[artinfo] HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES NEWSLETTER NO. 03/01 (fwd)

[C3 Information]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 14:08:21 +0200
From: Sieglinde Tuschy <tuschy@hkw.de>
To: tuschy@hkw.de
Subject: HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES NEWSLETTER NO. 03/01


NEWSLETTER No 03/01


HAUS DER KULTUREN DER WELT   -   HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES   -   BERLIN
______________________________________________________________________


Dear colleagues, dear friends,

we are preparing a programme on the cultures of Central Asia for next year.
You find a brief outline of this project below.

If you need further information or wish to add some comments please contact
me.

Kindest regards,

Sieglinde Tuschy
Networking/International Contacts
House of World Cultures
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 BERLIN. GERMANY
Tel +49 - 30 - 397 87181
Fax +49 - 30 - 394 8679
E-mail tuschy@hkw.de
Internet www.hkw.de
___________________________________________________________________


T h e   C e n t r a l   A s i a   P r o j e c t
Fine Arts, Music, Film, Lectures and Conferences
Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
March - May, 2002


Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian states have been
undergoing a dynamic reorientation process full of conflicts, in which the
rediscovery of religious roots also plays an important part. There have
been frequent endeavours to create and recreate history and to
instrumentalise it for political purposes. The sometimes violent attempts
to establish nations in this multi-ethnic region should be seen against
this background.


Although the search for identity has often prompted individual countries to
accentuate and assert their differences, they still evoke the myth of the
silk road as a shared symbol of a glorious past. For more than 2,000 years,
the silk road served as a trade route and cultural bridge linking the
Central Kingdom with the Roman Empire.


The art and culture of these countries, as a reflection of the disparate
social developments there, is largely unknown in Germany, despite the
region's rapidly growing geo-strategic, economic and political importance.
The programme of the House of World Cultures will present a variety of
forms of cultural expression in Central Asia: from the practices of the
folk religions to the works of the avant-garde.


The social upheavals taking place in Central Asia are probably most
manifest in the
f i n e   a r t s.   Many artists draw their inspiration from Western
cultural activities, which they interpret and radicalise; others assimilate
elements from their own regional traditions, pointedly employing them as
stylistic means. Performances and their mediaisation play a significant
role in all this. The planned exhibition will present different positions
within contemporary art in Central Asia.


The   f i l m   s e r i e s   will concentrate on the countries of
Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan, devoting particular attention to
developments within Central Asian cinema over the past ten years. The film
series will comprise about twenty feature films and short films. It will
primarily focus on very recent and current productions.


M u s i c   plays an outstanding role in Central Asian cultures. In Central
Asia, a centuries-old tradition of music exists alongside oral traditions
of handing down history and stories. This has created fertile ground for a
unique synthesis of music and poetry, words and sounds. Our music programme
will be presenting very recent interpretations of musical traditions
largely unknown here in Germany as well as of contemporary music. The Silk
Road Project, initiated by the famous cellist Yo Yo Ma in 1998, is a
fundamental part of the music programme.


The   l e c t u r e   a n d   c o n f e r e n c e   p r o g r a m m e
will cover topics such as religion in Central Asia, the role of women in
the process of social change, the development of democracy, the press and
journalism as well as political issues to present a complex mosaic of
geo-political interests and activities related to Central Asia.


The   c h i l d r e n ' s   a n d   y o u t h ' s   p r o g r a m m e
aims to bring to life the symbolic contents of the silk road myth for young
people with the aid of five concepts: language, landscape, transport,
commodity and hospitality.