Festival of Contemporary Austrian Culture

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Festival of Contemporary Austrian Culture

Well-known Austrian artists and an internationally acclaimed exhibition will be coming to Aberdeen this week, as part of the conference ‘Blueprints for No-Man’s Land: Connections in Contemporary Austrian Culture’, which will run from 29-31 March.

The public will be able to see the exhibition Die andere Seite—The Other Side from 28 March until mid-May at the Marischal Museum in Aberdeen. It documents the extraordinary talents of well-known Austrian artists, writers and composers who transcend the usual boundaries of artistic production. The exhibition covers the period from the early twentieth century to the present day and includes drawings by Franz Kafka, paintings by Arnold Schönberg, posters for an early play written by Oskar Kokoschka and works by the writer Alfred Kubin. The work on display ranges from the traditional to the highly experimental and controversial, with artists such as Jörg Haider’s bête noir, Hermann Nitsch.

On Friday, 30 March at 7:30 pm, there will be an evening performance open to the public at the University’s Regent Lecture Theatre, featuring a group of contemporary Austrian artists – writers, a composer, a video artist, and a fashion designer – all well known for their collaborative cross-disciplinary work.

Blueprints for No-Man’s Land brings to Aberdeen speakers from across Europe and the United States who will investigate the connections between different forms of cultural production and representation in present-day Austria. It has two interrelated aims: first, to facilitate interaction between theorists and practitioners with an interest in contemporary Austrian culture and second, to explore areas of overlap between various forms of cultural representation in contemporary Austrian culture.

Dr Janet Stewart of the Centre for Austrian Studies said: “This conference will be the first major event for the Centre for Austrian Studies and has been planned over the past two years. Its title Blueprints for No-Man’s Land comes from the idea of the no-man’s land being the space between different artistic disciplines, and how we can create new forms of artistic expression using the blueprints of the sort of interdisciplinary work we will see during the conference.”

She continued: “A marker for Austrian art in the 20th century is this willingness to cross the boundaries of different genres and the willingness to experiment.”

The Centre for Austrian Studies, based in the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, provides a focus for theorists and practitioners from a variety of institutions and environments to work together creatively to develop knowledge and understanding of Austrian culture. It also encourages and supports academic and cultural exchange between Britain and Austria.

The Centre collaborates with the Austrian Cultural Institute in London. Paralleling the work of the American Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota, the Centre works in close contact with institutions in Austria including, inter alia, the University of Vienna, the Franz Nabl Institute at the Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz, the International Research Centre for Cultural Studies, Vienna, the Literaturhaus in Vienna, and the Oxford Austrian Studies Association.

Further information:

Dr Janet Stewart, Centre for Austrian Studies, Department of German, Tel. 272488

Exhibition: Marischal Museum, Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, Tel: 01224 274301

University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.

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