Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station before and after the lockdown. Source: The Guardian
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Weekly Poll
Should Merkel stay on as Chancellor beyond 2021?
YES NO NOT SURE
Last week, we asked if it's appropriate to display a shrine to the Christian martyr Saint Corona in the face of the COVID-19 crisis?
63% of you answered 'yes'.
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Longer read: Art from Home
Bauhaus × Central St Martins
Last year’s Bauhaus centenary celebrations saw a number of imaginative tributes to the design movement, but Vic Reeves’ re-enactment of the Bauhaus School in a series of challenges for six deadpan Central St Martins art students is truly a cut above the rest.
The Bauhaus ‘teachers’, ranging from sculptor David Batchelor to furniture designer Kate Butler and fashion designer Holly Fulton, brief the students before they complete challenges in a range of mediums from photography (without cameras), to costume design with the allocated theme of simply ‘metal’.
After a busy week of challenges, the participants throw a Bauhaus costume party to show off their metallic costumes and set design to fellow students. They serve glittery cupcakes (nut-free and vegan of course, we are in the 21st century despite appearances) and perform a dance choreographed according to the Bauhaus rules: ‘in pairs but without touching’ and ‘leaping and wild stamping of feet are absolutely essential’.
It’s strangely… heart-warming to see the students’ cool frowns melt away as they giddily dart around in their tinfoil hats. There’s definitely something magical about the Bauhaus way of teaching, perhaps it explains why the students stayed loyal through hardship, repeatedly rebuilding the school after being pushed first out of Weimar, then Dessau, by right-wing philistines.
Bauhaus parties were an opportunity for the artists to create completely original costumes. In his essay ‘Life at Bauhaus’ (1925), architect Farkas Molnár describes the surreal scenes: “Kandinsky prefers to appear decked out as an antenna… Feininger as two right triangles… Gropius as Le Corbusier… Klee as the song of the blue tree. A rather grotesque menagerie…” For a taste of the Bauhaus school with a contemporary twist, check out the programme on iPlayer.
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The Architecture Party, Bauhaus School.
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Austria
Coronavirus
The new decree approved by the Ministry of Health requires customers to wear protective masks inside supermarkets and food retailers to disinfect trolleys and install Plexiglas partitions at cash desks from Monday. The limited availability of masks, however, is posing significant challenges.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen called upon the population for “perseverance” and a “new togetherness” in a televised address to the nation.
Politics
The opposition parties (SPÖ, FPÖ, NEOS) voiced their disagreement with the third Corona-package in the Austrian National Council (Nationalrat).
They criticised how the governing coalition (ÖVP-Grünen) seemed to bypass oppositional scrutiny and refuse amendments due to “lack of time”.
Culture
Under the hashtag #myhomeismyburgtheater, the famous Viennese theatre Burgtheater is posting readings by the actors of its ensemble online. Burgtheater director Martin Kušej expects a potential re-opening in Autumn.
Entertainment
Styrian Schlager-singer Andreas Gabalier composed a new song to raise peoples’ spirits during the Coronavirus crisis: Neuer Wind (New Wind), available on YouTube.
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Germany in the UK
Books and film
Daniel Kehlmann’s novel, Tyll, has been shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize. A vivid historical tale based on German Folklore, it’s sure to capture the imaginations of the judges. Read The Guardian’s review.
A new German-language film, ‘Freud’ is now available on Netflix. This Austrian-German crime drama reimagines the life of Sigmund Freud. Read a review in The Guardian (here).
Elsewhere
Check out the Goethe Institut’s video series on Leading Women, which showcases 10 powerful figures in positions such as the CEO of the Berlin Transport Authority and the conductor of a leading Japanese Orchestra.
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Music
Song of the week is: ‘Schenk mir dein Herz’ - Höhner (2009)
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Word of the Week
Den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sehen
Phrase: to not see the forest/wood for the trees
This idiomatic expression refers to being distracted from what’s important by trivialities. In a sense, you get tangled up or lost in the trivial things that you miss the obvious.
- Oft sieht man den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht, deswegen muss man ab und zu eine Pause einlegen und auf das zu konzentrieren, was wichtig ist. = Often one doesn’t see the forest for the trees, so one has to take a break from time to time and concentrate on what is important.
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