Die Tageszeitung 25.05.2007

Arno Frank looks into the uncanny disappearance of the bees. In the USA, up to 70 percent of all bee colonies have collapsed, in Switzerland around 3,000 are missing, which means about 500 million bees. The symptoms of the phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder are identical the world over. "The early stages of CCD are characterised by a lack of female workers to attend to the offspring; the percentage of older bees in the population shrinks dramatically, the insects refuse to be lured by sugar syrup and other delicacies with which bee keepers like to boost their colonies; the queen is present, looks healthy and continues to lay eggs, as if nothing had happened. The end stage is reminiscent of scenarios in plague-afflicted medieval towns. The colony is virtually empty, the young are dying of hunger despite the ample provisions of honey and pollen; the last survivors huddle round the queen, and even the usual plunderers like beetles and mites stay away from the affected hives for a conspicuously long time before entering. It's rare to find dead bodies in a bee state. Typically for sick bees, they have all left the colony to die."


Die Welt 25.05.2007

"The new Russians prefer riches to freedom," states Tatyana Tolstaya, writer and great-grandniece of Leo Tolstoy, in an interview with Michael Skafidas. "After revolutions or major changes like Perestroika, we always go back to square one in Russia. It's almost like a pattern: everything breaks apart, and then we have to build it up again... As soon as the Russians understand that their country isn't being governed the way they want it to be, the first thing they want to do is topple those in power. In their eyes they and they alone are responsible for all the misery, and everything bad that the people experience. We have no culture of personal responsibility."


Der Tagesspiegel 25.05.2007

Christiane Peitz watched Berlin-based dancer and choreographer Sasha Waltz' staging of Pascal Dusapin's opera "Medea", based on the late German playwright Heiner Müller's "Medea material," in Luxembourg. Although at times unnerved by Medea, in the end Peitz finds that Waltz herself was daunted by the frenzied child-murderess. "Medea appears, the coloratura soprano Caroline Stein dressed in a Callas robe. Callas! Pasolini! Revenge in Greek! Stein hurls angry lightning bolts at the sound fabric of Dusapin's fancy thirds, all awash with dissonances and micro-intervals, with its repetitions, silences and ostinatos woven together by the excellent musicians and singers. She uproots Müllers words, and works her hatred for her unfaithful husband - 'All of me your tool' - to fantastic heights... But for all that Sasha Waltz never manages to find the appropriate image for her screams, for her extreme emotions blending ecstasy and shock. The soul races, but the dance is slow motion."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung 25.05.2007

The "676 Apparitions of Killofer" (excerpt), the comic-book autobiography new out on the German market by the French illustrator Patrice Killofer has clearly touched a nerve with Christian Gasser. "One morning three Killofer doubles are standing in Killofer's bedroom, and what's more, they have with them the three beauties who only recently snubbed the original Killofer. The latter attacks his clones but they refuse to be driven away by force or cajolery. From this point on, Killofer's sojourn in Montreal, described without using another word, becomes a grotesque ballet. Everywhere, on the street, in bars, in his flat, Killofer is confronted with more doppelgangers, smoking and boozing, beating each other up, loud-mouthing, groping women, they are lazy, arrogant, depressive and horny, misanthropist meets macho, womaniser meets loser, sadist meets masochistic artist. And in their midst is the real Killofer, almost suffocating with self-loathing." (Killofer has also designed an amusing collection of Swiss stamps.)


Frankfurter Rundschau 25.05.2007

Elke Buhr visited the exhibition "Made in Germany" in Hanover, featuring a number of thirty-something artists living in Germany: "This will be a mega art summer with Documenta 12 in Kassel, the Biennale in Venice and the Sculpture Projects 07 in Münster. If right at the start 'Made in Germany' is supposed to present a cross-section, then what we're seeing is a cheeky attempt to build a new artistic canon. Germany is looking for it's art idol. And at least within artistic circles it's working. Just being included is already being seen by some as a career boost, while for others it's a consolation for not being shown at the really big events."


Peter Michalzik attended the "Erzählung des Gleichgewichts 4.W" (balance narrative 4.W) at the Schauspiel in Frankfurt. The performance, directed by Wanda Golonka, features a text by French author Jean Daive and music that still has Michalzik shaken to the core: "The 6th Piano Sonata by the late Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya is like a blunt stake that's beaten into the ground by the pounding of a sledgehammer. More tempestuous, stronger sounds than those produced by Laua Konjetzky in the Kleines Haus could hardly be got from a piano."