Culture News
The cultural day in brief: news, premieres, exhibitions and all the latest contributions from our sections – newest first.
Monday, 26. October
- MUSIC · PROFILE
The work behind the choral sound: Martina Elmer takes over as manager of the BR Choir
A choir sounds as one — but behind it lie work schedules, rehearsal logistics and questions of programming. Martina Elmer is taking on a key role at the BR Choir.
- FILM · BACKGROUND
Film history needs more than a slot in the programme
The Aldrich retrospective shows that film history is shaped not by selection alone, but also by prints, projection and interpretation.
- ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN · BACKGROUND
A city is also built through its food
Food provision leaves its mark on urban space. Brussels and Berlin show how markets, trade and communal kitchens shape neighbourhoods.
- VISUAL ARTS · BACKGROUND
What remains of the club in the museum
In 3hd’s guest programme, club culture, performance and film meet the museum space. What is gained — and what is lost in the move?
- STAGE · PREVIEW
Learning to speak means learning other people’s rules
A stranger learns words – and with them, other people’s order. Claudia Bauer directs Peter Handke’s ‘Kaspar’ at Schauspiel Köln.
- FILM · PREVIEW
Who owns the mask? Colonial history for young cinema audiences
A missing museum object puts three children on the trail of colonial history. Nancy Mac Granaky-Quaye’s family film opens on 29 October.
- VISUAL ARTS · PROFILE
Nevin Aladağ: The Car as a Resonating Body of Memory
Nevin Aladağ is transforming her father’s Porsche into a playable sculpture. An exhibition in Hannover explores the questions behind the work.
- VISUAL ARTS · PREVIEW
When art invents a court case
A fictional bank, a staged trial: Gabriela Löffel explores how financial power can be narrated and examined in court.
- CULTURAL POLICY · BACKGROUND
Who opens the doors to cultural leadership?
Mentoring can strengthen contacts and confidence. Whether it leads to a leadership post is ultimately decided by institutions and selection panels.
- LITERATURE · ESSAY
John Berger and the question of where we see from
Images do not speak outside history. Berger shows how ownership, power and everyday life help shape our gaze – and where his interpretations go too far.
- ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN · PROFILE
Volkwin Marg and the responsibilities of working at scale
An architect, a large practice, many contributors: Marg’s birthday offers an occasion to discuss responsibility and shared authorship.
- STAGE · BACKGROUND
Reichenau: continuity needs measurable goals
The contract extension until 2030 strengthens artistic continuity. What matters will be whether Reichenau describes its development transparently and in concrete terms.
- VISUAL ARTS · ESSAY
Art for timescales beyond human lives
An abandoned control room, a gliding python, cosmic scales: Emilija Škarnulytė asks how art can make the distant future visible.
- FILM · BACKGROUND
A film has not yet arrived when the credits roll
Premieres get films talked about. Whether that leads to a cinema release depends on decisions made only after the festival.
- VISUAL ARTS · BACKGROUND
What world did the museum’s founder collect?
Osthaus’s collection of Islamic arts tells of an early perspective beyond Europe – and of historical categories now being re-examined.
- LITERATURE · PROFILE
Barbara Yelin: Memory Takes Shape Between Images
From ‘Irmina’ to Emmie Arbel: the comics artist explores how personal memory and history come together in images.
- MUSIC · PREVIEW
When the orchestra has to listen afresh
Two new works at musica viva demand different forms of collaboration from the orchestra — with familiar instruments and electronic sound.
- FILM · BACKGROUND
Wolf Biermann: A Life Beyond the Loss of Citizenship
The loss of his citizenship made Wolf Biermann a political symbol. As his film portrait reaches cinemas, the focus turns to the work and life behind it.
- CULTURAL POLICY · BACKGROUND
AI funding: Who controls cultural data?
The federal and state governments’ paper promises sovereignty over cultural data and fair participation. How this will work in practice remains largely unclear.
- STAGE · PREVIEW
Who gets to be considered a genius?
Mozart as genius, Salieri as rival: Daniela Löffner brings Peter Shaffer’s drama about artists to Staatsschauspiel Dresden.
- STAGE · BACKGROUND
What kind of public does the Deutsche Oper want?
A Wagner classic, German remembrance and current conflicts: Milo Rau’s premiere brings the Deutsche Oper’s new question about its programming into focus.
- CULTURAL POLICY · BACKGROUND
Pop funding needs more than project grants
The draft budget for 2027 puts funding mechanisms under pressure. What is at stake is not just money for individual acts, but an entire chain of support.
- MUSIC · ESSAY
Listening to Feldman means making time
Morton Feldman’s piano music stretches the concert evening. The Munich festival also asks who can sustain attention for so long.
- ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN · BACKGROUND
How much city is there in an award-winning high-rise?
Five finalists, five answers to the question of what a tower can give back to its city – from conversion to green, high-density housing.
- STAGE · BACKGROUND
Salzburg’s brief joint leadership and the question of shared power
Sophia Aurich is leaving the artistic leadership of Schauspielhaus Salzburg early. What the case reveals about shared responsibility in theatre.
- VISUAL ARTS · PREVIEW
Özgür Kar: When an Exhibition Becomes a Stage
In Basel, Özgür Kar spreads a new theatrical production across several rooms. The audience must find its own way through the scenes.
- VISUAL ARTS · BACKGROUND
Showing women artists – but also changing museum history
The ALBERTINA is focusing on women artists from five centuries. What needs to happen for a temporary exhibition to become a new museum narrative?
- FILM · PREVIEW
Who gets to decide a young person’s future?
A teenager is considering entering a convent, and her family is alarmed. Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Glaube” (Faith) opens in German cinemas on 29 October.
- FILM · REPORT
Documentary: Responsibility does not end with filming
Consent is more than a form. Documentary filmmakers must also consider risks, editing and the consequences of release.
- LITERATURE · PROFILE
Christine Wunnicke and the authority of knowledge
From historical outsiders to parrots: Christine Wunnicke turns established knowledge into literature that shifts certainties.
Sunday, 25. October
- IN BRIEF
The shortlist is not the whole of literature
A nomination offers an occasion to present books afresh. What follows cannot be seen from the Austrian Book Prize lists alone.
- CULTURAL POLICY · BACKGROUND
A biennale to assess technology against the common good
Seoul appoints Irini Papadimitriou for 2027. A look at the structures behind critical media art – and at ZKM and MO Museum.
- VISUAL ARTS · BACKGROUND
Who bears the risk of an art fair?
A fair offers opportunities to sell, not guaranteed income. What young galleries in Turin have to fund upfront — and what support reaches them.
- CULTURAL POLICY · BACKGROUND
How Saxony’s spending cuts could change its theatres
A theatre can remain open and still make less possible. Saxony’s budget debate shows where the pressure to cut spending is being felt.
- MUSIC · PREVIEW
Hearing Jelinek, not just celebrating her
Piano, voice, organ: Wien Modern opens up a musical approach to Elfriede Jelinek. A preview of 3 November.
- VISUAL ARTS · PREVIEW
Bodies between screen, space and laboratory
Who is looking, and who is being looked at? Three forthcoming programmes in Berlin, Basel and Vienna connect questions about the body with video, sound and research.
- ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN · PROFILE
Don't demolish: What we can learn from Barbara Buser
A film puts Barbara Buser in the spotlight. Her projects show why reuse takes more than salvaged windows and goodwill.
- FILM · PROFILE
Ulrike Ottinger: How to Build a World from Images
How do painting, language and costume become a film? Ulrike Ottinger’s “Die Blutgräfin” (The Blood Countess) takes us to the heart of her working method.
- FILM · BACKGROUND
Short films, long journeys to audiences
After the festival comes the next screening: how distribution, on-demand libraries and funding keep short films visible.
- STAGE · PREVIEW
Who speaks for the provinces?
New episodes of “Warten auf’n Bus” (Waiting for the Bus) are coming to the Berliner Ensemble. Voices from the Oderbruch broaden the view of the supposed periphery.
