cafebabel.com

Russian art group Voina boycotts Moscow contemporary art biennale

('Annie Rutherford',) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:26:45 -0000

It's not the country that you'd expect to celebrate activist art. Held until 20 October, Moscow's fourth contemporary art biennale is not exactly a step towards the freedom of expression, especially since the famous Russian protest collective are paradoxically protesting against the biennale’s 'international festival of activist art'

Poland-Germany exhibition in Berlin: let the neighbours talk

('Annie Rutherford',) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:55:07 -0000

The exhibition ‘Good Neighbours? German Motifs in Polish Contemporary Art/ Polish Motifs In German Contemporary Art’ is showing at the Bethanien art gallery in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district until late October. The works on display reflect the quality of the German-Polish relationship today

Memorable exhibitions: inspecting meat at Carne 2010, Paris

('Daniel Milnes',) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:00:03 -0000

An art exhibition with the rather succinct title 'Meat', displaying dead and live off-cuts of both human and animal origin, may not be a terribly new concept in the times of Gunter von Hagen’s ‘Body Worlds’, gory films and Lady Gaga costumes. However, in order to give their meaty art show a certain je ne sais quois, the Parisian organisers of Carne 2010 rather unceremoniously moved the exhibition out of the museum and into the slaughterhouse. Flashback tour through northern Paris, caught somewhere between minced meat and video installations

Environmental art in Athens: art project for Kifissos river

('hkeet',) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:57:55 -0000

Whoever asks the Athenians about the Kifissos river hears mainly legendary tales, as Yvonne Senouf and Corinne Weber, the creative minds behind the international art platform MELD’s Project Nero, can testify. Their project for a vanished river aims to deal with urbanisation and pollution creatively

Frank Bouroullec: 'There aren’t many people with the balls to paint live'

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:27:37 -0000

The renowned French speed artist, 43, is no 'painter', he’s a 'performer'. Nor does he 'work'; he 'gets his kicks'. A non-speed interview with a man who has painted live portraits of the likes of Eva Longoria and George Clooney upside down and in under four minutes

Claire Ruppli: ‘Erasmus generation have to create Europe now’

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The lovemaking Swiss theatre actress is taking on a one-woman stage interpretation of a haunted figure in Prague on Parisian floorboards. She talks getting into theatre, Europe and passion

Felix Vogel, youngest curator of a European biennale

('Caroline Prosser',) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:01:35 -0000

The German was picked three years ago when he was just 20 - in Venice, the youngest curator was 46! With a team averaging an age of 24, the Bucharest Biennale between 21 May and 25 July 2010 gives youth the chance to show what they can do

When does design (not) become art?

('Hanna Sankowska',) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:04:28 -0000

There was no clear answer at the 14th pavilion of arts and design in Paris between 24 - 28 March. We talked limited edition pieces, the concept of twenty-first century art and the nature of spending at the internationally renowned trade show, which was held in the Tuilerie gardens

Sofia's directors and playwrights boom despite barebone budgets

('Darren Thompson',) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:57:13 -0000

In Bulgaria there are no cultural policy programmes and the crisis has consumed the ministry coffers. Filmmakers like Kamen Kalev, playwrights and other creative minds demand government transparency and methods to support their enterprising spirit. Part one of a five part 'EU crisis on the ground' city series

Tribute to Polish poster designer Franciszek Starowieyski

('Lydia Bigos',) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:15:44 -0000

On 23 February 2009, Poland said goodbye to one of its most prominent artists, who died aged 79 in Warsaw. Here, we republish an extract of an interview with the award-winning painter and stage designer, aka ‘Jan Byk’

Société Réaliste: French-Hungarian duo on a ‘free’ European Green Card

('Soili Semkina',) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:25:07 -0000

Created in 2004, the anarchist artist duo are ‘part of a factory’ which only accepts Europe as an idea ‘if Japan is Europe, if Alaska is Europe.’ We learn how they deconstruct the constructed, introverted entity which they see as Europe in Paris

Barack Obama inspires art and fashion in Paris and Barcelona

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:45 -0000

Whether it's his face in gravel viewed from the air, or his face in sequins viewed from the catwalk, Cuban artist Jorge Rodríguez Gerada and French Moroccan designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac are inspired by the democratic presidential candidate. Cross-portraits

Jeremy Deller: the British artist who likes art, but can’t draw

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:09:06 -0000

The 42-year-old is ‘vaguely political’ and pretty vague. 2004's Turner prize winner talks unemployment, Britsh folk culture as 'real art' and pigeons in Paris

Thierry Uhrman versus the chic Lyon suburb

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:17:00 -0000

Controversy erupts as an artist turns his residence into an ‘Abode of Chaos’, with heaps of scrap metal and works of art

Exhibition brings Israel and Palestine 'face to face'

('John Smith',) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:58:00 -0000

Face2Face is a unique and edgy photography show by French and Swiss friends JR and Marco, They stick the Israeli-Palestinian conflict right under European noses

The future is death metal-inspired art in Kosovo

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Contemporary art is just one bright face of the Kosovo prism, from which the works of the likes of 29-year-old visual artist Artan Balaj refract

'Europe's Sundance festival'

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Culture crosses borders in Europe this March, as Spain visits Nantes, the Balkans accept a second invitation to Brussels and Irish beer takes over the continent

Nicolae Comanescu: painting with dust in Bucharest

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:33:00 -0000

In the truest sense of the words, the Romanian artist, 39, produces art from the dusty rubble of his home city

'Sarkozy or YouTube 3.0?' in Bologna

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Better processors, improved data management possibilities integrated into consoles. Report from the 'Future Film Festival' in Italy

Who are Lisbon's contemporary artists?

('Sophie Paterson',) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Who’s selling? Who’s buying? Who’s organising? Run-down of the unjustified creative pessimism in the Portuguese capital, from Culturgest, ZDB and

Venice Film Festival goes war conflict

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The 64th Venice Film Festival – great performances from the actors, but the favourites are two films about Iraq

Ars Electronica: when Second Life becomes First Life

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0000

From 5 to the 11 September Linz will host one of the most important digital arts festivals. For the occasion one of the main streets in the city centre will be transformed into its virtual alter ego

European heritage battle

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:00:00 -0000

At the foot of the Acropolis, a new museum is undergoing construction – but something important is missing: the British Museum is not prepared to return pieces of the world-famous Parthenon frieze to Athens

Documenta 12: the web of art

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0000

A round trip of Germany’s most important exhibition for contemporary art, 'Documenta 12', which asks questions and tightens the link between avant-garde and the viewer

July culture vulture

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Between Italian jazz and Nordic tango, Slovenian saxophone and Scottish rock, Spanish bull running and German contemporary art – check out the July issue of our Vultures for Culture calendar

Fabbrica Europa redresses Florence

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Thu, 24 May 2007 12:00:00 -0000

There's more to Florence than its stuffy museum setting. The Tuscan capital is host to a contemporary art festival, whose lights go out on 31 May

2007: A Space Odysseus

('Sarah Turpin',) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Homer's hero is now travelling the length and breadth of the world wide web. With Germany’s six month presidency in full swing, the Goethe Institute has designed a virtual journey for artists. How is Europe searching for itself?

Parc de la Villette: culture not cows

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The Parc de la Villette in Paris is one of Europe’s leading art centres. Here art, music, science and technology all rub shoulders

Factories of culture: forging new from old

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0000

All over Europe, former industrial buildings are being rebuilt as centres of culture. Residents cherish the special charm of these old factories

Painting Congolese history: Tshibumba Kanda Matulu

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 02:00:00 -0000

Amid the clichés of contemporary media coverage, the paintings of Tshibumba Kanda Matulu offer an unparalleled opportunity to understand the hopes and fears underlying the history of the Congo

Gypsy in the mix

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:00:00 -0000

Dispelling stereotypes of gypsy music being about old men singing in restaurants, today’s DJs are showing that it remains a vibrant and powerful form of music

Artists in arms

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 02:00:00 -0000

Politics is not the only thing to have changed in Poland since the fall of communism. Maria Staszkiewicz investigates the underground artists trying to bring a little perspective to Polish lives.

Sidney Corbett, composing for beauty

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:00:00 -0000

A renowned composer for the Berlin state opera and a passionate guitarist, 45-year-old Sidney Corbett talks to café babel about his career, which began with his move from his native USA to Europe, and modern European music composition.