A fierce debate has been raging in Germany and Austria for weeks how ‘lawful’ the religiously motivated circumcision of little Jewish and Muslim boys is… Does it conflict with the basic human rights of personal integrity and self-determination? Or is it a sign of closet xenophobia against religious groups? See the articles below.
“Creator of an Art Universe”
“Franz West, an influential Austrian sculptor with a penchant for art objects that were willfully unserious, nonideological and accessible and were displayed in Central Park and on the plaza at Lincoln Center, as well as in international exhibitions and blue-chip galleries around the world, died on Wednesday in Vienna. He was 65.” >full text (c) NYTimes, 2012
On the alleged decline of the ‚Austrian’ language.
Language seems to be a hot topic in Austria this year. After a series of other incidents, the Viennese daily Die Presse alarmed the sunny nation last Sunday that the Austrian variant of German is in danger of extinction. A survey among first-year students of German at the University of Vienna carried out by linguist Peter Wiesinger has revealed that one third of the young adults use German-German expressions even in cases where there is an Austrian word, eg. Junge instead of Bub („boy“, „lad“). Continue reading
The Viennese bohemian bourgeois (BoBo) is the equivalent daddy / mummy of the gentrifying hipster NY style…
Illustration (c) Andrea Maria Dusl, 2012
“The Jewish cemetery on Seegasse in Vienna, which has been undergoing renovations by the city since 2008, is of importance not only for historical and cultural reasons.” >full article (c) wieninternational.at, 2012
“462 keys, 462 crimes, 462 lives: the “keys against forgetting” are an important memorial.”
“The Austrian Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel laureate in Physics & famous
for his theory about the feline in the box, spent his happiest years in Dublin.
Viennese cuisine between political correctness and nationalism
It is well-known that the Viennese cuisine mostly consists of stolen goods: the breaded schnitzel actually comes from Milan, the goulash from Hungary, and the dumplings from Bohemia. However, while German chancellor Angela Merkel asks half of Europe to tighten their belts, lucky Austria is worrying about the correct names for its delicious food. Continue reading
“Sounding out boundaries, revealing limitations and questioning ingrained concepts: the Vienna Independent Shorts film festival is showing its more militant side in 2012 – from the special programme feature Pushing the boundaries to the festival theme.” >full text (c) wieninternational.at, 2012
delirium clemens 