Austrofascism (1933 – 1938) “was not just a corporative state [Ständestaat] but a ‘despicable, unpopular, authoritarian Austrian dictatorship’. This is the conclusion reached by the retired Austrian political scientist Emmerich Tálos in his new book entitled Das austrofaschistische Herrschaftssystem. Tálos studied some 200 boxes of historical archive material returned by the Russian authorities from Moscow to Vienna in 2009.” Interview (c) WIENINTERNATIONAL.AT, 2103
“Emaciated bodies, skeletons, phantom-like apparitions and post-apocalyptic landscapes – all of these are motifs that the Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) captured on canvas. All of these paintings have something ephemeral, other-worldly, something difficult to capture. Even if you take a closer look it is difficult to get a clear idea of what you are seeing.” Exhibition to be seen at the Phantastenmuseum in Vienna until 22 June >review & photos
(c) WIENINTERNATIONAL.AT 2013
The Fiaker driving his horse-drawn carriage around Hofburg Palace, the café waiter serving a Melange, the local musicians entertaining guests at the local wine taverns (the Heuriger): stereotypical images that come up when you think of Vienna (and that are played on by the Austrian tourism industry). The exhibition Vienna Types – Cliché and Reality at the WienMuseum explains why, as it traces the stereotypoes back to the social history of the city. >full text
(c) wieninternational.at 2013 >German version
“Mean husbands, despairing servant girls, lecherous café owners and a snapping dog: these are just some of the protagonists who breathe life into the novel “Yellow Street”(1990) by Veza Canetti (1897-1963).” >text & photo album
(c) wieninternational.at 2013
Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858) “was a Viennese women of the Biedermeier era with one dream: she wanted to travel. In the nineteenth century it was impossible for women to fulfil this wish. So she made it her life to perform the impossible.”
>full text (c) wieninternational.at 2013
Below: Ms Pfeiffer in travel gear; lithography by Adolf Dauthage; photo: wikipedia Continue reading
Austrian A-hole of the month? “Do you believe water is a basic human right? According to the Nestlé CEO water is a foodstuff that should be privatized, not a human right: Peter Brabeck says that with the global population rising water is not a public right, but a resource that should be managed by businessmen.”
(c) AMERICAN LIVE WIRE, 2013
“A new (dangerous?) breed of activist right-wing extremism is spreading across Europe: Die Identitären.” >text (c) THE VIENNA REVIEW, 2013
“Born 150 years ago today, on April 22nd 1763, Austrian author Cajetan Tschink was born in Vienna. At the age of 17 he asked for permission to enter the Barnabite Order but a few months later he was accepted into the Carmelite Order which he left before ordination. Instead he began his studies of philosophy at Jena. Later Tschink became Professor of Philosophy and Metaphysics in Olmütz/Olomouc in Moravia, Czech Republic. In November 1809 appeared an obituary announcing Tschink’s death in Olmütz (November 7th, 1809), and another one in 1813 stating that he died on August, 26th in the same town! Continue reading
UFOs as the projection screen of the collective unconscious, where Cold/Post War hysteria materializes? “This photograph, reproduced from the quarterly UFO periodical Flying Saucers International in Los Angeles, shows silvery white flying objects as seen by photographer Erich Kaiser while descending from the Reichenstein mountain in Styria, Austria on Aug. 3, 1954” Photo (c) AP
delirium clemens 