for complete access to the content of eight major media outlets in Slovenia, including the country’s leading newspaper Delo, the sports daily Eikpa, the car magazine Autobild, and various regional publications.

Since last May Piano Media has been offering a collective fee to access over 40 online sites in Slovakia, including Pravda, the popular daily SME, and the business daily Hospodárske Noviny.

Users pay €2,90 per month, or €29 per year, for full access.

Riots in Bucharest Spontaneous protests against the centreright coalition government and President Traian Băsescu escalated to rioting in the Romanian capital.

The protests broke out on 12 Jan. following the resignation of well-respected junior health minister Raed Arafat over government plans to privatise the medical emergency system.

The demonstrations spread to over 40 Romanian cities, with reports of stones and Molotov cocktails being thrown, causing dozens of injuries.

In spite of the controversial reform being dropped, and the 17 Jan. reappointment of Arafat, a Palestinian-born immigrant, thousands of protesters braved cold temperatures to call for the president's resignation.

12

The Vienna Review February 2012

Ideas & Trends

by Krista Rothschild* For the doctors of the university clinic for oral surgery on the 7th floor of Vienna’s General Hospital (AKH), it is a normal day. Perhaps not a good day, but a normal one. For Nathan*, the patient sitting across from them, it will be traumatic. The odd spots on his tongue have turned out to be malignant growths, and soon he will lose the ability to taste, eat, and speak.

And there is more yet. “This type of cancer and its treatment affect all aspects of social life,” explains Christina Bacher, the department’s clinical psychologist. The surgery often leaves the patient disfigured, and social interactions, from a simple smile to the intimacy of sex, become near-impossible hurdles.

Bacher is there when Nathan learns of the diagnosis. “It’s a crisis situation. People aren’t capable of making decisions. They can’t take it all in,” she highlights. “Defence mechanisms, such as denial, are there for our protection but limit our ability to manage the situation as well.”

Diagnoses of head and throat cancers have increased over the long-term: In 2009, Statistik Austria recorded 1,124 new cases, compared to 800 in 1983, a rise of 40 per cent.

Stepping aside into a vacant examination room, Bacher speaks to Nathan alone. “I need to know what the person’s resources are, and the coping mechanisms they have to get them through to the next appointment,” she says.

Problematically, patients’ typical coping behaviour is often precisely what may have caused their disease: decade-long smoking and alcohol abuse. It’s a chemical concoction that, together with the ageing process, reduces the mouth cells’ resistance.

But blaming the victim for an unhealthy

With loss of taste, speech, and smile, oral cancer can leave those affected socially crippled. Clinical psychologists try to help them adjust.

Central European countries band together for science and possibly new industries.

eration and growth for the countries involved.

Since its conception in Budapest in 1989, the CEI’s core mission has been to promote regional cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries. Through a unified effort towards set scientific goals, the CEI hopes to support the economic growth and development of its member states. Thus, the objective of these few days was to determine where the CEI’s resources and member states’ efforts should be placed.

“Serbia… is committed to the incorporation of European standards into the system of education and science,” Obradovic said in his opening remarks. “Certain progress and results have been achieved but at the time of global economic crisis, we cannot be fully satisfied with the results achieved,” – a reality common to a large portion of CEI member states. “Serbia is a nation with respectable capacities, but our experience in joint projects [is] that we have gained in cooperation." Serbia has worked with eminent Italian institutions such as Synchrotron Elletra and Fermi Light Laboratories, Centers of Excellence of the ‘Trieste System,’ International Center for Genetic engineering and biotechnology.

By the end of the day, the delegates would be taken to two of these institutes, allowing them to see the value of regional cooperation. The Synchrotron Elletra and Fermi Laboratories are among the modern analytical gems available to

Europe’s New Nerve Centre

by David Reali On a mild and overcast day in mid-October, representatives from 14 countries convened for the Central European Initiative’s (CEI) first ministerial meeting on science and technology in Trieste, Italy. Their discussions would help shape the future of research and development in Central and Eastern Europe for years to come.

Austria is one of 18 E.U. and non-E.U. member nations invited to share research, manpower and facilities – one the very building we were in.

In an assembly room inside the Synchrotron Elletra/Fermi laboratories, nestled in the hills overlooking Trieste, the delegates took their seats as Zarco Obradovic, Serbian Minister of Education and Science, opened the conference that would hopefully yield greater cohesion, coop-

Saving Faces

Clinical psychologist Christina Bacher Photo: Krista Rothschild

lifestyle is reductive: oral cancer disproportion- their heads, and then be asked not to move.” ately hits working class men, a group that tends Bacher helps patients prepare with relaxation to have fewer coping skills, more unhealthy hab- techniques and visualisations, but sometimes its, and less access to health care, according to a also with the use of tranquilisers.

2009 World Health Organisation paper by Poul After oral surgery, psychologist and patient Erik Petersen. This makes a late diagnosis lead- begin the struggle against social isolation. Given ing to a terminal outcome more likely. “the visibility of the disease and the effects on As the diagnosis and treatment of the illness so many bodily senses, the risk of depression are on different floors in AKH, Bacher is often and anxiety disorders increase dramatically,” rethe only one to accompany a patient throughout counts Bacher. Maintaining contact with family the ordeal. “When and friends is crucial the patient returns for psychological “Defence mechanisms, such as for treatment, I think it’s well-being. denial, are there for our protecimportant that there Going out in is one familiar face,” spite of the stares is tion but limit our ability to manshe says. the first step. Bacher age a crisis situation as well.”

It is easy to see and Nathan take how her warm de – Christina Bacher, psychologist short walks through meanour, red hair, the long halls leadand freckles would ing to the hospital’s make the AKH’s anonymous corridors seem less main entrance. Passers-by can’t see that Nathan’s daunting. While some may see this is a luxury, tongue has been amputated, but the large skin Austrian hospitals are in fact required by law to graft across his left cheek, lower lip, and chin is employ a certain quota of psychologists for pa- plainly in view. “How far can the walk be today?” tient care. But funding is tight, as government Bacher asks. spending cuts conflict with rising patient numThe mental health problems resulting from bers. “Not all patients’ psychological needs will oral cancer are frequently compounded by fibe covered in 2012,” laments Gerhard Rumpold, nancial difficulties: How many jobs are there for board member at the Association of Austrian people who can’t speak? Nathan – a waiter – will Psychologists (BÖP). have to change his focus. Together with Bacher, Patients facing radiation therapy are in par- he brainstorms all the employment possibilities ticular need of support, Bacher finds. “Psycho- still available. logically, chemotherapy hardly plays a role anyCommunicating by writing on a notepad, more. People have a picture in their minds of Nathan takes heart: after all, he still has his wife, how it is done, and of the side effects: nausea, and a comfortable chair in front of the TV. ¸ loss of hair...With radiation therapy, many find it stressful and surprising to be tied to a table, * “Nathan” is a pseudonym. Krista Rothschild with a wedge in their mouths and a mask over is a clinical psychologist practicing in Vienna. researchers from CEI member states. The first is an immense cyclic particle accelerator that brings electrons to nearly the speed of light by pulling them along an undulating path with powerful electromagnets. The synchrotron is capable of material analyses ranging from spectroscopy, to imaging, to diffraction. It allows scientists to study the otherwise undetectable atomic and electronic nature of matter quickly, non-destructively and with high sensitivity.

Next door, the Fermi Laboratory houses a free electron laser spanning over 360 meters, an impressive structure that has recently been conThe founding members of CEI were Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Yugoslavia in 1989. Today, 16 more countries are cooperating.

Photo: Wiki Commons structed in order to complement Elletra. Fermi can be used to examine the dynamic behavior of matter i.e., how compounds change and interact with other compounds. The ability to observe rapid chemical, biochemical, and physical reactions makes this a promising new tool.

A short bus ride away, we were taken to the

headquarters of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) where scientists from 61 member states were being trained in molecular biology while researching solutions to problems in medicine, nutrition, industrial development and agriculture.

That evening it was agreed that efforts should be focused on the development of efficient biofuels. Unlike first generation biofuels, the next generation are expected to cut CO2 by 60-80%, said Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, CEI Alternate Secretary General. If this project were successful, he estimates, approximately one million jobs would be created over the next 10 years within the CEI, and biofuels could make up 50% of all the fuel consumed for transportation. Algae, for example, can be farmed, harvested, refined and distributed by the same company or organization, thus eliminating dependence on foreign investment.

If its current goals prove successful, the CEI could contribute substantially to an economically stable and more integrated CEE. Manz see biofuels as a viable mechanism for economic growth and stability throughout the region, as well as a cleaner global future -- if these estimates are realistic. In the meantime, the CEI continues to support various scientific endeavors and offers opportunities for cultural exchange and economic and political cooperation between member states. ¸

Feeling at home in Central and Eastern Europe starts right here.

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31.08.2011 11:55:35 Uhr 27.06.2011 12:27:27

Ideas & Trends

The Vienna Review

February 2012

13

A postcard from 1918 showing a Dirndl Photo: Wolfgang Sauber/Wikimedia Commons

Miu Miu champions the Heidi-look in its Spring/Summer 2012 collection Photo: Miu Miu

Traditional costumes are de rigeur at the Photo: A. Tuma/APA Jägerball at the Hofburg

Hot: Lederhosen on the beach. Surfwear Photo: Blue Tomato designed by Blue Tomato

Viennese label Dirndlherz cuts and pastes traditional and modern elements Photo: Chris Singer

Once a symbol of national pride, Austrian traditional costumes have become modern fashion items with a global appeal

Heidi Hits The Big City

by Roxanne Powell At the shiny new U2 Schottenring station, a middle-aged couple in full Alpine regalia sauntered down the gleaming, high-tech corridor. A floral Dirndl flared around the woman’s hips, as the décolleté left her bosom mercilessly exposed; her rotund companion was pressed into taut Lederhosen, his moss green jacket studded with antler buttons.

Just in from some distant province or (as it seemed to me) from a distant past? Or were they setting off for the “Jägerball” (Hunters’ Ball) a fixture in the ball calendar of Vienna’s comfortable classes, held each January at the Hofburg?

Outside the German-speaking world, Lederhosen (short or knee-length leather trousers) and Dirndl (full-skirted dresses with a tight bodice and a low-neck white peasant blouse) are the best-known elements of traditional Austrian dress, generically known as Tracht, or in the plural Trachten. It’s a regional costume also found in Bavaria, parts of Switzerland, and South Tyrol, Italy’s northernmost province. But in an international capital, in the 21st century?

A heart of leather In fact, folk costumes are alive and well in Austria, and not just the preserve of museums or revivalist folk societies as in other countries.

A visit to Loden-Plankl on Michaelerplatz in the 1st District, Vienna’s longest-running Trachten supplier in business since 1830, showed me why. “Of course Tracht is not as popular now as 40 years ago,” the store manager explained reservedly, her hair tied up in a tight bun. “But in the country it’s still worn a lot in summer… especially for visits to the Heurigen,” where vintners decant the young wine of the season. People like to wear these clothes because “they are typically Austrian,” and they identify with this.

Austria boasts a variety of styles, and patterns and fabrics are attached to a particular locale: a red, black and blue palette, for instance, marks Tyrolean garments. Yet it is this “true” national identity that accounts for the garment’s

troubling history, and continues to polarise its who have little or nothing to do with hunting, reception today. dressing up in Trachten to assert their Austrian, In the mid-1930s, Trachten were mobilised bourgeois identity. It is also common in Ausby the Austro-fascist government under Kurt trian cities to see Tracht combined with modern Schuschnigg as a symbol of Austrian patriotism clothing – a Janker, the jacket with that distincagainst the encroachment by Nazi Germany, tive short collar, matched with a pair of jeans. explains historian Hans Haas. In Salzburg, the Today, a new wave of re-interpretation is Tracht was a compulsory uniform for its public underway, with some ground-breaking and officials. And for the Baron von Trapp, in the modern, eclectic designs.

1965 film The Sound of Music, stands iconically In his recent documentary, Stoff der Heifor this interwar period, his unyielding loden mat (The Fabric of Home), Othmar Schmiderer suit matching his resolve to remain a free (if fasshowcases Lederhosen hot pants with high heels, cist) Austrian. black Dirndl adorned with skull & bones for Yet once inscribed with connotations of naheavy-metal fans, Dirndl stylised as kimonos, tionalism, the costume was easily enlisted “in the or orientalised to include a headscarf for young service of pan-GerMuslimas. These creamanism,” as the Austions express the fabIn Vienna, the annual "Jägertrian Mountain- and ricated identities that ball” is a sell-out event with Folk-Clothing Courier have in fact always unput it in 1937. A law Trachten, city-dwellers of all ages dressing derpinned enacted in April 1938 updating them to a up in Trachten to assert their – a mere month after diverse, globally moAustria’s Anschluss to bile, urban public – Austrian, bourgeois, identity.

Nazi Germany – properhaps an audacious hibited Jewish Austriattempt to wrest the ans from wearing Trachten, while the German costumes from the conservatives, who claim it administrator of Salzburg, Gustav Adolf Scheel, as their exclusive heritage. “It’s an uphill strugdonned the local garment to show that he was gle,” one lady shopkeeper conceded in Schminow a “true” Salzburger. derer’s documentary, unable to get her progressive, “green” friends to don her garments.

The invention of tradition Gabriela Urabl recently opened a shop for Yet just as Trachten were held up as a symbol her label Dirndlherz in Vienna’s trendy 7th Disof the local, the timeless, and the authentic, this trict. Her designs display all the multi-cultural charade of costumes aptly illustrates how fabriplayfulness characteristic of post-modernism. cated such claims have always been. It’s a clasOne of them, entitled “African queen”, is a sic case of what the historian Eric Hobsbawm Dirndl skirt made of West-African fabric with calls “the invention of tradition”: Trachten have an organic, circular pattern in mustard and serepeatedly been re-designed and re-interpreted pia tones, overlaid with a bright, silky-yellow by segments of society to suit their needs. apron, and worn with a fun, black, sleeveless Originally, nothing more than peasant clothtop. It’s light and fresh, a cross between Ameriing, Dirndl were appropriated by court-ladies can Apparel and Disney’s Snow White with a in the high-Romanticism of the 19th century, Senegalese touch. And her customers? Internaadapted for their milieu, of course. Similarly, tionals who don’t even pretend to be Austrian. in 21st century Vienna, the annual “Jägerball” The impulse for Dirndl re-design has come is a sell-out event with city-dwellers of all ages from Munich, with Lola Paltinger’s Happy Heidi

dresses, and perhaps a tiger-print Dirndl on the upmarket Viktualienmarkt in the city’s centre.

In Vienna, it has been left to Almdudler, the Austrian soft drink manufacturer with a Trachten-clad couple as its mascot, to spotlight the young Trachten scene: the “Almdudler Trachtenpärchenball”, the first ball of the season held in September at Vienna’s city hall, has given young people a venue to flaunt their neo-Dirndl wear while dancing to the beats of international DJs. The globalisation of Trachten As Trachten designs have become internationalised, so has their reception: large fashion labels such as Burberry and Miu Miu have presented Dirndl skirts on the catwalks of London and Paris, while the queen of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood, was anointed Ambassador of Traditional Costume in 2010. Meanwhile, on the flea markets of Amsterdam and London, vintage Tracht is being snapped up by hipsters and combined with “very now” elements – a nostalgia for the connection with nature cut loose from a specific place. “Many don’t know their roots anymore,” Urabl speculated. “And the young are more interested in the present than in the past.”

So they pick out Trachten elements to suit changing fashions and individual whim. No longer a symbol of collective identity, these elements express personal individuality, showing that a dash of humour and a modern touch can turn an inward-looking badge of identity into a beautiful garment with universal appeal. ¸ Loden-Plankl, 1., Michaelerplatz 6, www.loden-plankl.at Dirndlherz, 1., Lerchenfelder Str. 55, www.dirndlherz.at Landhaus & Mode am Kai, 1., Franz-Josefs-Kai 33 Humana second hand Trachten, 4., Wiednerhaupstr. 23–25

14

The Vienna Review February 2012

Vienna

Commentary

R eview Voices of the New Europe

The Ratings Scam The U.S. rating agency Standard and Poor’s has become a something of a joke in Austria. What? They downgraded us?

While still awarding a AAA to the United Kingdom?

Since the London riots, every Austrian knows that unemployment in the U.K. is high – in fact 8.6%, whereas here it still hovers around 4%, the lowest in the EU. Our public debt, while too high at 70% of GDP, is far below the eurozone average of 86% and far below the U.K. at 148%, both figures counting financial interventions. All in all, it’s just not funny!

The reasons given were: 1) inflexible government institutions, and 2) exposure to the failing Hungarian economy. Could be they simply don’t seem to know what they’re talking about.

Take flexibility: Austria has many shock absorbers that kick in in hard times – reductions in overtime, further training, and shorter working hours instead of layoffs, steadying consumption until the economy picks up. Then there’s the social partnership – still alive and well – that brings government, business, labour and academia to the table to work out policy that takes all interests into account. It’s not a formal government body, but it works.

And while Hungary is reeling, it’s only a small part of the picture; the rest of the CEE is holding its own, in part through the “Vienna Initiative” of Western and Eastern European bank managers, the IMF and the EBRD, who lobbied the private sector to stay involved in the CEE, preventing panic selling.

All in all, Austria seems to be doing fine. Economist Marcus Scheiblecker of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO) expects the Austrian economy to post a very respectable growth rate of 3% for 2011, as Germany is Austria’s largest trading partner and the weak economies of Europe play only a small role.

Fortunately Austrians aren’t paying much attention. In a survey by Marktagent.com, published 19 Jan., 78% of Austrians doubt the competence of the ratings agencies, citing their failure to recognise the build-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

They may be on to something. The stock markets barely quivered in response to the news. As Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial told The New York Times, “downgrades by rating agencies are really a lagging indicator. The analysts are reacting to the same news and information that the rest of the market has already seen.”

Adjustments have already been made – as we have made ours about Standard & Poor’s.

– DMN

Whose Apocalypse?

While the end of the world has been predicted many times, 2012 is a particularly popular year for apocalypse theories. Human beings just love the idea of being able to predict the future. Of course we also like to speculate on our origins. We tell stories of ribs and utopian gardens, or turtles upon turtles to help us imagine it.

While in the past, prophets and crystal balls have been the surefire indicators of game changers, it seems that scientists have taken a liking to this same game. They, however, tend to require evidence, boiling the question of the apocalypse down to a debate between science and faith. But wouldn’t evidence ruin it? Like transparency in government: it just makes people disillusioned and angry.

Nostradamus is thought to have set the date for the apocalypse in 2012. Most famously, scholars found the Mayans’ “Great Cycle” will end on 21 Dec., 2012. While many smirk at these predictions, money is being made on a centuries-old hunch. The recent Roland Emmerich film has even provoked NASA – the last word in modern day cosmic studies – to dedicate a page on its website to clearing up the 2012 related rumours.

Some Christians also see the 2012 predictions as the “second coming,” or the coming of the anti-Christ – it’s a toss up.

So while the world cannot agree on how it was created, the predictions of its ending are crowding this year’s calendar. While scientists don’t think the world is really going to implode, they do feel the need to enter the discussion.

There is evidence that faith-based prophesies have, at times, come to pass. Perhaps it’s the global placebo effect. Or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? We think the world will end so we (subconsciously) do everything in our power to speed things up, to meet the deadline.

So here is a question for the true believers: If the 21 Dec. 2012 is supposedly it, shouldn’t we just have faith in the evidence of the power of faith, and call it a day?

– MTMC

Beyond Institutions With their backroom politicking at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) exposed, the nation’s politicians have shown scant remorse. According to Werner Faymann: “Parties having no say at all, that doesn’t exist in all of Europe!”

To see this as cynical would be to misunderstand Austrian political culture: There is little sense of an overarching “public interest”, but rather the pursuit of compromise between interest groups. As such, the main alternative to the current ORF Council model being debated is to replace party representatives with representatives of professional associations (which, in fact, are also party affiliated).

So it’s essentially the same game with different players.

The BBC Trust – whose powers are roughly the same as the ORF Council’s – is made up of independent experts, chosen by the government and approved by a cross-party select committee.

So, in liberal Britain erudite individuals, rather than parties, are seen as the guardians of the “public interest.”

For the ORF to gain more “independence”, therefore, more will be needed than shrewd institutional engineering; Austrians will have to question the prevailing political culture.

– LD

The opening ceremony of the exhibition ‘Heroes, Kings, Saints’ celebrating the new constitution, 2 Jan. 2011. Photo: Lajos Soos / EPA

Hungary’s prime minister is doing everything to cement his power. In the process, he is gambling his country’s prosperity and democracy, and its place in the EU

Viktor Orbán: Amateur or Autocrat?

by Anton Pelinka It is difficult to decide where to necessary for official recognition has been significantly raised – exstart: Is Hungary’s government to be cluding over 300 denominations, such as all versions of Islam and criticized first for its dilettantism, or a number of major Protestant denominations, with debilitating for its authoritarianism? Is Prime Min- consequences for their tax status, among other things. And, of ister Viktor Orbán’s government first course, the electoral system is being tailored to favour the present and foremost a government of – some- government. times embarrassing – amateurs, or is it Orbán justifies all these “reforms” with his mandate – the more to be seen as a government trying Hungarian voters have given him and his party a two-thirds mato establish a tyranny of the majority? jority in parliament. FIDESZ, therefore, needed no partners to It is certainly dilettantism how the government is leading the pass the new constitution which came in force on New Year’s Day, Hungarian economy towards bankruptcy. Last year, claiming to and which defines the country no longer as a republic but simply defend Hungarian sovereignty, the government stopped regular as “Hungary”. negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Now, Every individual measure FIDESZ has taken can be debated. some months later, Hungary is begging the IMF for help.

But it is the sum of its ambitious policies that creates the feeling Last year, some prominent representatives of the governing that Orbán’s understanding of democracy hardly matches that of party FIDESZ (Young Democrats) lectured the world that “the other European countries. There is a clear strategic principle that West” has lost its role as a model – for Hungary. At the same time, the FIDESZ government is trying to enforce: All its “reforms” are in the first half of 2011, Hungary held the rotating EU presi- about reducing the autonomy of institutional checks and balances. dency. The EU presidency distancing itself from the West?

Orbán and his government frame the new constitution and This is the adolescent behaviour of a government which tends all their “reforms” as the decisive step necessary to break with to re-invent the wheel. It is even more astonishing if we consider Hungary´s communist past. After more than two decades of a that FIDESZ has been in parliament functioning, pluralist democracy, of free since 1990, and was in power between and peaceful transfers of power, Hungarian society is being told elections 1998 and 2002. The Prime Minister the Orbán government has created an atduring that period? The same Viktor mosphere in which Hungary is reverted it must overcome communism Orbán who is the head of the Hungarback to 1990. again. But this time, it is an ian government now.

Belittling the successes of peaceful established democracy which The result: The Hungarian econodemocratic transformation, disregarding my is on the verge of collapse. Among even Orbán’s own role in this process, could become the victim. the four Visegrad countries – the counHungarian society is being told it must tries with the best economic and politiovercome communism all over again. But cal standing of the former communist states in 1990 – Hungary this time, it is an established democracy which could become the has by far the worst performance. Poland, the Czech Republic, victim of the transformation. and Slovakia have much healthier economic indicators, especially Hungary is becoming more and more isolated in the EU. The higher economic growth and lower indebtedness. nationalistic conflicts with Slovakia about the rights of its HungarThe Orbán government tries to hide its dismal results by ian-speaking minority, and Hungary’s attempt to provide all ethnic blaming its predecessor – and by playing the card of symbolic, Hungarians living outside the country with Hungarian passports nationalist politics. Since 2010, Hungary has an additional of- very much contradict the basic values the EU stands for. ficial day of mourning: to commemorate the 1920 peace treaty Is Hungary’s democracy in danger? Not as long as Orbán and of Trianon when Hungary lost significant parts of its territory. It his party are interested in staying in the EU and keeping friendly is impossible to imagine a German government deciding in 2010 ties with the European People’s Party, the family of conservative to introduce a day of mourning for the Versailles Treaty, or an parties in the European Parliament to which FIDESZ belongs.

Austrian government for St. Germain, the treaties declaring their This gives European actors some leverage to stop the Hungardefeat in the First World War. ian government from encroaching on the basic political freedoms Yet what is truly dangerous for Hungary’s democracy are the that are the very essence of democracy. specific steps initiated by Orbán to weaken independent checks Hungarian democracy has its best friends among those Euand balances of government power. The media are under the ropean actors who are the most outspoken critics of the current authority of a newly established administrative body that is ap- developments in Budapest. ¸ pointed by the government. Radio and TV staff have been the victims of cleansing. The power of the constitutional court has Anton Pelinka is professor of European Politics at the Central been reduced. The independence of Hungary’s central bank is European University, Budapest, and co-editor of the book Global threatened. For religious denominations, the number of members Austria: A ­ ustria’s Place in Europe and the World (2011)

Commentary Without a common fiscal authority, the single market opened the way to tax competition – a race to the bottom

What Can Save the Euro?

by Joseph E. Stiglitz Just when it seemed that things couldn’t get worse, it appears that they have. Even some of the ostensibly “responsible” members of the eurozone are facing higher interest rates. Economists on both sides of the Atlantic are now discussing not just whether the Euro will survive, but how to ensure that its demise causes the least turmoil possible.

It is increasingly evident that Europe’s political leaders, for all their commitment to the Euro’s survival, do not have a good grasp of what is required to make the single currency work. The prevailing view when the Euro was established was that all that was required was fiscal discipline – no country’s fiscal deficit or public debt, relative to GDP, should be too large. But Ireland and Spain had budget surpluses and low debt before the crisis, which quickly turned into large deficits and high debt. So now European leaders say that it is the current-account deficits of the eurozone’s member countries that must be kept in check.

In that case, it seems curious that, as the crisis continues, the safe haven for global investors is the United States, which has had an enormous current-account deficit for years. So, how will the European Union (EU) distinguish between “good” currentaccount deficits – a government creates a favourable business climate, generating inflows of foreign direct investment – and “bad” current-account deficits? Does this mean that government must decide which capital flows – say into real-estate investment, for example – are bad, and so must be taxed or otherwise curbed? To me, this makes sense, but such policies should be anathema to the EU’s free-market advocates.

The quest for a clear, simple answer recalls the discussions that have followed financial crises around the world. After each crisis, an explanation emerges, which the next crisis shows to be wrong, or at least inadequate. The 1980’s Latin American crisis was caused by excessive borrowing; but that could not explain Mexico’s 1994 crisis, so it was attributed to under-saving.

Then came East Asia, which had high savings rates, so the new

Small, unpretentious, and loveable: Leopold and his café had much in common. After 75 years together, the man is gone. The institution remains.

The Man Who Was Hawelka

by Ana Tajder Some names sound destined for legend. Like Leopold Hawelka. And Josefine Hawelka. But no, they weren’t characters in a play by Arthur Schnitzler. They were two of Vienna’s most admired Kaffeesieder, coffee house proprietors.

Café Hawelka is not the city’s oldest, nor its most typical Kaffeehaus. Tucked away just off the Graben in the 1st District, Hawelka’s tiny interior often forces strangers to share tables, disrupting the original purpose of any Viennese café – to read, work, or talk in peace. And waiters are equally inhibited in their traditional craft – of swirling around marble tables, balancing silver trays in the air.

Nor can Hawelka claim particular elegance. Its burgundy and brown upholstery and few windows make for a sombre atmosphere. Before the 2010 smoking ban, the air was thick with bluegrey fumes, rendering a longer stay a sore experience. Sagging sofas are pockmarked with cigarette burns. Walls are covered with the scribblings of former guests – dates, names, and hearts.

Hawelka also doesn’t have the most prominent guest list: Heimito von Doderer, whose byzantine prose attracts only fanatics in university German departments; the vernacular poet H.C. Artmann; the artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser is perhaps the best-known among them.

But Hawelka had Leopold and Josefine, and the couple managed their little café like their own living room. They created a warm atmosphere, filled with the smell of Josefine’s famous Buchteln, Bohemian sugared dumplings best had with a mug of hot chocolate and rum.

Paintings by some of the regulars adorn the walls, bartered

by Leopold for a couple of großer Brauner, as large macchiatos are called in Vienna. The Hawelkas always greeted their guests, an etiquette continued by their son Günther and, for some years now, their grandsons Amir and Michael.

It was that feeling of being in somebody’s home that made Hawelka into what it is today: a Viennese café topping the list in

explanation was “governance”. But this, too, made little sense, given that the Scandinavian countries – which have highly transparent governance – had suffered a crisis a few years earlier.

There is, interestingly, a common thread running through all of these cases, as well as the 2008 crisis: financial sectors behaved badly and failed to assess creditworthiness and manage risk as they were supposed to do.

These problems will occur with or without the Euro. But the Euro has made it more difficult for governments to respond. And the problem is not just that the Euro took away two key tools for adjustment – the interest rate and the exchange rate – and put nothing in their place, or that the European Central Bank’s mandate is to focus on inflation, whereas today’s challenges are unemployment, growth, and financial stability. Without a common fiscal authority, the single market opened the way to tax competition – a race to the bottom to attract investment and boost output that could be freely sold throughout the EU. Moreover, free labour mobility means that individuals can choose whether to pay their parents’ debts: Young Irish can simply escape repaying the foolish bank-bailout obligations assumed by their government by leaving the country. Of course, migration is supposed to be good, as it re-allocates labour to where its return is highest. But this kind of migration actually undermines productivity.

Migration is, of course, part of the adjustment mechanism that makes America work as a single market with a single currency. Even more important is the federal government’s role in helping states that face, say, high unemployment, by allocating additional tax revenue to them – the so-called “transfer union” so loathed by many Germans.

But the US is also willing to accept the de-population of entire states that cannot compete. Are European countries with lagging productivity willing to accept de-population? Alternatively, are they willing to face the pain of “internal” devaluation, a process that failed under the gold standard and is failing under the Euro?

Even if those from Europe’s northern countries are right in claiming that the Euro would work if effective discipline could be imposed on others (I think they are wrong), they are deluding themselves with a morality play. It is fine to blame their southern compatriots for fiscal profligacy, or, in the case of Spain and Ireland, for letting free markets have free reign.

But that doesn’t address today’s problem: huge debts, whether a result of private or public miscalculations, must be managed within the Euro framework.

Public-sector cutbacks today do not solve the problem of yesterday’s profligacy; they simply push economies into deeper recessions. Europe’s leaders know this. Rather than dwelling on what previous government should have done, they must deal with today’s problems and find a formula for growth. ¸ Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author of Freefall: Free Markets & the Sinking of the Global Economy (2010). Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2011. pretty much every guide book.

Born in 1911 as a cobbler’s son in the Weinviertel, north of Vienna, Leopold moved to the capital aged 14 to start his apprenticeship as a waiter where he met Josefine. They married in 1936, and the day after their wedding rented Café Alt Wien to launch their own business. In 1939, they took over what used to be the infamous Chatham Bar, known to the Viennese as the “Je t’aime Bar” because of its private booths. This became Café Hawelka.

When the war started, Leopold was sent to the Russian front, not to return for five years. The café miraculously survived the bombs that destroyed many of the surrounding buildings.

Another stroke of luck followed: Its proximity to government offices meant the café had working electricity right after the war.

Leopold kept the place warm by fetching firewood from the Vienna Woods, while Josefine brewed the coffee on the fireplace.

As the Hawelkas hoped, the comfortable café soon became the living room for the city’s displaced intellectuals. It was then that Leopold invented the Plakatwand – plastering one of the walls with posters of exhibitions and concerts – that has since become a mainstay of Viennese cafés.

Through the decades, the Hawelkas maintained their place untouched, allowing it to grow a patina all of its own. The only sign of modernisation was an espresso machine they bought in the 50s.

The couple, too, never modernised: Leopold wore his bow tie and vest to the end; Josefine kept her silver brooch and short hair with its neat, 1940s side parting. They were always polite, quiet people. One of them always welcomed the guests and seated them at a table. As they became older, that short walk from door to table became slower, affording the visitor the time to take in the room and nod to any acquaintances.

When Josefine died in 2005, at the age of 91, Leopold Hawelka had lost his life partner.

“I wouldn’t have become the Hawelka without my wife.”

Which brings me to the reason for this article: On 29 Dec, 2011, at the age of 101, Leopold Hawelka died in his sleep, surrounded by his family.

But for the Viennese, Hawelka lives on. ¸

Leopold Hawelka in front of his Cafe

Photo: Hans Eder

The Vienna Review

February 2012

15

Voices of Others The late Czech leader on a world of players

Politics and Theatre

by Václav Havel I recently read an article entitled “Politics as Theatre,” a critique of all that I have tried to do in politics.

It argued that in politics, there is no place for a realm as superfluous as theatre. To be sure, in the early months of my presidency, some of my ideas demonstrated more theatrical flair than political foresight.

But the author erred in one fundamental issue: he misunderstood both the meaning of theatre and a crucial dimension of politics…

One definition of politics holds that it is the conduct, concern for, and administration of public affairs. Obviously, concern for these public affairs means concern for humanity and for the world, which in turn requires a recognition of humanity’s self-awareness in that world. I do not see how a politician can achieve this without recognizing drama as an inherent aspect of the world as seen by human beings…

On a limited stage, within limited time, and with limited figures or props, theatre says something about the world, about history, about human existence. It explores the world in order to influence it.

Theatre is always both symbol and abbreviation. In theatre, the wealth and complexity of being are compressed into a simplified code that attempts to extract what is most essential from the substance of the universe and to convey this to its audience.

This, in fact, is what thinking creatures do every day. Theatre is simply one of the many ways of expressing the human ability to generalize and comprehend the invisible order of things…

The collective nature of a theatrical experience is no less important: theatre always presupposes the presence of a community – actors and audience – who experience it together.

All these qualities have counterparts in politics. A friend once said that politics is “the sum of all things concentrated.”

It encompasses law, economics, philosophy, and psychology.

Inevitably, politics is theatre as well – theatre as a system of symbols addressing us as a whole, as individuals, and as members of a community, and testifying through the specific event in which it is embodied, to the great happenings of life and the world, enhancing our imagination and sensibilities…

The symbols that politics employs are by nature theatrical.

National anthems, flags, decorations, holidays, do not mean much of themselves, but the meanings that they evoke are instruments of a society’s self-understanding, tools for creating awareness of social identity and continuity. Politics is also charged with symbols in other, less visible respects. When Germany’s President came to Prague, shortly after our Velvet Revolution, on March 15, 1990 (the 51st anniversary of the Nazi occupation of the Czech lands), he did not have to say much, because the fact of his visit on such a day spoke volumes…

Even doubters cannot deny one aspect of theatricality in politics: the dependence of politics on media. Many politicians would be helpless without coaches to teach them the techniques of performing in front of a camera. All politicians, including those who sneer at theatre as superfluous, something that has no place in politics, unwittingly become actors, dramatists, directors, or entertainers.

The significant role that a theatrical sensibility plays in politics is two-edged. Those possessing it can arouse society to great deeds and nurture democratic culture, civic courage, and a sense of responsibility. Such people can also mobilize the worst instincts and passions, make masses fanatical, and lead societies into hell. Recall the gigantic Nazi congresses, torchlight processions, the inflammatory speeches by Hitler and Goebbels, and the cult of German mythology. We could hardly find a more monstrous abuse of politics’ theatrical aspect. And today – even in Europe – rulers use theatrical tools to arouse the kind of blind nationalism that leads to war, ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, and genocide.

So where is the boundary between legitimate respect for national identity and symbols, and the devilish music of pied pipers, dark magicians, and mesmerizers? …How can we recognize the point beyond which expression of the need for collective experience and integrating rituals becomes evil manipulation and an assault on human freedom?

Here is where we see the huge difference between theatre as art and the theatrical dimension of politics. A mad theatrical performance by a group of fanatics is part of cultural pluralism, and, as such, helps to expand the realm of freedom without posing a threat to anyone. A mad performance by a fanatical politician can plunge millions into endless calamity.

So the drama of politics demands not an audience, but a world of players. In a theatre, our consciences are touched, but responsibility ends when the curtain falls. The theatre of politics makes permanent demands on us all, as dramatists, actors, and audience – on our common sense, our moderation, our responsibility, our good taste, and our conscience. ¸ Václav Havel was president of the Czech Republic (19932003), the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1993), and the author of 21 plays. He died on 18 Dec., 2011, aged 75.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2011.

Photo: www.BilderBox.com

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On the Town

The Vienna Review

February 2012

On Stage

On Music

Out &About

On Screen

Intrigue and speculation in An Inspector Calls at Vienna’s International Theatre

Operatic bass, Joe Garcia gives us the lowdown on the reality of sex and the stage

Hot spots in February: Hunting for ball season, Albertina Passage, and Eatalico

Sean Penn at his ugliest, in This Must be the Place

Page 19

Page 18

Pages 22 & 29

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Page 30

Bringing the Romantic idea of a “total work of art” into the 21st century: No easy task

Not Totally Working at the 21er Haus

The Unicorn Ensemble is just one of the countless acts who performed at the 25 events of the revered Resonanzen Festival

Photo: Wiener Konzerthaus

The annual mid-winter early music festival at the Konzerthaus, Resonanzen, celebrated its 20th anniversary, unlocking the doors of musical archives and presenting forgotten treasures

Lost Tongues and Illegible Scripts

by Cynthia Peck Early music musicians are often far more than mere instrumentalists. They are historians, archivists and sleuths, musicologists, music theorists and improvisers. They are conversant in lost tongues and read illegible scripts. Searching for forgotten musical treasures, they are at home in the storerooms of museums, in the choir lofts of Gothic churches, and in the manuscript vaults of libraries, with their steel doors and humiditycontrolled rooms. And when a treasure is found, they find a way to play it. Such musicians are fanatical in a way others are not.

There is something fanatical about those who listen to early music, too. They are not content

with another rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 6th, or even of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. No, they love music that follows unfamiliar pathways. Their ears are at home with medieval harmonies, with the curious buzzing and plinking of ancient instruments. They know what a sackbut looks and sounds like, also a theorbo.

For the last twenty years, the Resonanzen Festival at the Konzerthaus has put these two groups of people into the same room every evening for over a week, and the result has been remarkable. Again this year, the January Resonanzen concerts were high-powered and enthusiastic, full of discoveries and revelations. And, above all, they were beautiful.

At the Akademietheater, Thomas Vintenberg’s Die Kommune is an honest homage to the “undertaking” of communal life

All Together Now: Well-Meaning Commune-ists

Mona, Ditte, Steffen, Anna, Erek, Ole and Virgil vote on whether they’ll vote

Photo: Georg Soulek

by Veronica Buckley Utopia GESAMTKUNSTWERK at the reopened 21er Haus, is the first exhibition to be staged in this remarkable building – rusty red frame outside, white girders inside, a big, industrial-chic place with vast windows letting in the Schweizer Garten view and whatever light can be conjured out of a Vienna winter’s day.

The exhibition, designed by Esther Stocker and curated by Bettina Steinbrügge and Harald Krejci, is a presentation of contemporary artists’ reflections on the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk.

This idea of a total, unified work of art, with all aspects emerging from a single concept, originated in the Romantic age and found its most famous expression in the operas of Richard Wagner. It made its way into the Vienna Secession; traces of it can currently be seen in the Klimt/Hoffmann exhibition at the Lower Belvedere. But the Gesamtkunstwerk also included ideas of viewer participation and the utopian impulse toward social change, and it is these aspects that the 21er Haus is seeking to present, the old dream of a total, unifying idea having been discredited, say the curators, by Europe’s experience of Fascism.

To house the artworks, Esther Stocker has installed a wonderful set of big, black, hollowedout cubes, a reference to Malevich’s famous black squares of the early 20th century. Stocker’s cubes, differently sized and placed at odd an-

The term “early music” can be used to describe the music composed in Europe from the dawn of musical notation, around the year 850 when neumes were developed to remember Gregorian chants, to the late Baroque, which began to fade away with the death of J.S. Bach in 1750.

That’s nine centuries of music. Which means there are still plenty of treasures to be found.

To ensure that these discoveries are not forgotten, and to keep the fan club growing, the festival concerts are recorded and broadcast live by the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Company).

Every year a CD set of the festival comes out in a Continued on page 19

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by Peter Quince In Thomas Vintenberg’s 1998 film The Celebration, his hand-held camera peeked at a pater familias’ birthday bash as casually as any clueless guest. But when the movie’s actual “moment of truth” came – when dad’s grown son stands up to describe the sexual abuse the father had dished out – that slipshod camera seemed to swerve out of “truth” into a topsy-turvy, psychotic break.

Vintenberg’s cinéma was already so vérité that once the plot thickened, there was nowhere to go but surrealism.

In Die Kommune, Vintenberg’s new play at the Akademie Theater (written together with Mogens Rukov), hippie types founding a commune are joyfully played by Burgtheater actors with oodles of technique, crowned with cunning hippie wigs.

This play is far more lighthearted than the film, but in both, an alloy of truth and dare lends art an unexpected advantage over life.

People who founded communes nahmen sich was vor – they undertook something, instead of just taking something. They decided to decide.

“Let’s have a vote on whether we’ll vote on this,” says Tilo Nest as Ole, when something really tricky comes up. But the high-minded desire to do things differently stagnates, unless the floodgates of perpetual revolution are thrown open.

And who’s ready to do that in their communal kitchen?

Psychology and pop songs taught baby boomers that revelation is to be found within: When questioned about having kids, Ditte (Alexandra Henkel) says simply, “I’ve got a bunch Continued on page 18

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Thomas Hirschhorn’s Tool Family uses duct tape to keep it “together” Photo: Bernd Borchardt gles to one another, sit marvellously within the angular, open space of the 21er Haus, creating in itself a Gesamtkunstwerk of sorts, before the work of a single artist has been glimpsed.

According to the curators, this exhibition would have been unthinkable without the big names of Nitsch, Schlingensief, and Beuys, and the names are duly there, though not accompanied by very much of the artists’ work. Hermann Nitsch, it is true, has a cube to himself, with two objects and three small-screen selections from installations, reaching back almost half a century. Christoph Schlingensief has three screens, too, little black and white TV sets, sitting on the floor, showing images of cancerous tumours, a small part of the Fluxus-Oratorium, which dealt with the artist’s own cancer and his fear of impending death.

Joseph Beuys is represented by a mere series of news clippings and other documents under a glass plate – the unreproducable Gesamtkunstwerk itself comprises 7,000 trees - but surely some actual example of the work of such an important artist could have been found, rather than just a reference to it.

The same problem occurs with other works, Continued on page 20

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On Stage

The Vienna Review February 2012

by Veronica Buckley When An Inspector Calls premiered in Moscow in 1945, it must have seemed to its Russian audience like an English version of Chekhov, with its feckless upper classes refusing to face facts as their own doom approached. Set in 1912, J.B. Priestley’s most famous work was a morality play of ancien regime exploitation on the eve of war and social change. This would not have surprised the playwright’s friends. The wealthy, Cambridge-educated Priestley was himself a committed socialist. And when the play opened a year later in London, in the immediate aftermath of the landslide Labour victory of 1945, revolution seemed to be at hand.

We know what was to happen. But Priestley didn’t, and his characters don’t either. He was offering a timely political drama with the twist of a spooky thriller. A girl, Eva Smith, has committed suicide; a police inspector brings the news to the well-to-do Birley family, during the celebration of their daughter Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft, scion of an even better-placed family. What has this suicide to do with any of them? Through the inspector’s questioning, they find out, and no one comes out of it well. Now what? They can’t bring the girl back to life. But will they at least admit that they’ve played a part in bringing about her death? Can they understand that what they have done so casually has had real and even tragic consequences?

Had he set the play in his own time, Priestley might have avoided much of the criticism immediately levelled at it: To contemporaries, it seemed old-fashioned, its red-hot demand for social justice outweighed by its Edwardian trappings. At the International Theatre, director Eric Lomas has brought the play forward to 1938, but it could just as well have been set right now in 2012, with the self-serving Birleys a bunch of corporate fatcats, and Inspector Goole the voice of the 99 per cent.

“There are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths…,” says the Inspector, “all intertwined with our lives, with what we think and say and do… We are responsible for each other.”

The younger generation gradually understand this; the parents don’t. And it may not matter, anyway. Eva Smith has other names, and possibly other faces. Perhaps she doesn’t exist at all; perhaps it’s all a hoax; perhaps there’s been

Mrs. Birling, her son Eric and daughter Sheila each have their secrets to hide

Photo: Rolf Bock

J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls at the International Theatre: a drawing room drama of revolutionary ideas

The Ghost of a Chance

Left: Gerald accepts the return of his engagement ring from Sheila. Right: The Inspector Photos: Rolf Bock challenges the Eric Birley to explain his relationship with the dead Eva Smith.

Column

Nights at the Opera Time to Celebrate Some More

by Oliver Macdonald Although the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year have slipped by, there is still much to celebrate, at least in the world of opera. On the first of February we celebrate the midpoint of the season when we can review the operas enjoyed to date and look forward to what is to come. We can also notice a “stretch” in the evenings, new buds on the trees and snowdrops bursting into flower.

Winter in Vienna could be unbearably long, grey, cold and depressing but for the local antidote: the bright, colourful warmth of the Viennese Ball Season. The centrepoint of this winter-long gaiety is the Opera Ball, which takes place this year on the 16th of February.

It is followed by two special performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute for children on the next day. These are closed performances, but they are among the most magical in the whole season. Most of the children (from age six or seven) know the story and a lot of the music.

Some are prepared to help the singers and even to practice their own coloratura along with the Queen of the Night. There is a wonderful integration of musicians, singers and the children who contribute so much to this happy celebration of the magic of opera.

The next celebration is the return of two outstanding singers whose careers were interrupted by illnesses a few years ago. Spanish baritone, Carlos Alvarez, who was unforgettable in everything he has sung, including several comic roles such as Figaro, Ford (Falstaff) and Sulpice (La Fille du Regiment) since I first heard him as Rodrigo in Don Carlo in 2001, returns now to sing Escamillo in the beautiful Franco Zefirelli production of Carmen.

Merde!

I think that the first time I saw the young Mexican tenor, Rolando Villazon was in a performance of Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Bregenz festival in 2002. Like many, I remember his Vienna debut as Romeo in March 2005

On the Town

and the excitement this new voice provoked at the time. Exactly one month later he and Anna Netrebko started a run as the leads in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, which rank among the greatest performances of the time and led to a very successful stage partnership until illness stopped him singing.

On that night, his performance of Nemorino’s aria “Una furtive Lagrima” was greeted with calls for an encore. Encores were not allowed in the Vienna State Opera, at least not since Pavarotti repeated the same aria many years before. Villazon and conductor Alfred Eschwe exchanged glances. They were positive. The calls became more insistent. Now, as at the Roman Arenas of old, the eyes were on the Emperor’s box (House Director, Ioan Hollender). He discreetly nodded his assent and a new name was added to the short list of the greatest singers at the Staatsoper.

At the end, the performances were greeted with a standing ovation, which lasted almost twenty-five minutes. Supernovas were born and the rest is history. This month Rolando Villazon returns to sing Nemorino once more.

Toi, toi, toi!

There is much to celebrate in reviewing the first half of the season. Theater an der Wien has presented one world premiere (Gogol) and three other new productions as well as no less than seven operas in concert presentation.

That alone is more opera than many people see in a whole year.

The Volksoper presented a very successful new production of Richard Strauß’s Salome in October, recalling that in Vienna the opera was first staged there in 1910, as the censor thought it was too immoral for the Hofoper (The Court Opera).

A new Traviata was one of three premieres at the Staatsoper. A number of innovative solo concerts by singers and musicians alike were also presented.

Now going forward…

w ALL TOGETHER NOW Continued from front page

of feelings about that”. The resulting slide from honesty to sincerity to hypocrisy was foreordained – often with a final U-turn back to brutal candor.

Erek (Joachim Meyerhof) declares to his rejected wife as she clings to him on the threshold of moving out: “All you are anymore is disgusting”.

But compared to the self-conscious aspirations of the 1968ers, Vintenberg’s play is charmingly, gratefully lightweight. In Stefan Mayer’s true-perspective set, we don’t always notice how many people are scattered around the commune’s generous, decrepit parlor. Although constructed around a love triangle, the plot is episodic, with a kooky birthday party in bed for Mona and a Christmas tree made out of a ladder.

The love triangle is believable, ergo banal, with poor Anna (Regina Fritsch) happily married at the outset to Erek of the huge dulcet voice and choleric rages – “How dare you call me the boss?” he shrieks at Frenchman Virgil (Fabian Krüger). Unfortunately, their hippie homestead is Erek’s property: “It’s almost sneaky the way my father left it to me,” he notes just humorlessly enough for the audience to giggle.

Anna and their teenage daughter Freja (Elisa Plüss) are not pleased when one night the 25year old Emma (Adina Vetter) steps naked out of the shower; Erek later confides to Freja that he didn’t eat for days when he first met this demure enchantress. Her eyes are huge but hooded, her adolescent body burgeons, but her head hunkers back towards her shoulders, perhaps recoiling from the force of the teenage platitudes rattling out her mouth.

Communes often exposed the schism be-

From left: Anna, Virgil, Erek, Freja, Ole, Photo: Georg Soulek Steffen, Mona and Ditte

no suicide. A telephone call lets them off the public hook: All back to normal, everything’s fine.

But within the family, the truth is out. The moment when they suddenly turn on one another is startling, and a tribute to the excellent ensemble direction that prevails throughout the evening.

This is not the Burgtheater, but the players are well cast and the performance is convincing, with the small theatre favouring the more conversational manner of pearly-voiced Laura Mitchell as Mrs. Birling and Andrew Phillips as her son Eric. The latter, coming in from the rain, bedraggled in soul and body, took the actor’s palm tonight.

Alan Burgon is strong as the Inspector, his clever costume underscoring his ambiguity.

Though he speaks in the authoritative tones of the upper classes, he is dressed in shabby, even grubby clothes, with workman’s boots on his feet. His presence dominates, but he gives nothing of himself away, so that the family are left asking whether he was really an inspector at all, and the audience wondering whether he even existed. Is Inspector Goole in fact some kind of ghoul – social conscience incarnate, perhaps, or a presager of future catastrophe?

Alex Scott Fairley brings moving touches of remorse to the otherwise stiff role of Gerald, the quintessential upper-middle-class Englishman, and Don Fenner successfully portrays an overassertive Arthur Birley, a self-made man still unsure of his place. The highly-strung Sheila – now and then a little too highly-strung – is played by Julia C. Thorne; her nervy insistence, though, is Priestley himself, determined to convince us of what’s at stake.

“They’re not cheap labour,” Sheila says of her father’s factory workers. “They’re people.” A hundred years on from its original setting, Priestley’s indictment of the callous ways of power remains valid, and so does his challenge. If we’re to have the ghost of a chance of a fairer world, then, as the playwright himself said, “somebody, somewhere will have to do some hard thinking soon.” ¸ An Inspector Calls Shows at 19:30, Tues-Sat through 21 Apr. 2012 International Theatre 9., Porzellangasse 8 (01) 319 62 72 www.internationaltheatre.at tween idealism and everyday life, although by rights a commune should be idealistic about everyday life. But acting should also devolve from a healthy idealism about everyday life, and that’s why Vintenberg’s homage, as performed by these expert actors, is possibly more rewarding to watch than commune living itself. The least savory 1970s communes, trumpeting truth and sensitivity, had some affinity to the dreariest school of method acting. Sadly, commune-ists like Erek couldn’t let themselves appreciate moments of communal farce. But Vintenberg can.

He makes a delectable set piece out of simultaneous, audible bangings, offstage right and offstage left, with Hartinger and Vetter outdoing each other in the nonchalance of their subsequent strolls to the toilet.

Still, Vintenberg has not quite penetrated to the hard core of peace-love farce. A friend of mine who had rudely opted out both of a commune and of the city it was in, was required to fly back for a weekend of nonstop bathroom cleaning, to atone for her undone chores when she had actually lived there. Surely that would make the perfect vantage point for a flashback chronicle of commune living.

Stagecraft lets Vintenberg turn the tables with an effortlessness that real-life hippies might envy. The strongest scene comes when a very naked Meyerhof slaps his clothed wife across the face with an obviously faked theater slap: instantly, theatrical artifice triumphs, crystallizing the kind of hypocrisy hippies of Erik’s ilk so struggled to contain and camouflage. Technique means these actors share their characters with us with a leisurely wink. Skinny, unshaven Fabian Krüger gives the most casual performance imaginable, his trumped-up French accent a sly, elegant grunt – stonewashed as his jeans.

Playing a cheerful, inarticulate fish-cannery scion, Dietmar König somehow convinces us that his straggly toupé is both a wig and real hair— and the feckless, milk-toothed smile he flashes is a perfect foil for it. König tosses that hair around in afterthought, as if he’s actually emitted its grease.

It’s as if, through brilliant wig acting, he’s finessed the do-good, expressionist hippies’ quandary: be true to yourself and be a good person. In the end, so much self-involvement may only be endurable if you wear a wig. ¸ For more information on Die Kommune please see Events, page 23

On Music

On the Town

There are only so many ways

Passionate

by Peter Quince Joe Garcia, operatic bass, has lived for a dozen years in this town, but his bio isn’t exactly a tale from the Vienna woods. He is far from any of the usual opera stereotype; a hard worker, but Vienna has grown on him. “The living here is easy,” he maintained when I asked him why he’s stayed so long. “You always get the long story in Europe.” Born in 1957 in New York City’s Harlem, Joe grew up on 146th Street and Lenox Ave., where his mother ran a block association and community centre.

He was a dance prodigy at 14, with stints at Alvin Ailey and the Joffrey. “Dance was something secondary that became something primary.

But that way, I’ve experienced the human body in its most powerful form. They would sneak me out of class to go lift the City Ballet ballerinas,” he recalled. “There, the best at everything was the oldest dancer. When you dance, your body can withstand bullets. Singing is easy compared to that.”

He first realized he had a voice at 13, at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx – or, as he puts it, realized most other people don’t: “Singers are born singing. I’ve even seen dogs like that, too. I sang something at school when I was 13, and I was surprised people applauded.

I thought everyone could do this. I still don’t believe in marking, and I don’t believe in pushing – what stops us is the need to impress.” At Juilliard and under his private voice teacher Arman Boyajian, one thing led quickly to another.

His debut was a scribe in Turandot at the New York City Opera. w RESONANZEN Continued from front page

Jordi Savall has become a regular at Vienna’s Photo: Wiener Konzerthaus Resonanzen festival matter of months. They are still available all the way back to 1996.

To somehow organize the vastness of nearly a millennium of music, every year the festival has a different motto. This year it was “In Vienna”. With that, at first glance the many Italian names in the programme seemed odd. But over the centuries many Italian composers migrated here, a city that even in the 15th century had a significant musical reputation.

The Bologna ensemble Mala Punica sang motets by Johannes Ciconia (1370–1412) and his contemporaries: Gorgeously complex, their lines of counterpoint pushed against one another. The leaping and hopping of conductor Pedro Memelsdorff was a bit distracting, but at least showed his zeal. They were accompanied by a “Schachtbrett”, a precursor to the harpsichord, which, as we learn, was invented by a Viennese physician in the 1390s. Like a twitter, the instrument spread all over the continent within, well not minutes, but a decade.

The Concerto Italiano (under Rinaldo Alessandrini) brought a Stabat Mater and a mass by Antonio Maria Bononcini, who came to Vienna in 1699. Expressive and sincere, Bononcini’s music is a find. The yearly banquet concert, transforming the lobbies of the Konzerthaus after the concert into a feast of communal ingestion, was delicious – both the food and the singing of Roberta Invernizzi.

The Ensemble Unicorn brought songs by Viennese minnesingers (of course about love, but also about harridans and feckless female demands). Festival favourites Hiro Kurosaki and

A mezmerizing voice without a face: Part of the artist’s allure is his respect for discretion.

Wolfgang Glüxam returned to life violin sonatas recently unearthed at Vienna’s “Minoriten” Seminary, playing with accustomed joy directly from photocopies of the manuscripts. And Jordi Savall, mainstay of the festival, concluded the glorious week with his ensemble Le Concert des Nations.

The early music boom in Vienna began in the 1950s with Harnoncourt, Melkus and Clemencic, and burst into bloom during the 1980s.

Based on something called “historically informed performance”, early music players strive for “authenticity”, whose definition continues to evolve. There was a time when an “authentic” Baroque violinist would never use vibrato, or when out-of-tuneness was simply considered genuine. Luckily, those narrow ideas have long been left behind.

The best concert this year was the grand opening, with Fabio Biondi’s Europa Galante (playing both with vibrato and in tune) performing Antonio Vivaldi’s last opera, L’oracolo in Messenia. Despite Stravinsky’s alleged snide remark that Vivaldi only wrote one piece in many variations, I have never experienced Vivaldi as anything but brilliant, ear-catching, and exciting, with vocal fireworks and furiously fast strings.

Although L’oracolo was premièred in Venice in 1738, Vivaldi, feeling the musical fashions shifting in Italy, set sights on a performance in Vienna. In 1741 he travelled here with his assistant and likely lover, a soprano. But unfortunately that summer he died. A small historical note: Probably singing in the choir at his funeral was nine-year-old Joseph Haydn. The soprano, though, managed to have her Antonio’s opera performed in Vienna after all, in the winter of 1742.

This time, we heard a moment in Vivaldi’s L’oracolo that will also go down in history, when Julia Lezhneva sang. The 21-year-old Russian soprano, with her blond braids wrapped around her head, has a voice like none I have ever heard.

With absolute poise and a faint sweet smile, she sang the Oracle with effortless, bell-like perfection. And the best: She didn’t force herself onto Vivaldi, she became his music. I was fascinated and enthralled, and hope that Vivaldi was listening from somewhere. ¸ Resonanzen Festival CDs available at: shop.orf.at

The Vienna Review

February 2012

19

to live for art and love: This opera singer has finessed them

with Joe Garcia From his later position as house bass at the man, since deceased. “It was prostitution, but Frankfurt Opera, he was called down to sing the then so is opera – and that’s good, not bad,” he Grand Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlo in Bolo- muses. Detachment is indispensable to brilgna after Ruggiero Raimondi, the Philip, had liance. “It might be better to date opera than sent two basses already cast in the role packing. to live with it.”

In a performance of Un Ballo in Maschera with What about the public? “The first performPavarotti, “He couldn’t remember his lines and ance you sing for you – only at the third or put his hand over his mouth for 30 seconds, fourth is it about communication. When Palooking at me from a foot away. One of the varotti was rehearsing, he was bored, and it was scariest moments onmore brilliant. It’s like stage – I was sure he experiment.

“The first performance you sing aThscience was trying to put the e audience should for you – only at the third or blame on me.” trip, not you,” he obWith other New served, then became fourth is about communicaYorkers, Joe shares reflective. “I don’t tion... The audience should trip, know why people assoa sophistication not overly burdened by ciate the weaker parts not you .”

-Joe Garcia self-consciousness. of our character with And, like New York music.” natives who appreciate the big bad city, Joe is But what brought him to Vienna? “A role amenable to getting side-tracked. If he had not in Bregenz and a certain woman’s posterior.” been intercepted in a Wienerwald restaurant And, of course, easy living. Since coming here one fateful night, you might perhaps be seeing in 1999, Joe has performed for the burgeoning him on the stage of the Staatsoper today. How- alternative opera scene, in a landmark Christoph ever, he was approached by a perfectly friendly Schlingensief production, Mea Culpa, where he couple who introduced him to a perfectly sang Klingsor in Wagner’s Parsifal, and has even friendly old gent. done voice-overs for Red Bull commercials.

In a Ringstrasse hotel a week later, said gent Despite his bankable good looks, Joe doesn’t handed him 5,000 Schillings and invited him want his picture taken. “I am my own witness to an apartment in the 19th District. Ushered protection program,” he jokes. “When everyinto the bedroom, Joe was presented with a fait thing seems crazy, and I don’t know if the cops waiting to be accompli-ed – “a huge bed with a might be coming,” and then turns suddenly seriwoman in it” – and for the next two years he ous, “I practice.” was a sexual (not musical) performer for one of For free spirits, opera is both a discipline and ¸ Austria’s most wealthy and powerful business- a powerful inspiration.

Column

All That Jazz Twin Daughters of Different Mothers

by Philip Ellison Yours truly, itinerant jazz critic for these pages, was faced with something of an existential dilemma with the dawn of the new year.

A thoughtful review of events satisfies a great need, I mused, summing up, and evaluating recent events in our fair city. Unless we pause a while, every now and then, and reflect on what has just gone by, it’s just “Groundhog Day”. So however alternative technologies may tempt us, it’s newspapers and magazines that help us see, and maybe catch hold of, the story arc of life as it unfolds.

Given the “hurry up” attention span of many of even the most ardent music fans, and readers of this paper, our hope is to innovate, and to continue to explore, with you, how our jazz coverage, including concert reviews, may be made more relevant, providing both the long-time fan and the neophyte with useful context. Maybe this means soft-pedaling the “first draft of history” nature of journalism, muting the snapshot nature of an ex post facto accounts of cultural events, as we find new ways to write about music in ways that remain accessible, even when the show is long over.

This month, I am happy to report, that a recent jazz date, late in November at Vienna’s beloved Jazzland (1., Franz-Josefs-Kai 29) provided me an evening that lingers like a lovely refrain. The appearance of Elly Wright and Carole Alston, two great ladies of song, backed by a swinging keyboard player and his trio, proved the beating heart of Austrian jazz is just around the corner, there for the taking.

Elly Wright, a Vienna icon for now 30 years, and Carole Alston, an American by birth has become an echte Wienerin by choice, since 2000 she has been performing Jazz and starring in musicals in and around Vienna. As expected, the women took a lovely stroll through the American songbook, both solo and together. With a combined repertoire ranging from Big Band “girl singer” favorites to the 3

o’clock-in-the-morning-blues, the tunes chosen reflected diverse swing, be-bop, even Tin Pan Alley provenance, with of course the blues popping its head up now and again, all steeped in powerful emotion.

Carole Alston was in particularly strong voice this night, with the allure of a Mediterranean siren, she sang a sonorous “East of the Sun” that one just had to witness to believe.

With a palpable warmth, a clarity, even purity I had not expected, Carole seemed capable of almost anything, a voice of riches a-ripening as it matures!

When the lights went up, and the chairs turned over, the energy level Elly, Carole and crew put forth never ebbed, making it hard to hear the final notes. Little but the cold night air awaited. Fortunately, much of the music featured in this musical meeting of minds appears on “Nostalgically Yours, Two of a Kind” a CD issued by Groove Records and available via Elly’s website at www.ellywright.at.

With Carole and Elly headlining the recorded set, backed by the Erwin Schmidt Trio, (Erwin Schmidt piano, Joschi Schneeberger bass, Andy Weiss drums, with special guest, Christian Havel, guitar) the tunes are pretty evenly split between solo turns and duets featuring both Carole and Elly.

Especially noteworthy is a wonderful Ellington medley (“Beginning to See the Light/ Satin Doll/Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”) that plays to the strengths of both, trading leads with the band.

So, in case you missed it – the show that is – the music, and hours of entertainment, can be found with the recording, pictured here... if you get my drift!

Jazz is a contemplative art form, spooling breathlessly, in its best expression, into the unknown. You may not know you are a fan, but take the time, put a disc in the machine, and lean back a while. I hope you enjoy the ride, until next month!

20

On Display

The Vienna Review February 2012

On the Town

wklimt:

breaking the mold Continued from the front page Gustav Klimt was born in 1862 in Baumgarten, Burgenland, the second of the seven children of Anna and Ernst Klimt, a goldsmith from Bohemia. He left school at 14, finding his way to a local trade school, and in 1976 he won a scholarship to the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule), training as an architectural and decorative painter with leading historicist Hans Makart. Largely forgotten today, Makart was the acknowledged leader of the artistic life of Vienna at the time. (see “Sensation and Sensuality: Hans Makart’s Vienna”,

by Saleha Waqar, TVR September 2011) And more importantly for Klimt, Makart was a polymath, interested and active in all areas of the visual arts and design. Both the lushness of his work and his extraverted role were models Klimt emulated, supporting himself with large public commissions while still in school. Later, Klimt’s creative drive would prove too great a challenge to the art establishment. Following a series of scandals, his would spend his final seven years until his death from influenza in 1918 in creative seclusion in Hietzing, honoured and distained in nearly equal proportion.

Contradictions of this kind were characteristic of fin de siècle Vienna, writes philosopher Allan Janik in Wittgenstein’s Vienna. Diversions distracted from disaster; even the gracious waltz was described by a contemporary observer as “an escape into the demonic.”

And the cafés, where one could sit all day with a single cup of coffee or a glass of wine and read newspapers from across the world, were not so much the manifestation of a leisurely, civilized life, as they were a refuge from cramped, unheated apartments, with the plumbing (if there was any) down the hall.

“Few cities have been as unkind as Vienna, during their lifetimes, to those men whom it proclaimed cultural heroes after their deaths,” Janik writes…. “In a city that prided itself as a matrix of cultural creation, life was made as difficult as possible for real innovators.”

Still, for a time, Klimt was the toast of the town. He was contracted for massive historical murals in both the Burgtheater (1886-88), and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (1890-91)

Left: Klimt’s Tod und Leben (Death and Life) Right: Klimt with cat, 1912 Photos: Leopold Museum as well as a huge memorial painting of the interior of the old Hofburgtheater on Michaelerplatz, peopled with portraits of Vienna worthies, which won him the Emperor’s Prize in 1890 and, as cultural historian Carl Schorske tells us, “catapulted him to prominence”.

Commissions flooded his way.

However as the work on the great Ringstrasse came towards its end, Klimt himself was evolving in another direction. In parallel with Sigmund Freud, at work on his Interpretation of Dreams, and Arthur Schnitzler on Reigen (La Ronde), both deeply disturbing to their contemporaries, Klimt too was exploring the instinctive drives in human nature, which gradually emerged with growing force in his paintings. It was “a period of historical transition imperious in its demands for… ‘a reshuffling of the self,’” Schorske writes in Fin de Siècle Vienna – “the confused quest for a new life-orientation in visual form.”

The result was a cultural revolution. In 1897, Klimt and a group of like-minded artists walked out of the hide-bound Viennese Artists’ Association to form the Wiener Secession. In what art historian Christian Brandstätter describes as “a spectacular act”, the group declared a Ver Sacrum, a “‘sacred spring’ of artistic renewal”, redefining the terrain of art and design in Vienna. Their creed was mounted over the door of Josef Maria Ol-

brich’s Secession building at Karlsplatz: “To Every Age its Art, to Art its Freedom”. But there was a second, perhaps ultimately more troubling goal, in the words of Secession architect Otto Wagner: “To show modern man his true face.”

Klimt had broken the mold.

He was also working on his greatest commission: for three huge ceiling paintings representing the faculties of Philosophy, Medicine and Law, for the new University building at Schottentor. First invited in 1894, by the time he began, Klimt had become somebody else.

His first canvas, “Philosophy,” brought down a firestorm of criticism. Instead of the Enlightenment ideals of Light and Reason conquering the Darkness, Klimt dramatized a murky, troubled vision of lost souls, where Schorske saw “the tangled bodies of suffering mankind drift slowly by, suspended aimless in a viscous void.”

The University was horrified. Within days of its showing, eighty-seven faculty members protested, demanding the commission be cancelled.

They accused Klimt of presenting “unclear ideas through unclear forms” …, “as if human existence consisted of nothing more than the infinitely repeated cycle of birth, copulation and death.”

Reception of the other two panels was no better. Ultimately the University refused to mount any of them, and Klimt, defending them with a

shotgun, repaid his entire commission in 1905, with money raised from friends. The panels were put away, and ultimately destroyed in 1945, by retreating Nazi soldiers.

This cataclysm sent Klimt into retreat. He closed his studio in the Josefstadt and withdrew to the little garden villa in Hietzing, where he turned his attention to portraits and landscapes.

Currently under restoration as an atelier-museum, the Klimt Villa is scheduled to reopen in July, 2012. (www.klimt.at) Still, with all this, history reveals little about Gustav Klimt as a private person; “I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written word, especially if I have to say something about myself or my work,” he said in one of the rare pieces of correspondence of this kind.

“Even when I have a simple letter to write, I am filled with fear and trembling as though on the verge of being sea-sick.”

So he wrote little, and there was little written about him by others that has come to light. Perhaps he intended it to be that way: “I am convinced that I am not particularly interesting as a person,” he went on. “There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day, from morning until night.”

However, an important new exhibition opening this month at the Leopold Museum entitled “Klimt persönlich” – including private photographs, and the correspondence over 20 with his companion Emilie Flöge – will begin to answer this question.

To Klimt, what mattered was the work.

“I can paint and draw,” he wrote. “I believe as much myself, and others also say they believe it.

But [still] I am not sure that it is true.” Thus the only truth was in the work itself, in encountering himself again and again through his painting, and in supporting others as they sought to reveal the paradoxical nature of their times, in which humanity struggled to re-emerge for the chrysalis of memory and ritual to spread its wings in the unadorned clarity of the modern age.

With Klimt, we share that exact moment of emergence, naked and vulnerable from the heavy golden trappings of a tradition and political culture whose time had past. ¸ For more information on Klimt events in February see Events Calendar, page 24

wnot totally

working Continued from page 17

Making a point Human tooth filing is a tradition that can be traced back to ancient times. It is still practised by some cultures today. In the Balinese belief system, teeth symbolise lust, greed, anger, insobriety and jealousy. The “Metatah” or “tooth filing” ceremony is carried out to rid the individual of these negative emotions and to render them more spiritual. It is considered an important rite of passage for adolescents. Aborigines also carried out tooth filing for spiritual reasons, as did some Vietnamese and Sudanese tribes. In Mayan culture, teeth of the upper classes were sharpened and even had designs carved in them. Certain African tribes have been known to sharpen their teeth to imitate animals or fish, such as sharks. Tooth filing can even differ between the sexes. Males of central Congo’s Upoto tribe file their upper row of teeth, while women file the upper and lower rows…

Tooth filing, or even tooth adornment, is one practise that won’t be on offer when you pay a visit to Dr. Andreas Werner!

Dr. Werner and his team believe in keeping things natural to ensure the very best of dental health.

www.drwerner.at

certainty of our times. Julia Hohenwarter’s Catwalk (2009), a lovely big irregular black staircase leading nowhere, engenders the same feeling but adds enticement – you really want to walk up it, and indeed you’re allowed to; the stairs clunk as you step on them. Paul McCarthy’s powerful 2003 Basement Bunker series, and his creepy Fear of Mannequins (1971), reflect the violence and tawdry disappointments of our me-first, unreality-driven world. Franz West’s 2001 Lemure, Human tooth filing is alacquered traditionaluminium that canhead, be represents a huge, the opposing of the inner with the outer world traced back to ancient times. It is still practised – Wagner might have understood. by some cultures today. the Balinese beliefObject and Helga In Philipp’s 1970 Kinetisches Marc Adrian’s Grossesanger, Sylvesterbild system, teeth symbolise lust,red greed, inso-(1977) address the “participation” idea – as you move and jealousy.

The “Metatah” orimages “tooth filing” Moving: Helga Philipp’sbriety Kinetisches Objekt in front of them, the change, and every Photo: Michael Leischner und Sitzmöbel, 1970 change is beautiful. ceremony is carried out to rid the individual of these negative There are 14 video installations, the largest emotions to render them more spiritual.

It is inconsidered including the Kieslerand Manifeste du Corréalisme of them enwombed hollow cubes.an The cubes (1949) important and the Obyrama II art-as-city-tour are great, but no one spent more than a few secrite of passage for adolescents. Aborigines also carried project of the early 1960s – though here the onds watching any one of the videos themselves. tooth filing reasons, asCaramelle’s did some Vietnamese and little problemout is inescapable, sincefor thisspiritual planned GesaErnst box-man (1986), whose mtkunstwerk never saw the light of day. eyes are TV screens, is painted with wine; this is Sudanese tribes. In Mayan culture, teeth of the upper classes were A further weakness lies in the absence of any “to be understood as a reference to temporary, evidentsharpened link between and the Utopia: artistic processes.” even Gesamtkunsthad designs performative carved in them.

Certain African werk concept and some of the works themselves, Who’d have guessed? Apart from Esther tribes have been known to sharpen their teeth to imitate animals leading the viewer to ask why they’ve been in- Stocker’s design, much of this show is more cluded or herefish, at all.such “Theas space-creating quality” anything else, andthe there are at sharks. Tooth filingabout canwords eventhan differ between of Daniel Buren’s 1972 vertical line painting, we once too many and not enough of them. WithMales of central file their upper ofconare told,sexes. “reverses the hierarchies in theCongo’s museum Upoto out the tribe explanations, there’s often row little to contextteeth, and gives the artwork a certain to nect thelower viewer rows… with the object; with them, we while women file ability the upper and act, to change the given structures.” Does it? It head down an Alice-in-Wonderland hole into a looks like a simple, attractive red and white can- world of pseudo-philosophy that masks the artvas. ButTooth “changing givenor structures” is an aspect ist’s inability to practise produce a work that can stand filing, even tooth adornment, is one that won’t of the original Gesamtkunstwerk concept; per- on its own. Commentary is helpful, but too be why on offer you a visit to Dr.artworks Andreas Werner! haps that’s Buren’swhen work has beenpay described many in this exhibition are meaningin this way here. less without it, and it’s doubtful that’s Dr. Werner and his team believe in keeping things natural to intended Thomas Hirschhorn’s Tool Family is an ag- as a sly reference to the Gesamtkunstwerk idea. ensure verybooks, best of dental health.The museum’s publicity material states, “We glomeration of the tools, mannequins, and slogans, stuck together with duct tape on are experiencing a generation of artists who ethia round platform. It looks like something out cally question their own existence as artists, and of the 1960s, but is dated, astonishingly, 2007. discuss a new sense of responsibility… With all Tool Family is “to be interpreted as a reaction due scepticism, contemporary artists are returnto relations in a world in crisis, which…be- ing to the [Gesamtkunstwerk] concept and theremoans the loss of its culture.” What relations? by critically examining social history.” Maybe, Which culture? Hirschhorn apparently can’t be but with all due scepticism, for most of them, bothered to work it out. The words sound cool it’s hard to see how. ¸ enough.

Some works do reveal Gesamtkunstwerk imUtopia GESAMTKUNSTWERK www.drwerner.at peratives. Tom Burr’s Derailed and Worn Out, 21er Haus, through 20 May 2012 both from 2005, a broken white stair railing 3., Arsenalstraße 1 and a reddish carpet slipping away from an Wed – Sun 10:00 – 18:00 uneven floor, capture perfectly the perilous unwww.21erhaus.at

Making a point

On the Town

City Life

The Grätzl / ‘gr З:tsl /noun (Viennese dialect) a neighbourhood in Vienna contained by subjective boundaries and a coherent identity

A view of oh-so-hip Gumpendorferstraße from the Esterhazypark Flakturm Photo: Hans Hochstöger

Taking on Gumpendorf – Papa Haydn’s Grätzl

by Andreas Rainer The bells are ringing at the Ägidiuskirche, where Joseph Haydn´s body was laid to rest two hundred years ago. The father of Viennese classicism spent his final years in an apartment on today’s Haydngasse, rooming with his parrot, who, as legend has it, called him “Papa Haydn”. If he were still alive today, the famous composer would have to trade in his knee britches for skinny jeans to keep up with the hipness of today’s Grätzl: Guys wearing tight pants and girls with large horn-rimmed glasses populate these streets.

From aristocrat hangout to bobo hotspot Mariahilfer Gürtel and Amerlingstraße are the approximate borders of the former municipality of Gumpendorf, independent up until 1798. The old village was destroyed twice during the first and second Turkish Sieges of Vienna and repeatedly suffered from the flooding of the Wienfluss. In the 18th century, Gumpendorf became a popular summer retreat for aristoby Duncan J. D. Smith Austrian cinema is best known internationally for the directors, rather, than the films, it has fostered. Men like Alexander Korda, Michael Curtiz, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder all hailed from the Austro-Hungarian Empire – but politics meant they found fame elsewhere. Despite this, and a decidedly checkered history, Vienna’s historic Rosenhügel film studios are still in the business of making movies.

Early Stages Austria’s first major film production company, Wiener Kunstfilm, was founded in 1910 by photographer Anton Kolm, his wife Luise, and cameraman Jacob Fleck. At the time the AustroHungarian cinema market was dominated by the French, and so the fledgling company curried favour with local media and cinema owners and quickly became a pioneer in almost every field of silent film in Austria.

Run like a family business, Wiener Kunstfilm is credited not only with producing the first Austrian film drama but also the country’s first weekly newsreel, unaware that it was chronicling the last glittering years of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

But it wasn’t to last long, and although the company’s former French rivals were expelled during the Great War, Wiener Kunstfilm was forced into liquidation by wealthy rival Count Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky and his eponymous Sascha-Film.

Samson and Delila Whilst Sascha-Film was based in Sievering, the studio of Wiener Kunstfilm was located in Mauer, then a village on the Rosenhügel just outside Vienna’s southern limits. Between 1919 and 1923 Kolm reestablished his company there

cratic families. Then, after years of changing ownership, it was finally purchased outright by the City of Vienna. With the area´s population growing rapidly due to industrialisation, Gumpendorf became one of the centres of Viennese industry.

Today, Gumpendorf is part of the Bobo mecca of Mariahilf: Those who are able to afford the rent enjoy the luxury of living within walking distance to Europe´s longest shopping street Mariahilferstraße and the equally popular Naschmarkt, both of which we are going to ignore for this month´s Grätzl tour. Gumpendorf has enough to offer all by itself.

Strutting your stuff Gumpendorf can easily be explored on foot, however, if you’re feeling lazy, take the 57A bus that cuts through the whole Grätzl.

Start your tour at the eastern corner in Esterhazy Park, where you can enjoy a gorgeous view of Vienna´s skyline from the terrace of the

former Flakturm (anti-aircraft tower) that is now home to the aquarium, the Haus des Meeres. If blood and gore excite you more than looking at old rooftops, we recommend spending a nice afternoon at the Foltermuseum (Museum of Torture), which served as a bunker during World War II. Walking up Gumpendorferstraße you will cross through the Esterhazypark, the district´s “green lung”. While parks proliferate in the Old City, green space is rare in this area, making this oasis very popular. In summer, you can enjoy a cool drink bought from the near Kiosk Kaunitzgasse, one of a few grocery stores in Vienna that stays open until 11pm every day.

In icy February, though, you may prefer to turn into Otto Bauer Gasse to warm up at Café Jelinek, which might just be the finest place in whole Vienna to curl up on a cold and dark winter day. A fire burns cheerily on the hearth as the espresso machine pours out cup after cup of perfect coffee, while the waiter patiently takes orders with the typical Viennese charm, hidden behind the grumpiness of another Sunday shift.

Despite its age, the café draws in a young crowd, which appreciates the large selection of newspapers and magazines and the pleasingly worn furniture, that has patiently listened to years of conversation about philosophy, the previous day´s football results or the general indisposition of the Viennese.

Culinary cosmopolitanism Those who can afford to live in Gumpendorf don’t mind spending the extra euro at a nice restaurant – and choices are vast in this area.

Finkh you already know (see “Finkh: A Culinary Workshop”, by Christopher Anderson, TVR Nov. 2011), but a reminder never hurts, so don´t forget about stopping by one of the hippest places in the area. And don´t be disturbed by the crane on the ceiling – the restaurant used to be a factory before it switched from auto mechanics to selling Schnitzel.

Right across the street, the Hafenjunge has laid anchor, offering beer and culinary specialties from Hamburg. The owner turns out to be

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from the Waldviertel in Lower Austria – still, the food’s authentic and very good.

Enjoy a glass of Astra beer while browsing through various artsy items such as postcards, mugs, key chains or flasks - many of them created by the owner, who also runs a design business on the side, while serving excellent coffee.

One cannot walk past Thai Isaan without being drawn in by the intense smell of curry, hot spices and fried rice emanating from the restaurant. The owners hit a gold mine by opening the stylish self-service spot, which is so busy during lunch hour that one has to wonder if the whole of Gumpendorf stops by for takeout. If you come a little later in the day and get a table, you can enjoy watching the good-natured Thai owner explaining to his bewildered clients that they have to carry the ordered food and cutlery to their tables by themselves.

Still, with all it has to offer, Gumpendorf feels like a village. Artists, designers and students have all conquered this Grätzl in recent years and have turned it into one the most exciting neighbourhoods in Vienna. So put on your Ray Bans, order an Aperol Spritzer and enjoy hipster life! ¸

Haus des Meeres: Fritz-Grünbaum-Platz 1 www.haus-des-meeres.at

Kiosk Kaunitzgasse: Kaunitzgasse 1 Cafe Jelinek: Otto-Bauer-Gasse 5 Finkh: Esterhazygasse 12 www.finkh.at

In from the cold on Otto Bauer Gasse, Café Jelinek soothes the soul Photo: Hans Hochstöger

Berlin, Paris and Hollywood dominated film in the early 20th century, but Vienna's Rosenhügel studios also played a role

How Silver Screen Vienna Forgot Where it all Began

The Final Reel?

Today, Rosenhügel Studios are entered at Speisinger Strasse 121 in the district of Liesing.

Walking around what was once one of Europe’s largest and most modern studios is still a stirring experience, and stories and ghosts abound. A red marble tablet at the entrance memorialises Kolm as a pioneer of the Austrian film industry and his colossal 990 square metre Stage 1 still appears

February 2012

Foltermuseum: Esterhazypark (located at the park´s north entrance)

Stones of Vienna

as Vita-Film, creating a studio lot of American proportions.

Before being forced out of business again, this time in 1924 by a flood of cheap but technically competent American pictures, Vita-Film produced a string of silent movies. Mostly they followed French models using French directors, but an exception was Austria’s first silent American-style epic, Samson and Delila. With extravagant sets and costumes it was directed by Alexander Korda, the role of Delila being played by his wife, María. Unfortunately for Kolm he didn’t live to see the film’s Viennese premiere on Christmas Day 1922.

The Vienna Review

much as it did in his day.

After standing empty for nine years, the studio was taken over in 1933 by Kolm’s old rival, Sascha-Film, who built the magnificent Sound Stage 6. Here over the next two decades, some of the most popular Viennese films were scored for full orchestra here, starring Willy Forst, Paul Hörbiger, Hans Moser, and Paula Wessely. The vast stage is still a marvelous space and today is

A mural depicting the Rosenhügel Studios Photo: Duncan Smith and some of its stars

Hafenjunge: Esterhazygasse 11 www.hafenjunge.com Thai Isaan: Gumpendorferstraße 91 used for rehearsals of the Theater an der Wien.

With the Anschluss in 1938, Rosenhügel was earmarked to become one of Nazi Germany’s biggest studios, and as Wien-Film it began turning out propaganda films such as Heimkehr (Homecoming). Austrian novelist Elfriede Jelinek called it the worst Nazi propaganda film ever made, and it’s ironic, or perhaps poetic justice, that her book Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Teacher) was made into a film in the very same studios in 2001.

Rosenhügel Reloaded Narrowly escaping destruction at the end of the war, Rosenhügel lay in Soviet-occupied Vienna until 1955, and afterwards was returned to Austria. Despite several box office successes, including Romy Schneider’s turn as “Sissi”, the studio was bankrupted once more in 1965. A stint as a television studio for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) followed, but it was soon under threat again, this time with plans for a shopping mall. Fortunately, a governmentbacked private initiative saved the day, and in 1996 after extensive refurbishment Rosenhügel was reinvented as Filmstadt Wien.

The studios today cover a 32,000 square metre lot, offering half a dozen affordable serviced stages to film and television companies worldwide. But Rosenhügel has always courted controversy, and when its lease with ORF runs out in 2014 the studio may relocate to the recently opened Media Quarter Marx in Landstrasse. If the rumours are true then the curtain may fall once and for all on this chapter of silver screen Vienna. ¸ Duncan J. D. Smith is the author of Only in Vienna (Christian Brandstätter Verlag) www.duncanjdsmith.com

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Art | On Sale

The Vienna Review February 2012

On the Town and its selection of artwork, this gallery manages to retain an aura of class and timelessness through the diverse range of work and artists that come and go. Currently exhibiting Verena Dengler, Liam Gillick, Siggi Hofer and Stefan Sandner.

Gallery Run Who’s hanging what at Vienna’s venues

by Saleha Waqar Vienna may have a civilized facade, but under the surface, like all big cities, issues of inequality, racial and gender bias, minorities and similar concerns slowly solder away. A number of the city’s galleries have devoted their space to showing art that speaks to the less accepted sides of life.

IG Bildende Kunst A small gallery on Gumpendorferstrae, the IG is a modest affair, but what it lacks in space, it makes up in outlook. Self-proclaimed home of visual and installation artists in Vienna, the gallery views itself as an initiator of cultural and socio-political debate – an arena for artists to provoke dialogue.

Posters for the current exhibition, “The Revolution will be Televised (and broadcast on the Internet)” are certainly provocative. Eight television screens, each playing something different, were set up at various angles throughout the room. On one, the static picture of a couch flickered on and

off, on another, a local news story was being announced, on a third, a girl perched on a stool in the nude uttering long sentences on philosophy.

On one wall, a black and white hexagonal image was being projected. The initial reaction is confusion, along with an overwhelming urge to turn all the TV screens in one direction, but this exhibit is one part of a series of events, which include live performances, a discussion on the Iranian “green revolution” and relevant screenings.

Curated by Chilo Eribenne, this exhibit involves 15 other artists of Vienna, many of whom have produced short films and documentaries to be “televised” through this exhibit. Eribenne says that, through this exhibit, he wanted to liberate viewers from their various states of mental and social oppression, and the visual work emphasises the need for freedom and peace of mind.

Eribenne explains, “this exhibition highlights phenomena like the slumbering café societies that wear protest as a fashion, within the media of mind control, religion, pop culture, the internet, the exploitation of the ‘other’ as well as the sexualisation of death, bad news and fear as a form of control.”

Still, there is a bit of “wearing protest as a fashion” here. Future exhibits at the IG Bildende Kunst include the Hildegard Sculpture Project and the Intervention Art Project, which focuses on counter-intuitive historical story telling.

But the Gallery is a pleasingly odd little find in the 6th District, for those with a taste for Vienna’s “alternative” art scene.

IG Bildende Kunst 6., Gumpendorferstraße 10-12 (01) 524 09 09 www.igbildendekunst.at

Chilo Eribenne’s Iran-inspired piece: Hole in Photo: IG Bildende Kunst Your Head, c-print

Galerie Meyer Kainer With four exhibition rooms, and an in-house bar, Gallery Meyer Kainer is a strong player on the art scene in Vienna. More interesting how-

Service

Treasure Hunt Brace Yourself, It’s Ball Season

by Vera Mair Young girls in flowing gowns on the UBahn, men in tails strolling along the sidewalk, and the sound of waltzes in the air: It’s ball season in Vienna. Prepping for a ball isn’t just dolling up for any Saturday evening. First you need tickets, then dancing lessons, then a gown, tuxedo or tails, shoes with a leather sole, and a special hairstyle. But don’t despair, here you’ll find the necessary gear for an unforgettable night.

Highlights & Tickets Upcoming highlights include the Coffee Brewer’s Ball, the Opera Ball, the Ball of the Viennese Industrialists, the Candy-Makers’ Ball, the Lawyer’s Ball and the Rudolfina Masked Ball. Try to secure your tickets as early as possible, as balls sell out well in advance.

Generally, tickets can be purchased online and at special offices announced on the websites.

For more information, go to www.wien.info/ en/music-stage-shows/dance/ball-season.

Dance Lessons To avoid making a fool of yourself, it helps to at least know ball room basics. Several schools offer crash courses for beginners: Tanzschule Stollhof Kraml (€36 /3 classes; 3., Landstraßer Hauptstraße 18; 01 713 31 86; www.stollhof.at/wien) and Tanzschule Grossmann (€49 /4 classes, 17., Kalvarienberggasse 28a; (01) 409 55 50; www.tanzschule-hernals. at). While in German, instructors can answer questions in English. If you have two left feet and don’t want to stumble through a samba, there is also a one-waltz lesson (in English!) at Grossmann (€30).

Ball Attire For most balls, white or black quired; gowns must reach the floor. that Austrian Gemütlichkeit ends codes, which are enforced without

tie is reBe aware at dress mercy at

the entrance. Popp&Kretschmer (1., Kärntner Straße 51; Mon.-Fri. 10-18:30; Sat. 10-18:00) offers sumptuous dresses (€500 – €8000) and a huge selection of matching shoes.

Average priced ball gowns start at €300 at Ballina Joppich (6., Mariahilfer Strasse 101-103; Mon.-Wed. 10-19:00; Thur.-Fri. 10-20:00, Sat. 9:30-18:00) or BiseOG (14., Rotenturmstraße 14 ; Mon.-Fri. 10-18:30; Sat. 10-17:00), a cosy boutique with friendly, English-speaking staff. At Ballina Joppich you will also find dancing shoes (€60) and matching handbags.

For a truly exclusive ball gown or a preloved tux, choose Vintage Flo (4., Schleifmühlgasse 15a; Mon.-Fri. 10-18:30; Sat. 1015:30). The shop stocks jewellery, hats and handbags from the 1880s-1980s. Especially dresses (€250-€2000) from the 20s and 1940s will rule the dance floor.

For menswear, go to Frack&Co (1., Hanusgasse 3; Mon.-Fri. 10-19:00; Sat. 10-18:00).

The shop offers tailcoats (€600) and tuxedos (€500), dance shoes (€140) canes, top hats, cummerbunds and bow ties in all colours.

There is also the option of renting. Kleiderverleih Rottenberg (9., Porzellangasse 8; Tue.-Fri. 10-13:00, 14-18:00; Sat. 09-12:00) is a good choice for gowns (€150), tailcoats (€250) and tuxedos (€160), with an option to purchase. They also sell dancing shoes (€60€130). You can also go to costume rental company Lambert Hofer (4., Margaretenstraße 25; Mon.-Fri. 10-17:00; Sat. 09-12:00), for tailcoats (€230) and tuxedos (€80).

Hairstyle Getting a ball “do” is a must. Try Tony&Guy (€76; 1., Bellariastraße 10; (01) 585 68 46) or headQuarters (€50-75; 4., Schleifmühlgasse 15; (01) 581 10 42) With a light step and dressed to the nines, you are now ready. Open the dance floor! Alles Waltzer!

Galerie Meyer Kainer 1., Eschenbachgasse 9 (01) 585 72 77 www.meyerkainer.com

From AlexanderWolff’s “Die Tage der evangelischen Chormusik 1982” Photo: Galerie Mezzanin ever is the fact that this gallery is housed in a former beer hall, and the stone walls and arched enclaves have been preserved in certain areas of the space. Meyer Kainer’s primary focus is progressive contemporary art and has an impressive list of supporting artists as its progeny. International artists including relatively famous names like John Bock, Liam Gillick, and Olaf Breuning have all been exhibited at this gallery.

Different in its attitude from IG Bildende Kunst above, Meyer Kainer is the high-end version of a politically inclined art space. Arguably one of the edgiest in terms of both its interiors

Galerie Mezzanin When it comes to thinking out of the box, one locus of cutting-edge contemporary is the Gallery Mezzanin, located on Getreidemarkt in the 1st District. According to one of its curators, Gallery Mezzanin seeks out emerging trends and exhibits art pieces that showcase them. In a generally “play-it-safe” art scene in Vienna, this Gallery is known for taking aesthetic risks by playing host to elaborate installations, flamboyant sculptural works, and shocking visual pieces.

Through March, Gallery Mezzanin is exhibiting works of German artist Alexander Wolff who represents biographies, contexts and social environments through fabric, materials, and colour, and uses techniques previously employed in disciplines outside of traditional painting. Another exhibition ahead is the show by Christina Zurfluh in May. Born in Switzerland and living in Vienna, she takes painting and sculpting out of their natural habitats. A must-see.

Galerie Mezzanin 1., Getreidemarkt 14 (01) 526 43 56 www.galeriemezzanin.com

Gallery Classifieds How To Advertise With Us The Vienna Review will continue its regular classifieds advertisement section, but now you can advertise­art exhibitions in our new gallery classifieds. As with regular classifieds, all advertisements must be a minimum of 4 cm wide and 2.3 cm long. €50 per issue for an ad containing at least 200 characters, €1 extra for any additional 5 characters. A whole year’s worth of advertisement for only €200! For any further information, please e-mail us at advertising@viennareview.net, or find us on www.viennareview.net.

Auctions & Openings auctions

OPENINGS

19th CENTURY PAINTINGS & WATERCOLOURS Featuring paintings by Carol Lorenz, Alfred Lakos, Hans Tschelan, Anton Seitz and more.

6 Feb., 16:00

ORIGINAL HOUSEWARES Antique lamps by Adolf Loos, original Josef Hoffmann furniture, and modern appliances and artwork by Bernd Roger Beinert, Hubert Aratym, Brigitte Sommer, Christian Hauer, and more.

Mon.–Fri., 10:00–18:00 Sat., 10:00–17:00 Woka Lamps Vienna 1., Singerstraße 16 (01) 513 29 12 www.woka.at

CONTEMPORARY ART Paintings, photos and items

by Peter Kogler, Egon Straszer, Herbert Brandl and more.

14 Feb., 19:00 MILITARIA Antique arms, uniforms, relics, armour and equipment.

22 Feb., 16:00 STAMPS Postage from various European countries, as well as the Balkans, Soviet Union, San Marino, the Vatican, Andorra and more.

23–24 Feb., 10:00 PRINCE KINSKY ESTATE Furniture and art items from one of Beethoven’s patrons.

28 Feb., 16:00 AUSTRIAN DESIGN Items from Austria’s design history, such as Jugendstil art and 19th century metalworking.

29 Feb., 16:00 Palais Dorotheum 1., Dorotheergasse 17 (01) 515 60-0 www.dorotheum.at

21st Century art and ARTISTS Original surrealist, modernist and pop art work and sculptures by Salvador Dalí, Ademaro Bardelli, Fabio Calvetti, Paolo Da San Lorenzo and Felix Roulin.

Gallery M Mon.–Fri., 11:00–18:00 5., Margaretengürtel 96 0699 1224 2497 office@gallerym.eu www.jmagallery.com ÜBER DEN RAUM Conceptual, architecture-based art by Belgium’s Luc Hoekx, bright geometric art by the Netherlands’ Arjan Janssen, and breathable two- and threedimensional paintings by Austria’s Andrea Maria Krenn.

Through 18 Feb. Tue.–Fri., 13:00–18:00 Sat., 11:00–15:00 Galerie Ulrike Hrobsky 1., Grünangergasse 6 (01) 513 76 76 www.hrobsky.at

FRESH ART Modern international art from Man Olo, Niki Neuspiel, FloScheutz, Christian Linsenmeier, Roland Rainer, Man Olo, and more.

Fresh Art Gallery 15., Beingasse 5-9 (01) 982 30 55-0 www.freshart.eu VARIATION ABSTRAKT Abstract paintings and geometrical prints by Hans Staudacher, Edith Spira, Hans Grünseis and more.

Starts 21 Feb. Tue.–Fri., 12:00–18:00 Sat., 11:00–16:00 Galerie Lang Wien 1., Seilerstätte 16 – Mezzanine (01) 512 20 19 www.glw.at CAROLIN THUMMES Urban life and art depicted in black-and-white and colour photographs.

Through 25 Feb. Tue.–Fri., 10:00–18:00 Sat., 10:00–16:00 Lukas Feichtner Galerie 1., Seilerstätte 19 (01) 512 09 10 www.feichtnergallery.com DANIELE BUETTI Vibrant mixed-media pieces, featuring acrylic glass mosaics, reflecting “Oh boy, oh boy”.

Through 1 Mar. Tue.–Fri., 10:00–18:00 Sat., 10:00–16:00 Galerie Ernst Hilger Contemporary 1., Dorotheergasse 5 (01) 512 53 15 www.hilger.at

On the Town

Events Calendar

The Vienna Review

February 2012

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or’s Editoice ch

Events Calendar The Vienna Review events team presents the latest happenings in Vienna in order to make your time here as enjoyable and unforgettable as possible.

All entries are recommended by our editorial staff, with favourites marked with an “Editor’s Choice” seal.

We welcome information on upcoming events: E-mail press@ viennareview.net, and we will consider it for the next issue.

The Rathausplatz has been converted to a larger-than-life ice skating rink, with froyen paths through the trees: Yes, there’s still punch.

SPECIAL EVENTS VIENNESE ICE DREAM The city’s ice skating rink has reopened in front of the Rathaus, with its kilometre-long skating path winding through the trees.

Beginners skate, and fall, for free before 16:00, and on weekends.

Daily until Mar. 4 or’s 9:00 – 22:00 Editoice 1., Rathausplatz ch (01) 409 00 40 www.wienereistraum.com BATMAN LIVE A 3-D spectacle with superheroes from the famous comic, including Batman, Robin, The Joker and Catwoman. Expect plenty of stage illusions, acrobatics and video animations.

1, 2, 3 Feb., 19:30 4 Feb., 15:00, 19:30 5 Feb., 11:00 Wiener Stadthalle 15., Vogelweidplatz 14 (01) 98 100 0 www.stadthalle.at SUPER BOWL PARTIES America’s premier sporting event always manages to draw a crowd in Vienna’s pubs, in spite of its 12:30am kick-off.

This year the New England Patriots face the NY Giants.

Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna’s own American football team host their own kickoff party at the Marriot Hotel.

Expect a large crowd (over 2000!) and book early.

5 Feb., 21:00 – 4:00 Hotel Marriott Vienna 1., Parkring 12a www.raiffeisenvikings.com Neuner Bräu This brewery in Alsergrund hosts a complete party with chicken wings, Texas meatballs and burgers.

5 Feb., 23:00 9er Bräu 9., Liechtenwerder Platz 2 (01) 317 53 47 www.neunerbraeu.at MASTERS OF DIRT The world’s best freestyle motorbike, snowmobile, ATV, mountain bike and BMX freestylers show off their insane jumps and acrobatic skills.

24 Feb., 20:00 25 Feb., 19:00 26 Feb., 16:00 Wiener Stadthalle 15., Vogelweidplatz 14 (01) 98 100 0 www.stadthalle.at

CHARITY CONCERT A charity concert sponsored by the Lion’s Club Vienna, with the Vienna Boys Choir, Hege Gustava Tjoenn, and Sebastian Reinthaller performing traditional folk and religious songs.

23 Feb., 20:00 Konzerthaus, Schubert Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 00-100 www.konzerthaus.at AKKORDEON FESTIVAL WIEN 2012 Vienna’s annual accordion festival never lets down, presenting traditional sounds laced with innovative approaches on 15 different stages. Below are a few of the more than 40 events between 25 Feb and 25 Mar. For more information, contact: Kulturverein d’akkordeon 19., Billrothstraße 1/1/2/8 www.akkordeonfestival.at Das Ziehharmonische Orchester Wien 18 Feb., 20:00 Kuppelsaal Technische Universität 4., Karlsplatz 13 Vienna Balkan Groove; Otto Lechner & Die Windhunde 25 Feb., 20:00 Kuppelsaal Technische Universität 4., Karlsplatz 13 Sascha Shevchenko; Maciej Golebiowski; The Goldrush 26 Feb., 13:00 Filmcasino 5., Margaretenstraße 78 Schulz War Nur Der Franz 26 Feb., 16:00 Dschungel 7., Museumsplatz 1 Neue Wiener Concert; Schrammeln; Renato Borghetti & Band 26 Feb., 20:00 Baumgartner Casino 14., Linzer Straße 297 Attwenger ’s itor 27 Feb., 20:00 Edchoice Porgy & Bess 1., Riemergasse 11 Bratfisch; Lüül & Band 28 Feb., 20:00 Ost Klub 4., Schwindgasse 1 Duo Sophie Cavez & Baltazar Montanaro; Duo Raul Barboza & Norberto Pedreira 29 Feb., 20:00 Theater Akzent 4., Theresianumgasse 18

THEATRE in English

AN INSPECTOR CALLS A thriller that tells the story of a family that, at first united, turns out to be cowardly and selfish once the subject of an investigation.

Tue.–Sat., 19:30 International Theatre or’s Editoice 9., Porzellangasse 8 ch (01) 319 62 72 www.internationaltheatre.at TIME STANDS STILL A couple of journalists, as well as a pair in love, Sarah and James are back from the Middle East and have reached an impasse: James wishes to start a family, but Sarah wonders if she’ll stay with her partner, or go back into the field.

Mon.–Sat., 19:30 Vienna’s English Theatre 8., Josefgasse 12 (01) 402 12 60 0 www.englishtheatre.at

THEATRE in German

TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS The Theater an der Josefstadt stages Ödön von Horváth’s all-time classic Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald at the intimate Kammerspiele theatre.

1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 13, 26, 27, 29 Feb., 19:30 4, 6, 7, 13, 14 Feb., 20:00 Kammerspiele 1, Rotenturmstraße 20 (01) 427 00 300 www.josefstadt.org MISTER IBRAHIM AND THE FLOWERS OF THE QUR’AN The Volkstheater brings on stage the celebrated story of a Jewish boy, Moses, and the general dealer Mister Ibrahim.

2, 16 Feb., 19:30 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater.at A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE Based on the drama by Tennessee Williams, the Burgtheater’s Endstation Sehnsucht presents the famous story of Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans.

2, 4, 6, 12, 13, 24 Feb., 19:30 Burgtheater 1., Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 2 (01) 514 44 41 40 www.burgtheater.at

Photo: Stadt Wien Marketing

JACKPOT The story of four girlfriends and their weekly meetings in the park where, one day, their world is turned upside down.

3, 5, 8, 12, 19, 24 Feb., 20:00 4, 18, 16 Feb., 15:00 4, 6, 7, 13, 14 Feb., 20:00 Kammerspiele 1, Rotenturmstraße 20 (01) 427 00 300 www.josefstadt.org

JADGSZENEN AUS NIEDERBAYERN Martin Sperr directs a drama about homosexuality, violence and desperation in a rural village in post-war Bavaria.

17, 20, 28 Feb., 19:30 26 Feb., 15:00 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater.at

LIFE & TIMES  EPISODES 3 & 4 In the third part of its “theatre epic”, the Nature Theater of Oklahoma stages an hourslong telephone monologue.

3 Feb., 18:30; 4, 5 Feb., 18:00 Kasino 1., Am Schwarzenbergplatz 1 (01) 514 44-4830 www.burgtheater.at

WAR AND PEACE Matthias Hartman received the renowned Nestroy-Spezialpreis for his production of Tolstoi’s all-time classic.

18, 19 Feb., 18:00 Kasino 1., Am Schwarzenbergplatz 1 (01) 514 44-4830 www.burgtheater.at

EIN KLOTZ AM BEIN Michael Kreihsl, fresh off the success of the Glattauer novels, now stages this comedy about a singer seeking to intervene in her lover’s wedding.

4, 18, 21, 25 Feb., 19:30 5 Feb., 15:00 4, 6, 7, 13, 14 Feb., 20:00 Theater in der Josefstadt / Kammerspiele 1, Rotenturmstraße 20 (01) 427 00 300 www.josefstadt.org DIE KOMMUNE A new Thomas Vintenberg play confronts the challenges, misconceptions, joys and disappointments of living in a commune. See review on p.17.

8, 22 Feb., 19:30 28 Feb., 20:00 r’s Akademietheater Editooice ch 3., Lisztstraße 1 (01) 514 44 47 40 www.burgtheater.at RALPH & CARLO  IN LOVE ONCE AGAIN Joe DiPietro’s play about love against all odds – in this case, a large age gap – is performed in German for the first time.

4, 6, 7, 13, 14 Feb., 20:00 Kammerspiele 1, Rotenturmstraße 20 (01) 427 00 300 www.josefstadt.org MEMOIRS OF SARAH BERNHARDT At 77, French diva Sarah Bernhard traces the steps of her artistic career in this John Murrell play written in 1977.

14 Feb., 19:30 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater.at

FLYING SAXOPHONE CIRCUS For the first time, the Selmer Saxharmonic performs its award-winning programm in the Volkstheater.

19 Feb., 20:00 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater.at SIMPLY COMPLICATED Thomas Bernhard’s drama, Einfach Kompliziert, is caught between comedy and tragedy – with Gert Voss as Bernhard’s theatre clown.

21, 24 Feb., 19:30 Akademietheater 3., Lisztstraße 1 (01) 514 44 41 40 www.burgtheater.at DIE BESTEN AUS DEM OSTEN! In the 10th episode of its programm, Kosovo, Europe’s youngest republic, presents The Best From The East! from a Western perspective.

24, 25 Feb., 19:00 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater DREIGROSCHENOPER AND BRELAPORTER The Volkstheater presents Bertold Brecht’s classic The Threepenny Opera in the Haupthaus, and afterward actor and singer Markus Pol’s re-interpretations of Jacques Brel’s chansons, including the classic “Ne me quitte pas”.

29 Feb., 22:15 Volkstheater 7., Neustiftgasse 1 (01) 523 350 10 www.volkstheater.at

Sincerely, The Vienna Review

ALTERNATIVE THEATRE DAS IST EIGENTLICH ALLES Arturas Valudski uses the ideas of Charms to unmask the wickedness of everyday life.

1, 2 Feb., 19:30 3raum-Anatomietheater 3., Beatrixgasse 11 0650 323 33 77 www.3raum.or.at IRONIE DES SCHICKSALS ODER NACH DER SAUNA A satire of Russian everyday life.

3, 4 Feb., 19:30 3raum-Anatomietheater 3., Beatrixgasse 11 0650 323 33 77 www.3raum.or.at DRAMA SLAM FINALE The last round of this competition presents the best four texts.

5 Feb., 19:00 Theater an der Gumpendorfer Straße 6., Gumpendorfer Straße 67 (01) 586 52 22 www.dastag.at DER PROZESS Kafka’s classic tale of a man who awakens imprisoned.

8, 9, 14, 17, 18 Feb., 20:00 Theater an der Gumpendorfer Straße 6., Gumpendorfer Straße 67 (01) 586 52 22 www.dastag.at FELLINI PARADISO The audience learns why this Fellini movie was never made.

11, 13 Feb., 20:00 Theater an der Gumpendorfer Straße 6., Gumpendorfer Straße 67 (01) 586 52 22 www.dastag.at DIE PRÄSIDENTINNEN Werner Schwabs’ tale of a trio and fantasies of omnipotence.

22, 23, 24, 25, 29 Feb., 19:30 3raum-Anatomietheater 3., Beatrixgasse 11 0650 323 33 77 www.3raum.or.at EINE FRAGE DER EINSTELLUNG A grotesque play about militant animal rights activists “he” and “she” and their encounters with a shrink.

Through 18 Feb. Tue.–Sat., 20:00 Theater Drachengasse 1., Fleischmarkt 22 (01) 513 14 44 www.drachengasse.at

February 2012

EXHIBITIONS KLIMT/HOFFMANN Klimt’s collaboration with architect Josef Hoffmann.

Daily, 10:00–18:00 Wed., 10:00–21:00 Unteres Belvedere and Orangerie 3., Rennweg 6 (01) 795 56-0 www.belvedere.at KOKOSCHKA IN SEARCH FOR A FRAME Viennese art students’ “Belvedere frames” contest results.

1–26 Feb. Daily, 10:00–18:00 Wed., 10:00–21:00 Lower Belvedere 3., Rennweg 6 (01) 795 56-0 www.belvedere.at

GLENN MURCUTT Australian’s technology work.

Through 13 Feb. Daily 10:00–19:00 Architekturzentrum, Old Hall 7., Museumsplatz 1 (01) 522 31 15-32 www.azw.at GUSTAV KLIMT Closer view of wall paintings.

Starts 14 Feb. Tue.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 Thu., 10:00–21:00 Kunsthistorisches Museum 1., Maria-Theresien-Platz (01) 525 24 4025 www.khm.at KLIMT: UP CLOSE Klimt’s correspondence.

Starts 24 Feb. Mon.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 Thu., 10:00–21:00 Leopold Museum r’s dito 7., Museumsplatz 1 E choice (01) 525 700 www.leopoldmuseum.org

HENRI CARTIER BRESSON Spotlight on selected works from America and the USSR. Through 26 Feb. r’s Daily, 10:00–19:00 Editooice ch Kunsthaus 3., Untere Weißgerberstr. 13 (01) 712 04 91 www.kunsthauswien.com

FRANZ HUEMER Sculptures and photographs.

Through 1 Mar. Tue.–Sat, 13:00–24:00 Sun, Mon, 13:00–19:00 Kunsthalle Project Space 4., Treitlstraße 2 www.kunsthallewien.at SARAH PICHLKOSTNER Contrasting forms, materials.

Through 1 Mar. Tue.–Fri., 11:00–18:00 Thu., 11:00–20:00 Sat., 11:00–16:00 MUSA 1., Felderstraße 6-8 (01) 4000-8400 www.musa.at

ARTISTS IN FOCUS: WALTER PICHLER With a show of the Austrian visionary artist, the MAK’s series of solo presentations of works by key contemporary artists comes to an end.

Through 26 Feb. Tue., 10:00–24:00 Wed.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 MAK 1., Stubenring 5 (01) 71136-229 www.mak.at

MICHAEL WALLRAFF Solo exhibit of designs.

Through 4 Mar. Tue., 10:00–24:00 Wed.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 MAK 1., Stubenring 5 www.mak.at

RENÉ MAGRITTE Some 150 works focusing on little-explored aspects of the artist’s life and work.

Through 26 Feb. Daily 10:00–19:00 Wed., 10:00–21:00 Albertina 1., Albertinaplatz 1 (01) 543 83 0 www.albertina.at

GREAT VIENNESE CAFÉ Ideas for future coffeehouses.

Through 4 Mar. Tue., 10:00–24:00 Wed.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 MAK 1., Stubenring 5 www.mak.at

On the Town ROMAN PFEFFER Short video “Waiting”.

Through 11 Mar. Tue.–Sat., 13:00 – 24:00 Sun., Mon., 13:00 – 19:00 Kunsthalle Project Space 4., Treitlstraße 2 (01) 521 890 www.kunsthallewien.at RENESSENZ  FACETS OF THE RENAISSANCE Fashion school students from Michelbeuern showcase their Renaissance collection.

Through 16 Apr. Tue.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 Thu., 10:00–21:00 Kunsthistorisches Museum 1., Maria Theresien-Platz (01) 525 24 4025 www.khm.at MELANCHOLY AND PROVOCATION  THE EGON SCHIELE PROJECT The big fall show of the early Schiele work has been extended until mid-April.

Through 16 Apr. Mon., Wed., Fri.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 Thu., 10:00–21:00 Leopold Museum 7., Museumsplatz 1 (01) 525 700 www.leopoldmuseum.org

Photo: Weegee/ICP

Photo: Leopold Museum

IMPRESSIONISM Drawings, watercolours, and pastels from the masters.

Starts 10 Feb. Mon.–Sun., 10:00–18:00 Wed., 10:00–21:00 Albertina 1., Albertinaplatz 1 (01) 543 83 0 www.albertina.at

WEEGEE Press photo retrospective.

Through 12 Feb. Tue., Wed., Fri., 14:00–19:00 Sat.–Sun., 11:00–19:00 Galerie Westlicht 7., Westbahnstraße 40 www.westlicht.at

Events Calendar

UTOPIA TOTAL WORK OF ART The historical concept of the total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) is the focus of this show, offering a critical perspective on the idea of Modernism.

Through 20 May Daily, 10:00–18:00 Wed., 10:00–21:00 Lower Belvedere 3., Rennweg 6 (01) 795 56-0 www.belvedere.at ADOLF LOOS UND WIEN A photographic survey of Loos’s architecture in Vienna Through Feb. 17 Mon.–Fri., 9:00–18:00 Ausstellungszentrum im Ringturm 1., Schottenring 30 (0) 50 350–21064 www.vig.com EDWARD WESTON A small display of three nudes of Anita Brenner from Weston, among others.

Through Mar. 3 Tue.–Fri., 10:00–18:00 Sat., 10:00–16:00 Galerie Johannes Fischer 1., Dorotheergasse 12 (01) 512 84 32 www.jmcfaber.at Photo: Dilated Peoples/Decon Records

The Vienna Review

Photo: Chris Rea/Foto MLK/Stadthalle

24

From left to right: A portrait of Gustav Klimt from the exhibit “Up Close and Personal” at the Leopold Museum; Weegee’s photo “Summer, Lower East Side” on display at the Westlicht gallery; bluesy guitarist Chris Rea brings his legendary deep voice to the Stadthalle; the underground hip-hop trio from Los Angeles, Dilated Peoples brings their rhymes and rhythms to Szene Wien

JAZZ CONCERTS PAUL FIELDS TRIO With Fields on violin, accompanied by guitar and bass, the Trio offers a Central European “Swing” program including lieder, Hungarian folk tunes, and the occasional Yiddish melody, rounding out a sound that, much like a dear friend, is both familiar and contemporary, and certainly welcome.

10 Feb., 20:00 Zum Lustigen Radfahrer 13., Rohrbacherstraße 21 (01) 877 87 39 or’s Editoice www.ig-jazz.at h c

BLUE NOTE SIX These long-time Vienna favourites sustain a lively Dixieland ensemble, breathing new life into standards. The Blue Note Six is that rare act dedicated to its audience, who live to perform, instead of the other way around.

11 Feb., 21:00 Jazzland 1., Franz-Josefs-Kai 29 (01) 533 25 75 www.jazzland.at MICHAEL WOLLNY & THEO BLECKMANN Pianist Michael Wollny, a major protagonist of the young European jazz scene and an improviser on electro-acoustic adaptations of Gustav Mahler, shares the podium with versatile jazz vocalist Theo Bleckmann.

14 Feb., 20:00 Konzerthaus, Berio Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 002 www.konzerthaus.at

RALPH TOWNER & PAOLO FRESU DUO A sublime evening with duets from the Sardinian trumpet master, and the acoustic guitarist of Oregon and Weather Report renown.

15 Feb., 20:30 Porgy & Bess 1., Riemergasse 11 (01) 512 88 11 www.porgy.at FRANK ZAPPA TRIBUTE Featuring keyboardist Don Preston and reed man Napoleon Murphy Brock, this tribute carries on in the irreverent and challenging Zappa way. Long live the Grande Mothers!

16 Feb., 20:30 Porgy & Bess 1., Riemergasse 11 (01) 512 88 11 www.porgy.at JAZZ. CAN YOU DIG IT? Featuring vocalist Carole Alston and a quartet of top soloists to frame the argument, expect a very musical journey with expert instruction.

17 Feb., 18:00 Musikverein, Brahms-Saal 1., Bösendorferstraße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at LEILA THIGPEN & HUBERT TUBBS BAND Fans of Tarantino soundtracks, Dave Grusin and the “jazzsoul” sound of the fusion era, will enjoy two soulful vocalists and a Booker T-influenced backing unit.

20 Feb., 21:00 Tunnel Vienna Live 8., Florianigasse 39 (01) 405 34 65 www.tunnel-vienna-live.at

SCOTT ROBINSON Jazz authority Will Friedwald has compared multi-instrumentalist Robinson to “an otherworldly visitor”, stating that “no one else” does “what Mr. Robinson is doing: playing every style that exists in the jazz world (and classical, pop and world music besides), on almost every horn known to man...” Sure to be the jazz week of the month. or’s 21–25 Feb., 21:00 Editoice ch Jazzland 1., Franz-Josefs-Kai 29 (01) 533 25 75 www.jazzland.at SHEILA COOPER & FRITZ PAUER Fritz Pauer, a great exponent of the lush Ellington style tradition, and Sheila Cooper, a multi-talented composer, vocalist and horn player, will surely breathe new life into the Ellington canon.

24 Feb., 20:00 Musikverein, Gläserner Saal, Magna Auditorium 1., Bösendorferstraße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at LAMBCHOP Although not strictly jazz, Kurt Wagner’s Lambchop is busily redefining genres, and great for those who enjoy the musical adventurism exhibited by jazz artists. The American vocalist Cortney Tidwell will open for them by Wagner’s special request.

27 Feb., 21:00 Großer Saal Konzerthause 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 002 www.konzerthaus.at

POP/ROCK CONCERTS THE BLANKS A quartet of friends, The Blanks are an a cappella and sketch comedy group known for their role as “Ted’s Band” on the comedy series Scrubs.

3 Feb., 21:00 Gasometer 11., Guglgasse 6 (01) 96 0 96 www.planet.tt DILATED PEOPLES An American underground hip-hop group from Los Angeles, the trio twice reached the UK Top 40 singles chart.

6 Feb., 21:00 Szene Wien 11., Hauffgasse 26 (01) 332 46 41-25 www.szenewien.com

THE SOUNDS This Swedish indie rock band sounds like a fusion of The Cars, Blondie and Missing Persons, and is known for its flamboyant shows.

17 Feb., 20:00 Gasometer 11., Guglgasse 6 (01) 96 0 96 www.planet.tt CHRIS REA British popster Chris Rea has sold more than 30 million records with his smoky voice and bluesy guitar. The Santo Spirito Tour 2012 celebrates his first new material in over a decade.

17 Feb., 20:00 Wiener Stadthalle, Halle F 15., Vogelweidplatz 14 (01) 799 99 79 www.stadthalle.com

AWOLNATION An American indie rock band and the solo project of Aaron Bruno, AWOLNATION’s first single “Sail” made it to the Top 30 Billboard Alternative Song Charts when it came out in 2011.

14 Feb., 20:00 Arena 3., Baumgasse 80 (01) 798 85 95 www.arena.co.at

THE PIGEON DETECTIVES The British indie rock outfit Pigeon Detectives stands out with its guitar-driven sound... and their Yorkshire accents.

They return to Europe in support of their third album Up, Guards and At ‘Em!.

17 Feb., 21:30 Chelsea 8., Stadtbahnboegen 29-31 (01) 17 99 www.chelsea.co.at

REEL BIG FISH The famed American ska-punk band brings its “End of the World Celebration”.

FLEX 16 Feb., 20:00 1., Augartenbrücke Donaukanal (01) 533 75 25 www.flex.at

GASMAC GILMORE A mix of trashy beats, klezmer, and heavy metal, the quartet received the “Austrian Newcomer Award” and the “Best Live Act Award” in 2009.

18 Feb., 20:00 ORF RadioKulturhaus 4., Argentinierstraße 30a www.radiokulturhaus.orf.at

STING With a focus on bass and a pure presentation, the “Back to Bass Tour” centres around Sting’s solo work, while featuring hits from his time with The Police.

19 Feb., 20:00 or’s Editoice h Gasometer c 11., Guglgasse 6 (01) 96 0 96 www.planet.tt JUSTICE The French electronic duo is known for incorporating strong rock and indie influences into its style, while its newest album even takes a heavy metal approach to electronica.

23 Feb., 20:00 Gasometer 11., Guglgasse 6 (01) 96 0 96 www.planet.tt PONTIAK + GURLFRIENDS Two three-piece bands come together in one night: Pontiak, a band of brothers known for its loud rock and roll, and Gurlfriends, a Viennese alternative rock band.

27 Feb., 20:00 Arena 3., Baumgasse 80 (01) 798 85 95 www.arena.co.at 3 DOORS DOWN The quintet from Mississippi keeps its rock simple and straightforward. The tour promotes its newest album Time of My Life.

1 Mar., 20:00 Gasometer 11., Guglgasse 6 (01) 96 0 96 www.planet.tt

Events Calendar

THE BEST OF MUSICALS Presents highlights from worldrenowned musicals such as Mamma Mia!, West Side Story, Lion King and Dirty Dancing.

20, 21 Feb., 20:00 Wiener Stadthalle 15., Vogelweidplatz 14 (01) 98 100 0 www.stadthalle.at

ICH WAR NOCH NIEMALS IN NEW YORK On a cruise ship bound for America, Lisa and Axel are in hot pursuit of their parents, who ran away to be married under the Statue of Liberty.

See website for times Raimund Theater 6., Wallgasse 18-20 (01) 588 85 www.musicalvienna.at

OPERA FAUST Gounod’s enduring opera of Goethe’s tale translates Faust’s craving lust for knowledge into one for eternal youth. Only after revision did it appear as Faust. It has been running in Vienna since 1862.

1, 4, 7, 10 Feb., 19:00 Wiener Staatsoper 1., Opernring 2 (01) 514 44 2250 www.wiener-staatsoper.at DER MANTEL AND GIANNI SCHICHI Two very different one-act operas by Puccini. Der Mantel, or Il Tabarro, is a tale of love, jealousy and murder set on a barge moored in Paris. The second opera owes it origin to Dante’s Divine Comedy and is a farce about greed and cunning trickery. Shichi is sent to Hell for his efforts, but appeals that he is justified by “extenuating circumstances”.

1, 9, 15, 24, 27 Feb., 19:00 Volksoper 9., Währinger Straße 78 (01) 514 44 3670 www.volksoper.at

SISTER ACT Faced with a mob boss boyfriend who wants to see her dead, lounge singer Deloris seeks shelter in a convent. Hilarity ensues.

See website for times Ronacher Theater 1., Seilerstätte 9 (01) 588 85 www.musicalvienna.at

L’ELISIR D’AMORE The April 2005 performances of this opera were among the greatest nights of the past decade, if audience reaction is an acceptable barometer. The hero of those nights, Rolando Villazon, returns to sing Nemorino for two performances opposite Sylvia Schwartz 18, 21 Feb., 20:00 ’s itor Wiener Staatsoper Edchoice 1., Opernring 2 (01) 514 44 2250 www.wiener-staatsoper.at TELEMACO An opera of the ancient Greek classical world by Christoph Willibald Gluck that dates from 1765. Relatively unknown by comparison with Orpheus and Eurydice or Alceste for example it shares a greek classical theme and first performances in Vienna. The music is by the Akademie für Alte Musik, conducted by Rene Jacobs. The title role is sung by the great countertenor Bejun Metha.

19, 22, 24, 27, 29 Feb., 19:00 2 Mar., 19:00 Theater an der Wien 6., Linke Wienzeile 6 (01) 588 85 www.theater-wien.at

Photo: Dimo Dimov/Volksoper

Photo: stomponline.com

LE CONCOURS Ballet isn’t all beauty and grace.

This show examines the often cut-throat intricacies of one of dance’s most revered forms.

2, 8 Feb., 19:30; or’s 5 Feb., 16:30 Editoice ch Volksoper FROM RIO TO VIENNA  9., Währinger Straße 78 FROM CARNIVAL TO (01) 514 44 3670 GSCHNAS www.volksoper.at Costume ball and the lively tones of rumba, samba and MY FAIR LADY salsa. Dress code is Rio, carniVienna’s favourite musical taps val or stylish.

Eliza, Harold, Col. Pickering 20 Feb., 21:00 and company to beat the win- Wiener Konzerthaus try blues with dazzling period 3., Lothringerstraße 20 costumes and old classics.

(01) 242 000 3, 7, 10, 14, 18 Feb., 19:00 www.konzerthaus.at Volksoper 9., Währinger Straße 78 GYPSY NIGHT (01) 514 44 3670 Celebrating the 20th anniverwww.volksoper.at sary since the band’s founding, Mosa Sisic and The Gypsy ExSTOMP! press introduce eccentric Roma The fascinatingly rhythmic music to one of the world’s stage show brings its drums, classical music capitals. sticks, hands and feet along for 25 Feb., 20:00 a fast-paced stage show.

Theaterverein Wiener Through 12 Feb. Metropol MuseumsQuartier 17., Hernalser Hauptstr. 55 7., Museumsplatz 1, Hall E (01) 407 77 407 www.halleneg.at www.wiener-metropol.at

THE ART OF THE JAPANESE DRUM Kodo, legendary pioneers of Japanese drumming, meld virtuosity, communicative energy and disciplined precision into a choreographic masterpiece.

29 Feb., 20:00 Wiener Stadthalle 15., Vogelweidplatz 14 (01) 98 100 0 www.stadthalle.at

February 2012

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IL GIUSTINO Il Giustino by Antonio Vivaldi dates from 1724 and is presented in concert form (without costume or staging) for one performance only as part of a series of 12 operas being presented in concert form here during the season. The music is by the orchestra I virtuosi delle Muse, conducted by Stefano Molardi.

21 Feb., 19:00 Theater an der Wien 6., Linke Wienzeile 6 (01) 588 85 www.theater-wien.at CARMEN These are the only three performances of Carmen this season. The singers include Elena Maximova as Carmen and Massimo Giordano as Don Jose in this production

by Zeffirelli. However, it is the return of the great baritone, Carlos Alvarez, to sing Escamillo (the Toreador) that is so eagerly awaited. Be sure to queue early for standing-room only tickets.

24, 27 Feb., 1 Mar., 19:00 Wiener Staatsoper 1., Opernring 2 (01) 514 44 2250 www.wiener-staatsoper.at

Photo: Tanzcafé Jenseits

MUSICAL/DANCE

The Vienna Review

Photo: Lukas Beck/Klangforum

On the Town

From left to right: the characters Hamsterin and Giorgetta from Puccini’s “Der Mantel”, on stage at the Volksoper; STOMP 2012 - Fresher! Faster! Funnier! appearing in Halle E at the MuseumsQuartier; the red-velvet interior of Tanzcafé Jenseits before the dancefloor gets grooving; Austria’s leading contemporary music ensemble Klangforum at the Konzerthaus

CLASSICAL CONCERTS ORGAN CONCERTS Free concerts beginning with J. S. Bach, but then featuring organ literature from the last 500 years.

Mon.–Thu., 15:00 Fri.–Sun., 20:00 Peterskirche 1., Petersplatz 6 (01) 533 64 33 www.peterskirche.at/musik ROYAL STOCKHOLM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili plays Brahms’ violin concerto, and Stravinsky’s Firebird. Sakari Oramo directs.

1 Feb., 19:30 Musikverein, Großer Saal 1., Bösendorferstraße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at HAGEN QUARTET Haydn’s “joke” quartet also plays Bartók and Brahms.

2 Feb., 19:30 Konzerthaus, Mozart-Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 00-100 www.konzerthaus.at MARTIN GRUBINGER Percussionist Martin Grubinger, his father Martin Grubinger Sr., and Leonhard Schmidinger perform works by Stravinsky, Fazil Say and Bartók. Twins Ferhan and Ferzan Önder on piano.

3 Feb., 19:30 Konzerthaus, Mozart-Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 00-100 www.konzerthaus.at

JONAS KAUFMANN The tenor performs late-Romantic songs by Liszt, Mahler, Duparc and Richard Strauss.

13 Feb., 19:30 Musikverein, Großer Saal 1., Bösendorferstraße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at MITSUKO UCHIDA Schubert piano sonatas played by one of the most expressive Schubert interpreters.

14 Feb., 19:30 Musikverein, Großer Saal 1., Bösendorferstraße 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at KLANGFORUM WIEN Vienna’s virtuosic avant-garde music ensemble plays Boulez, Cerha, Furrer and Neuwirth.

15 Feb., 19:30 Konzerthaus, Großer Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 or’s (01) 242 00-100 Editoice h c www.konzerthaus.at BLÜTHNER SE Piano trios by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky played by Vienna Symphony members.

17 Feb., 19:30 Großer Ehrbarsaal Wien 4, Mühlgasse 30 (01) 512 01 10 www.bluethnerzyklus.at ENSEMBLE RECONSIL Schoenberg’s Book of the Hanging Gardens, and new double concertos for sax and trumpet, and for flute and accordion.

22 Feb., 19:30 Arnold Schönberg Center in Palais Fanto 3., Zaunergasse 1–3 (01) 712 18 88 www.schoenberg.at

RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA De Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Danzón No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.

24 Feb., 19:30 Konzerthaus, Großer Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 00-100 www.konzerthaus.at BENJAMIN KOPPEL & SJAELLANDS STRING QUARTET Contemporary music from Denmark, with works by Anders Koppel and the worldwide debut of a new instrument: the mezzo-saxophone.

25 Feb., 19:30 RadioKulturhaus, Großer Sendesaal 4., Argentinierstraße 30a (01) 501 70 377 radiokulturhaus.orf.at MARGOT: MEMOIRS OF AN UNHAPPY QUEEN A musical monologue by Belgrade composer Goran Bregović.

26 Feb., 19:30 Theater an der Wien 6., Linke Wienzeile 6 (01) 588 30-660 www.theater-wien.at RISING STARS: QUATUOR MODIGLIANI Formed in 2003, this is one of the most sought-after young quartets in Europe. Expect works by Mozart, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn.

27 Feb., 19:30 Konzerthaus, Schubert-Saal 3., Lothringerstraße 20 (01) 242 00-100 www.konzerthaus.at

NIGHTLIFE FLANAGAN’S IRISH PUB An Irish-owned and -staffed pub, Flanagan’s claims it was dismantled and transported straight from an Irish village into Vienna. With its sturdy wooden tables, screenings of Premier League football matches, and plentiful supply of Ireland’s most lucrative export, Guinness, its claim appears true.

1., Schwarzenbergstraße 1–3 (01) 513 73 78 www.flanagans.at LUTZ Two floors in which to contemplate life while retaining a party mood: a basement serving as a fairly high-end club, and an upper area that is both bar and café. A glass partition separates smoking sections, and the mirrored ceiling balances subtle seduction and glowing comfort. Try the Irish coffee and lychee bellinis.

6., Mariahilferstraße 3 0664 80 305 405 www.lutz-bar.at ESA A Mexican restaurant, bar, lounge and live music venue known for the wait staff’s friendliness. Food is hit-ormiss, but the cocktails are excellent. The lighting is low, the décor is homey, and the feel is very festive. Latin music is the usual pick, and live performances are usually performed in Spanish.

7., Neustiftgasse 38 (01) 957 84 37 www.esa-restaurant.com

SHIRAZ Built inside the arched building of the U-Bahn station, this branch of Shiraz bar and club boasts a groundfloor with live music and a club-of-sorts, and a first floor filled with soft couches and cushiony armchairs where waterpipe enthusiasts can enjoy food, drinks and the occasional smoke.

19., U-Bahn Bogen 185, at Döblinger Gürtel 2 0664 33 55 555 www.shiraz.at

CHURCHES CHRIST CHURCH VIENNA The Vienna arm of the Anglican Church has been around at least since the 1600s, and now congregates at the 1877 chapel.

Sunday, 8:00, 10:00, 18:00 3., Jauresgasse 12 (01) 714 89 00 www.christchurchvienna.org

RA’MIEN Not just Vienna’s best spot for Pad-Thai, Ra’mien opens into a downstairs bar and club.

Tuesdays are karaoke nights, Thursdays feature disco, and weekends host DJs playing soul, house and club.

6., Gumpendorferstraße 9 (01) 585 47 98 www.ramien.at/bar

VIENNA COMMUNITY CHURCH The VCC meets in the Reformierte Stadtkirche built in 1783, offering an interdenominational and international congregation.

Every Sunday, 12:00 1., Dorotheergasse 16 (01) 505 52 33 www.viennacommunitychurch.com

CLUB COUTURE Combining light, music, theatre and the stage, this “soul club” specialises in R&B, hiphop and Latin soul. The kaleidoscope of colours on the walls creates a Manhattan-esque avant-garde vibe.

22., Wagramerstraße 79 (01) 204 31 14 www.clubcouture.at

VIENNA CHRISTIAN CENTER Nine services in eight languages, including two in English.

Every Sunday 9:30, International Fellowship 12:00, African Fellowship 3., Baumgasse 72 (01) 796 91 76 www.viennachristiancenter.at

TANZCAFE JENSEITS Get that decadent feel of a 1920s brothel without actually visiting one. The prostitution days are gone but the funk and soul grooves from the DJ keep the dancefloor hopping until 4am. r’s 6., Nelkengasse 3 Editooice ch (01) 587 12 33 www.tanzcafe-jenseits.com

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS The Mormon community offers family programs, activity nights, special concerts, and service and outreach programs.

Meeting House 2., Böcklinstrasse 55 (01) 720 7985 www.lds.org

26

The Vienna Review February 2012

Events Calendar

MOZART’S HOUSE A children’s audio guide (ages 6-12) is available in English.

Daily, 10:00–19:00 Mozarthaus Vienna 1., Domgasse 5 (01) 512 17 91 www.mozarthausvienna.at

1., Burgring 7 WALKING TOURS www.emac2011.univie.ac.at OLD VIENNA This walk will take you along the narrow streets and hidden little squares between St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the city’s University Quarter.

Mon., 10:30 1., corner Albertinaplatz/ Maysedergasse (01) 485 97 13 www.wienguide.at

PETER PAN The childhood classic is projected onstage with all of Peter’s friends and enemies.

18–25 Feb. Burgtheater 1., Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 2 (01) 51 444 4140 www.burgtheater.at

UNDERGROUND VIENNA Visit some of Vienna’s unseen cellars, passageways, and crypts.

Wed., 13:30 Michaelerkirche entrance 1., Michaelerplatz or’s (01) 774 89 01 Editoice h c www.wienguide.at

FAMILY CARNIVAL PARTIES Traditional carnival bash with music, shows, games and crafts at the Rathaus. No toy weapons permitted. Kinderfreunde is offering 9 other smaller parties during February as well.

19 Feb., 15:00 –17:30 Kinderfreunde 1., Rathausplatz (01) 401 25 11 www.wien.kinderfreunde.at

HOFBURG’S SECRETS Outlines the Hofburg’s history and the stories of its inhabitants in a way that is suitable for schoolchildren and students.

Sun., 11:15 1., Michaelerplatz, excavations office@wienfuehrung.at www.wienguide.at HUNDERTWASSER’S CITY FANTASIES Explore the ideas and philosophy of the late Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, as well as his most famous buildings in the city.

Sun., 11:15 1., corner Rotenturmstraße/ Schwedenplatz (01) 485 97 13 www.wienguide.at VIENNA’S JEWISH TRADITION Return to the early 10th century to trace back the history of the Jewish communities in Vienna and their developments until the modern day.

2, 16 Feb., 14:00 Jewish Museum entrance 1., Dorotheergasse 11 (01) 368 64 01 www.wienguide.at HISTORY OF MEDICINE Trace back the history and developments of modern medicine, and learn about the role that Vienna played in marking this progress.

3, 17 Feb., 14:00 1., Albertinaplatz www.wienfuehrung.com MURDERERS, WITCHES & EXECUTIONERS Learn more about the history and early beginnings of the Viennese criminal law, and the characters that broke them.

4, 18 Feb., 10:30 1., Albertinaplatz www.wienguide.at DOROTHEUM Take this walk to get to know the history and social developments of one of the largest auction houses in Europe.

5 Feb., 14:30 Dorotheum 1., Dorotheergasse 17 www.wienguide.at PEOPLE IN HOTELS This tour will tell you more about the anecdotes and scandals that once took place in some of Vienna’s most popular hotels.

5, 18 Feb., 16:00 Hotel Imperial entrance 1., Kärntner Ring 16 patrizia.kindl@chello.at www.wienguide.at

On the Town

Stiegengasse, tucked into the 6th District. Orginal watercolor by Judann Weichselbraun, judann.w@chello.at

EROS & THE HABSBURGS This walking tour through the Hofburg Palace will introduce you to the romantic relationships between the members of the Habsburg dynasty, their love affairs and imperial scandals. Expect tales of mistresses and same-sex interludes.

11, 25 Feb., 10:30 1., Michaelerplatz www.wienfuehrung.com

WAGNER’S PARSIFAL AND THE DISCOURSE OF REGENERATION The EURIAS Visiting Fellow and Professor in Fine Arts from Stanford. Karol Berger presents part of his current project entitled “After Reason: Wagner contra Nietzsche”.

21 Feb., 18:00 IWM Library 9., Spittelauer Lände 3 (01) 313 58-0 www.iwm.at

SLEDDING & TOBOGGAN Just an hour outside of Vienna are slopes and a 3 kilometrelong sledding/tobogganing trail with special effects.

Daily, 8:30–16:00 Sun.–Wed., 18:00–21:00 Thu.–Sat., 18:00–22:00 Semmering-Hirschenkogel 2680 Semmering, Zauberberg 1 (02) 664 8038 www.zauberberg.at IMPERIAL BUTTERFLY HOUSE The tropical garden and inhabitants of the Schmetterlinghaus warm the heart and toes.

Daily, 10:00–15:45 Schmetterlinghaus 1., Hofburg (01) 533 85 70 www.schmetterlinghaus.at

LECTURES

WOMEN AT WORK Louise Kubelka, Ph.D. in law at the University of Vienna, examines models of paid parentity leave in the EU, discussing historical, legal, semantic, and economic concerns.

22 Feb., 16:30 IWM Library 9., Spittelauer Lände 3 (01) 313 58-0 www.iwm.at

RUSSIAN NATIONALISM IN LATE IMPERIAL KIEV Is there an alternative national identity? Olha Martynyuk, Ph.D. candidate in Ukrainian history, examines the conditions leading to the 1917 revolution.

1, Feb., 16:30 IWM Library 9., Spittelauer Lände 3 (01) 313 58-0 www.iwm.at

COGSYS 2012 The 5th International Conference on Cognitive Systems presents pioneering research in robotics and cognitive systems and promotes discussion between researchers from around the world. Registration required. or’s 22–23 Feb. Editoice h Vienna University of c Technology, Kuppelsaal 4., Karlsplatz 13 cogsys2012.acin.tuwien.ac.at

JOSEFINE MUTZENBACHER A fascinating walking tour based on the life of Josefine Mutzenbacher, a Viennese prostitute in the second half of the 19th century, immortalized in her memoirs.

21 Feb., 14:00 1., Michaelerplatz www.wienfuehrung.com

BUILT IN THE SUN & WIND Celebrated Australian architect Glenn Murcutt will host this hands-on, kid-friendly workshop, exploring environmentally conscious methods of climate control by examining traditional Aboriginal building techniques and theorizing about homes of the future.

Registration required.

6–9 Feb., 10:00–12:00 Architekturzentrum Wien – Podium 7., Museumsplatz 1 (01) 522 31 15 www.azw.at

CHILDREN ICE SKATING & CURLING One of the main attractions of winter in Vienna is zooming around the city on a pair of ice skates. From the rink by Stadtpark, to the favourite Rathausplatz rink, and even the Old Danube, opportunities for skating and curling abound.

Through early March, weather permitting www.wien.gv.at www.wien-konkret.au

INDOOR CLIMBING Small classes are offered in the 17th and 23rd districts for beginners and advanced climbers between 5 and 16.

February–March Abendteuerschule 0676 527 22 66 www.abenteuerschule.at MUSIC CLASSES Music, song, dance and hundreds of instruments for babies and even older children.

KinderMusikGruppe 8., Lerchenfelderstraße 130 0650 220 20 60 www.kindermusikgruppe.at INDOOR PLAYGROUND This new indoor playground is easy to reach with the U6 and includes a challenging highrope climbing garden.

Mon., Wed., Fri., 13:00–19:00 Tue., Thu., Sat., Sun., holidays, 10:00–19:00 Fri. nights open for teenagers, 19:15–22:00 Monki Park 20., Handelskai 94-96, Millennium City (01) 330 18 91 www.monkipark.at

ENSEMBLE KLINGKLANG Two Grimm fairytales (Snow White and The Hare and the Hedgehog) are presented in concert as Märchenhaftes von Feld und Wald.

24 Feb., 15:00 25–26 Feb., 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 Musikverein 1., Bösendorferstrasse 12 (01) 505 81 90 www.musikverein.at KNIGHT ROST’S KITCHEN CONCERT Ritter Rost Band promises to rock the kitchen with their Schrottküche concert. Wear a cook’s hat to the concert for a little prize!

25 Feb., 15:00 WUK 9., Währinger Straße 59 (01) 401 210 www.wuk.at

FILM THE ARTIST A black and white drama portrays a life of George Valentin, 1920s Hollywood superstar.

Technological developments threaten to ruin Valentin’s career as a famous actor. Sure to win a few Oscars.

Throughout Feb. or’s Editoice Actor’s Studio ch 1., Tuchlaben 13 (01) 533 52 32 www.cineplexx.at J. EDGAR The story of the man who for 50 years remained at the top of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ready to pay any sacrifice to protect his country.

Throughout Feb. Haydn English Cinema 6., Mariahifer Straße 57 (01) 587 22 62 www.haydn.at HEIL HITLER  DIE RUSSEN KOMMEN This documentary set in the World War II is a testimony of witnesses and victims that struggled with the Russian counterinsurgency in the last years of the war. The narratives go beyond the mere historical facts.

Throughout Feb. Urania Kino 1., Uraniastraße 1 (01) 71 58 206 www.cineplexx.at

EMPIRE ME! “Simultaneously creative documentary and pulsating cultural portrait, the film traces a new ‘unplugged’ generation – their motives, their anxieties and their dreams.”

Throughout Feb. Burg Kino 1., Opernring 19 (01) 587 84 06 www.burgkino.at THE DESCENDANTS A family drama portraying a father and daughter’s struggle to reconcile the past, which continues to haunt them after his wife and her mother dies.

Throughout Feb. or’s Burg Kino Editoice ch 1., Opernring 19 (01) 587 84 06 www.burgkino.at MEIN LIEBSTER ALPTRAUM She enjoys intellectual debates; he loves casual sex, bars and women. They live in two different worlds and cannot bear the sight of each other. But one thing unites them: their teenage sons who happen to be best friends.

Throughout Feb. Votiv Kino 9., Währinger Straße 12 1., Schottenring 5 (01) 317 52 36 www.votivkino.at TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Dame, König, As, Spion – a controversial Cold War film, set in the 1970s, that reveals dirty tricks by the intelligence agencies behind enemy lines.

Starts 2 Feb. Burg Kino 1., Opernring 19 (01) 587 84 06 www.burgkino.at FILM MUSEUM MARATHON Seven debut works by the American comedian Preston Sturges, covering the period from 1940 to 1944.

Starts 10 Feb. Filmmuseum 1., Augustinerstraße 1 (01) 533 70 54 www.filmmuseum.at GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG This screen adaption of Wagner’s opera is sung in German with German subtitles. Starring Deborah Voigt, Waltraud Meier, and Hans-Peter König.

Starts 11 Feb., 18:00 Village Cinemas 3., Landstraßer Hauptstraße 2a (01) 242 40 www.villagecinemas.at EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE A boy scours New York City, looking for the matching lock for his orphaned key that his father left behind when he died in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

Starts 17 Feb. Haydn English Cinema 6., Mariahifer Straße 57 (01) 587 22 62 www.haydn.at CHEYENNE  THIS MUST BE THE PLACE An aging rockstar played by Sean Penn embarks on a quest to find his father’s torturer in Auschwitz. See complete review on p.30.

Throughout Feb. or’s Editoice Kino De France ch 1., Schottenring 5 (01) 317 52 36 www.votivkino.at

28

The Vienna Review February 2012

by Christian Cummins It had been snowing heavily for three days and three nights in Lech am Arlberg, a ski village in the far west of Austria. The main street through the village was frozen white and the parked cars were so laden with snow that they looked like a row of soft white pillows. The steeply pitched roofs of the village were sporting gorgeous white hats and the boulders that lurked mid stream of the dark fast-flowing Lech river looked like fluffy white mushrooms.

My hotel, the Pension Brühlhof, lay 200 metres up a slope above the village. So every morning, I’d wake up, open the door of the balcony, look over the town and breathe in that intoxicating smell of freshly falling snow; and then head off for the fresh powder slopes.

My guide was “wild woman” Lorraine Huber who was showing me the slopes where she honed the skills that have made her a star of the Freeski World Tour – where the world’s best off-piste skiers compete on the most extreme territory in the mountains. Even when she is not competing, her motto is “Never ski on a marked ski piste if you can avoid it.” And as our day approached its end and the snow was falling from pink-tinged clouds of dusk, she’d done a pretty impressive job of sticking to that pledge. We’d spent the afternoon up to our thighs in snow that was so light and easy to ski in, it was like floating.

“Just try to stay as close to me as possible,” she’d advised me, as she launched herself into yet another untracked expanse, the fresh snow exploding above her pink ski jacket as she sprang into the first turn. But following Lorraine is easier said than done.

Freeskiers hate being called adrenaline junkies. They choose their lines with exceeding care and study the snow consistency in minute detail.

In many ways, they are professors of the mountains. But TV doesn’t show the preparation. There you just see the runs, and since those usually involve the freeskiers hurtling down rock-strewn slopes that seem near vertical, the daredevil image remains. As he poured me a strengthening wheat beer, Guntram, the landlord of the Brühlhof, raised his eyebrows when I told him I’d be skiing with Lorraine. “She’s crazy!” he chuckled.

Lorraine’s appearance fitted the stereotype when she picked me up for our ski session. She was wearing a bandage under her chin to cover the six stitches she’d had put in the night before to repair a fresh skiing wound.

“How did you do it?” I asked.

“Jumping off a cliff,” she replied, “I landed on some snow already flattened by one of my mates and the impact made me hit my chin on my knee.”

But Lorraine looked after me well that glorious day. She gave me tips in maintaining my balance when it got steeper and the powder got deeper, telling me to actively use my ankles to keep my weight central over the ski by making sure that I could feel the whole sole of my foot in the boot. “If you feel pressure on your heel, you are hanging too far back. If you can only feel the ball of your foot you’re leaning too far forward.” It’s hard to get it wrong though when the temperature is low and that snow is fresh. It

On The Road

Some see serenity and some see adventure: In Lech you can take your pick Photo: Christian Cummins

Freeskiers, families and the snow-crazed elite relish the soft powder and hearty cuisine in Lech: Christian Cummins examines what makes this resort so unique

No Business Like Snow Business

Fearless freeskier Lorraine teaches our writer the tricks of the trade Photo: Christian Cummins

gives way, but checks your speed and you can just jump into it. This is dream skiing.

Indeed Lech am Arlberg is very much a powder hound’s dream destination. At 1,450 metres above sea level, it is high for an Austrian resort.

The lifts will take you another thousand metres further up and making Lech one of the snowiest villages in Europe, receiving an average of 7 metres of snow fall each winter.

I fell under its spell on the evening after my first day, standing on the balcony of the Brühlhof (under €100/night). With my legs still pulsing, I was watching the falling flakes blur the outline of the village which is dominated by the austere dark tower on the onion-domed church and is backed by the craggy Omesberg, which is the sort of perfect rocky triangular of a mountain that you drew when, as a child, you imagined how mountains should look.

Indeed Lech has a reputation for seducing its visitors. Some 80% of the tourists who visit Lech this winter will be returning guests. But it’s not just the off-piste powder snow that attracts this faithful devotion. Perfectly groomed blue runs, serviced by chairlifts with heated-seats, are suited to families and fans of the more gentle forms of skiing. When the sun’s out – and I have seen evidence that this does happen – you can cruise the pistes at your sedate leisure, with the requisite number of cosy wooden ski-huts with hunting trophies on the walls and cakes in the ovens.

The Arlberg ski pass covers the lifts around the neighbouring high-altitude hamlet of Zürs, which is reachable in just ten minutes by road or via a serpentine run down from the Rütikopfl cable car, which starts its ascent from the centre of Lech, and the pass also covers the extensive ski area around the town of St. Anton, Lech’s larger, brasher cousin on the other side of the Arlberg pass. So, all in all, if your legs are up to it (and this is why it is wise to make full use of the traditional Austrian “could feed an army” breakfast

On the Town buffet) you can ski 280km of piste. The ski area limits the number of ski passes it sells a day to 14,000, so even in high season you shouldn’t have to queue for the lifts. And then, in the evening, you can restore the burned calories with filling but deliciously prepared mountain food in an acclaimed, centuries old restored farmhouse with the delightfully minimalistic name Haus nr. 8.

Famously (or notoriously) some Lech aficionados belong to the international jet set, becoming famous worldwide as the winter escape of the late Princess Diana. It is not known whether it was in Lech where Prince Harry had that first fateful exposure to Schnapps, but royalty still flocks to the little Alpine village and the guestlist make it seem like a high-altitude St. Tropez.

Most hotels in Lech seem to belong to a few extended local families – the Schneiders, Walchs and the Strolzs – but Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska caused a storm by buying the Aurelio, now decked-out in modern chic.

Hoping to see how the 1 per cent lived, I wandered into the public bar of the Post, shaking the fallen snow from my coat and ordered a surprisingly reasonably priced Glühwein, the Austrian mulled wine. There was not a royal in sight, nor a celebrity, not even any reality TV stars.

But the staff didn’t bat an eyelash at my rather wild, unshaven appearance, something I have always appreciated about mountain hospitality in Austria, and the Glühwein warmed my stomach for the walk back to my hotel through the snow storm which, for a fourth night, showed no sign of letting up, with the flakes soft and giant under the yellowish light of the streetlamps.

Despite its royal connections and the occasional champagne bars, Lech remains a skier’s village on a skier’s mountain. The so-called “Arlberg method” turned what had been a rather specialist arcane mountain discipline into a sport that could attract and inspire the masses. The iconic 1931 film “Der Weisse Rausch” (Trans: “White Ecstasy”) was shot in these mountains and featured local pioneers like Hannes Schneider, bursting through the powder and performing death-defying leaps. My guide Lorraine is the latest in a long line of hard skiers that have shaped the culture of this mountain.

I couldn’t keep up with Lorraine, of course.

I followed her through some waist high snow between some brown shrubs that gave welcome contrast in the dying light, then as things got steeper and I had put in some cowardly and rather hesitant turns, she had shot straight down the mountain and was just a pink dot in the distance. She’d already caught her breath by the time I arrived, bursting with joyous endorphins at the bottom of the powder run. We yahoo-ed and high-fived but English boys never pull off that manoeuvre without a certain degree of awkwardness.

“You’re a lucky girl to live here!” I panted.

“I know!” She grinned. ¸ Lech-Zuers Tourism GmbH Lech Office 6764, Lech (0) 5583 2161 - 0 www.lech-zuers.at

INVITATION INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS: “Nomadism and Mobile Ways of Life in the Americas” February 14th – 17th, 2012 at Observatory Wiener Urania INAUGURATION: Tuesday, February, 14th 2012 at 6:00 PM. Big Salon at Haus der Begegnung Leopoldstadt, Praterstern 1, 1020 Vienna.

LECTURES: February, 15th – 17th, daily from 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM. Roof-top Conference Room at Observatory Wiener Urania, Uraniastraße 1, 1010 Vienna.

PROGRAM: www.konak-wien.org

Congress Participation 4 Days: 80 EUR | Half-price: 40 EUR | Including Congress Materials, Coffee Breaks, Special Events, Certificate | One-Day Pass: 30 EUR | Half-price: 15 EUR | Including Coffee Breaks, Special Program of the Day

Online Registration: www.vhs.at/urania Email: kursanmeldung.urania@vhs.at Ph: 712 61 91-25 or 712 61 91-26

Out & About

On the Town

The Vienna Review

February 2012

29

Restaurants A new pizzeria on Praterstraße has a mission: to prove that good taste can come in large packages, and that italian food can be sleek and modern, and still a feast: Bon appetito!

Eatalico: Pizza With a Pulse

by Christopher Anderson tomato, fresh basil, and garlic, only to discover Now that the holiday season is behind us, an added slab of mozarella di bufala topped with Vienna has rung in the new year, and the first a puddle of pesto. Zesty and crispy, it was a persnowfalls have dusted the city with a wintery fect prelude for the main course. nimbus – which provides the perfect backdrop Eatalico’s no-frills menu offers no less than for gazing out the window and pondering life’s 20 pizzas, eight pasta dishes, and a calzone just eternal questions… in case. A separate monthly menu offers addiSuch as, Does this town really need another tional ideas like a ravioli granchi di fiume, implypizzeria? ing freshwater crabs. In actuality, the fresh and The owners at Eatalico think so. They chose delicious river crayfish (gambero di fiume) crown a prime location in the up-and-coming Prater- a thick tomato cream sauce and ricotta filling. straße neighbourhood at the exit of a Nestroy- You’ll need to wash it all down with a glass of platz U-Bahn station. The nearby banks, the Chianti.

ATV studios, and the sparkling, new Sofitel HoYour best bet is a pizza, and the seats near tel provide the lunchtime crowds, while the easy the oven can provide an engaging spectacle as U-Bahn access lures Vienna’s night owls. the chefs compose yours, which on this particuIt may be a big pizzeria, with bigger pizzas, lar evening was the gamberetti. The chef first ones that extend beyond the boundaries of your dusts a 350-gram nugget of dough with flour, average plate. Yet, Eapaws at the edge of it talico doesn’t neglect to flatten it out, then The wedding of shrimp and taste; it just comes spreads it with his in a voluminous spinach has never been a palm, and carefully package. Behind the twirls it in the air with harmonious one ... bound to cocktail bar near the his fist. Slowly swirlend up in an ugly legal battle entrance, the seating ing the sauce onto area for 150 people the thin pie, he then over custody of the cheese. wraps around a 2.5spreads tufts of cheese, ton oven, one of the then clumps of spinlargest made by the firm Wood Stone, the oven- ach. Then come the shrimps soaked in a basilof-choice of Austrian culinary guru Wolfgang based marinade. Once its loaded onto the peel Puck. A cluster of tables near the vast glowing (the shovel-like pizza tool), he tugs at the dough fire pit provides front-row seating to the show to make it round, drops a dollop of pesto on of pizza twirlers. it (another surprise!), and slides it into the pit, When dining here, a few surprises may be gingerly turning it with the peel after a few in store, as was the case with the antipasto. Al- minutes. though tempted by carpaccio di manzo, I opted Once on the plate, which is somewhere unfor a trio of bruschette with the advertised diced derneath the 43cm-wide pizza, you realize the

After Dark Wien gains a dinner Passage: finally a club for grownups

Underground Indulgence

by Margaret Childs No matter what crowd launches a club in Vienna, it gradually gets younger. The original patrons retreat to small cocktail bars where the music is moderated and the prospect of conversation still possible.

So it was interesting that there was no pounding bass, as I made my way down the charcoal steps, by the Staatsoper – just a whisper of piano at the coat-check as we were led through a short tunnel to a giant room: Albertina Passage, Dinner Club. As you enter you see the piano, lounge seating to the left and behind the giant bar, and dinner tables to the right, on a risen platform.

“Everyone has had the idea of a dinner club in Vienna,” manager Martin Schulz-Wulkow tells me. But when the city of Vienna advertised for a commercial tenant for the Albertina Passage, Sunshine enterprises – the owners of Roxy, Passage, Comida, Red Room and The Superfly radio station – proposed this concept. And won.

The space has purple lighting and dark walls (covered in velvet and faux snakeskin), keeping the acoustics club-style, not concert hall. As we

The interior is cleverly separated by risers and curtains: never empty Photo: Albertina Passge

ordered our aperitif and the piano sprinkled a soft but recognizable version of “Sexual Healing”, I took a look around. The crowd was all ages, from 17 to 70, with the average around 40.

Schulz-Wulkow explained how it works: “We always wanted to open a club where we would want to go.” Now that their nightclub in the Babenberger Passage has succumbed to younger clientele, they needed a new approach. “Here a 40 or 45 year-old doesn’t need to wear ear plugs, and they can still have the club atmosphere.”

Indeed, all through dinner, the piano and jazz band were never intrusive, but very present.

With no entrance fee, I wondered how they paid the musicians. The prices on the menu answered my question. In addition to the €5 “Musikgedeck” (music cover charge), we ordered a Goldbrasse (Gilthead Seabream) on ratatouille (€24) and a “Wyoming” rack of lamb (€27). The drinks seemed to have a music tax as well, with a bottle of water costing €9.

“The Musikgedeck doesn’t quite cover it,” explained Schulz-Wulkow. In the future, management plans to have outside acts, besides the Superfly Radio Orchestra, perhaps with an entrance fee. But keeping it real is key. “We wanted to have more interesting music,” he smiled.

As we ate, the band began to play, and, yes, the food was good. Not mind-boggling, but competent. There had been reports of dry steaks and inexpert escargots in the first week. However initial growing pains are surely normal.

The rack of lamb was soft, pink and pleasantly spiced. The Goldbrasse, was unpretentious, but juicily underlined by the ratatouille.

After dinner we moved to the bar area, where we found a cocktail list including something called a “Persian Mule,” as the words to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” oozed through the room.

I could guess why the city of Vienna wanted a dinner club. A club for grown-ups is a rare scheme. Although it shouldn’t be. This is the kind of place tourists will always enjoy, and those in Vienna for a conference. They don’t need to dance, but they do want an experience; to be entertained and mingle with locals at night.

Time will tell if a good idea can make the improbable possible. ¸ Albertina Passage: Tue.–Sat., 17:00–4:00 1., where Opernring meets Operngasse (01) 512 08 13 www.albertinapassage.at

Like the pies, the space is large: Perfect to invite friends for dinner á la Italiana

Photo: David Reali

steaming feast is easily big enough for two. As for the flavours, the wedding of shrimp and spinach has never been a particularly harmonious one, which I think is bound to end up in an ugly legal battle over custody of the cheese. Yet, I applaud Eatalico for offering a few unorthodox varieties of pizza, among usual suspects like the caprese and the calabrese.

Be sure to leave room for the excellent encore of torta della nonna, a refreshingly nare-flaring medley of almond, lemon, and rich vanilla with a wave of whipped cream on the side.

As every culinary expert knows, it’s not just size the matters; volume does too, hence the faint thump of electronic music overhead, which seems to get gradually louder as you near the midnight hour. By then, you may be enticed to have another glass, or migrate to cocktail bar, where you can debate that “eternal question” with this all-important new evidence.

With a belly full of shrimp, I decided there’s definitely room in this town for Eatalico. ¸

The pizza oven is in full view, giving the modern space an fireside feel Photo: David Reali

Eatalico Mon–Sat, 11:00-midnight Sun & holidays, noon-midnight 2., Praterstraße 31, (01) 212 62 73 www.eatalico.at

Column

The Gate Crasher The Very “Important” People at Alpha

by David Warren I was just thinking what a boring sod I was becoming, girlfriend, work, colleagues, that sort of thing, when “Something spectacular is coming to Vienna” landed in my inbox. It was a “VIP” invitation to the newest club in town. The place was called “Alpha”: the daring candour admirable, I thought at the time, in admitting such a commonplace pretension.

“But we’re on the VIP list,” the girl protested, the black points of her eyes locked accusingly onto the doorman through the night.

“So are all the others, lady,” he said, carelessly jerking his thumb at the masses jostling in front of the office block style doorway of the Siemens building on Dietrichgasse.

The girl stared back, languorously twirling her hair, her panda eyes smudged already with the stinging despair of shattered illusions: yet another night scrambling for attention on the tiles like all the rest.

“You having a laugh? Get in line like the others,” the man tittered, the punch drunk cheer of a man having discovered his new job entails endless encounters with scantily clad drunk girls plastered across his face.

I too was in good spirits. The place looked like the usual mix of hard-face divas and shiny Eurotrash and the VIP list was clearly some kind of disturbed joke, but I hadn’t been to a club for way too long, the girlfriend was out of town and the sustaining Drambuie in my hip flask on the way – Alpha is located way out amongst the labyrinthine side streets and the glaring tenements of the outer 3rd district – was having its delicious effect.

Inside the VIP area, behind the DJ, a lady in a backless corset and white mini skirt brushed past and turned to me. “Not very Alpha,” she said, through a ravishing smile, lobbing the words at me like little grenades, before marching off and wagging her derrière.

I lumbered forward a few steps and waved my hand desperately. “Hang on there,” I stam-

mered, but my command only hung embarrassed in the throbbing air a moment.

As my eye moved over the sea of orange biceps and blonde hair-extensions in our gated off community on the top level of the industrial scale complex, I mulled over the woman’s comment. How dramatically banal! But, of course I had forgotten in the world of nightclubs, verbal communication is, in itself, meaningless brinkmanship, a pawn in a sexually charged power game: what matters is audacity, status, cool, and if all else fails, volume.

Just as in my pre-boring-sod days, I spied a lone target leaning on the balustrade, looking down at the heaving main dance floor two floors below us. Puffing myself up and flexing the remnants of gym muscles from my time on the pull, I went over. “Awesome, isn’t it?” I said in my huskiest and most rhythmical voice.

She turned to me, fingering her glossy hair, and with the light of almost extinguished hopes and dreams still flickering promisingly in her eyes. I steeled myself to be aloof, to stare back down at the basement, the vaguely threatening beams of light, the DJ bopping enthusiastically to his own music and the murky t-shirted mass gyrating half-heartedly through wisps of artificially generated smoke.

A few seconds longer, and ignition: “You see that skinny guy in a vest outside? I bet he was freezing his rocks off!” (That, believe it or not, has always been my most effective chatup line). She tittered and played with a few more strands of her hair – how I loved those coy little hints of intimate delicacies to come – and I slipped easily (endless practice at the Passage, when it was still cool) back into my stories and my magic routines and my posing: my starter bag of seducer’s tricks.

Looking back on the night the next day, I reflected that Alpha, despite it’s ambitious title and VIP pretentions, was just the same old story. And, starting to hum merrily, I thought: Thank God for that.

30

The Vienna Review February 2012

On Screen

On the Town

Service

Vienna Circle Where Internationals Meet

by Catharine Eibl Starting off in a foreign country has its quirks. It is not only a matter of getting through all the paperwork for visas, insurance and residency and work permits.

Wrapping one’s head around the strange new ways of life in Vienna and finding a way into its social community can be daunting.

The Vienna Expat Centre is there to help newcomers with all of the above. Founded in September 2010, in a combined effort by the City of Vienna and the Vienna Business Agency, it advises the city’s many expatriates on settling down in Austria.

The agency’s statistics suggest that the expatriate population has bee growing rapidly and continues to grow. Between 2004 and 2009, 540 multi-national corporations moved their headquarters to Vienna, and in 2010, over 20,000 expatriates worked in high skilled jobs. By improving the support network available to international employees through initiatives like the Expat Centre, the City of Vienna hopes to become an even-more attractive location for international companies.

The idea is not new. For the past 30 years, the Vienna Business Agency has been offering consulting support to entrepreneurs and firms trying to enter the Austrian market.

In fact, over time the project’s scope has broadened considerably. At the centre itself you will be met with a warm welcome and find information not only on key services to ease your working life but also on living in Vienna.

Conveniently located on Schmerlingplatz in the 1st District, just a short walk from the Rathaus station on the U2 UBahn line, the place resembles a large funky living room. The comfortable chairs against the backdrop of Vienna’s skyline provide a relaxing setting in which to unwind, get advice or find out about a growing list of services and leisure Vienna has to offer, from outdoor recreation to tickets for exhibitions and concerts.

The centre advertises events and activities in and around Vienna. It hosts interactive presentations and discussions on the daily challenges expatriates face: language barriers and intercultural differences, on the one hand, and Austrian bureaucracy, childcare and schooling, on the other. Help and information is offered to parents about regular children’s workshops in English.

The site and staff promote a variety of occasions to socialise in a more casual environment. Check the centre’s website for details about the coffee mornings in the 13th district, excursions to Heuriger (wine taverns) in the 19th district and pub-crawls around the city centre. These types of lowstress events are a great way to get useful advice, meet people and get in touch with the international community. ¸ The Expat Centre Vienna Mon.–Thurs., 9:00–16:00 and Fri., 9:00–12:00 1., Schmerlingplatz 3 (01) 4000-86949 www.expatcentre.at info@expatcentre.at

The inviting lobby of the Expat centre’s office on Schmerlingplatz Photo: Expat Centre

To play Cheyenne in This Must be the Place, Sean Penn morphs into an quirky combination of glam-rock and teenage angst

Photo: aceshowbiz

Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, This Must be the Place portrays an aging rock star’s search for meaning, connection, family, a home, a purpose, a Nazi SS officer, and a phone booth

I Guess I’m Already There

by Valerie Crawford-Pfannhauser With his dark clothes, black teased big hair, eyeliner and shocking red lipstick, 50 year old Cheyenne (Sean Penn), with his reading glasses on a chain around his neck, looks like a sad clown, a relic of the 1980s glam rock look inspired by Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure.

Cheyenne speaks slowly with the quiet, highpitched voice of a child. He suffers from sciatica and moves with stiffness – it is immediately apparent he may be suffering from more than depression, affected by drugs and drink from Top: Cheyenne and Jane (McDormand) wilder days.

This Must Be The Place is the first English- Bottom: Lonely at the Airport Photo: aceshowbiz language film production by Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino, acclaimed for his previous art house hits Il Divo and The Consequences of Love. After the two met in Cannes in 2008, the screenplay of This Must Be The Place was written with Penn in mind.

Along with a fascination with Nazi war criminals who had managed to hide the past behind ordinary lives, Sorrentino was attracted to the daring juxtaposition of a self-absorbed, lazy rock star, who would seem like the last person to be searching for a Nazi war criminal. This Must Be The Place is a portrait of a jaded aging ‘goth’ rocker named Cheyenne, living in Dublin, who emerges from his 30-year seclusion to embark ing coffee and painting his nails with his friend on an unexpected road trip across the heartland Mary – a 16-year old gothic/punk whom he of America, re-igniting his father’s quest to find encourages to go out with a waiter there. They his Nazi tormentor. go lay flowers on the grave of two brothers who We first encounter Cheyenne in his mansion years earlier acted on the gothic despair in Cheywatching Jamie Oliver on TV and wondering enne’s lyrics and committed suicide. whether to take a profit on selling his Tesco shares.

Cheyenne is guilt-ridden over the deaths, Living off his royalties estranged from his faand having managed ther and although be...adrift and purpose-free, to make some good loved, seems adrift and unable to bring his life into investments, he does purpose-free, somenot have to worry how unable to bring focus. He observes, “We start about money but othhis life into focus. He out asking, ‘Is that a life?’ and erwise has few ‘rock observes, “We start out star’ pretentions. He asking, ‘Is that a life?’ end up saying, ‘That’s life’”. is happily married to and end up saying, Jane (Frances McDor‘That’s life’”. The film mand) his devoted wife of over 30 years, natural- belongs to Penn, completely convincing as the istic in looks, pragmatic, full of life, and working child-like man, who is none the less a disarming happily as a fire-fighter in Dublin. and sincere.

The first half hour of the film is involved with The turning point comes when Cheyenne some local action in Dublin. Cheyenne wheels learns that his father is dying and travels to New his trolley through some residential streets to the York in the hope of reconciliation. Fear of flysupermarket to buy food – a frozen pizza that ing dictates he take a luxury liner (along the way he “cooks” for Jane later on. One of the films advising a group of women in an elevator how delights is that virtually everyone Cheyenne best to apply lipstick) and is reunited in New encounters treats him as if he looks perfectly York with his Jewish orthodox family. He is benormal. He languidly hangs out in a café drink- reft to find out his father has already died. Told

by his cousin of his father’s obsession with tracking down former SS officer Alois Lange who humiliated him in Auschwitz, Cheyenne picks up where his father left off and starts a life-altering quest across America to track down and confront his father’s nemesis.

In New York, Cheyenne meets professional Nazi hunter Mordecai Midler – a brilliant hardboiled character played by Judd Hirsch, who confesses “I’m 79 years old and I’m still living in 1940”. Cheyenne is also reunited with David Byrne (as himself) performing the timelessly classic title song that sets the tone for the film: “Home is where I want to be, but I guess I’m already there – I guess that this must be the place”.

An immersive odyssey ensues, a travelogue with colourful pit-stops and intersections with a cameo parade of lonesome lives in Michigan, New Mexico and, finally, Utah, with visits to his target’s estranged wife and granddaughter, and encounters with helpful strangers.

With a vivid array of diametrically opposed images, the contrast of Cheynne’s distinctive look is a constant emotive device – he looks bizarre next to his Jewish orthodox family in the small town diner.

The camera is creatively on the move with many swooping crane shots of stunning vibrant landscapes, as well as capturing Edward Hopper-esque moments – the stillness, the alienation and loneliness of interiors and open spaces.

He is constantly trailing a small wheelie suitcase with him, he blows his wispy hair out of this face, he drinks a disturbingly orange-coloured beverage noisily through a straw, he does not possess a mobile phone and has to stop at gas stations to make calls.

Along the journey Cheyenne comes alive. In the spectacularly poignant scenes when he tracks down Alois Lange, he succeeds in avenging his father’s humiliation, and so much more.

Sorrentino too succeeds in composing a highly creative, immensely entertaining and challenging masterpiece. This Must Be The Place is a multi-facetted cinematic experience: a compelling and totally captivating curiosity item that brims with quirkiness, humour and drama, with stunning visual compositions, with punchy dialogue and a superb sound track that is central to the film, with inspired casting and powerful performances. Not everything is made explicit in the narrative, but rather fed to us as thoughtprovokingly pieces of a puzzle. ¸ For information on screenings of This Must Be The Place see listing on page 26

On the Town

Scenes of Vienna

A Viennese café in London is helping the English appreciate the Gemütlicher things in life

February 2012

31

Column

Brief Encounters Tales of Everday Life

Mélange Exported

by Mazin Elfehaid Living in London, the Viennese Kaffeehaus is one of the things I miss the most. There’s nothing quite like it, with its perfect balance of cosiness and space that creates a bubble of privacy in a public setting. Unfortunately quiet moments like that simply don’t exist in this vast and busy metropolis.

Or so I thought until a few days ago. I woke up that morning and, after a quick breakfast and a hurried shower, I hopped on my bike, aimed myself in the direction of work, and promptly got swerved off the road by a reckless driver.

So far, so usual. Slightly shaken, I got off my bike next to Angel tube station and decided to walk through Camden Passage, one of the few pedestrian streets that still exist in London.

On a weekend, the passage is usually full of people queuing up to get into trendy restaurants like The Breakfast Club, which serves above-average English and American style breakfasts. But today, a weekday, it was beautifully quiet.

I’m not sure if it was the smell of coffee or the word “Spinatknödel” that initially caught my eye, but there I was, standing in front of a sign that read “Kipferl” in large friendly letters. And in smaller letters: “Austrian / Viennese Café and Kitchen.” This I had to see.

I stepped in, and was instantly transported back to Vienna. It was all there: The quiet clinking of coffee cups, the hushed conversational tones, a woman absorbed in a book. “This isn’t London,” I almost said out loud. It was so jarring to my senses that I had to sit down and order a slice of Sachertorte to comfort myself.

The first thing you notice about Kipferl is the stunning interior design. While the black and white pictures of Vienna, Edelweiss buttons on the upholstery, and obligatory mounted stag horns could come off as a kitschy parody of Austrian design, the bright wood panelling and clean lines actually make it feel like a modern take on a Viennese classic.

“The designer is another Austrian who lives here in London,” owner Christian Malnig tells me over coffee, a few days after the bicycle incident. “When he started designing, he got so excited that he became a shareholder,” he laughs.

The Vienna Review

London’s chic answer to Austrian and Viennese coffee culture

Photo: Johnnie Pakington / Kipferl Ltd.

Malnig came to London 10 years ago, and Austria, and prepared in London by Austrians.

The retail section is a revelation – it offers in 2008 opened the first incarnation of Kipferl – named after the Austrian version of a croissant something new to Londoners who’ve had their – in the form of a small park cafe in Corram’s fill of Asian cuisine, and seems to be a signifiFields. “It was very small,” he says, “and we cant draw for North London’s German-speaking couldn’t do a proper kitchen, but we found that community. More than once, I saw someone people were using it as a cafe... We could have walk in with giddy excitement in their eyes, ask a few questions in German, and then walk out been two or three times bigger.” having bought some So, putting his delicacy from ‘back business education It was all there: The quiet home.’ from the WU to use, The good news is, clinking of cups, the hushed Malnig and three it seems that Londonother Austrian partconversational tones, a woman ers are taking extremeners decided to invest absorbed in a book. “This isn’t ly well to Viennese and expand the business, a risky move esLondon,” I almost said out loud. cafe culture. Kipferl opened in the Angel pecially in the current area in March 2011 economic climate. On top of a shaky economy came a tricky local licens- and was breaking even within six months - not ing law that requires the front of the shop floor bad for a new business.

“It’s hugely successful actually,” Malnig says to be a retail area, meaning that hot meals and alcohol can only be served on half the property, with pride. “It’s a new thing in London, it’s not as formal as dinner... you just kind of slouch in the back.

“There were three places in here before us over your coffee, and you’re allowed, in fact, exthat went bust, but I thought we could do well pected to do that.”

Our conversation ends, and for a brief mowith our concept here, having both retail in the front and restaurant in the back,” Christian says, ment I consider getting back on my bike and pointing at a shelf that stocks Austrian beers, heading off. I glance outside and see a woman jams, and coffee, as well as staples like Semmel in a black raincoat walk by, briskly pulling her Knödel and Vanille Zucker. “It’s a planning per- collar up over her ears. That settles it for me.

“Noch einen Kaffee bitte,” I hear myself say. mission thing, and it brought down the busi ¸ nesses before. But for us it works fine.”

Kipferl It’s not hard to tell why. Clients can choose 20 Camden Passage, to relax with a book and a cup of brew up front, London, N1 8ED, UK have a meal in the back, or simply browse the +44 (0) 207 704 1555 goodies on display. More importantly, the reswww.kipferl.co.uk taurant’s food and drink are brought in from

by R. S. Hughes Column “Do you mind me asking what you’re doing?” I say to Susanne Elend, as she whacks the trunk of a 30 metre high tree with a rubber mallet, over and over. “Not at all,” she replies, without a pause. “I get asked that a lot.”

It’s not surprising. For the past half-hour, I’ve watched Susanne prowl around a stand of Black Pine trees in a playground, measuring one with a long tape, studying the bark of another and generally paying considerably more attention to the tall, handsome specimens than ter again. “So only another 500 or 1,000 to your average citizen, before tapping away at a go.” Alongside more common species, such as laptop-type contraption that hangs from a strap Lindens, Maples, Ash and Silver Birch, Klosaround her neck. But it’s the rubber mallet that terneuburg is also home to some more unusual finally brings me over. specimens, like the Pagoda Tree at Kardinal Susanne, who studied garden design and Piffl-Platz for example, a native of China and spatial planning in Vienna, is a certified tree Korea. There are also two North American Incontroller with Knollconsult. This means two dian Bean trees, one also in Kardinal Piffl-Platz, things: First, she knows a lot about trees. Second, she helps keep the Austrian public safe from the associated dangers, like falling branches and toppling trunks.

A few days later and Susanne has kindly allowed me to join her on her rounds. We are standing half-way up Kollersteig in Klosterneuburg, overlooking a small football pitch surrounded by trees. There are more Black Pines, some Norway Spruce and over the back on a hillside, Common Hornbeam. Wrapped up against the bitter cold, but with fingerless gloves so she can wield her trusty mallet, Susanne is in the process of mapping and surveying the health of every single tree on public land (pavements, playgrounds, car parks and the like) that falls within the limits of Klosterneuburg, on behalf of the town’s authorities.

If any cutting measures are needed, Susanne directs proceedings.

“We’ve mapped about 4,000 or 5,000 trees Susanne Elend took on this sick tree, just one Photo: R.S. Hughes so far,” she explains, tapping into her compu- of Knollconsult’s projects

Notes from Nature Tree Talk

and another in a nearby playground.

Susanne’s favourites? “There are some old Oaks on Am Ölberg – maybe five or ten of them – and they’re very, very beautiful trees.”

The oldest tree nearby, though, is a protected Linden in Kierling. It’s around 150 years old.

In addition to the computer, mallet and measuring tape, Susanne’s tree doctor get-up includes a huge bunch of flash cards depicting all the horrible pests and fungi that can affect trees, a pair of binoculars and a small chisel to take bark samples. She also carries a camera to capture hard-to-identify diseases for further investigation.

But much of Susanne’s work comes down to experience. “You get to know certain trees,” she says. “You learn what they sound like, their expressions. Take the Black Poplar, for example.

When you do the sound sample with the rubber mallet, it often sounds terrible, even when it has no problems.”

So what do people say when Susanne explains what she’s doing?

“In general, people really like trees, so they smile; they’re interested” she says. “And then they ask me if I’d mind having a look at the ones in their garden because they don’t seem to be fruiting properly!”

So is this Susanne’s dream job? Out and about, mapping trees? “Put it this way, I live in Vienna next to the Donau Park. If the sun is shining – even if I’m not working – you could easily find me there, among some very old, beautiful silver poplars.”

But there are also downsides: “If an old and beautiful tree needs to be cut because it has a problem, it is very sad,” she says. “And when it rains or is very cold with lots of fog, I’d rather be in the office.”

For more information, visit: www.knollconsult.at

Army Entertainment I was sitting on the tram at Westbahnhof waiting for it to leave, when I looked at the departure time screen and realized I would be sitting there for 20 minutes unless I wanted to walk ... some sort of delay or other.

Bored with Sudoku on my cell phone, I looked out the window. Standing outside the Tabak, dressed in U.S. Army garb and smoking a cigarette was a man moonwalking.

This didn’t last long. A woman clad in lots of pink walked past and Mr. Army Man followed her, imitating her movements and swaying his hips back and forth, all the while singing out loud while continuing to smoke.

He soon lost interest and began running in place, lifting his knees as high as he possibly could. I was so entertained that I started to laugh out loud, drawing strange looks from the other tram passengers.

In those 20 minutes I could have easily walked home, I realized. I looked up at the departure times: the delay had now been extended so I gave up the free entertainment and got off the tram.

I smiled at the man and gave him a thumbs-up. He returned the gesture, and went right on singing Michael Jackson.

Gretchen Gatzke Strauß’s Privy It didn’t really dawn on me until recently, after living in Vienna off and on for a decade, just how deeply seriously the Viennese take their musical legacy. In fact, it isn’t that it is taken seriously, but it is so much a part of life here that it takes on a series of forms, some imbued with a mordant sense of humor, which after all is quite Viennese.

On an evening filled with music a few months ago, I found my way out of the concert hall and into the Karlsplatz U-Bahn station at the Opera, where echoing all around me were the strains of the Blue Danube Waltz(!)

Descending to the Opernpassage, I was greeted by a costumed Imperial Palace Guard, indicating an attraction to my right.

I thought, let’s have a look, conceding that tourist kitsch really is everywhere...

Exploiting Strauss is after all a Viennese trademark, so no problem. It took a moment, though, to realize that the fanfare was an effort to draw my attention to nothing more than a public toilet. Here one finds a public comfort facility “mit musik” reflecting a “classical” image of Old Vienna. While transforming the utterly mundane into a themed experience, Vienna has it all, high culture and the low...

Egbert Sousé Vienna is in the Balkans “Tirol isch lei oans, isch a Landl a kloans, isch a schians, is a feins, und des Landl is meins.”

– “Tyrol is unique; small perhaps, but beautiful and fine; and it is my country.” And no, I did not hear this at a football game in Tyrol or a Tiroler Schützen parade. It was on the U4.

The singers, a group of men in their 20s and 30s, were (as far as I could tell from the crests on the backs of their jackets) from Gerlos, one of the small villages at the tail of the Zillertal. Proud of their homeland as Western Austrians generally are, they felt the need to sing the unofficial Tyrolean anthem to the Viennese. Who couldn’t have cared less.

Cringing inwardly, I prayed that no one on the train could see I’m Tyrolean.

As the men staggered off the train - not only Tyrolean, but also drunk - I felt embarassed. It’s complicated: The Viennese had already betrayed them, they will tell you, when the Habsburgs gave Tyrol to Napoleon. In the iconic Piefke-Saga, an Austrian film from the early ‘90s, a Tyrolean hotelier explains to his German guests: “The Viennese, they live on the Balkans. We are different.” I could only imagine what the Viennese present in the UBahn thought of my fellow Tyroleans.

Sophie Bachler “Brief Encounters” are readers’ narrations of the funny, surreal and bizarre events of everyday life in Vienna.

Please send us your Brief Encounters by email to: editor@viennareview.net

32

The Vienna Review February 2012

by Dardis McNamee The New Year had just turned when Martin Sajdik arrived in New York City with his wife and daughter to begin his new posting as Austrian ambassador to the United Nations – surely a big change from Shanghai, where they had spent the previous four and a half years.

Now, just three days later, we were meeting in the Café Sabarsky at 5th Avenue and 66 St., an authentic outpost of Viennese culture in the heart of Manhattan and the calling card of Ronald Lauder’s Neue Galerie of German and Austrian art.

“This is the first time I’ve been here,” Sajdik confessed, craning his neck to look around as he introduced his wife and 9-year-old daughter Leonie. “Remarkable! It really looks Viennese!” It was hard to deny: The lustrous wood paneling, the marble tables on wrought iron pedestals and ebony-black bent wood chairs, even the spiral twist sugar jars with shiny silver pour spouts…

Just like home.

We were each served coffees – a Melange or a Kleiner Brauner – each on a little silver tray in the Viennese fashion with a glass of water and a spoon. Leonie selected a Sachertorte, and the adults, Apfelstrudel.

“I hope you don’t mind that we all came,” Sajdik offers graciously. I smile; on the contrary.

The Sajdiks would be living just around the corner at 87th and 5th, and they wanted to check on the renovations.

“It’s the one that the Austrian government bought for Kurt Waldheim when he was Secretary General of the UN. Think of that! So much history!”

As a long-time diplomat, Sajdik has also made his own history, most notably as Austria’s Deputy and then Director General for European Integration and Economic Affairs, and then Ambassador to China, holding key posts in critical years. But he is a modest man, which presumably makes him all the more effective.

The Mehlspeisen arrived and everyone took a bite. Sajdik wrinkled his brow. “Too sweet,” he decided. “The most important thing about Apfelstrudel is to use Saueräpfl – these aren’t sour apples. And…” he lowered his voice, “ the spoon is too big!” We all laughed. So Sabarsky’s hadn’t got it quite perfect after all. Still, it was very good, and none of us had the least interest in complaining.

Kaffeehaus A conversation with U.N. Ambassador Martin Sajdik, now an ‘insider’ in New York

Austria’s Diplomat on Central Park

Amb. Martin Sajdik arrived in New York in January for his “dream job”! Photo: Martin Fuchs

From here, conversation turned to Central regions, and the protection of journalists, whom Europe, where the sovereign debt crisis was pos- he considers essential to open societies.

“For us, the UN is a great means to promote ing a serious threat to further development. Representing Austria in Eastern Europe for a decade the rule of law on a world-wide basis,” he went from 1997 to 2007, Sajdik knows this territory on, “to make it more binding for everyone. We intimately – and has written several books on have had great legal initiatives on this.” And the subject, including the highly regarded EU- here, unlike other areas like climate change, the Erweiterung (Nomos Verlag, 2000), appearing US has been an active supporter. “They see the in English as European Union Enlargement: merit of this, and work with us.”

Just then, the waiter arrived to clear away the Background, Development and Facts, with Michael Schwarzinger, (Transaction Publishers, dishes. Was everything all right? All smiles and thanks; not a word of the missing sour apples. In 2007).

Had the European Expansion moved too far, Austria, die Klügere geben nach: the clever know when to give in. Anyway, they were in New too fast?

“No, not at all. I truly believe this was a suc- York!

“I’ve been here so often – but I had never cess story. The people who discuss this don’t really look into the economics,” he insisted. “Of dreamed of having the chance to live in Manthe 12 [mainland] member countries, only two hattan with a view over Central Park!” Sajdik – Hungary and Latvia – are in economic diffi- gushed. “And the way we are treated! I arrived culties. There are other problems, corruption, on the 2nd and already gave my credentials democracy deficits, but these are not because of to [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon. He economic weakness. But in the accession nego- greeted me in German!”

With Vienna as the third UN center, Austiations, economic stability was the only issue: Refinancing pensions, tax collection, the judicial tria has a kind of insider status at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Moon has system, these were not on the table.”

And Bulgaria, singled out by Transpar- made sustainable development a core issue of his second term, an isency International sue the country has in 2009 as the most “The Hungarians always said long supported. The corrupt country in they were a model. But a model Secretary General is Europe? simply fond of “There is corrupfor what? What we see now, this also Vienna, and was tion, yes, but no economic weakness,” he is nothing new. They cooperate planning to attend the Opera Ball as a said. “There, the goal with everything but never actu- guest of President was to get them to establish institutions ally make any changes – it’s all Heinz Fischer.

Moon has been to combat that corwith a smile and a wink.” able to look to Ausruption; the EU was tria as a paradigm very strict on that.

We did not have these later accession strategies in environmental policy. “It’s not only a nice slogan; we have tried hard in this and we had at that time – this worked in 1997.”

But it’s hard to talk about Central Europe something to show,” said Sajdik. He cited hywithout coming around to Hungary – the model droelectric power, making up about half of new democracy that seems to have gone careen- Austria’s energy production; bio fuels, like the Güssing plant in Burgenland, which has become ing off course. Just what went wrong?

“The Hungarians always said they were a “central pilgrimage for foreign delegations”; and model,” Sajdik agreed, “but a model for what? forestation.

And no one knows better that the AustriThat’s the question. What we see now, this is nothing new. Orban was like this before. The ans how to run a city, with Vienna getting top Hungarians always had a strange idea of how marks world-wide again and again for quality of to deal with their past, this whole mythol- life. “The Chinese [before the Olympics] came ogy of Goulasch Communism: ‘We have never to Vienna many times to the Stadtgartenamt to been real Communists.’ But in fact they were: study how they do the flowers around the city,” the Hungarian KGB had the same structures as Sajdik reported.

“I always wonder why the city doesn’t prothe Soviet KGB, just with a twinkle in the eye – mote this: Vienna City Engineering [Wiener which didn’t really change anything.”

Now, the past is catching up with the Hun- Stadtplannung] could sell these ideas. And how garians, Sajdik believes. “I have to be careful,” to run a subway, for example. It’s remarkable he cautioned, citing that he had left the region how well it works. But the city doesn’t have this for China in 2007. “But it is interesting: The attitude.”

With life in Shanghai still fresh in his mind, Hungarians did the same thing with the EU that they did with the Soviets – always friendly, Martin Sajdik was alive with a sense of possibilsmiling, agreeing to everything. But it was all on ity. “The entrepreneurial spirit there is so inventhe surface, on the outside. With the EU, they tive. Everybody catches it.” he said, unable to cooperated with everything, but never actually suppress his enthusiasm.

“And there are Austrians everywhere, Ausmade any changes; it was all with a smile and a trian companies with niche knowhow.” He ratwink.”

Like many Austrians, Sajdik watched all this tled off examples including the technology for from what was in effect a ring-side seat – but not ATM machines for all the sporting events. “And without conflicting emotions. Ties with Hun- the cameras mounted on the ceilings – that’s an gary were strong, largely surviving the commu- Austrian company, too. We’ve transformed this nist era. Austrians felt in tune with Hungarian sector in a very short time.”

Some things are simply easier to see from economy and politics, and it was the first CEE the outside. “It’s incredible how our society has country they really invested in.

And as Hungary prepared to enter the EU, developed since the 90s – the influence of the government on the economy. It has set the enAustria pressed for needed changes. ¸ “But no one followed up, or monitored it,” trepreneurial spirit of the people free.”

Sajdik remembered. ”We never nailed the Hungarians down.”

“Martin Sajdik?” The ambassador looked up as a handsome couple approached the table from within the café. Rising to his feet in surprise, Sajdik beamed and introduced Ernst Ehrenberger, a tall, lively man with steel grey hair and his fair-haired wife, around the table. They had worked together on a hospital project in eastern Siberia in the early 90s, when Sajdik was Director for International Business with the Maculan Group, an Austrian construction company. The Ehrenbergers were on holiday – a random meeting in this center of Austrian life in New York.

“Think of it,” Sajdik said, turning back to his wife. “We have been here for three days and we are already running into old friends!” He was clearly delighted to be in New York for what, at 62, will probably be his last posting. And about being at the UN, which he described as a “dream job.”

“For a country of our size, and a neutral country, the UN has been the forum to interact with the other countries to present our views, to try to make our position an international position,” he said. “Of course now we are part of the EU Foreign and Security Policy, but this basic approach has not changed.”

His goals at the U.N. are three: Promoting For New Yorkers, Café Sabarsky at the Neue the rule of law, the rights of civilians in conflict Galerie is “in” for all ages. Photo: Cafe Sabarsky