Frankfurter Rundschau, 07.06.2006

Just in time for the FIFA World Cup which kicks off in Munich and Gelsenkirchen on Friday, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich is showing the exhibition "World Architecture + Sport. - from antique stadiums to modern arenas," which will run until September 3. Christian Thomas reports: "No sooner does the holy seriousness of the cult develop than the good old stadium breaks off all contact with the outside world. Whether just a simple track or a hybrid high-tech arena, no matter what form it takes, whether a cauldron, a temple or a fortress, the stadium has always been a magic location. This of course is no secret. Games and the pitting of strengths have needed an enclosure since antique times. And as both "are dominated by a unique and unconditional order" (in the words of philosopher Johan Huizinga), it comes as no surprise that some football fans today also see the stadium as a "holy sphere," as Huizinga said. That may not make the stadium into a church – even if for some fans their stadium is their 'temple'."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 07.06.2006

Bertelsmann media empire has secured itself the exclusive rights to all printed publications created for the FIFA World Cup. Olaf Sundermeyer has visitied one printing installation in Gütersloh. "The job that's being printed at the moment is the 'official' World Cup stadium magazine. This glossy edition will be sold for ten euros in the stadiums. At least half of all the copies will be printed in English – for visitors. Turkish was also being kicked around for a while, but then Turkey lost to Switzerland in the qualifying rounds. Enough paper has been ordered for 800,000 copies, and prominent football authors have also been engaged for the 'official' retrospective book, which will cost 69 euros. Altogether Bertelsmann has 150 products on offer, put out by various subsidiaries. These range from official ADAC travel guides to the Goleo-VI painting book; from a 3-D puzzle ball to the FIFA monopoly game. Critics will certainly find the latter very apropos."

Since 1981 there hasn't been as much Picasso as there is this summer at Madrid's two famous museums, the Reina Sofia and the Prado. Although for expert Paul Ingendaay the exhibition's continuous references to Picasso's sources of inspiration are sometimes annoying, he hopes they'll have an educational effect on the average art lover. "Without a doubt, the pictures on display are of such fabulous quality that an attempt to sketch the art history of the past four hundred years does seem justified. Titian's 'Dolorosa' hangs on one wall, on the other there's Picasso's 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief (III)'. Then there's Goya's 'The Nude Maja' and Picasso's 'Nude Lying in Bed' (1964), on loan from the Kunsthaus Zurich. With its heavy-handed approach, the show might even manage to convey the dialectics of tradition and breaks with tradition to the careless tourists who walk through the Prado in their flip-flops over the next few hot months."


Berliner Zeitung, 07.06.2006

Sebastian Preuss has visited the exhibtion "Berlin-Tokyo/Tokyo-Berlin. The Art of Two Cities," which opens today in Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie. "Tokyo and Berlin have joined forces to compare their artistic talents, and apart from the odd disappointment, have produced a truly original and innovative exhibition. Toyo Ito and the young artists have taken possession of the upper hall, but the really exciting experience at this exhibition is the historical tour in the basement where an array of fascinating works is on display… Seiko Kuroda's fleeting impressionist picture of a girl in a traditional kimono – a famous example of 'Yoga', Japan's Western-oriented art, as opposed to classic Japanese 'Nihonga' – is making its first appearance outside Japan here. Directly opposite hangs Max Slevogt's flickering, almost glowing portrait of Japanese dancer Sada Yacco, who was so admired in Berlin around the turn of the last century. The exhibition oscillates between Japanism and exoticism, and stylistic cosmopolitanism coupled with traditional content."