April 2009 – February 2011
Projects in Right on the Rim
Art and Theory Magazine on ‘Right on the Rim’
Aufrica
- the 2nd Viennese School concert with the outstanding South African musicians Jill Richards, Waldo Alexander and Renette Bouwer performing and Dr. Christan Meyer, director of the Schoenberg Centre, Vienna, giving the introduction.
- Lukas Ligeti performing new compositions and improvising with Mpho Molikeng, Lesotho,and Carlo Mombelli, South Africa;
Legends of Culture
- Ancient stories from Japan, the Rhine, the Arabian desert and Africa told by Cindy Sampson, the writer and actress, and Prophet JD, the poet and poetry performer, under the trees of Arts on Main
- Steve Kwena Mokwena: “A SoundLegacy” expressive paintings of jazz legends
- Ryan Areson:“A Diary” or “Untitled”, silkscreen prints (Jill Ross) 2009 (and artist talks)
- Red White (Australia)/Cynthia Schwertsik (Austria): “Imitating the Monumental”, a wind-blown installative sculpture in Baltchik, Bulgaria,2009
- Monday Blues in the Atrium of Arts on Main, musicians, poets and an art poster competition
- report your legends to the salon writers Cindy Sampson and Prophet JD in Right on the Rim
Love – Compassion
- art by Mandy Conidaris (water colours), Graeme Williams (photos), Bev Price (jewellery)
- Jann Turner reading from her books “Heartland” and “Southern Cross” and discussion on writing about love.
- “White Wash” by Cynthia Schwertsik
Hate – War
- art by Colleen Albourough, John Muafangejo (Namibia), James de Villiers, Portia Zvavahera (Zimbabwe), Chenjerai Mutasa (Zimbabwe)
- Talk and Discussion: John Stewart, a Zimbabwean political activist and theorist speaks about what we can learn from history to solve current problems with violent governments
- Movie: THE LARK FARM, 2007 – a gripping movie about the Armenian genocide in 1915, which is still denied by Turkey (2 hrs) – please register under rightonrim@yahoo.de, courtesy the Italian Cultural Institute
- Movie: A LONG DARK NIGHT (3 hours in two parts), courtesy the Croatian Embassy, the tale of a young Croatian man through 2nd World War and the beginnings of Communism
Creative Relationships
- Frieder DANIELIS (water colours), Susan SALM (music), PROPHET JD (poetry), Walter STACH (photo collage), Marcus NEUSTETTER and 15 South African artists (drawings)
Lives
- Drawings by Sharlene Khan
- Movie: KLIMT
- Opening and Italian movie: THE VICEROYS
- Music on the Move – Polyrhythms & Polysounds (Christos Daskalaskos, Peter Kuthan, Anna Kuthan, Marcus Neustetter, Steven Hobbs
- Prophet JD, port from Soweto,produces poems inspired by Walter Stach’s photo collage ‘Johannesburg in my moments’
Beautiful
- Photo work by Michael Rathmayer and Kasali (both Austria)
- Beautiful Talk: The artist Colleen Alborough and the director of the Market Photo Workshop John Fleetwood introduce a discussion on ‘Beautiful and Art’ in South Africa today.
- Architecture Talk:
- Eva Egermann and Christina Linortner speak about the ‘Schuettehausproject’, discussing the life and work of the first Austrian female archtect Schuette-Lihotzky.
- EKSTASE, movie (1934)with Heddy Lamarr, called the most beautiful woman of her times
Three artistic languages
- Artistic work by Shneider (South Africa – Germany), Walter Stach (Austria) and Frieder Danielis (Germany, Austria, Italy)
- Digital Metamorphoses by Walter Stach
- Football paintings by Walter Stach and Marcus Neustetter (dialogue paintings)
- Paintings and philosophical texts by Frieder Danielis
- Books on “tales from the rim” available
Pre-project
- ‘Living and Dying in Africa’ by Claudia Shneider (installative sculpture)
- artist talk
CAN/FUSION – Bangladesh 2014 – 2016
- October 2016: Can/Fusion in Bangladesh
The plan was: Lukas Ligeti creating new music in cooperation with Bangla musical masters (a cooperation with Bengal Foundation, Goethe Institut in Dhaka, and the Austian Cultural Forum in Delhi): Lukas proposed to create a ‘field of sound’ (“ein Klangland”) in collaboration with 2-3 local musical masters in Dhaka.
And then: Many people were massacred in Holi Bakery, because they were foreigners and Bangladeshi liking foreign bread and food. (Claudia d’Antona our thoughts will always be with you and your suffering!) Life shifted in Dhaka: we can no longer do things as before. Lukas Ligeti could not carry out his musical cooperation. Music and musical cooperation went underground – is now done in private homes. Thank you to the pianist Cornelia Herrmann and the singer Christoph Genz, who do just that.
October 2016
Inspired by Can/Fusion, the composer and musician Lukas LIGETI plans a collaboration with composers and musicians from Bangladesh. The result will be a “Klangland” (‘sound field’), an innovative work at the intersection of sound installation and concert music. Participating musicians, open to and interested in new and different approaches and musical results, will be an inspiration for themselves and their audience. The cooperation across different musical structures and theory will promote mutual learning.
Time: 15th – 25th October 2016
Location: Bengal Foundation concert hall and Goetheinstitut in Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Supported by: Bengal Foundation, Goetheinstitut, Austrian Cultural Forum in Delhi
Initiated by: Can/Fusion virtual projects
August 2016
Nach dem Vortrag durch Hans Stoisser trug Suzanne Barfuß ein Gedicht, sehr passend zum Thema, vor: FLÜGELHERZ 2.2.2015 Suzanne Barfuss, www.suzanne-barfuss.com
October 2015
Julian May, poet and BBC Radio 4 writer/presenter, describes mundane things (mushroom collecting in alpine Murau – “Eierschwammerlsuchen am Lärchberg”) in the most poetic terms.
March 2015
Before we can fuse / integrate external influences or the new into our lives, it confuses us. The new confuses us because it maybe contradicts our truths and worldviews, or because it adds unexpected aspects to our worldviews.
How to communicate with (contemporary) art?
To promote the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art, the Bengal Art Lounge in cooperation with the virtual art space Can/Fusion invited artists, art lecturers and students to participate in an Interactive Training’s Workshop on Art Mediation with the experienced Austrian art mediator and artist Walter Stach, providing the basic skills of art mediation and discussion, which goes beyond art lecture.
Time: 13th – 14th March 2015
Location: Bengal Art Gallery in Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Results:
- One train the trainers workshop in Dhanmondi branch of the Bengal Art Foundation on March 13 and 14, 2015;
- Bengal Art Foundation is planning to implement regular sessions of art mediation with classes and the public at the gallery in Gulshan 1 and in Dhanmondi;
- Walter Stach established contacts with Bangladeshi artists for an international art project he currently organises in the context of the next Olympics. Artists from five continents will be invited for contributions – more artists still needed to be involved from the Asian continent.
- Private meetings and discussions on Bengladeshi contemporary art with art collectors were held;
Funded by the Austrian Cultural Forum New Delhi
Confusion comes naturally before the fusion.
Today, we are exposed to more external influences and quicker changes in our everyday lives than humans had ever been before. This is the contemporary state of humankind. The reaction to these imposed influences and changes is often reactionary or even violent to keep the status quo or to realise an ideal traditional society. But, this will not work, never works as everything flows (“panta rhei”).
Art helps us to overcome the state of confusion and reach fusion or integration. Fusing the new or external influences into our lives might simply be, to say, “I know it’s there, but it is not for me, not my opinion, not part of my life …”, or to embrace it and enhance our being with it.
The interventions of the Can/Fusion art project aim to explore from the point of view of art (film, music, literature, visual art) how we can integrate living locally with global ideas coming towards us constantly, challenging our habits and the traditional ways of doing things. These challenges and the resulting confusion might be the main feature of our ‘contemporary being’.
The background beat of fusion and confusion is pivotal to the interventions of Can/Fusion in Dhaka. (by: Dr. Karin Reinprecht, 00880-09918799, Gulshan 1, Rd. 129, Hs. 24).