Britons find nudity hilarious. Germans take it very seriously. An apostil by Roger Boyes ...
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In a disused dockyard in Rostock, the "Art goes Heiligendamm" initiative has put the final touches to its G8 intervention. The preferred topic among the artworks is borders and overcoming them. Aside from that they deal anything that's good: information, documentation, irony, utopia, anti-consumerism. By Irene Grüter
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Of mothers and children: Sasha Waltz has staged Pascal Dusapin's "Medea" opera in Luxembourg. Yet while the spirit races, the dancing is in slow motion. By Christiane Peitz
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder died 25 years ago. His ex-wife, the actress and chanteuse Ingrid Caven, is outraged at the way the Fassbinder legacy is being misrepresented. She talks to Katja Nicodemus about the cult of genius, lies and the Utopian days of great cinema.
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Why did no one think of it before? A film festival showing only the best films around. Cannes director Thierry Fremaux has done just that - much to the approval of Daniel Kothenschulte, who singles out the new films by Fatih Akin and Quentin Tarantino as his favourites.
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When gas, electricity or water are at stake, the state must guarantee the energy supply for the population. Shouldn't it do likewise when the other type of 'energy' is at risk, the quality press? All over the world, financial investors are increasingly replacing patriarchal publishers and imposing their idea of profitability. Philosopher Jürgen Habermas argues for state support for the quality newspapers.
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Germans are said to be a bit obsessed with their cars - sleek, robust, fast. But the cutest thing to ever grace the autobahn had other virtues. In view of the green future where Germany is a small car nation, Georg Klein sings praise of the Goggomobil.
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Brilliantly narrated, justly arbitrated: historian Christopher Clark has written a masterpiece on the Hohenzollern state of Prussia. By Volker Ullrich
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Germany's top theatre festival is taking place in Berlin, the Theatertreffen. But does the theatre still have anything to celebrate? Absolutely! A defence of the stage in the age of cable TV and computer games. By Peter Kümmel.
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Probable, silent, public, inofficial - there are many categories of participant in this year's documenta. What's lacking are the official ones. Because the exhibition organisers are keeping tight-lipped about what artists have been invited, we are left to guess, speculate, hope and dismay. By Ludwig Seyfarth
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The Mainz-based composer Volker David Kirchner is widely seen as one of Germany's foremost - and most popular - contemporary classical composers. He talks to Stefan Schickhaus about his love for chamber pieces, the holy trininty of the German music world and why it doesn't pay to write opera. (Photo © Stefan Schickhaus)
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Baden-Württemberg's premier Günther Oettinger made a few off comments in his speech at the funeral of his predecessor Hans Filbinger last week. Namely that Filbinger, who had worked as a judge for the National Socialist regime, had opposed the Nazis. Having been rapped on the knuckles by Angela Merkel, Oettinger recanted, as little as possible. Then he granted himself an apology. Arno Widmann is not impressed.
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The world's most famous string quartet leaves the concert stage after forty years. An encounter with the Alban Berg Quartet. By Volker Hagedorn
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Ingo Schulze has reached new literary heights in his latest collection of short stories. Full of digressions and distractions, full of calculated humility, Schulze turns what seems to be non-art into art in its highest form. By Ulrich Greiner
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It seems no coicidence that the West is volunteering to restrict economic growth, now that it's stopped anyway. And that Germany wants to put a limit on just about every pleasure it's ever known. Why are we punishing ourselves? Because politicians need a remedy for their own feelings of powerlessness. By Jens Jessen
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The art of glimmer and of deception. Seminal works show the roots and origins of the Op Art movement in an exhibition at Frankfurt's Schirn Kunsthalle. The dynamic of black and white fields meets snuffling electric motors. And a bachelor machine makes jokes and winks. By Ulf Erdmann Ziegler
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