March 2013

Like its predecessor "The Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism: Part 1", which took place in Los Angeles the second part of the transatlantic conference will investigate how the conditions of Semiocapitalism and Cognitive Capitalism have transformed the conditions of labour – specifically the fact that so much contemporary labour is immaterial, affective, and cognitive – and as a result detourned the role of emancipatory politics, art/architecture and education today. Might these new conditions also have lasting material ramifications for the brain and mind?

An international array of philosophers, critical theorists, media theorists, art historians, architects, and artists will discuss the state of the mind and brain under the conditions of contemporary capitalism, in which these cognitive apparati have become the new focus of labouring.

The schedule of the conference in Berlin you will find here. Information about Part 1 you will find here.

Pomona College, Oldenborg International Theatre, shows Kaddish For A Friend with Leo Khasin

Growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp, the 14-year-old Ali Messalam learned to hate Jews at an early age. After escaping Lebanon, he and his family end up in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Here, he tries to fit in and longs for nothing more than to be accepted by his fellow Arab youths. But to gain this recognition, he has to prove himself. In a test of courage, he breaks into the apartment of his Russian neighbor Alexander Zamskoy, an 84-year-old Jewish WWII veteran. But Ali’s “friends” follow him into the apartment and vandalize the old man’s home with abandon. Alexander only recognizes Ali when he returns home earlier than expected and reports him to the police. To avoid being sentenced and deported, Ali is forced to seek out closeness to his enemy…
"Kaddish for a friend" is a tragicomic story about friendship, trust and the art of forgiveness.

More details here.

The Consulate General of Switzerland, Presence Switzerland and Villa Aurora present: A Diva's war: Marlene Dietrich's military glamour - Lecture with Elisabeth Bronfen

Throughout her life, Marlene Dietrich was to insist that the only valuable thing she ever did was join the U.S. Army and do her share as a soldier during the European Campaign. This lecture will explore how she chose to turn the theater of war into a stage for herself, re-enacting certain aspects of her film roles in the real. It will also retrace how, after the Allied Victory in Europe, she insisted on remembering this war, in part by taking on roles in films such as Wilder’s A Foreign Affair and Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg that contradict her own war effort, in part by re-enacting her part as troop entertainer on stage until her last concert in London, 1973.

Elisabeth Bronfen is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Zurich. She received her M.A. at Harvard, and her PhD at the University of Munich. A specialist in 19th and 20th century literature, she has published extensively in the area of gender studies, psychoanalysis, film, cultural theory and art.
Her most recent book publication is “Specters of War. Hollywood’s Engagement with Military Conflict”

Reception for Elisabeth Bronfon following the lecture.

RSVP required: Please call 310.573-3603 or write an email to infola@villa-aurora.org

Admission free

Location: 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 3:30 pm and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.

Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!

The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles continues the collaboration with the Villa Aurora’s “Artist in residence program.”  Under the banner “Villa Goethe” artists residing in the Villa Aurora have the opportunity to showcase their projects (past, present, and future) with the friends, patrons and guests here at the Goethe-Institut.

Kaddisch für einen Freund (Kaddish For A Friend)

Dir. Leo Khasin, Germany, 2011, 94 min., German with English subtitles, digital.

Growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp, the 14-year-old Ali Messalam learned to hate Jews at an early age. After escaping Lebanon, he and his family end up in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Here, he tries to fit in and longs for nothing more than to be accepted by his fellow Arab youths. But to gain this recognition, he has to prove himself. In a test of courage, he breaks into the apartment of his Russian neighbor Alexander Zamskoy, an 84-year-old Jewish WWII veteran. But Ali’s “friends” follow him into the apartment and vandalize the old man’s home with abandon. Alexander only recognizes Ali when he returns home earlier than expected and reports him to the police. To avoid being sentenced and deported, Ali is forced to seek out closeness to his enemy…
"Kaddish for a friend" is a tragicomic story about friendship, trust and the art of forgiveness.

Discussion with Leo Khasin and Reception following the screening.

Location: Goethe-Institut Los Angeles / 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036

FREE OF CHARGE

On March 26, 2013, two top journalists met at Literaturhaus Berlin: Writer Sviatlana Kurs from Beloruss and Dr. Manfred Sapper, editor-in-chief of the magazine „Osteuropa“. They discussed current political developments in Eastern Europe including their societal and historic ramifications. Sviatlana Kurs and Olga Radetzkaya read excerpts from the short stories Der Besuch des Archivars (The Archivist’s Visit) and Das Fest kehrt wieder (The Fest Returns) in Belorussian and German.

Sviatlana Kurs started her career with the state-run Belorussian radio, but was let go after reporting critically on the national poll on national symbolism and the state of the Belorussian language. From 1994 to 2006, she worked as free-lance journalist for the papers Swaboda and Nascha Niwa, as well as for the radio stations Ratsyja and Radio Free Europe. She collaborated with the Helsinki based comittee Belarus editing their publication. Since 2008, Ms. Kurs has been working for Euroradio Belarus in Poland. She lives in Warsaw.

In April 2013 Sviatlana Kurs will start her 9-month Feuchtwanger Fellowship at Villa Aurora.

Sviatlana Kurs and Dr. Manfred Sapper will discuss political tendencies in eastern European societies focusing on Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. They take a close look at ideological foundations of a new spirituality, misogyny and the attempt of the restoration of the ‘Soviet human’ in Russia. There will also be a reading in excerpts of two short stories "Registrar" and "The holiday comes back" by Sviatlana Kurs in Belarusian and German language.
Sviatlana Kurs is a Belarusian writer and journalist. Born near Minsk she studied philology and graduated from the Belarusian State University. From 1994 she worked as a journalist at Belarusian State Radio, newspaper “Svaboda”, Radio 101,2, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Radio Racyja, Transitions Online, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty European Radio for Belarus. She writes about Belarus in its European context and her works are translated into the Polish, Ukrainian, Czech. Sviatlana Kurs will be Villa Aurora Feuchtwanger Fellow in 2013.
Manfred Sapper, born in Kassel studied politics, history and sociology in Frankfurt, Siena and Moscow. He is chief editor of ‚Osteuropa‘, an interdisciplinary monthly journal for the analysis of politics, economics, society, culture, and contemporary events in eastern Europe, east central Europe, and southeastern Europe. A forum for East-West dialogue, Osteuropa addresses pan-European topics.
Location: Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstraße 23, 10719 Berlin

The State of Sachsen-Anhalt and the German Consulate General present

Spiritual Standards
Featuring Markus Burger & Jan von Klewitz

The most well-known chorals and hymns stand as the foundation for one of the most exciting musical projects of the 1990s. Critically acclaimed German jazz performers saxophonist Jan von Klewitz and pianist Markus Burger blend modern improvisation with the art of interpreting baroque music while preserving its integrity.

Actor Eric Braeden and actor/director Louis Fantasia will read selected texts (in English and German) from the writings of medival philosopher and mystic Meister Eckhart, and Lutheran pastors Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Both Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were staunch opponents of the Hitler dictatorship. Whereas Niemöller spent 7 years in Nazi prisons and was liberated in 1945, Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 and executed 23 days before Germany’s surrender.

Markus Burger and Jan von Klewitz have toured this program through Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Lithuania, France, Poland and the U.S. They are the winners of the coveted 2000 Bach Award of the city of Erfurt.

Eric Braeden is a Film, Television, Emmy and People’s Choice Award winner and arguably the most popular actor in a day time series, watched internationally by huge audiences.

Author, actor, director Louis Fantasia is Chair of General Education at the New York Film Academy and director of "Shakespeare at the Huntington" at the Huntington Library.  He has directed more than 150 plays and operas worldwide.

Spritual Standards is part of the LutherDecade, a 10-year build-up to 2017, the 500^th anniversary of the reformation.

Reception following the program.

Admission: Free of Charge

RSVP required: Please call 310.573-3603 or write an email to infola@villa-aurora.org

Location: 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 6:30 pm and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway. Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!