sommerszene blog

What intrigues me about Arjun Raina’s „a terrible beauty is born“ –
and reminds me of aspects of Living Dance Studio – is how actual
events form the crux of the creation.

He blurs the lines between fact and fiction, art and life. (mehr…)

Mit Report on 37.8° ist dem Living Dance Studio eine sensible, poetische Zustandsbeschreibung der chinesischen Gesellschaft gelungen, in der längst schon amerikanische Dollar, Coca Cola & Co die Karten mischen. Die Epidemie Sars und der Umgang damit bloß Symptome des rasanten gesellschaftlichen Umbruchs. Die Ökonomie tritt kräftig in die Pedale, der soziale Rückschritt als Nebenwirkung des wirtschaftlichen Aufschwungs hinterlässt einen schalen Geschmack. (mehr…)

Displaced, das mag an diesem Abend für vieles stehen. In schickem Interieur trifft man sich, um zu konsumieren, was modisch Asian Dinner Stories heißt. Das Huhn in Flammen (an dieser Stelle sei Frau Gu Lijuan für das wunderbare Essen gedankt!) als hors d’oeuvre, die tanzenden Wanderarbeiter als Hauptgang. Last but not least Wu Wenguang himself, der auf teils schwer verdauliche Fragen zum Nachtisch Rede und Antwort stehen muss. Das gemeinsame Essen nimmt in der kommunistischen Marktwirtschaft China eine zentrale Rolle ein und ist, in Anbetracht von Begrüßungsformeln wie „Ni chi le ma?“ („Hast du schon gegessen?“), gutes Unterfutter für das neue „Artainment“-Format bei der Sommerszene. (mehr…)

During the discussion last night with choreographer and dancer Wen Hui
after the performance of Living Dance Studio, dance critic Helmut
Ploebst asked Wen Hui, „Do you receive subsidies from the government?“

Wen Hui looked perplexed „Subsidy? What is this?“ (mehr…)

As an American living in Salzburg I have to smile when people start
talking about „what to expect.“ I come from a country where many
people associate Salzburg with the home of the von Trapp family, and
even if you try to tell them that the movie was fiction, they still
look forward to booking a visit which includes the „Sound of Music“
tour.

We live in a day and age when most of our experiences are filtered
through films and media: so what is real and what is slanted and
subjective? Even when we travel to unfamiliar places, are we
predisposed to visiting the recommended spots or do we seek out the
road less traveled?

Putting together a festival called China/India opens a Pandora’s box
of confusion and disappointment. How do a handful of artists from
different disciplines offer a view of an entire country or population?
How can one festival organizer or director attempt to show anything
more than his own preferences for particular artists or ways of
working? How can audiences of people who come from completely
different cultures, lifestyles, economies, politics and cuisines
understand what these artists around them are saying and showing and
doing? (mehr…)

Tishani arrived in Salzburg from India, and says she didn’t really
have anything specific in mind about what to expect: „I expected it to
be pretty and like a toyland, and I think it is very beautiful in a
postcard kind of way.“

Asked about the most striking contrast between Austria and India, she
laughed: „I walked on the bicycle path today by mistake! Here, I think
everything is very organized. In India there is understood chaos. For
people who don’t understand this, when they visit India, they question
how anything is ever accomplished. Here, when you do something wrong,
people point it out to you.“ (mehr…)