Hort: A Playground for Designers

Iris Braun profiles the German design group Hort and founder Eike König at the Goethe-Institut site. Based in Berlin, Hort brings together a dozen or so designers in a working environment that resembles a nursery where children come to play.

“ … Here we are trying to be a sort of playground for creative people,” says König.

Hort has worked with a diverse clientele from Nike to Walt Disney, and magazines to record labels.

König expects to be surprised by what his team creates and has a few rules for the group: “No clichés, no advertising with naked women or for alcohol and cigarettes.”

You can learn more about Hort at their website and download a portfolio of their work.

We’d like the Absinthe HQ to be a creative playground but for now, thanks to our new assistant editor, the home office just swarms with toys ... I suppose it's a step in the right direction.

And the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film Goes to ...

In a Better World, directed by Susanne Bier.

London Fashion Week Trends and Educating Tailors in Italy

At the Financial Times Carola Long discusses three trends following the close of London Fashion Week. Here in the Midwest we're quite familiar with two of the trends, blanket-like styles and layering, as we've had the second-most February snow ever recorded in Michigan.

Absinthe editors demonstrate the fine art of layering

Additionally, Alex Coles writes about several Italian brands (Kiton, Brioni, Bottega Veneta and Ermenegildo Zegna) planning for the future by starting schools to teach their tailoring techniques.

“It occurred to me that founding a school was vital when I noticed the average age of our tailors was 55,” says Kiton chief executive Antonio De Matteis, noting that the craft was in danger of dying in Naples once this generation retired. Investment in manpower was crucial, he says, since all Kiton’s products are made by hand and the importance the brand places on the school is clear from the fact the factory floor is adjacent to the school’s classrooms.

Perhaps I should learn a new trade when we retire to Italy in 30 years.

Love Doesn't Work: New Fiction by Henning Koch

Longtime Absinthe advisor Henning Koch has a new collection of short stories out from Dzanc Books, Love Doesn't Work.

The collection includes the story "In Memoriam, Ingmar Bergman," which originally appeared in Absinthe #9.

According to Dzanc's website:

Love Doesn't Work offers classic storytelling with profound, startling insights into human desire and its shortfalls. Inspired by the ancient Cathars, these seven tales present a vision of life as an inevitable struggle against ignorance, darkness and sexual confusion. Devilish and playful in tone, they leave the reader with a sense of outraged satisfaction and delight.

Grab a copy; I know you'll enjoy it. You can order it from Dzanc Books here.

Bratislava's Art Scene

In a New York Times article, "Bratislava's Art Comes Out of the Shadows", Ginanne Brownell profiles the Bratislava art scene, highlighting the work of the HIT Gallery in particular and noting:

The Bratislava art scene has always played second fiddle to Vienna — a 45-minute drive from the Slovak capital — and Prague, which for generations was where Slovak artists decamped for cultural enlightenment. But these days, small galleries are starting to have a big impact not only on the local scene but on the regional one as well. HIT Gallery is one of the most influential....

HIT is unique to the small Slovak contemporary art scene in its commitment to exploring social, political and cultural boundaries.

The gallery was cofounded by Dorota Kenderova who now partners with artist Jaro Varga. According to Varga they “decided to change from being a gallery of emerging artists to a gallery of emerging ideas….We want to do big topics in a small gallery.”

Learn more about the gallery here.

In the works: Absinthe #15

Over at Absinthe HQ we're hard at work on a milestone issue, Absinthe #15.

It promises to be an excellent issue with poetry by Menno Wigman, Pedja Kojovic, Pierre Peuchmaurd, and others, along with fiction from writers such as Simon Fruelund, Jan Sonnergaard, and Birgitta Stenberg.

The issue will also include our recommendations of recent European cinema, music, and literature and reports from Copenhagen and elsewhere.

Logan, our assistant editor, is working overtime to ensure the issue is ready by the end of April.

In upcoming weeks we'll post more info about the issue, along with a sneak peek at the cover.

Prostitution in Vienna

In a previous life I worked as a therapist, primarily focused on sexual abuse issues with offenders and read numerous books and attended many conferences related to sexual deviations as defined by the DSM, the impact of pornography, the lives of sex workers, etc. It was difficult work and I finally realized I did not want to deal with these issues on a daily basis.

However, I still occasionally read articles related to the field and found a recent essay in the Vienna Review of interest. In "Women of the Shadows", Anni Surenian and Philippa Hohenzollern explore the realities of legalized prostitution in Vienna:

Currently, there are 2,374 prostitutes registered at the Polizeikommissariat Innere Stadt,” we learned from Frau Hohenwarter, a spokeswoman for the commission, of which not even 200 are Austrian. “Some of them only want to work for a couple of weeks or months,” she told us, “very often out of an emergency situation.” Accordingly, prostitutes are required to have weekly medical check-ups and have to pay their taxes. However they may not put in a legal claim for their wages should a client decide to not to pay.... Vienna is referred to as the “Hochburg” or hot spot for legal and illegal prostitution. Even though legal official numbers speak of nearly 3,000 registered sex workers, NGO estimates go as high as 8,000 nationwide.

The authors interview a woman from Romania they call "Clara":

This is my shitty job, I’m sorry, she tells us. Clara is neither happy nor proud of where she is in life right now. In fact, she despises her job more than anything else, but it is the only way she can provide for her family. As a waitress, she would make €40 a day. Here she can make twice as much in one hour, justification enough. “Aber besser trinken Alkohol und schlafen, dann ist alles ok,” It’s better to drink alcohol and sleep, then everything is ok.

Clearly not all is well in the world of legalized prostitution.

French Film and Writers in NYC

If you're near New York City over the next two weeks you have a cool opportunity to hear from some excellent French authors (in conversation with American writers) and to see some great new films from France.

First up, from February 24th-26th, is the Festival of New French Writing to be held at New York University. The writers appearing include Stéphane Audeguy, Pascal Bruckner, Philippe Claudel, Geneviève Brisac, Laurence Cossé, Atiq Rahimi, and David B. They will be joined in conversation with writers such as A.M. Homes, Rick Moody and friend of Absinthe, Arthur Phillips. Additionally, Open Letter Books director Chad Post will be moderating one of the discussions.

Then from March 3rd-14th there is the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2011 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The interesting lineup of films includes work by directors Bertrand Tavernier, Claude Lelouch, Catherine Breillat, and Benoît Jacquot.

Catherine Deneuve will be in attendance to present her new film Potiche, directed by François Ozon.  There will also be two programs of experimental cinema.

European Union Film Festival in Chicago

In two weeks the 14th annual European Union Film Festival kicks off at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. The festival will run from March 4th-31st, and features 64 films from 24 countries.

The festival includes 9 films that represented their countries in the competition for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the Academy Awards.

Also featured is a film I mentioned in a previous post, Two in the Wave, a documentary on the friendship between Godard and Truffaut.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll get to see the documentary but we do plan a quick trip to Chicago for a few films. If you make it for any part of the festival let us know what you saw.

Arts & Faith Top 100 Films

Arts & Faith, affiliated with one of my favorite literary journals--IMAGE--has published their list of the top 100 films.

There are many European films on the list, as expected, including films from the usual suspects: Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Wim Wenders, Robert Bresson, and Krystof Kieslowski, among others.

Recent films by the Dardenne Brothers (see previous post) and Romanian directors Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu) and Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) also make the list.

The group would definitely make for an excellent film festival.

Learn about how the list was put together here.