Opera Impressions
The recent presentation in the Volksoper of two one-act operas in very cleverly similar settings focussed attention on the subject of theatre and reality. From there, it is a short leap to musing about the role of opera as theatre. The time is particularly relevant as all three houses have now published their programmes for [...]
The Yppenviertel – A Tradition of Hospitality
Venturing into Vienna’s “outer districts” can hold a special sense of adventure, or even bring the feeling of going back in time. The Grätzl around the Yppenplatz in Ottakring is just such a place. Crossing the Gürtel into the 16th District, you are in Ottakring; more specifically, you are in Neulerchenfeld, a village founded in [...]
Vienna at Your Convenience: A History of Public Toilets
Art and ideas are hard to escape in Vienna, with statuary gracing the rooftops and music behind almost every door. “The very streets of Vienna are paved with culture, the other cities with asphalt,” wrote social critic Karl Kraus. Even down to the public conveniences. First flush Toilets have long been a measure of civilisation. [...]
A Bosnian Pyramid, Or Just a Very Big Hill?
In 2005, historian and businessman Semir Osmanagi began an investigation of Visocica hill in the Visoko valley, a 30-minute drive north-west of Sarajevo. Then he wrote a book, claiming that the 220-metre-high hill was the remains of an ancient “Pyramid of the Sun”, one of several colossal stone structures in the vicinity, now overgrown with [...]
Book Review: The Future of Power, by Joseph Nye
Being Powerful… And Smart Political scientist Joseph S. Nye isn’t easy to categorise, falling somewhere along the wide stretch between “raw” realism and “idealist” liberalism. So Nye calls himself a “liberal realist”, and in his 2011 book The Future of Power, he moves on from the concept of “soft power” he coined in his 1990 [...]
Be Your Own Taxi Driver
Vienna is well-known for its bikes, buses, trams and U-Bahn, but another new form of public transportation has hit the streets in recent year: car sharing. Ideal for quick shopping trips, moving belongings, or an escapade out of town, renting shared vehicles offers the speed, freedom, and mobility that other modes of public transport cannot [...]
Revisiting and Reviving the ‘Austrian Riviera’
On 28 Mar, 1894 at 19:00, Emperor Franz Josef boarded the Abbazia-bound Hofjagdzug at Vienna’s Südbahnhof to meet the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The following morning at 9:00 sharp, the Kaiser pulled into the small station of Matulji with “beautiful sunshine, clear sky, blue sea and warm, kräftig air.” Coats of arms and laurel decorated the station with Austrian and [...]
Shopping with a Post-Communist Conscience
These days it is difficult to defend yourself against the lure of shopping. As you walk down the street, you can see signs offering discounts of 50% or 70%, as shops seek to clear their floors for the summer’s merchandise. Perhaps the signs are not as exciting to youngsters as they are to my generation, [...]
CommentaryMay 29, 2012No CommentRead More