Die Welt 05.06.2007

Gerhard Gnauck reports on protests in Poland against the new literary canon introduced by Education Minister Roman Giertych: Goethe, Kafka, Dostoevsky and Witold Gombrowicz are being removed from the curricula. In their place come Ryszard Kapuscinski, Wislawa Szymborska, Henryk Sienkewicz, Pope John Paul II and the Catholic collaborator Jan Dobraczynski: "By far the most original protest came from the association of the descendants of Nobel Prizewinner Sienkiewicz (1846 - 1916). In a letter to the minister, they begged him 'to strike the works of our grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather from the canon,' as he was in better company with those who had been removed from the list."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05.06.2007

Sociologist Necla Kelek takes a sceptical view of the planned mosque in Cologne (news story). It is not merely a question of religious freedom or equality, she argues: "Mosques themselves, according to Muslim interpretation, are not religious buildings like churches or synagogues, but rather 'multi-functional buildings.' It's a hushed-up fact. Just like the fact that Islam is not a church. Islam sees itself as not merely a spiritual world outlook, but as a philosophy based on an indivisible unity of daily life, politics and faith. It does not have a binding theological teaching. In this sense, many Islamic associations in Germany serve the function of a religious party, a representative of political interests. That is why the issue of building a mosque cannot be reduced to the question of religious freedom; rather it is a political question."


Die Tageszeitung 05.06.2007

Christiane Kühl was in Berlin's HAU Theater for the ten-day festival "Umweg über China" (detour through China), inspired by the book by Sinologist Francois Jullien, who travelled through China to better understand Europe. But China's development has little to do with that of Eastern Europe, writes Kühl with an eye to "video artist Wang Jianwei, born in 1958. In the past, absolutely everything was decided for his generation, says Wang. Today by contrast, the driving force behind their works is the freedom to choose. 'Not that it's possible to decide in favour of one thing over another. The really important thing is that I can decide for myself. We've just started to discover who we are.' Wang developed the video installation 'Cross Infection: From Masses … to Masses' for the HAU, juxtaposing images of marching uniformed schoolchildren with those of heterogeneous city life, for example a youth fixing his hair for minutes in the reflection of a shop window."


Frankfurter Rundschau 05.06.2007

Architect Jo Franzke ("The author is among the most important German architects. His architecture captivates, through an uncompromisingly noble elegance," comments the strictly objective editorial) campaigns for his concept of a newly rebuilt old city in Frankfurt. "We are taking off from the latest available research, documentation of the historical construction that the City Planning Department commissioned. On the basis of this work, we have investigated and worked out the essential details: locations of plazas and the layout of streets, as well as the various houses and their plots: proportions, axes, window settings, gables, the shapes of roofs, as well as materiality and orientation." In a second article, Christian Thomas comments on the opportunity provided through the tearing down of the "Technical City Hall."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 05.06.2007

A two-page spread is dedicated to the upcoming Documenta. Holger Liebs chats with curators Roger Buergel and Ruth Noack. Buergel announces succinctly: "We want to make complexity palatable for a mass audience. But through an indirect activation, not in the sense of direct politicization." For which we, in our capacity as the mass, are naturally grateful!