STUTTGART, Germany â Elliot Carlton Hines, a baritone who sings with the Stuttgart State Opera, received a text message in June that unnerved him. A friend was telling him that the state culture ministry had been asked for the nationalities of artists employed in the state-funded opera, orchestra and ballet companies, as well as where they had been educated.
HELSINKI, Finland â Two days before the opening on Dec. 5 of Oodi, Helsinkiâs new central library, its director, Anna-Maria Soininvaara, stood before some of the high-tech equipment that would soon be available for the public to use. She wasnât entirely sure what it all did, she said sheepishly.
STOCKHOLM â On a recent Friday night, Swedish rapper Silvana Imam appeared on stage at Annexet, a concert venue in the south side of Stockholm, dressed like a comic-book villain. Her face hidden by a black mask studded with spikes, she dragged a metal baseball bat across the stage to the loud cheers of her mostly female audience.
BERLIN â The Humboldt Forum, the problem-plagued museum housed in a reconstructed palace in the center of this city, has pushed back its opening date to 2020 because of technical reasons, officials announced this week. They added that âit was not realistic for the building to be ready for use by the end of 2019 as had been planned.â
Each ring bearer decides his successor â and it is always a he â and writes it on a slip of paper, which is kept hidden in Vienna until their death.
BERLIN â In the center of Berlin, across from the cityâs cathedral, one of Germanyâs most controversial construction projects is nearing completion.
BERLIN â On a recent afternoon in her Berlin studio, Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade was inspecting a model for the work she designed for this springâs Roof Garden Commission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
BERLIN â This yearâs Golden Bear for best feature film at the Berlin International Film Festival was awarded Saturday to âSynonyms,â a dryly comic, largely autobiographical drama about a young Israeli trying to reinvent himself in modern-day Paris.