Exhibition | Markus Kircher: Book Presenation
February 3, 2015 | 7:30 pm - February 6, 2015 

THE BOOK, A DOMESTIC ANIMAL - feed it - pet it - let it in and let it out

On this occasion I took another look at my self-mades ones, to see what happens when the work is done. What`s done because the idea behind the 367 books I made in the last 23 years is simple: Do it - make it - do make, make do. Do it, don`t fuss. Whatever we get to see here, there and everywhere is subject to fuss - that`s to say selection of works, with a view to their possible excellence. It`s all artists desire to present themselves (their works ...) optimally, to present themselves as what they are or want to be - master artists. But I, with my curiosity, always and especially wanted to know this: how are masterpieces made? How many stages, how many mistakes, how many blind alleys are necessary to make this masterpieces? I distrust the myth of “creator genius”- although I don`t reject it entirely - I think I`ve got to keep working, keep looking at my work and other work, and this seems to me the most efficient way to produce vigorous works, perhaps even „masterpieces“. I have said no to selection since 1991. Just do it. Period. Yes. Do it. This is liberation, this is escape from slavery of “success, not failure”. I gave myself the freedom to do/make whatever came to mind, no matter if with enthusiasm, or out of boredorm, drunk or sober, alone or in company ... Everything I did was entitled to live. At that time (1991), friends gave me an artist`s book and I like the idea of making a book out of images. It also seemed economical and so I chose books (or books chose me). I had no idea there would be so many books. The medium turned out to be incredibly versatile and a book is a book, good to hold in your hand, even better if you made it yourself. This - an many other reasons I`m not aware of - let me feed the book animal, pet the book animal, let it out and let it in. It`s an animal because it`s unpredictable, because the forces at work are moderately domesticated. The conventional book, the classical book make space for everything that doesn`t break those boundaries.
Markus Kircher, 2014

When: Opening on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 | 7:30 pm
The Exhibition will be open from February 3 - 6, 2015
Mon - Thu: 9:30 am - 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | Fri: 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Where: Austrian Cultural Forum | 3524 International Court NW | Washington, DC, 20008
Tickets: FREE | For opening please register at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-presentation-of-markus-kircher-the-book-a-domestic-animal-tickets-15333193996

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Dancing Event | 11th Annual Viennese Ball at the Austrian Embassy
February 20, 2015 | 7:00 pm - 12:00 am

You are cordially invited to experience a magical evening at the Austrian Embassy -- one of the grandest diplomatic venues in Washington DC for an unforgettable Viennese celebration of music, food, wine and dancing.
Enjoy a night of dancing to our classical orchestra or watch the twirling silhouettes on the dance floor move to the sounds of the world’s most beloved waltzes, and other dance music from around the world. The Salon Orchestra of Washington will perform the world’s favorite Strauss waltzes, ballroom music from around the world and the famous Radetsky Grand March.
This is also a great opportunity for a private viewing of the embassy's art work on display, experience the elegant atmosphere of a European Ball, as well as meet international professionals and members of the diplomatic community.
You do not need a date to attend. You are welcome to attend without a date, as we expect as many singles as couples. Requested Attire: White Tie or Black Tie Optional (dark suits are also fine!). Vintage formal attire from the renaissance era or the 1900s welcome! Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.internationalclubdc.com/Events/PurchaseTicket.aspx?EventID=11EEF23F-F7AD-4DED-9E77-F594337677F0

Reading | Zeitgeist: DC 2015 - Contemporary German Language Literature

February 24, 2015 | 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

German author Matthias Nawrat tells the story of a young girl in his novel Entrepreneur (Unternehmer). Thirteen-year-old Lipa is employee of the month in a special kind of family business. Together with her father and brother, she combs through the industrial ruins of the Black Forest looking for scrap items they can sell. Nawrat relates her story in a naïve way while simultaneously caricaturing our current achievement-oriented society.
Marjana Gaponenko (Ukraine/A/D) will present her book Who is Martha (Wer ist Martha?). It tells the story of Luka Lewadski: a Ukrainian ornithologist and author. Old age has crept up on him while he was busy with his research and now he is ninety-six. He doesn’t have much time left, his doctor tells him. And he’s going to make good use of it, Lewadski tells himself. So he buys himself the most expensive cufflinks he can find and makes his way to Vienna and checks into a posh hotel, where some interesting things begin to happen.
Vertigo is the title of one of Swiss author Monique Schwitter’s stories in her 2011 collection Goldfish Memory (Goldfischgedächtnis). And you might well become dizzy when you read these unusual short stories. Are they true or not? "Whether this story is true, I don't know, but I've heard it so often, I can't imagine it wouldn't be." In the fifteen stories making up this collection, the characters often find themselves on shaky ground. Things are not easy for them: on the contrary.
Excerpts will be read in both German and English. The writers will introduce and discuss their work in English. The event will conclude with a reception. 

When: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 | 7:30 pm
Where: Austrian Cultural Forum | 3524 International Court NW | Washington, DC, 20008
Tickets: FREE | Please register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zeitgeist-dc-2015-contemporary-german-language-literature-tickets-14922210734

 Lecture | Hands-On Urbanism. The Right to Green

February 25, 2015 | 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm 

Speaker: Elke Krasny

The lecture focuses on case studies of urban gardening, urban farming, and self-help building. It foregrounds critical alignments between urban dwellers and activists, architects, artists, educators or political philosophers. Counteracting, counterplanning, and self-organization are not urbanization's other, but rather co-implicated in urban transformation processes. Case studies include cities like Berlin, Vienna, Porto Alegre, or Hongkong. An empty lot is opportunity. Often started informally and then managed collectively, urban gardens change communities. What is the value of community? What are the contradictions within agency? At what price is opportunity?

When: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 | 5 pm
Where: University of Maryland | School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation | Auditorium (0204)
Tickets: FREE
This lecture is part of Elke Krasny's exhibition Hands-On Urbanism. The Right to Green in the Kibel Gallery in the School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation. See details here

Concert | "Ballades, Fantasies, and Satires" by Russian Composers 
February 27, 2015 | 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm 

Washington’s Russian Chamber Art Society will present its third concert of the season, “Ballades, Fantasies, and Satires,” Friday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court NW.  
One of the evening’s highlights will be a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s song cycle “Six Romances on Verses by English Poets,” Op. 62, by bass Grigory Soloviov, an alumnus of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. To create the cycle, the composer chose three poems by Robert Burns; one by Sir Walter Raleigh; Shakespeare’s Sonnet 66 (“Tir’d with all these, for restful death I cry”), translated by Boris Pasternak; and the nursery rhyme “The Grand Old Duke of York.” 2015 is the 40th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death.

Tickets for “Ballades, Fantasies, and Satires,” which include dessert and a wine reception, are $50. To purchase tickets, visit thercas.com.

Exhibition | Habsburg Splendor: Masterpieces from Vienna’s Imperial Collections at the Kunsthistorisches Museum
February 15 - May 10, 2015 | The Minneapolis Insitute of Arts

The unprecedented exhibition, and its accompanying catalogue, present an extraordinarily wide-ranging survey of the Habsburgs’ acclaimed collections, including classical Greek and Roman works, medieval arms and armor, tapestries, Old Master paintings, exquisite works of decorative art, ceremonial gilded carriages and sleighs, opulent costumes, and official court uniforms. Seen together, the collections reveal the pomp and splendor, the regalia and rituals, the prestige and spectacle associated with the Habsburg rulers. Many of the nearly one hundred works lent by the Kunsthistorisches Museum are drawn from the prized collections of Maximilian I (1459–1519), Rudolf II (1552–1612), and Maria Theresa (1717–1780). Most of these treasures have never before been in the United States, and many have not left Austria since they arrived.
Sabine Haag / General Director
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

In cooperation with:
The Minneapolis Institue of Arts (http://new.artsmia.org/)
Kaywin Feldman / The Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Director and President

Symposium | Kafka?! An Interdisciplinary Conference In Honor of Walter Sokel (1917-2014)
February 25-27, 2015 | University of Virginia

100 years after the first publication of the "Metamorphosis" and after the emergence of "The Trial", Franz Kafka is one of the most interpreted authors of European modernism, but still one of the most enigmatic. It seems that everybody is looking for the final clue to "The Castle" but yet nobody seems to have found one. The fascination continues and even after a century of reception history, research is ongoing.

Sponsored by the Austrian Embassy, Washington, DC; The Embassy of the Czech Republic, Washington, DC; The Center for German Studies, University of Virginia; the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, University of Virginia; the Jewish Studies Program, University of Virginia; the Center for Politics, University of Virginia; the Kafka Society of America.
 
For more information, especially regarding the conference participants, contact Asher Biemann, Director, Center for German Studies, ab5j@virginia.edu; (434) 924-3643; or visit http://cgs.virginia.edu/, or visit the upcoming events on http://acfdc.org/.