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Ana Valjak

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Stories from Ana Valjak

Austrian Avant Garde
Contemporary Art, Here and in Germany, is Simply Braver
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

 

Coastal Holiday
Once a Habsburg Resort, This Sun-drenched Croatian Town of Opatjia Combines Stunning Views With Contemporary Comfort
Ana Valjak
Alexander Litschka
18/02/2009

 

As the temperature rises and sun pours down for more than twelve hours a day we all start dreaming of the seaside. For people in Vienna this dream is just five hundred kilometers in Opatija, a town at the Croatian coast.

With a long weekend ahead we tank the car and head south. In the rear view mirror, clouds started gathering on the hills of Grinzing, it was good to be heading toward the sun. Driving down the highway towards Graz, trucks thunder by, each time belching carbon dioxide, we smile; soon the fresh sea water will be mixed with pine trees and lavender.

Croatian Fan Fest
Even the Sceptics Had to Admit That the Atmosphere Was Extremely Positive - A Celebration Bursting With Real Pride
Ana Valjak
Dardis McNamee
18/02/2009

 

After months and months of preparation, the European Soccer Championship 2008 in Austria and Switzerland began on Jun. 7. And the next day Austria and Croatia were to meet in Austria's capital.

Nobody wanted any trouble, so police from both countries were on hand in case any hooligans showed up. After all, this game came with memories of violence at last year's match and had been designated a zero tolerance game where police were allowed to use force at the slightest sign of discomfort.

fanmile1_4c.jpg
Dear diary: Football shoes
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

 

After slaving for five years as a student I found myself suddenly in different shoes -- the powerful ones. One of my professors gave me a chance to co-teach a class on the history of football. At first I was excited, but as the first day of class came closer, I became more and more nervous.

 

Last Stop: Stadium
The New U2 Creates a Link to the Heart of the Football Feast
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

 

 

The opening on May 10th of the U2 extension was a major media event, generating curiosity and expectation throughout town. One of the five existing Viennese subway lines, it connects the 'Karlsplatz' station along the west side of the 1st District, past 'Schottenring' through the 2nd District to the Prater Park, Ernst Happel Football Stadium and the Krieau Harness Racing Track -- just in time for the EURO 2008, the European Football Championships.

The construction of the new 'Herminengasse' exit at Schottenring took place right outside my window. After two years of around the clock torture from the constant drilling and mess of construction, I walked down to check it out.

No Hooligans
In the Excitement Over the EURO 2008, The Biggest Concern is Still Security
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

The preparations for the Euro 2008 are nearly complete. This is Vienna's first European Championship and one of the most important sporting events to come to Austria in a long time.

Although the government is already rubbing its hands with glee over the expected revenue, the biggest concern is still over security, protecting citizens and tourists from the hooligans that will be pouring into Austria and Switzerland for the games.

Outsider Art Fair
Offbeat Exhibit Showcases ARtists Who Embrace Madness
Mariam Shalikashvili
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

"If you speak to God you are religious, but if God speaks with you - you are considered creepy"
Janos Marton

On the first day of summer we walked into the Austrian National Library, which was hosting the first European Outsider Art Fair. Around 20 galleries and museums were exhibiting works of European and international artists in brightly lit booths.

Pfneisl's Black Box
Award-winning Winery in an Architectural Event Offers a Taste of “Where the Magic Happens”
Alexander Litschka
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

 

The villages near the Therme Lutzmannsburg in Burgenland were completely empty. I suppose it was because the summer sun was trying its best to impress, and the villagers were smart enough to stay inside their masonry houses.

Ana and I were on the road -- like a concrete tongue that never ends, it stretched out across the countryside and through the middle of the villages. It took us one hour from Vienna to get to the new Pfneisl winery, a stark, modernist complex that had won this year's Burgenland regional architectural award (Architektur Raumburgenland). Attracted by the sketches at an exhibition at the Museumsquartier, we wanted to see the complex for ourselves and test Pfneisl's Pentagon wines that we knew were prized by wine lovers.

Strictly Forbidden
"Sex in Art:" A Ground Breaking Exhibition Stirred Debate at London's Barbican Center
Ana Valjak
18/02/2009

From the fig leaf added to protect the modesty of Michelangelo's David in 1857, to the artistic pornography in the photos from Jeff Coons, from sex as an everyday commodity in ancient times to the brutal sadistic sex of Robert Mapplethorpe -- all this was in the exhibition Seduced: Sex in Art from Antiquity till Today, that ran for four months starting in October 2007 till January 2008 at London's Barbican Center, the famed cultural complex in the city's business district.

The goal was to mount something sensational and even trivial but that was still a rich and seductive experience, said Joanna Bernstein, one of the curators of the exhibition.

The Power of a Myth
Thousands Gather in Vienna to Protest the Loss of Serbia's Ancient Heartland
Ana Valjak
Dardis McNamee
02/03/2008

Some 8,000 people gathered at Heldenplatz, on Sunday Feb. 24, to support Serbia in what looked like another useless demonstration against the independence of Kosovo. People had shown up in traditional military uniforms, carrying flags, and many had stitched the red star of the old Yugoslavia on their clothes and hats.

Emotions were running high as a group of protesters chanted slogans like, "Kosovo is the heart and soul of Serbia!" Or, "Kosovo was and will always remain Serbian."

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