Die Welt 24.11.2006

Following the murder of the Christian politician Pierre Gemayel (more), writer Michael Kleeberg illustrates the ambivalent results of the end of Christian domination in Lebanon since the end of the civil war. On the one hand, it is now possible for the first time for Lebanon to try to find its way between European colony, Islamic theocracy and Arabic despot. "As its power wanes so do all the positive side effects of this unjust distribution: the European language, which opened the country to Europe, and brought not only mafia-like investors and bankers, but also the Enlightenment and the ideas of freedom, the declaration of human rights, great literature, the significance of education and modernity into the country, distinguishing it in a positive way from the Arab countries and making it their vent to the outside world."

Alexander Wendt suggests that it is mainly the elites in Germany who cut themselves off from immigrants and East Germans and thus contribute to their ongoing poverty. He proposes affirmative action. "Assuming the same degree of talent, East Germans and immigrant children should be privileged in public institutions until representation at senior levels corresponds to their proportion of the population. Of course a European affirmative action program cannot do away with the problem of the under classes. But only when German elites are prepared to remove the glass ceiling, will an exemplary breath of fresh air be able to blow through the entire country, reaching even down to the lower levels."


Frankfurter Rundschau 24.11.2006

Twin towers are coming to Frankfurt, and not everyone is pleased. Hubertus von Allwörden, himself an architect, calls the new European Central Bank project a "juvenile blasphemy." With its design that combines a "groundscraper" with polygonal twin towers, the Vienna-based architectural firm of Coop Himmelb(l)au – the name is a pun on blue sky, and sky scraper - recently won the international urban planning and architectural design competition for the new ECB. Groundbreaking will take place some time next year on the 120,000 square metre site of the historic Grossmarkthalle (wholesale market), which the ECB purchased from the City of Frankfurt in March 2002. Von Allwörden claims that the design undermines the integrity of the market hall, designed by German architect Martin Elsasser (1884-1958), "cutting through it like a spineless liverwurst" (visually, not structurally) in order to emasculate any architectonic competition to the new towers.


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 24.11.2006

Director Hans Neuenfels, chatting with Eleonore Büning, says he refuses to see violent computer games as art. "Art always encourages communication, whereas the killer games imply a fixation on the self: The self is saved, again and again – as a kind of confirmation of something that can never be called into question." But true art, on the other hand, can be administered to youth without a problem. "For example, I was able to overcome many of my problems in puberty thanks to 'The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge' by Rilke and James Joyces 'Ulysses.' Granted, the lovely langauge is perhaps secondary. Even the Beatles had a definite formative influence on my character back then."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 24.11.2006

The Ruhr region as cultural capital? Sonja Zekri probes the German heart of darkness: "For those not in the know, the Ruhr region is something like the Kazakhstan of Germany. They've never visited, but are utterly convinced of its bizarre backwardness. And even among the educated, there is ofen a kind of zoological astonishment: Intelligent life in such an unfriendly atmosphere? Amazing! These days, the endless autumn wraps the region in a wonderfully toxic warmth. Between the asphalt deserts of the industrial region, the trees glow golden like in a painting by Klimt – or with a fever. The climate is currently a bit overheated between Wesel and Bergkamen, at any rate among those who have anything to do with the Cultural Capital 2010. That has little to do with Wesel and much to do with Vienna. But more on that, later."


Der Tagesspiegel 24.11.2006

Peter von Becker thinks the time is right to announce the break-through of the three members of Rimini Protokoll. "Rimini is the hottest, most intelligent and surprising thing that the international theatre scene has to offer at the moment. That's why the three Rimini heads, Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetzel, are now receiving calls not just from the best German language actors but also from festivals, companies and institutions on all continents. They don't brag about it: the three mid- to late 30-year-olds, who were students at the (in)famous Institute for applied Theatre sciences in Giessen ten years ago, where every morning even the post rang the
bell as post-modern."