danube connects – the magazine for the danube countries, 1/2013

danube connects 01 I 13 1

connectsdanubethe magazine for the danube countries

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Talking about culture:on the 1. Danube Conference on Culture

Advocating culture: Müszi in Budapest

Plenty of Colour!Cultural diversity along the Danube

danube connects 01 I 132

Editorial

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the magazine for the danube countries

Tel. +49 (0)731 153 75 05Fax +49 (0)731 153 75 [email protected]

www.danube-connects.euwww.facebook.com/danube.connects

Dear Readers,

ow can the culture of the Danube region best be presented? A region which is so rich in styles, languages, ethnicities and religions. It is just impossible! Therefore, we have made a selection, to give an im-pression of the manifold spectrum of different artists’ approaches and aims.

We talked to Regina Hellwig-Schmid, initiator of donumenta Regensburg and expert on the southeast European art scene, with Ben Mergels-berg, a young filmmaker from Berlin whose film “Danube Sounds” just premiered. Further along the Danube we got to know the “aesthetic disob-edience” of Budapest’s art scene and took a look

at the cultural circles in the Bulgarian city of Ruse that work ambitiously towards becoming Capital of Culture in 2019.

And of course, a culture issue of danube connects cannot omit theDanube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm. Every second year it draws together artists from all Danube countries – since 1989. At the first International Danube Conference on Culture in Ulm more actors in the cultural realm than artists met. “Cui bono?”, asks our author Thomas Zehender and finds some interesting answers.

We hope for inspiring reading pleasure

Sincerely,Andrea Toll & Sabine Geller Editors in chief and initiatorsdanube connects

danube connects now on Facebook!

We offer information and images from the international press on politics, tourism and culture in the Danube region. Furthermore, we keep you on track about the Danu-be Strategy and the various events alongside the Danube. Come and take a look!

You want to share interesting infor-mation on the Danube region?

Just send a link to [email protected].

danube connects 01 I 13 danube connects 01 I 134 5

Donau

DEUTSCHLAND TSCHECHIEN

ÖSTERREICH

SLOWAKEI

UNGARN

SLOWENIEN

KROATIEN

BOSNIEN-HERZEGOWINA

SERBIEN

RUMÄNIEN

UKRAINE

BULGARIEN

ITALIEN

MOLDAWIEN

Ulm

Neu-Ulm

Regensburg

LinzWien Bratislava

Budapest

LublijanaZagreb

Novi Sad

Belgrad

Osijek

Bukarest

Sofia

Rom

Kischinau

Sarajewo

Tulcea

CULTURE KNOWS NO BORDERSThe first International Danube Confe-rence on Culture in Ulm.................6–7

THE DANUBE AREA HAS TO BE MEASURED ANEWsays Regina Hellwig-Schmid in our interview............................................8

ARS ELECTRONICA CENTER LINZOn a virtual expedition............................9

RECLAIMING BUDAPESTBudapest’s art scene loo-king for alternatives........................................10–11

GERMAN TRACKS IN THE DANUBE COUNTRIESSoon On-line: a Historic-Touristic Guidebook.........................................12

6

Culture knows no borders

Content

10Reclaiming Budapest

DANUBIUS AND HIS COMRADESDanubius and his cameradesEDA‘s travelling exhibition presents unique palaeolithic findings................24

ROWING BOATS AND MUSICat Rowmania-Festival in Tulcea in September .......................................20

FRESH DANUBE FILMS ATFILM FESTIVAL NOVI SADA project for young filmmakers.........20

EVENTS..........................................19

IMPRINT.........................................19

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Impressions from Croatia

Ruse - Little-Vienna in Bulgaria

Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm

RUSE – A CULTURAL CITY YET TO BE DISCOVEREDThe northern Bulgarian city on the Danube has many facets............13–15 DANUBE-FESTIVAL - FROM BUIL-DING BRIDGES TO THE EAST 1989 TO A NEW EUROPE 2014What changed in the course of the fe-stivals.........................................16–17

DANUBE-FESTIVAL GETS BACKINGIn September the first Danube festival will be held in Bratislava.................18

THE DANUBE’S SOUNDS“Danube Sounds“ ist he name of Ben Mergelsberg’s new film.............20–21

DANUBE-IMPRESSIONS FROM CROATIAPhotographer Damir Rajle’s view of the Danbe...................................22–23

Danube Sounds


Secretary of State for the Arts Jürgen Walter: “The conference is intended by Baden-Württemberg as a lasting signal for the necessity of inten-sified cultural cooperation in the frame-work of the European Union’s Danube Strategy.”

Minister for European Affairs Peter Friedrich: “The fact that Baden-Württemberg is so far the only country within the broad Danube-initiative to grant distinct project funds attracted attention in the whole of the Danube region.”

Erhard Busek, former Austrian vice-chancellor: “One of the require-ments of the European river is to know each other. To this end, workshops produced various ideas: the founding of institutes that teach Danube langu-ages, the establishment of archives to preserve and process joint history, the founding of Danube museums, a cul-tural history of the Danube region, an encyclopaedia of the languages, multi-lingual media, intercultural theatre groups.”

Ivo Gönner, Lord Mayor of Ulm: “Culture can play an important role in fighting nationalism, even more than politics and economy, since culture knows no borders.” Ilma Rakusa: Swiss literary scholar, author and translator “In these times that are especially difficult for middle and south-eastern Europe, we need initiatives to establish a joint cultural realm which focusses on things connec-ting rather than dividing us. The river – though often used as a border – does not know borders itself and should be our guideline.”

Culture Knows no Borders

The First International Danube Conference on Culture was held in mid-April 2013 in Ulm. It was organised by the ministry for science, research and culture Baden-Württemberg in cooperation with the European Da-nube Academy. During the two-day event, well-known speakers and various actors from the cultural field of the Danube countries came together. They discussed questions of cultural identity in the Danube region, the necessity of establishing a network for arts and culture and the significance of funding of cultural projects for the development of civil society in the Danube area.

Peter Friedrich, Minister of Federal, European and International Affairs

Ivo Gönner, Lord Mayor of Ulm Erhard Busek, chair of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe

Jürgen Walter, Secretary of State, Ministry for Research, Science and Arts

Danube Culture Conference

More suits than artists – that was the first impression of the first Danube Con-ference on Culture in Ulm. This imme-diately poses the question: Cui bono? (To whose benefit?) Ostensibly, it was a self-promotion event for the city and the organisers. But where is the benefit for culture and artists in the Danube coun-tries? Possibly solely in the insight that something like a bridging Danube-cul-ture, a Danube-identity does not exist. But exactly this can be an opportunity: hardly any other European region offers such a diversity of styles, languages, religions and ethnicities; the Danube region is the epitome of the European Union’s motto “United in diversity”.

The Conference on Culture in Ulm, and its sequel which is going to be held in Novi Sad next year, will have to prove whether it can establish and support

lasting initiatives from which arts and artists actually benefit. Positive examp-les can already be found: since the Da-nube Festival 2014 in Ulm is exposed to financial cuts, it could increasingly try to promote young, unknown artists instead of big names. The Akademie Schloss Solitude close to Stuttgart is offering attractive fellowships and wor-king opportunities for young artists. In the Bulgarian city of Ruse, the Elias-Ca-netti-Foundation is staging ambitions events despite a small budget. Other success stories are the Donumenta in Regensburg or the travelling exhibition “Der Mensch. Der Fluss. along the river of men“ which have brought arts from the Danube countries to the people. A fixed “European House of Danube Cul-tures” could hardly account for such projects, seems to be a phased-out mo-del in times of new media and would

take up too much money for staff, admi-nistration and maintenance.

The real and greatest profit for culture would in the end make conferences ob-solete anyway; artists and cultural ini-tiatives should take matters into their own hands, the available money should go into a Danube cultural fond to sup-port actual projects rather than confe-rences. It is time for the officials to have a little more courage; there is enough artistic creativity, so: loosen your ties, please!

Thomas Zehender, Ulmfreelance journalist and and writer

Loosen your ties, please! Comment

Ilma Rakusa at the opening of the Danube Conference for Culture in Ulm


In April, the 1. Danube Conference on Culture was held. Which new im-pulses did you take from it?

I had lots of encounters, new and old, which all concentrated on the Danube area. These immediately sparked ideas for projects and discussions about pos-sible cooperation and showed the ge-neral interest in exchange of all partici-pants. The conference made clear that – despite all virtual networks – perso-nal encounters are still the best way of starting new projects.

How do you see the situation of ar-tists in the Danube countries?

Apart from the freedom of travel, the situation of artists, especially in coun-tries lacking political stability, has not become easier. Why else would many of them still try to make their living in western countries? Surely, the attempt to work in the arts on the most advan-ced and up-to-date level might be one reason for that, but I am concerned for artists forgetting their roots. This leaves us in danger of losing them in their function as cultural ambassadors and cultural mediators for their home countries.

What is going to happen now, after the donumenta?

There is no “after the donumenta”. If at all, it could be a call for an enlarge-ment of exchange and presentation of positions in a supranational area. And this is what the association donumenta is trying to do right now, to extend its platform for the arts and to plan new projects. We have initiated a number of projects over the last ten years, have brought together many people from the Danube region and have establis-hed a great network of artists. There can be no last point to that – and that’s a good thing!

With “14 x 14 Measuring the Danu-be region. Positions in the arts”, our successful anniversary exhibition last year, donumenta already enlarged its scope on the 14 countries, which are at the core of the Danube Strategy. We were lucky enough to gain an insight into the regions’ most influential ar-tists’ personal view on their country. The brilliant photo exhibition which resulted from it, will be shown as a touring exhibition in the whole of the Danube region.

Which preconditions are necessary to make transnational projects work?

Since the Danube region has been ex-tended for political and euro-strategic reasons, it has to be “measured anew” accordingly. States, national economy and the tourism industry have long since set their target marks and the arts have to keep up, if they want to make their universal claim. Even more than that, they need to be careful not to lose their calm view on the joint values and wishes, in a world full of hasty appro-priations. In general the preconditions for arts and culture remain the same: freedom for the artists’ ways, inde-pendence from external control and security for their living.

Andrea Toll, danube connects

Interview

The Danube area has to be measured anew

Regina Hellwig-Schmid, artist and initiator of donumenta Regensburg in conversation with Andrea Toll

“During this symposium, we are for the first time in Europe able to introduce a personal computer that can be used as a tool for art production by amateurs”, said Franz Hillinger, then major of Linz, in 1979 at the opening of ars electronica festival. Carefully integrated into the traditional international Bruckner Festi-val, the event caused a sensation with the multimedia happening called “Lin-zer Klangwolke”. Today, Klangwolke is one of the established cultural events in Linz and Ars Electronica Center is the city’s museum with the most visitors – despite its competitor Lentos, an art museum which is equally ambitioned. Ars Electronica Center draws a connec-tion between art and science, joins digi-tal technology with societal questions. “A place where you can explore, expe-riment and discover, a place where the world of tomorrow takes the stage and where influences from various ways of thinking and perceiving come toge-ther.” That’s how the museum, which is funded by the city of Linz, describes itself. Apart from the permanent exhibi-tion “New Views of Humankind”, va-rious exhibitions are on display at the same time

The Center is only a few steps to the Nibelungen Bridge and the Danube’s shore in the urban district Urfahr. So why not bring the Danube into the building! The group around the Japa-nese artist Hideaki Ogawa has created BLUE, an impressive 25 meter long installation that visualised the speed, waves and surface of the Danube in real time. Depending on daytime and season, BLUE is adapting. At high tide, the visitors are literally up to their necks in the Danube, at low tide in sum-mer, the water only reaches their knees. What is especially intriguing is that the installation goes below the surface of the Danube. Every now and then bub-bles, which record data about the river and its environment, float by the viewer and burst upon the visitors’ touch, re-leasing their information. Everything flows: Time, water and information – the installation has a meditative effect and inspires reflection.

For those visitors who are into more spectacular things, Ars Electronica Center offers a virtual journey into “Deep Space”. Eight HD enabled pro-jectors bring pin sharp images, videos

and animations onto wall and floor and the 3D-experience is completed by an observation deck five meters above the ground. The data for the virtual trip through space and time is provided by the software “NASA World Wind”. The programme connects satellite and aerial images and projects them onto an artifi-cial globe, thus giving the viewer a de-tailed and reality-like display of diverse regions of the world. Through an open interface, NASA World Wind can conti-nuously be updated with new images, travel routes, sights and city names. To glide along the Danube in a low-level flight, to see the river from its source to the delta from a bird’s perspective in-cluding the fitting sounds – all of that is possible with NASA World Wind. And when walking alongside the Danube in Urfahr after the exhibition, one can take the echoes of the virtual experience into the real environment.


The dry cake, which bears the city’s name, and the grey dust emitted by the iron manufacture at the Danube’s shore have long shaped the image of the Upper Aus-trian capital city Linz. Ars Electronica Center, a museum of the future, which inclu-des a research lab, opened in 1996 and has contributed to the city’s transformation into a cultural capital.

A virtual adventure at

Ars Electronica Center Linz


Budapest, Heroes’ Square: a historical site and tourist attraction, framed by two of the largest state institutions for the arts in the city: the museum of fine arts and the art hall. Here, Hungarian artist Tibor Horváth is staging himself. The signpost he is holding, printed with images of trees, accurately conceals the art hall behind him. Horváth’s piece is a reaction to the latest culture-political developments in Hungary and the growing control exercised on the content of artists’ work. Early this year, the art hall’s former director, Gábor Gy-ulás had resigned due to the pressure of state-supported, right conservative Hungarian Art Academy (MMA) after he curated a critical-humorous exhibition on Hungarian identity.

A photo of Tibor Horváth’s action became part of a special exhibition project in March 2013. Under the title HG60 – aesthetic disobedience, the curators Krisztina Hunya and Bea Istvánkó assembled a selection of artworks from the collection of Hungarian economist Gabór Hunya, in honour of his 60th birthday. The works of Hungarian and Romanian artists come from different historical context from the sixties up until today. “The exhibitions guiding idea was the presentation of artistic reflections on contemporary politics and decidedly not a coming to terms with the past,” says curator Hunya. The exhibition’s medial breadth rea-ched from painting to photography, from documented performances to art in public spaces. One of Janos Sugar’s pieces is a road sign that has the word “apology”, on one side in Hungarian, on the other in Romanian, printed on it. At first, it had been installed in a street in Târgu Mureș, the city which was the site of bloody confrontation between Hungarians and Romanians after the Romanian revolution in 1989.

Works by Tibor Horváth, Lörinc Borsos and Sorin Tara bring the viewer into present-day Hungary and Romania.

Uncovering Alternatives

The curators chose the third floor of the old Corvin shopping mall in the heart of Pest as their exhibition space. Since September 2012, one can find the Müveldösi Szint (Community and Art Level), short: Müszi, here. On 2800 square meters, 25 artists’ studios, a vegetated open plan office, several exhibition spaces, a small bar and a community garden can be found. Al-most daily, events, exhibitions, perfor-mances, readings and workshops take place. The building is private property und thus independent of state fun-

In an increasingly politicised environment, Budapest’s cultural scene is looking for alternatives and independence. An overview of “aesthetic disobedience”, internationali-sation and the right to be public.

Reclaiming BudapestCultural scene

ding. It is this special position within Budapest’s cultural scene, so Krisztina Hunya, which enables exhibitions of critical-reflexive art which are almost never funded in Hungary otherwise. The curator further stresses that “espe-cially in times like this it is important not to complain about disproportiona-lity in the area of cultural politics and funding, but to point out alternatives, as Müszi does.”

This description also fits the Chimera Project, which has its gallery at Klauzál tér, in the old Jewish quarter. Since last year, the project initiated by Swiss art historian Patrick Urwyler and Bogi Mittich, sociologist from Hungary, tries to link young Hungarian artists to the international scene. The gallery regu-larly curates thematic exhibitions of local as well as international artists in their own rooms in Budapest, but also in other urban centres, such as Berlin and Zurich. Chimera at the same time acts as a gallery for contemporary art, a platform for international artist ex-change and as a design bureau, which enables the project to get by without state funding.

Ways into the Public

In 2012, Chimera organised an exhibiti-on in Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, which featured the artist group 1000% under the title 1000% Reclaiming Budapest Since 2002. The exhibition included 180 works of the collective around Attila Stark, Richard Orosz, Tmas Füredi, Balazs Szabo and Krisztian Vörös, which rank amongst the pioneers of urban and street art in Budapest. In return, Chimera in the spring of 2013 with Looking For Freedom presented Berlin street artists their Budapest gal-lery. Both exhibitions touched upon a topic which is only now developing in Budapest: contemporary art in urban public spaces, especially municipally funded, is a rare sight in the Hungari-an capital up until now. A step towards

a more active and collective design of city spaces was taken in May 2013 with the Laktlan-Festival. The five-day workshop, which was held at Müszi, aimed at a concept for regenerative uti-lisation of vacant spaces in the urban area as a proposal to a call of the city of Budapest.

Furthermore, the curators of HG60 are planning a sequel to their project in 2014, which is going to be held in Vienna. The main focus will then lie on contemporary positions of Hungarian artists since the end of the socialist re-gime in Hungary. The date of the exhi-bition is planned to directly follow the date of the Hungarian parliamentary elections. Thus, the event has the po-tential to reach a broader audience for that part of Budapest’s cultural scene which tries to avoid state authority. It is a scene which interferes, which builds a network and aims at active participation, at identification with the public sphere and a visible diversity.

Carolin Krahl, freelance journalist

Wissenschaft

Exibition HG60 in Müszi

Cultural Centre Müszi, Budapest

ExibitionLooking for Freedom, Chimera Projekt


German Tracks in the Danube countries

Tourism

Be it historical or touristic - one can discover a lot alongside the Danube! That’s why the Danube Swabian Cen-tral Museum in Ulm has, in collabo-ration with their partner museums in Romania (Satu Mare, Arad, Timisora, Resita), Hungary (Pécs) and Serbia (Novia Sad), developed an online hi-storic-touristic guidebook which will go online at the end of the year.

“The history of Germans in Southeast Europa has not been homogenous in terms of temporality and geography. It cannot be pinned down to one clear-cut region. Today, four countries, which have become independent after First World War and the Yugoslav War in the 1990s respectively, are affected. Since the history of Germans in these regions has long been a taboo after the Second World War and thus nothing like a coll-ective memory of this history exists, we came up with the idea of the guidebook.

However, it is not only supposed to be a guide for longing Danube Swabi-

ans from Germany, Austria or Ameri-ca. The project also aims at sensitising the countries in question for this part of their own history. Thus, it is also an informational service for an interested audience in Southeast Europe”, ex-plains Christian Glass, director of the Danube Swabian Central Museum.

The guidebook introduces the reader to the German tracks in Southeast Eu-rope, gives interesting information on the greater region Danube, its history in general and migratory history in par-ticular. Comprehensive information on particular cities and regions is included as well. Concerning the selection crite-ria, Glass says: “It was important for us, to feature places which have a relation to the history of the German minority and that this is still present in the cul-ture and everyday life today.” Further-more, hints on popular destinations and insiders’ tips can be found on the web page.


RUSE – An Undiscovered City of Culture

Cultural city Ruse

he northern Bulgarian city of Ruse, the ‘little Vienna’ on the lower Danube, has many facets: the faded glamour of a city of for-mer importance, birthplace to the Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Elias Canetti and the ambition to become European Capital of Culture in 2019.

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MAMA DUNA7. Internationales Donaufestin Ulm und Neu-Ulm27. August - 5. September 2010

Kontakt und Information:

donau.büro.ulm · Tel. 0049 (0) 731 / 88 03 06-0

www.donaubuero.de · [email protected]

„Von mir, der Donau, kannst du die Lektionen des ewigen Lebens lernen.“ György Konrádfestdonauulm neu-ulm

The room is big and rough, lighted by cold neon lamps and dominated by concrete, bricks and wooden beams; a room which breathes the atmosphere of urban subculture. But not necessarily something one would connect with an association that bears the name of a lit-térateur and Nobel Prize laureate. The condition of the house in Slawjans-ka-Street 12 in the northern Bulgarian city of Ruse, is however not fully inten-tional. As a matter of fact, the Ruse-ba-sed International Elias Canetti Society had wanted to renovate the building, which has a special history, and turn it into a cultural centre. In 1898, it had been built be the Jewish-Sephardic merchant Jacques Elias Canetti, grand-father to the famous writer Elias Ca-netti, and was used by the family as a grocer’s shop until their emigration to Manchester. Up until now unanswered questions about restitution and tenure have put a stop to planned investments. At the moment, the rooms can only be used on a provisionary basis and thus, the cultural centre is in operation, but only in a forcedly simple way.

Pomp and Subculture

Nevertheless, the notion of subculture, which the room conveys, is not so far from the Canetti Associations self-image. As Alisa Calosi, the society’s programme coordinator, explains, their definition of culture is a broad one and urban subculture has its own place wi-thin it. Thus, the association does not only organize readings, film screenings or concerts, but also hosts a skater-festi-val. It is not surprising then that young people are involved in furnishing and maintaining the cultural centre. The-reby, says Calosi, a sense of unity and respect for the space is created.

Looking out of the Elias Canetti Centre’s window onto Freedom Square, one can see a very different Ruse: on the grand square, the city shows its former glory. Indeed, it once was the most important city of Bulgaria, due to its location on the lower Danube, where the Romans had built harbours for their battleships already. As long as the Danube was the most important route of transportation

on the area, Ruse was flourishing. The different influences coming together in the city - Slavonic, Ottoman, Romanian - gave the city a cosmopolitan touch. Today, however, Ruse has been for-gotten by many because of its location. From Sofia, the journey is tiresome, be it by train or on the road, and coming from Bucharest, travelers do not only have to cross the border, but the Da-nube as well. For a long time, the rail-road bridge from Ruse to Giurgiu has been the only way for trains and cars to cross the Danube between Bulgaria and Romania - which often lead to a considerable queue time. By now, a se-cond bridge between Vidin and Calafat, more than 200 kilometer up-stream, has been built.

The room is big and rough, lighted by cold neon lamps and dominated by concrete, bricks and wooden beams; a room which breathes the atmosphere of urban sub-culture. But not necessarily something one would connect with an association that bears the name of a littérateur and Nobel Prize laureate.

Versatile– the cultural scene of Ruse

left and below: events in the Elias-Canetti-House, Ruse

Cultural city Ruse

For Ruse has lost much of its substance in the turmoil of the world wars and the four decades of socialist isolation. The city centre is deteriorating, mo-ney for its conservation is scarce and the surrounding is dominated by an industrial architecture which is typical for the communist block from Prague to Vladivostok. The bridge crossing the Danube, which was opened in 1954, ended the city’s isolation, but the reasons for its construction were du-bious. Rather than to bring the Bulga-rians and Romanians closer together, the “Bridge of Friendship” was built for reasons of military strategy and its name did not describe a practice. When a chemical plant was opened on the Romanian side of the Danube, many inhabitants of Ruse moved away because of the pollution. The inherited burden of socialist urban development has not been removed until today, alt-hough earnest attempts can be seen. Economic problems complicate the process and visitors of the city still have to make an effort to get through to the now nicely renovated old town.

Ambition Capital of Culture

But is Ruse visited much? The city is not located on one of the big travel routes, apart from the Danube cruises. Meanwhile, there have been plans to bring Ruse onto the international map once again. If Bulgaria is given the chance, Ruse wants to apply for Euro-pean Capital of Culture 2019. “We do have the technical facilities,” says Mar-tin Ivanov. “Just now, local NGOs have organized a grand festival with Euro-pean funds and thus shown that they can do it.” The Canetti Society, whose director Ivanov is, was involved in the event as well. Apart from that, he is engaged in the Bulgarian NGO sector on a wide basis. These fields of action overlap, since the Canetti Society’s programmatic focus does, apart from arts and culture, also lie on political education and the strengthening of ci-vil society.However, the candidacy for European Capital of Culture does not only de-pend on the NGOs, but on the city’s political authorities as well. Once po-litics enter the stage in Bulgaria, pro-cesses soon become opaque. Thus,

observers comment that transparency was lacking in the establishment of the responsible commission. Furthermo-re, Ruse has strong competitors, since other Bulgarian cities have expressed a desire to be the cultural centre of Euro-pe for a year, upfront its capital Sofia.

Rudolf Hermann, correspondent of Neue Zürcher Zeitung International, Prague

Remembering Rustschuk

When grandfather Canetti established his business, Ruse experienced its hey-days. The city still bore its Ottoman name Rustschuk, but the Bulgarian population had already emancipated themselves from the Turkish rule. The economic relevance had remained, especially through the railroad to Var-na. It had been the first railway line within the Ottoman Empire and for some time was part of the last section of the legendary Orient Express. The economic boom resulted in bourgeois

houses and splendid representative buildings in the centre and the histo ric ensemble at the Freedom Square could well belong to a bigger city. No wonder then, Ruse is often called “little Vienna”. Just as its bigger sister up-stream, the architecture speaks of former greatness, but not necessarily of present significance.


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MAMA DUNA7. Internationales Donaufestin Ulm und Neu-Ulm27. August - 5. September 2010

Kontakt und Information:

donau.büro.ulm · Tel. 0049 (0) 731 / 88 03 06-0

www.donaubuero.de · [email protected]

„Von mir, der Donau, kannst du die Lektionen des ewigen Lebens lernen.“ György Konrádfestdonauulm neu-ulm

At the beginning of the eighties, Ulm had won the ZDF (“Second German Television”)’s price for culturally obli-ging cities with more than 100 000 in-habitants, and in 1988, the city treated itself to a town festival, the cultural programme of which caused excite-ment and controversy. Having acquired a taste for such events, a continuation with the Danube as a programmatic frame was planned. “Ulm cannot exist without the Danube”, said Ernst Lud-wig, then mayor of Ulm, and recalls: in 1989, the static Eastern Bloc is starting to stir, Hungary is opening the Iron Curtain to Austria in May and Michail Gorbatschow pays a visit to Germany, where he speaks about Perestroika (re-structuring) and Glasnost (publicity), while dictator Ceaucescu is still cling-ing to power in Romania. “We got into a big European political development and were at the right place at the right

time”, says Ludwig today. Back then, he saw Ulm as a pioneer to invigorate communal projects on the Danube – and took hold.

The first Danube Festival 1989 The title “Danube Festival EastWest ’89 – European encounters, culture from eight Danube countries” made a claim, that the budget of 1,5 million D-Mark (around 750 000 Euro) supported. As a reference: in 2012, the Danube Festival’s budget was 860 000 Euro of which the cities of Ulm and Neu-Ulm contributed 450 000 Euro; the rest had to obtained during the Festival. Art director Pierre Jean Valentin, hired especially for the Danube festival, between June 21 and July 9 presented a programme that made some go green with envy, others talk of Ulm’s megalomania. It opened with a word premier performed by the

Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Choir of Belgrade on the shore of the Danube. Notable artists from all Danube countries were invol-ved, even from the Soviet Union and the GDR, which was still a sensation in the summer of 1989.

The programme offered a unique mix of culture, arts, music, theatre, film, jazz, rock, football, but also serious con-ferences on science, cultural identity or environmentalism. Thus, the eight countries involved signed a resolution to improve the quality of their water, the landscapes and thereby also the quality of life of the people. As Ernst Ludwig put it back then: “The Danube should leave each country as clean as it entered.” The biggest newspaper in Ulm recognised the Festival’s political signalling effect, when it wrote: “Three days after the European election, in

Danube Festival

Danube Festival: from a bridging of west and east in 1989 to a symposium of historians in 2014. It was a daring operation for the small major city of Ulm, when it extended the invitation to the Danube Festival EastWest ‘89. Its sequel was only held in 1998, but since then, the International Danube Festival is held biannually. An outlook to 2014 and a retrospection of the begin-nings show, how the emphases between politics and programme, between culture and encounters have changed.

Danube Festival in Ulm and Neu-Ulm

Danube Festival – From building bridges to the east1989

which only Western Europeans could participate, Ulm is building bridges to the East.” Several times, the desire to continue the Festival in other countries was voiced. And although the government of Baden-Württemberg promised their support, the second Danube Festival did not happen until 1998. Ernst Lud-wig, who did not run for office anymo-re due to reasons of age, was succeeded by Ivo Gönner and enjoyed the event as a retiree. From 1988 to 2010, Peter

Langer was responsible for the Danu-be Festival and established it, as well as the Donaubüro Ulm/Neu-Ulm, as a reference point for culture-politics in the Danube region. 2012 marked a new era for the Danube Festival. New orga-nisers, new directions: critics called it a depoliticised Festival; a separation from tradition, a tribute to the zeitgeist or wrongly interpreted diplomacy?

New approaches

The new Donaubüro team on the other hand perceives the Danube Festival as a model project within the Danu-be Strategy. In 2012, a “new format” has been designed. As a “Festival of encounters in a cultural context”, the International Danube Festival is in a unique position, says Sabine Meigel, Donaubüro’s director since January

2011. For 2014, the organisers stick to their concept of encounters of 2012, which had incorporated 700 citizens of all ages and 22 institutions from Ulm/Neu-Ulm. For example, the trumpet competition of 2012, with preliminary competitions in the Danube countries and the premier of a fanfare piece pla-yed from an Ulmer Schachtel, a boat typical for Ulm, will be followed by a competition for pianists. Indie-Ya, the Ukrainian band which won the Danu-be Pop-Camp, will come back to Ulm

and an international sculptor-sympo-sium will attempt at bringing arts di-rectly to the visitors. Furthermore, the Danube Youth Camp will have a revi-val. Music and encounters will play an even bigger role in the Danube Festi- val of the future, especially since music bridges all linguistic barriers.

The programme for 2014 is enriched by a symposium of international hi-storians with the title “Danube coun-tries and the July Crisis of 1914”. With a focus on social and cultural history, participants want to shed light on the political events that caused WW I a hundred years ago. As a new partner, the Donaubüro is also collaborating with Ulm’s adult education centre to organise a conference on tourism, transportation, technology and envi-ronmentalism. As a continuation of the

event series on the situation of Roma people, marginalised groups and mi-norities will be discussed as well.

“It is not perceptible anymore, what once was divided by the Danube”, says former major Ernst Ludwig. The times have changed since June of 1989 – and the Danube Festival with it. The budget is setting boundaries to the or-ganisers and has resulted in an aboli-tion of the big concert stage for inter-national musicians and groups in 2014 – consequence and chance for new things at the same time. A programme that takes up new artistic movements and decidedly prefers avant-garde and subculture to established names and commerce can be exciting and add to the new profile of the Festival.

Furthermore, the Danube Festival can announce a premier this year: it is going to take place in the Slovakian ca-pital Bratislava for the first time from 5th to 8th of September.


to a new Europe 2014

The Danube Festival gives a stage to tradition as well as the modern.


Bratislava will hold a Danube Festi-val from the 5th to 8th of September, which will take place alternately with the International Danube Festival Ulm/Neu Ulm in the future.

For fifteen years the International Da-nube Festival has been taking place on both Danube shores in Ulm and Neu-Ulm. From 5th to 8th of September the Festival is growing a new sapling in Bratislava. In the future, the Danube

Festival is planned to take place in ye-arly alternation in Ulm/Neu-Ulm and Bratislava, with participation of all ten neighbouring countries. The four days in September in Bratislava will focus on the roots of European culture with events at four different locations. The Festival is opening with an internatio-nal conference in the town hall on the 5th which will discuss topics such as “Cultural Paths of Europe as a role mo-del for joint projects in the Danube Re-

gion” or “Protection of traditional crafts as a heritage of Danube nations”. The conference is organised by Bratislava Tourist Board and Danube Competence Centre in Belgrade.

On Eurovea Promenade at the shore of the Danube, cultural events as well as the crafts and gastronomy festival will be held. Over the last years, the Pro-menade has grown into a new district with cafés, restaurants, offices, hotels and a shopping mall. Other parts of the programme will be located in the pic-turesque courtyard of the old town hall, with wine tastings (6th-8th September), school workshops on design and crafts and in the district of Čunovo, where a competition in Stand Up Paddeling (SUP) will take place.

The Danube Festival gets backing

Events 2013

Even

ts 2

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26.08–01.09. 6. Cinema City International Film Festival, Novi Sad

30.08–05.09. Rowmania Festival, Tulcea

05.–08.09. International Danube Festival, Bratislava

25.09. General Assembly of the DCSF Danube Civil Society Forum in the Danube Region - Ruse, Bulgaria

10.–15.10. Literatur Festival Ruse 2013 with famous authors from Germany, Austria, Hungaria, Czech Republic, Italy and Bulgaria

11.10. 5 years European Danube-Academy 19.30 p.m., Museumsgesellschaft, Ulm

24–27.10. 5th European Literature Days Spitz an der Donau

28–29.10. 2nd Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Bucharest

2014

04.–13.07. International Danube Festival, Ulm/Neu-Ulm

Bratislava05.-08.09.

2013

”Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…” Although this English nursery rhyme will probably not sound at the Danube Festival in Romanian Tulcea, there will be a lot of rowing. The Rowmania Festival 2013 will be held in and around the Danube Delta from the 30th of August to the 5th of September. It is organised by Mila 23, the associati-on of Oylmpic canoeist Ivan Pațaichin, and supported by the city council of Tulcea as well as the Ministry for Regi-

onal Revelopment and Rourism in Ro-mania.

The Festival is opened by an interna-tional rowing competition and will be continued after the 1st of September by expeditions in the Black Sea and par-ties in the Delta. Furthermore, a trade fair will give an opportunity for NGOs and ecotourism projects to present their work and for debates on the advance-ment of tourism in the Delta. On a stage

on the shore of the Danube in Tulcea (Faleză), the Festival will be opened on the 30th of August at 7pm and concerts will be held there until the 1st of Sep-tember. And what would be more fit-ting for a Danube Festival with rowing boats than a bit of Rock´n Row?For further information about the programme

see www.rowmania.ro

Raluca Nelepcu, Chief Editor Banater Zeitung

More than 130 films are shown during the 6. Cinema City International Film Festival, which is held in Novi Sad from 26th August to 1st September 2013. The films are screened on ten different locations in the city.

As a new category, the Festival shows Fresh Danube Films, which includes films from the Danube countries Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. Fresh Danube Films is supported by the European Cultural Foundation of Holland and cooperates with Free Zone Film Festival Belgrade (Serbia), DORF Film Festival in Vinkovci (Croa-tia) and Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz (Austria).The project Fresh Danube Films is especially directed at young filmmakers and students of film academies in the Danube countries. It wants to give them an oppor-tunity to exchange ideas and experiences and develop a joint identity. At the moment, the team of Fresh Danu-

be Films is establishing a database of information on film festivals, institutions and organisations of the film industry and on young filmmakers of the Danube region. Anyone interested can get in contact via [email protected]

At the film festival’s opening “Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen”, a film by Hungarian director György Pálfi, will be shown. It is an extraordinary movie which con-sists of scenes from more than 450 classics. For Pálfi this is a creative critique of lacking state finding for arts and films in Hungary.

Fresh Danube Films as New Category at 6. Cinema City Int. Film Festival Novi Sad

Rowing Boats and MusicRowmania-Festival in Tulcea


“Hi, I want to know what the end of the Danube looks like!“ Ben Mergelsberg never did get an answer to that – which could be due to the chosen medium: the then seven-year old sent the inquiry as a message in a bottle, which he threw into the Danube close to his hometown Seiting-Oberflacht in the rural district of Tuttlingen. Twenty years later, Mer-gelsberg, Bastian and Raphaell Kaletta, his friends from schooldays, and other artists went on a journey to experience the Danube. With two old cars, packed with double bass, drum set, accordion, camera equipment and an old street map, the six of them begin their adven-

ture in Berlin. The plan: to collect expe-riences, get to know people, meet musi-cians, play music spontaneously – and record everything on camera.

And their plan succeeded: they talk to monks at Beuron monestary, record their chants, visit a radio station in Budapest, meet the “Buda Folk Band” from Hungary, play Free Jazz in Novi Sad, record the best singers in a fishing village in the Danube Delta and get to know saxophonist Dušan Petrovic and guitaris Branislav Radovanovic in Bel-grade. “At some point, we heard the record “Belgrad’s burning” and were

excited by the sound. One of the mu-sicians on it was Dušan Petrovic“, says Mergelsberg. The album is then the final reason for them, to go on the trip. After the filmmaker had contacted the Serbi-an musician, they arranged a meeting in Belgrade. The contact turned into a friendship and Petrovic and Radovano-vic came to Ulm in the summer of 2013. They wanted to see the presentation of “Danube Sounds”, organised by danu-be connects and the Donaubüro, and jam with the brothers Kaletta.

Danube Sounds

To follow the Danube from its source to its stream mouth was a childhood dream. In July 2011, filmmaker Ben Mergelberg, his schoolmates Bastian and Raphaell Kaletta and other artists realised this dream. The film “Danube Sounds” that premiered this summer is a documentation of spontaneous music sessions, of adventurous encounters and the sounds alongside the Danube.

The Danube’s Sounds

Inspired by the Danube: Ben Mergelsberg

“Danube Sounds” does however not only show different musical encoun-ters, but gives the viewer various dif-ferent impressions. There are now sty-lised, arranged images and one rather gets the feeling of being on the trip one-self: seeing one of many breakdowns of the old 190 Mercedes, that drives with heavy luggage through narrow win-ding roads, Ben, who is brushing his teeth in the car, dangling feet in the Da-nube, sunsets at the river, a storm at the camping site, the young people trying to get bread in a village. “As chaotic as the journey might have been, we never-theless created an artwork with the film that represents much of our feelings and encounters”, summarises Mergels-berg.

What remains ist he wish to learn more about the people and the places along-side the Danube – for the audience as well as for the filmmakers themselves. Right now, Bastian Kaletta and Roas Subria are on their way along the Da-nube to Istanbul to shoot more episodes for the website of Danube Sounds. Here, users can click on the different legs of the journey, see clips from the film, hear sounds of the Danube like croaking frogs or stories of people. The idea of the current trip is to produce a journey of sound or a radio feature in Istanbul. Furthermore, soundscapes of Vienna, Budapest, Guca, Belgrade and Kadovo and of places in Prizren and Al-bania are planned.

“Through old and new contacts, we have established a network that helps us on our quest for people, stories, mu-sic and sounds”, says Kaletta, “and we want travellers of the regions to send us their audio and film recordings or images. We then edit the material and put it on our website. Our aim is, to encourage people to deal creatively with the Balkan region and its manifold cultural environment. The Danube is a guiding line, but not a geographic re-striction.”


Danube Sounds

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DVD and Internet“Danube Sounds“ is available on DVD and on their website www.danubesounds.net

Ben Mergelsberg Ben is a photographer and studied “Human Sciences“ in Oxford. He worked as a filmmaker, journalist and photographer around the world before he moved to Berlin. Here, he realised various project with Wrangelfilm.

Bastian KalettaBastian is a musician and composer. He learned to play the violin, then the guitar and bass guitar and played in various rock and pop bands. After the “pop course” at the convervatory HMT in Hamburg he moved to Berlin in 2006. Here, he works on different band projects. Since 2012 Kaletta studies double bass and film music in Hannover.

WrangelfilmWrangelfilm is a young production company based in Wrangelstraße, a street in Ber-lin-Kreuzberg. The collective of artists are passionate filmmakers. For them, shooting films is „a way of getting to know the world, a way of singing about it, criticising it and dreaming it anew.” The film projects are realised in all parts of the world.

Scenes of the travel along the Danube


Croatia – KroatienImpressions of the Danube from Damir Rajle

Damir Rajle was born on 13th May 1970 in Osijek/Croatia.He first encountered photography during his education in geodesy and remained attached to it from that day.

His interest in photography produced cooperation with Osijek daily newspapers as well as other papers in Croatia and abroad. His work is shown in exhibitions in Croatia and internationally under the patronage of “Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique” from Sweden to Paris to Argentina to Qatar and Macau.

Behind the church, quite near, the Danube had eroded the riverbank, and the fishermen tied their boats to the trunks of the tall poplar trees.

The estuary was nearby; when the Drava River was high, you could see how it descended into the Danube like a stair-case, melting away in the high water and losing its speed and its colors.

Maria‘s Pictures from Lydia-S.Hodak, Osijek

danube connects 01 I 1324

The European Danube Academy (EDA) advocates the cultural, sci-entific and demo-cratic cooperation in the Danube

countries through various initiatives

and projects. Thus, the exhibition “The Making of World Art along the Danube” fits the concept will, since it shows that the Danube, independent from today’s countries’ borders was a connecting element for tens of thousands of years. This is proved by prehistoric findings from the Danube region. The point of view is novel and is supposed to unite people along the Danube, to help them overcome the dividing factors of history and bring about a community spirit.

Even if this country-bridging similarity go back to a prehistoric time, neverthe-less marks the tremendously dynamic beginnings of human cultural history. 40.000 years ago, the Danube region experienced an extraordinary cultural departure. People had come from Af-

rica via Asia Minor and in the region found living conditions that enabled them to express themselves artistical-ly. In a unique density, early evidence of human painting can be found in ca-ves: figurine representations, female bodies, animals and mystical animal men. On fourteen roll-ups the translati-onal findings from the Stone Age, as for example the Lionman from Germany, the Venus of Willendorf from German, the Vučedol-dove from Croatia and the Venus of Pazardzhik from Bulgaria are presented, the different epochs ex-plained.

The time-span reaches from Proto-Au-rignacian (approx. 48.000 years ago) to the Neolithic Age (approx. 5.000 years ago). Fourteen experts from almost all Danube countries are involved in the project which was funded by Baden-Württemberg Stiftung and co-funded by the University of Ulm.

Exhibition Opening in BrusselsIn fall 2013 the exhibition is expected to be opened in Baden-Württemberg’s representation agency in Brussels. The project will however not conclude with that and there are many ideas to enlarge it. Replicas of findings are planned, to make the exhibition more of an expe-rience and the grand vision is a perma-nent exhibition ship for Danubius and his comrades.

Possible exhibition sites: : Ulm/Neu-Ulm, Regenburg, Passau, Linz, Vienna, Bratislava, Komárno, Budapest, Baja, Vukovar, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Turnu Sverin, Galati, Tulcea, Vidin, Ruse, Silistra.

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It may have been tens of thousands of years ago, but it is scientifically proven that all Danube citizens have the same roots. The European Da-nube Academy (EDA) designed a travelling exhibition that shows this fact through unique Palaeolithic findings.

Danubius and His Comrades

Lion Man, Ulm

Danubius, Lepinski Vir

Founder, Lepinski Vir

Progenitrix, Lepinski Vir

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danube connects – the magazine for the danube countries, 1/2013

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