Villa Aurora Events Archive
July 2014
Stalin's Apologist
Literaturhaus Berlin (Fasanenstr. 23, 10719 Berlin-Charlottenburg)
Information
Lion Feuchtwanger in Moscow in 1937
To understand Stalin – was that at all possible for a western intellectual, who paid him a visit in the Soviet Union in the 1930s? What was it that Feuchtwanger grasped, when he sat face to face with the dictator on January 8th, 1937? How far reaching was his insight and knowledge about that radically foreign society?
In his travel log of 1937, Feuchtwanger shows considerable appreciation for Stalin and his policies. He ends his book with a triple, enthusiastic YES for the USSR praising its social order and even justifying its show trials. The political reasons are obvious. Forced into exile, by the Hitler regime, the German-Jewish author hoped, the Soviet Union would offer the fierce resistance to the National Socialists, which was sadly missing among the western democracies.
But other motives may be worth mentioning. There are irritations, contradictions and cracks detectable under the smooth surface of his travel log. Those will be the focus of the lecture which will also discuss the limits of understanding and sympathy. It includes the questions, why Feuchtwanger stuck staunchly to his vision of the soviet realities until his death in 1958.
Dr. Anne Hartmann is a research associate at the Seminar for Slavic studies/Lotman-Institut at Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
A co-operation of Villa Aurora and Literaturhaus Berlin in celebration of Feuchtwanger’s 130th birthday.
Silent Salon
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Information
Saturday, July 12 @ 8:30 p.m.
DEAN MORA on Organ
Program (curated by Suzanne Lloyd):
HAROLD LLOYD in
His Royal Slyness (1920, 21:39 min.)
Ask Father (1919, 13:00 min.)
An Eastern Westerner (1920, 23:42)
Never Weaken (1921, 29:10 min.)
Comedian Harold Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska, on April 20, 1893. He became an icon of the silent film era by starring in Just Nuts, Girl Shy and The Freshman, among other notable films. Lloyd's popularity continued after the coming of sound, with movies including Mad Wednesday. He died on March 8, 1971, in Beverly Hills, California.
Silent Salon
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Information
Saturday, July 26 @ 8:30 p.m.
MICHAEL MORTILLA on Organ
Program (curated by Michael Mortilla):
The Happy Go Luckies (1923, Paul Terry Animation, 7 min.)
Won in a Cupboard (1914, Mabel Normand directing and starring, 13. min)
The Love Charm (early two color technicolor, 10 min.)
Legal Advice (Tom Mix, 1916, 13 min.)
Andy's Stump Speech (live action comedy based on the newspaper cartoon character Andy Gump, 1916,22 min.)
Michael Mortilla is a composer, conductor, arranger, music director, and accompanist. In his native Manhattan, he worked with and composed for dance legend Martha Graham. For 14 years Mortilla taught music, production, and theater & dance accompaniment at the Deparment of Theater & Dance at UC Santa Barbara.
Michael has received numerous commissions including from The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Olympic Games Art Festival. Mortilla’s scores have been performed throughout the U.S. from the White House to the AMPAS and from Lincoln Center to the first ever broadcast of a feature over the internet (Charlie Chaplin’s “The Rink”). He plays internationally on TV and in theaters.
Welcoming Reception
VILLA AURORA (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Participants
Antonio Paucar was born in 1973 in Huancayo, Peru. He lives and works in Berlin and Peru. He studied philosophy at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin and fine arts at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, at Chelsea College of Art and Design and at the University of the Arts in Berlin (with Prof. Lothar Baumgarten and Rebecca Horn).
Since 2006 Antonio Paucar has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Peru, Japan und Mexico. He worked as a performance artist with Rebecca Horn and others. In 2011 Antonio Paucar won the Zeitsicht-Kunstpreis and in 2013 the arts award of the Arts Foundation of the City of Bonn/Germany.
On July 31, he will show his video-performances:
Guardián del maizal, 2013 HDV, 04:31 min.
Suspendido en la Queñua, (short version) 2014, HDV, 05:58 min.
Purzelbaum in Ives Klein Blau, 2011, HDV 2 min.
Altar, 2006, video 2:40 min.
For more information about his work visit his website: www.antoniopaucar.com
Nora Matocza-Falkner studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and art history and theater studies in Erlangen. Her work was shown in Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin, Amberg and New York, just to name a few. Furthermore she participated in group exhibitions in Cologne, Ratisbon, Würzburg Barcelona, Sofia and Klatovy.
On July 31 Nora Matocza-Falkner will introduce a collaborative project (with Gerhard Falkner) on an artists book, by the working title of "Primstadt LA" (from math. Prime / indivisible number), inspired by American Modernists from Robert Motherwell to Larry Rivers and others. Nora Matocza will also show and comment on some examples from one of their mutual works, "materien", published in 1990. (Photo by Peter Raßkopf)
Gerhard Falkner ranks among the most important poets of today. He is the recipient of numerous awards and received fellowships from renown international residences, such as Villa Massimo (Casa Baldi) Rome, Schloss Solitude Stuttgart, Spycher Preis Schloss Leuk Swizzerland and Kulturakademie Tarabya Istanbul.
On July 31 Gerhard Falkner will show "Pergamon Poems", five short poetry clips, commissioned by the renown Pergamon Museum in Berlin, followed by the short documentary "Ende der Republik" on the demolition of the "Palast der Republik", the former seat of the parliament of the GDR. A collaboration with the American video artist Reynold Reynolds. (Photo by A.P. Englert)
Jan Brandt, was born in Leer (Eastern Frisia) in 1974. He studied history and literature in Cologne, London and Berlin and graduated from the German Journalism School in Munich. His short stories have been published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. He was awarded numerous fellowships and residences such as to Ledig House and Yaddo in New York.
Brandt's first novel "Against The World" was a finalist for the 2011 German Book Award and won the Nicolas-Born-First-Novel-Award. The novel is going to be published in English by Seagull Books in 2015. His second novel deals with Germans who emigrated to America.
Jan Brandt will read a beefy and porky chapter from his upcoming American novel about German immigrants.
Sergej Newski was born in Moscow in 1972. After completing studies
at the State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, specializing in music theory, he studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden and the Universität der Künste in Berlin, where he graduated in music theory and pedagogy. Since 1994 his music has been performed at leading international New Music festivals, including the Donaueschingen Festival, Wien Modern, Éclat, Gaudeamus Music Week, Berliner Festwochen and the ISCM World New Music Days. Klangforum Wien, SWR, Deutschlandradio, Berlin Konzerthaus, Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture commissioned work for him.
Sergej Newski will show a fragment of his opera "Franziskus", which debuted in 2012 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
Listen to Sergej Newski's music on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/sergej-newski