Villa Aurora Events Archive
2013
After the revolution
Los Angeles
Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades Film Festival presents:
After the Revolution (Nach der Revolution)
by Dörte Franke and Marc Bauder
Germany, 2010, 91 min., digital
After the Revolution deals with the situation directly after the fall of the Wall. It includes rare footage of roundtable discussions with the political elite of the GDR and reflects the situation from a present-day persprective.
Lifetime Achievement Presentation and a highlight reel to UDO KIER following the screening.
The screening is one of two special events during The 9th Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival.
For more information about Friends of Film and The 9th Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival visit http://www.friendsoffilm.com/
Admission: Suggested Donation $ 5
RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org. You will receive a confirmation.
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 5:30 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 night, when books were burning in Germany
Berlin
On May 10th, the 80th anniversary of the book burning by the Nazis, Villa Aurora Forum and Literaturhaus Berlin, supported by Atlantik-Bruecke commemorated the literature of then persecuted and banned authors and journalists.
In front of a packed house, the overwhelmingly intense and gracious Frank Arnold read texts by authors such as Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Liao Yiwu and Joseph Brodsky. Ernest Wichner, Director of Literaturhaus, adeptly introduced the authors and gave the night a bitterly humorous ending with texts by 8th century Persian author, Abu Nuwas.
The Night, when the Books Burned in Germany
Berlin
On the 80th anniversary of the „book burning“ by the National Socialists Villa Aurora e.V. and Literaturhaus Berlin in collaboration with Atlantik-Brücke commemorate the literature of those writers and journalists, who were persecuted and silenced.
On May 10th, 1933, professors and students of National Socialistic conviction „cleansed“ the libraries in many cities of the „Reich“ of „un-German spirit“ and ceremoniously burned the books of many German authors and scholars.We know today, that it was the trigger, Heine talked about, when saying they not only burned books, but humans. It all ended with millions of deaths in gas chambers, on battle fields and in bombed-out cities.
On the occasion of the 80th anniverary of the book burning we will look back at the historic events and the decades that followed, as books were and are being burnt, and authors and journalists -in their pursuit of the truth- are still being persecuted, jailed and murdered.
Location: Literaturhaus Berlin, Big Hall, Fasanenstraße 23, 10719 Berlin
Villa Aurora FELLOWS & Friends @ Torstraße 111 in Berlin
Berlin
On May 22nd, FELLOWS & Friends met at the artists’ residency Torstrasse 111 in honor of Alice Wang and Benjamin Tong, Villa Aurora’s 2013 Berlin fellows,
The Berlin fellowship was founded in 2012. It gives L.A. artists the opportunity to work and live in Berlin for a period of several months. The Villa’s goal is to foster transatlantic exchange. Whereas the fellowship program offers artists living and working in Germany a chance to stay and work at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles, Fellowship Berlin is designed to invite artists from the Los Angeles area to stay in Germany.
In addition to housing facilities, Torstraße 111 offers gallery spaces, where Alice Wang and Benjamin Tong presented their works.
Alice Wang was born in China and studied in Toronto, Los Angeles and at New York University. The artist and fimmaker lives in Los Angeles, and since 2012 she has been spending time in Paris as an art fellow. Her work on view at Torstrasse was titled ‚The Secret Blackness of Milk‘.
A native of Toronto, Benjamin Tong studied computer sciences and has a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. He was an arts’ fellow in Mexico City and currently exhibits in the U.S., in Canada and Europe. His performance had the title: ‘In a thousand years we will have corrected the earth’s rotational axis shifting it 45 degrees aligning to that of Venus, and the polar icecaps will have melted giving the seas a flavoring of lemonade’.
Dr. Miriam Kellerhals opened the evening with a lecture on art and copy right. She explained the prerequisites, an artistic creation has to have in order to enjoy copy right protection and the rights resulting from it. Furthermore she discussed the circumstances, under which the work can be quoted, copied or satirized by others, without violating copy rights. Kellerhals cited German legal opinions and the decision by the New York Court of Appeal in the case of „Patrick Cariou vs. Richard Prince“ (April 4th, 2013).
Dr. Miriam Kellerhals studied in Konstanz and Munich, and trained as a lawyer in Berlin. Then she worked as research associate at FU Berlin. She wrote her dissertation about copy right in employment. As an attorney, she specializes in copy and media rights and media law, teaches at various colleges and lectures internationally
Ulrike Seyboth and Ingo Fröhlich, our hosts at Torstrasse 111, presented their catalogue „ich zeichne die Zeit, du malst den Moment“ (I draw the time and you paint the moment) published by Lukas Verlag in Berlin.
FELLOWS & Friends @ Torstraße 111
Berlin
Program
6:00 p.m.
Art and Copyright
Lecture by Dr. Miriam Kellerhals & Discussion
7:30 p.m.
ich zeichne die Zeit, du malst den Moment
Catalog presentation by Ulrike Seyboth & Ingo Fröhlich / Torstraße 111 - Lukas Verlag Berlin
8:00 p.m.
Opening & Party with Alice Wang & Benjamin Tong, Villa Aurora Fellows in Berlin at Torstraße 111
Exhibitions:
The Secret Blackness of Milk / Alice Wang
In a thousand years we will have corrected the earth’s rotational axis shifting it 45 degrees aligning to that of Venus, and the polar icecaps will have melted giving the seas a flavoring of lemonade. / Benjamin Tong
Free entrance
Please R.S.V.P. at infoberlin@villa-aurora.org or 030 – 20 62 36 40 until May 20, 2013
Alice Wang (b. 1983, China) is an artist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She received her BSc from the University of Toronto, BFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and MFA from New York University. Since the summer of 2012, Alice has been living and working in Paris through the support of the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation. Alice has exhibited work at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Deutsches Haus in New York, and forthcoming projects at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and Immanence in Paris. Her experimental film The fallacy of misplaced concreteness is distributed by Vtape, and part of their permanent collection.
Benjamin Tong (b.1981), studied computer science at the University of Toronto, and then received an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. His projects have appeared in various spaces such as; The Hart House (CAN), Images Festival (CAN), REDCAT Gallery (CA), Sonja Roesch Gallery (TX), Hochschule für Bildende Kunst HBK (GER), RosaB.net, and LA Mart (CA). A transcript of The Parrot Lecture, published by Golden Spike Press and performed at CalArts, can be found at Printed Matter (US), Ed. Varie (US), Art Metropole (CAN) and Ooga Booga (US). He has also been in residence in Mexico City for the SOMA summer program.
Vögelein Schwermut
Los Angeles
Villa Aurora and the Austrian Consulate General present
Vögelein Schwermut
A Liederabend presenting Irene Wallner and Maria Raberger
In Person: Walter Arlen
Vögelein Schwermut is a collection of songs for alto and piano, featuring Jewish composers who were banned, persecuted and/or murdered during the Nazi regime. The concert’s title is derived from a song by Erich Zeisl of the same title, based on a poem by Christian Morgenstern.
The program includes songs by Walter Arlen, Viktor Ullmann, Erich Zeisl, Erich Schulhoff and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Irene Wallner studied vocal performance at the University of Music and Performig Arts in Vienna. She has performed as a soloist in Austria, Germany, Italy and Norway. Inspired by performing with exil.arte*, Irene is dedicated to the interpretation of Austrian composers, who were persecuted durin the Nazi regime.
* exil.arte operates as a centre for the reception, preservation and research of Austrian composers, performers, musical academics and thinkers who, during the years of the ‘Third Reich’ were branded as ‘degenerate’.
Maria Raberger studied at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She focused her studies on repetition, chamber music and vocal accompaniment. For many years, she has played the orchestra piano and celesta with the Bruckner orchestra of Linz. She is a member of the trio “donau3klang” and “Ensemble versatile”.
Tickets: Free for Friends of Villa Aurora // $15 for General Audiences (at the door)
RSVP required: infola@villa-aurora.org. You will receive a confirmation.
Location: 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 4:00 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!
Group 47 – When German Literature Wrote History
Berlin
Reading and Discussion with Helmut Böttiger, SODA Salon @ Kulturbrauerei, May 29, 2013
Helmut Böttiger, whose book “Group 47 – When German Literature Wrote History” was awarded the Prize of the Leipzig Bookfair, presented his strong work on the legendary alliance in German literature.
A group of unknown authors was brought together in 1947 by Hans Werner Richter, and, at the end of the 50s - a time without competing literary cycles and festivals - had risen to the leading voice of the literary scene in Germany.
From this very group emerged stars and personalities such as Ingeborg Bachmann, Günther Grass or Peter Handke and literary critics such as Joachim Kaiser or Marcel Reich-Ranicki.
In discussions with Johan de Blank, initiator of the series “Literary Freedom”, the history, the development and the perpetual charges of the group’s anti-Semitism and rejection of the literary community in exile were analyzed along with individual statements by members of the Group 47.
The audience was left with the lasting impression, that literature can occupy a prominent political place, should it choose to voice the ills that politicians and society fail to address.
The group dispersed with the beginning of the Brandt era and the 68 generation.
Exil-Literature and Group 47
Berlin
Exil-Literature and Group 47 - Helmut Böttiger and Ingo Schulze discuss the legend of a federal literary establishment
Group 47 originated from a circle of German authors with the goal of renewing German literature after the fall of the "Third Reich", and by doing so foster the democratization of the German post-war society.
To this day, the literary discourse is influenced by former members of Group 47, such as Günter Grass, Martin Walser or Marcel Reich-Ranicki. Others were Ingeborg-Bachmann, Paul Celan, Ilse Aichinger, Siegfried Lenz, Alexander Kluge and Heinrich Böll. In 1967 the group dissolved due to fierce disputes on the relationship between politics and literature. The group's take on the topic of "Exile" and the members' relation to the writers, who left Germany in the 30s and 40s, was characterized as "problematic". Helmut Böttiger's book „Die Gruppe 47. Als die deutsche Literatur Geschichte schrieb“ (The Group 47. When German literature wrote history) was a prize-winner at the 2013 Leipziger Buchmesse. He and writer Ingo Schulze will discuss the group and how relevant it is for today's literary environment.
Helmut Böttiger was born in 1956. He studied German philology in Freiburg. Until 2001, he was the editor of the cultural pages of the Frankfurter Rundschau. Today Böttiger works as author, journalist and critic in Berlin. His book on the Group 47 won a prize at the 2013 Leipziger Buchmesse.
Ingo Schulze was born in 1962 in Dresden. He studied classical philology in Jena and worked as theatrical adviser and journalist in Altenburg. His prize-winning books have been translated into more than 30 languages. Today Ingo Schulze lives and works in Berlin.
This program of Villa Aurora and Literarische Freiheit (Literary Freedom) is part of the over- arching Berlin cultural theme for 2013 called „Zerstörte Vielfalt“, "Diversity Destroyed". The events commemorate the power grab of the National Socialists in 1933 and the November progroms in of 1938, and reflect on the subsequent destruction of the social diversity in Berlin.
Place: Soda-Salon of Kulturbrauerei, Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin, as part of the series „Literarische Freiheit“ (Literary Freedom)
Tickets are 5,00 EURO
MicroFest at Villa Aurora "I (tune) NY"
Los Angeles
Now in its seventeenth year of celebrating the beauty that lies “between the note”, MicroFest is the worldʼs leading concert series devoted to the glorious universe of non-standard tunings. Founded by microtonal guitarist and radio personality John Schneider in 1997, MicroFest has grown to a festival of multiple events at Southern California venues ranging from Pacific Palisades to Claremont; Pasadena to Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.
In 1931 New York, Basque composer/pianist Emiliana Zubeldia met the Mexican theorist Augusto Novaro and popularized his revolutionary tuning system for pianos. Aron Kallay resurrects this fascinating sound and the new perspective it gives to piano music from that era, including works of Toch*, Copland, Gershwin, and Zubeldia herself.
* The grand piano at Villa Aurora is on permanent loan from the Toch Society.
$20/$10 students and members
Tickets @ http://www.brownpapertickets.com
Shuttle Service starts at 6:00 p.m.
Park on Los Liones Drive off Sunset Boulevard 2 blocks east of the Pacific Coast Highway.
Villa Aurora under the Stars
Los Angeles
Echo Park Film Center and its roving band of cinematic troubadours come to the beautiful hills of Malibu to present a night of short animated and experimental films to remind you of the beauty of life and living. Bring a blanket, a loved one and an open mind to sit under the stars and watch a collection of short films made by the Echo Park Film Center collective (& friends) between the years of 2001 – 2013.
This magical evening will include prizes and surprises, popcorn, Dagie Brundert (a visiting filmmaker from Berlin), laughter, love and the occasional tear.
All ages welcome. Sell your TV and come to the cinema. We look forward to seeing you.
For more information you can call or email Echo Park Film Center
(213) 484-8846
info@echoparkfilmcenter.org
Grounds open at 6 PM, screening starts at 8 PM
Admission is free
RSVP required: infola@villa-aurora.org
You will receive a confirmation
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 PM 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!
50 Fingers & 88 Keys
Los Angeles
Jacaranda Music at the edge
Summer Garden Party „50 Fingers & 88 Keys“
Five sensational pianists play at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades for the announcement of Jacaranda’s Tenth Anniversary “Season of Journeys”. More Information: http://jacarandamusic.org/
SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ
Los Angeles
T H E
A C A D E M Y O F M O T I O N P I C T U R E A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S
A N D V I L L A A U R O R A P R E S E N T
Max Davidson – Guenter Buchwald on Organ
Max Davidson (1875-1950) is one of the numerous forgotten Hollywood supporting actors who acted in innumerable movies. His heyday was in the late 1920s when he was engaged at the Hal Roach Studios for a series of Jewish comedies which belong to the best and funniest shorts the studio ever produced. All films focus on Davidson as the henpecked Jewish family father who has to struggle with his good-for-nothing son(s) and a daughter who falls in love with a non-Jewish boy.
Since his beginning in 1978 he has accompanied more than 2,100 silent films in more than 2,500 film concerts. He is regularly invited as musician in residence to international film festivals and is Musical Director of the annual Bristol Silents Slapstic Festival and resident conductor of the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchstra for "film in concert".
Buchwald is a great stylistic virtuoso playing anything from baroque to contemporary music, and from folk to jazz. He is in great demand as a composer as well being a solo film accompanist.
For the first time, the Villa gardens will be open for patrons to come early and picnic, watch the sunset and then settle into the salon for a program of comedies, by Hollywood's leading comedians. Bring a picnic and enjoy the Villa garden, followed by a sceening of silent shorts with live organ accompaniment. Grounds open and shuttle starts at 6 pm.
Program:
JEWISH PRUDENCE, 1927 - 21’
THE BOY FRIEND, 1928 – 20’
PASS THE GRAVY, 1928 - 25´
Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com
For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.
SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ
Los Angeles
T H E
A C A D E M Y O F M O T I O N P I C T U R E A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S
A N D V I L L A A U R O R A P R E S E N T
Dedicated to Katharina and Thierry Leduc
Max Linder predated and influenced Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He debuted in French theater in 1905, but quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max," a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world.
Dean Mora was born and raised in Los Angeles; his interest in pre-WWII America was forged early on as a child. After he received his Bachelor of Music, at CSU Northridge, Dean was offered the job of accompanying silent films at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood, where he worked for 6 years accompanying over 200 movies. He studied theatre organ with the legendary Gaylord Carter, learning all the tricks and techniques needed to effectively accompany a silent film.
Dean has performed in venues such as the Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles), Copley Hall (San Diego), Fox Theatre (Hanford, CA). In addition, he has also performed at film festivals in various locales, including The Roger Ebert Film Festival in Champaign, IL, the UCLA Film Archives Series, The Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Academy in Beverly Hills, CA, and the Silent Movie Film Festival in Osaka, Japan. He leads a big band (Dean Mora & His Orchestra), playing dance music of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
For the first time, the Villa gardens will be open for patrons to come early and picnic, watch the sunset and then settle into the salon for a program of comedies, by Hollywood's leading comedians. Bring a picnic and enjoy the Villa garden, followed by a sceening of silent shorts with live organ accompaniment. Grounds open and shuttle starts at 6 pm.
MAX TAKES A PICTURE – 13:06
LOVE’S SURPRISES – 6:15
TROUBLES OF A GRASS WIDOWER – 9:51
MAX SETS THE STYLE – 13:11
EXCERPT FROM “BE MY WIFE” (1921 Feature) 13:11
Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 pm 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!
For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.
Welcoming Reception
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Participants
In their own way, Berlin-based sound artists Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun have retraced Condamine’s journey, though instead of the tropical wilderness, they’ve measured the urban jungle of Rio de Janeiro. Instead of compass and quadrant, their tools are microphone and recorder. What remains unchanged is the physical effort of exploring foreign terrain—hence the title, “Bodybuilding.” On foot, and with an assortment of quasi-ritual exercises, Baghdassarians and Baltschun move from their residence in Rio to the triangular plaza Largo do Guimarães. At the end of their aural training session stands the ideal form of a place, an artificial sounding-body that seems strangely familiar in the way it further alienates the alien.
RP Kahl presents first fragments from the filmic work he is producing during his stay at Villa Aurora. In this work he refers to the aura of the Villa, finding inspiration from its former inhabitants, first of all Marta Feuchtwanger. The first film fragments focus on "sculpture on film". Therefore Kahl collaborates with artist Stephanie Keitz. The notion of "the absent" builds the thematic framing of this cooperation. The work will be presented as a video as well as an installation.
SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ
Los Angeles
Comedian Harold Lloyd - Christoph Bull on Organ
One of the world’s most unique organ artists, equally versed in classical and popular music, Christoph Bull has performed in Europe, the United States, El Salvador, Russia and India, at venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Lincoln Center in New York, the Catholic Cathedrals of Moscow, Salzburg and Saint-Denis, as well as rock clubs such as The Viper Room, The Roxy and The Whisky in Los Angeles.
He has won first and second prizes in numerous organ and songwriting competitions, including Jugend Musiziert, Chamber Music Competition of the City of Bad Dürkheim, Michael Masser Songwriting Competition, Berklee Songwriting Competition, International Organ Competition Marcello Galanti.
For the first time, the Villa gardens will be open for patrons to come early and picnic, watch the sunset and then settle into the salon for a program of comedies, by Hollywood's leading comedians. Bring a picnic and enjoy the Villa garden, followed by a sceening of silent shorts with live organ accompaniment. Grounds open and shuttle starts at 6 pm.
Program:
NEVER WEAKEN – 20 min.
NUMBER PLEASE – 30 min. (Filmed on location in Santa Monica)
Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 pm 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!
For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.
SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ
Los Angeles
Charles Chaplin came to Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios late in 1913 as a little-known British vaudevillian, and after a year, had not only established his Tramp character, learned to write and direct his own films, and also achieved public recognition as a star comedian. Although Keystone did not publicize its performers by name, standees of Chaplin's likeness outside theatres sufficed to attract audiences. Some of the films, especially Tillie's Punctured Romance, remained in theatrical distribution for decades.
Program:
MABEL’S MARRIED LIFE – 14:38 w/Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle, directed by Mack Sennett
THE ROUNDERS – 13:15 – Chaplin and Arbuckle
THE MASQUERADER – 12:21 – Behind the Scenes in a Movie Studio
DOUGH AND DYNAMITE – 28:29 – Chaplins most popular Keystone, last three all directed by Chaplin.
Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive.Shuttle service starts at 6 pm 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!
For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.
Screening of "Angel Express"
Los Angeles
Set in 1990s Berlin, Angel Express focuses on a “jigsaw puzzle” of off-beat and often unsavory anti-heroes, creating an unusually dynamic portrait of the city that captures the restless, nervous energy of a metropolis on the verge of a new century. The protagonists include a corrupt policeman, a prostitute, and a star photographer and her insecure associate. On an endless search for the next big thrill and united by their common mood, feelings, and attitude toward life, the characters are sucked into a deadly whirlpool of events.
A Techno-Symphony of a Metropolis… a strange and wild stroke of genius
-Tagesspiegel
Discussion with RP Kahl and reception following the screening.
Since the late 90s his work has included music videos, theatre productions, performances and video art.
Since 2001, he has taught art and film at universities and art academies.
He is a member of the selection commissions of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale Shorts) and the Oldenburg Film Festival as well as the German Film Academy.
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036
German with engl. subtitles
Sommerfest 2013
Los Angeles
Villa Aurora's Sommerfest 2013*
Open House, Sound Salon, Curry-Wurst and Bowle!
presented by the staff of Villa Aurora in cooperation with the web-radio collective dublab.
CELEBRATE the golden glow of late summer with a site-wide sound salon.
DISCOVER the full expanse of this historic, cultural retreat while enjoying live performances and DJ sets curated by dublab.
EXPLORE the gardens, courtyard, libraries and studio spaces of Villa Aurora with a sonic accompaniment reflecting the residency's rich heritage.
Tickets are $30 general, $15 for Friends of Villa Aurora and Friends of dublab
Become a member of Friends of Villa Aurora today and get tickets for friends and family at the membership rate.
Give us a call at 310.454.4231
Tickets can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com
Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 3 pm 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!
*Proceeds from our 2nd annual Sommerfest will help us make Villa Aurora wheelchair accessible. To be finished in 2014!
Goya-Screening
Los Angeles
Based on the novel by Lion Feuchtwanger
Dir.: Konrad Wolf, 1971, color, 131 min. digital, German w/English subtitles
This screening is generously supported by the DEFA Film Library on the occasion of their 20th anniversary at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90036
The screening is free of charge:
Please RSVP @ 323.525.3388
Romanticism Renewed
Los Angeles
The Karl Weigl Foundation and Villa Aurora present:
John McLaughlin Williams is a Grammy Award-winning conductor and violinist known for his relentless research into musical diamonds hidden from view.
Glen Inanga is best known for his award-winning work in the Micallef-Inanga Piano Duo, which has appeared with, among others, the BBC Philharmonic and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
This concert is endorsed by the OREL Foundation, which was founded by Los Angeles Opera Music Director James Conlon for the purpose of recovering creative voices that were lost to the musical repertory because they were suppressed for political and ideological reasons during the time of Hitler’s Germany and afterward.
We would like to thank the Austrian Consulate General for their support.
Tickets: $25 general, $15 friends of Villa Aurora can be purchased at: www.brownpaperticket.com
Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 7 pm 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!
JazzIndeed meets North Atlantic Jazz Alliance
Berlin
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 pm 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!
Find all information about the Euro Jazz Festival at UCLA here.
Marta Feuchtwanger – An Emancipated Woman
Berlin
Marta Feuchtwanger – An Emancipated Woman
Marta Feuchtwanger, born Marta Löffler in 1891 in Munich, represented the undisputed center of gravitation in the exiled community of the forties in Los Angeles.
She and her husband, the writer Lion Feuchtwanger, opened their home, the Villa Aurora in the Pacific Palisades as a venue for gathering and intellectual exchange.
After her husband’s death, the Villa remained a societal center thanks to Marta Feuchtwanger. A collection of extensive correspondence is proof of her close friendship with many exiles in California.
In 1980 the University of Southern California (USC) awarded her an honorary doctorate. Marta Feuchtwanger remained poitically and culturally active until her death in 1987.
The event at Literaturhaus Berlin in honor of Marta Feuchtwanger is part of the 6th International Feuchtwanger Conference, held October 24 through 26 at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
It is part of a year-long program called “Destroyed Diversity” –an initiative by the Berlin Senate, commemorating the power grab by the National Socialists in 1933 and the November pogroms in 1938. The series deals with the National Socialists’ destruction of the diverse society in Berlin starting in 1933.
The program includes an interview Reinhart Hoffmeister did with Marta Feuchtwanger for ZDF and a talk by State Secretary Hella Dunger-Löper about Marta Feuchtwanger in Berlin. Finally a discussion between Journalist Marianne Heuwagen, who knew Marta Feuchtwanger personally and Alexandra Tyrolf, a researcher on “women in exile” will illustrate the life and impact of this exceptional woman.
Welcoming Reception
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Participants
Nairy Baghramian was born in 1971 in Isfahan, Iran. She has lived and worked in Berlin since 1984.
Nairy Baghramian includes elements of furniture design, set design and fashion in her work. Her still lives in space involve references to material history, recontextualized and turned into political statements, pieces referring to literature and theatre.
Baghramian wishes to discover which topics of Early Modernism did not transmit to the new homeland of emigrated architects from Europe. Starting point is the construct of 'Home', a concept framing the burdens and chances of creative personalities who came to America voluntarily in the beginning of the 20th Century (like Neutra and Schindler) and those who where forced out of Europe.
Nairy's works were shown in Scottland, U.K., Germany, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Italy.
Jan-Ole Gerster was born in Hagen. He studied script writing and directing at the Berlin Film and Television Academy (DFFB). In 2010 Gerster started work on his graduation film 'Oh Boy!' with Tom Schilling in the lead role. The movie premiered at the 2012 Munich Filmfestival. 'Oh Boy!' garnered international acclaim and won the 2013 German Film Prize in six categories, among them for Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film.
At Villa Aurora, Gerster will tackle his new project 'Cool Germania', a rise-and-fall story of two friends in the Berlin of the 90s and zeros.
At the Welcoming Reception, Gerster will show a scene from 'Oh Boy' and talk about his work.
Watch the trailer here.
'Oh Boy' has been nominated for the European Film Awards. Support Jan-Ole by voting here.
Volker Harry Altwasser, born in 1969 in Greifswald, is the recipient of the 2012 Italo-Svevo-Preis for his deap sea epos 'Letzte Fischer' ('Last Fishermen'). He was among the finalists for the Alfred Doeblin Award and the Ingeborg Bachmann Award.
Altwasser's thesis "literature about the ocean is always literature about failure - the ocean always prevails" links his works to American highlights of the genre, such as 'The Old Man and the Sea' or 'Moby Dick'. It took Altwasser 17 years to finish this novel, which shines with rigor, poetry and authenticity.
There will be a 20-minute reading of excerpts of the the novel (in German and English).
During his stay at Villa Aurora, the writer will trace the life story of writer Bruno Frank, a Feuchtwanger friend, who fell into oblivion.
Hannah Arendt Conference
Los Angeles
WHAT IS POLITICS?
A Conference on Hannah Arendt at Villa Aurora on November 9th and 10th, 2013
On November 9th, the date of “Reichskristallnacht“ in Germany in 1938, Villa Aurora, together with the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, hosted a conference on Hannah Arendt by the title of “What is Politics?”.
The German-Jewish-American thinker Hannah Arendt, born in Hannover, exiled to Paris and later to New York, dedicated her work to the reinvention of the public realm and to freedom in political action. Today, as in the 1960s, the ideas of this woman philosopher inspire theoretical debates as well as civil political initiatives. The conference with lectures by experts on Hannah Arendt’s work focused on the influence of her European-American experience and the particular importance of transcultural exchange in Arendt’s theory of political action.
Please find videos of the following lectures on our media-page:
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Annette Rupp, Executive Director Villa Aurora & Marie Luise Knott (Concept), Freelance Author, Journalist and Translator
The Origins of Totalitarianism in Historical Perspective
Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University
Revolutionary Declarations and the Status of Human Rights
Peg Birmingham, DePaul University
The Aesthetics of Arendt’s Politics
Equality, Plurality, and the Enthusiasm of the Spectators
Martín Plot, California Institute of the Arts
Hannah Arendt: The Primacy of Appearance
Robert Harrison, Stanford University
Who is Capable of Performing Action? Some Thoughts on the Importance of Personality
Wolfgang Heuer, Freie Universität Berlin
As part of the conference, Roger Berkowitz, Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, talked about Jewish Voices in the Eichmann-Controversy at Skirball Cultural Center on November 10th. The lecture was followed by the screening of Margarethe von Trotta’s movie Hannah Arendt and a Q&A session.
Oh Boy
Los Angeles
OH BOY, Germany 2012, 83 min., digital
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut OH BOY, which swept the 2013 German Film Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast.
In Person: Director Jan-Ole Gerster
Watch the trailer…
At Villa Aurora, Gerster will tackle his new project 'Cool Germania', a rise-and-fall story of two friends in the Berlin of the 90s and zeros.
Admission: Free
Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 pm 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!
Villa Aurora Night
Berlin
In November 2013 Villa Aurora celebrated the annual Villa Aurora Night to welcome the 2014 Fellows and to present their works. For the first time the event was held at the Lapidarium in Berlin with a close circle of invited guests from arts, culture, politics and the media.
The opening speeches were delivered by Dr. Hans-Ulrich Seidt, Head of Culture and Communication at the Federal Foreign Office, and Björn Böhning, head of the Senate Chancellery.
Former Villa Aurora Fellow Dietrich Brüggemann and the German BeatBox Champion, Daniel Mandolini, marked the beginning of the event by accompanying a silent movie from the 1920s. DJ Paul Kaeding provided the night with music.