Thanks to the Austrian Cultural Forum, I’m delighted to announce a new project that celebrates the culture of Habsburg Vienna a century ago, with commissions of contemporary artists from 21^st century London. Kakania - over 4 events, each in different venues, 4 original publications and an array of contemporary artists working in poetry, visual art, sound & conceptual art - aims to not just to evoke the Habsburg era, but to envelope it, to transpose it, to avoid nostalgia and in its stead bring the intensity and innovation that marked the last days of the Habsburg era. www.kakania.co.uk

Each artist is creating new work based on one specific figure from that time. The website features an artists section where you can see the full list of commissions, which include Emily Berry on Sigmund Freud, Colin Herd on Oskar Kokoschka, Caroline Bergvall on Gustav Klimt, & George Szirtes on Arthur Schnitzler, amongst many others, including, in time, works on Stefan Zweig, Robert Musil, Egon Schiele, Gustav Mahler, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alma Mahler, Joseph Roth & many others.

The first event takes place in just over two weeks and is completely free to attend.

Kakania

November Tuesday 25^th – 7.30pm

the Rich Mix Arts Centre – Main space – Free Entry

http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/kakania/

Featuring brand new commissions from:

Sharon Gal on Anton Webern

Jeff Hilson on Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ariadne Radi Cor & Diane Silverthorne on Alma Mahler

Dylan Nyoukis on Raoul Hausmann

Stephen Emmerson on Rainer Maria Rilke

Maja Jantar on Lou Andreas-Salome

The following three events will take place on:

January thurs 22nd at the Freud Museum

http://www.freud.org.uk/events/75773/kakania/

Featuring brand new commissions from:

Emily Berry on Sigmund Freud

Damir Sodan on Gustav Mahler

Jeff Hilson on Ludwig Wittgenstein

& many more

February thurs 19th at TBC

Featuring brand new commissions from:

Caroline Bergvall on Gustav Klimt

Stephen Emmerson on Rainer Maria Rilke

Tom Jenks on Otto Gross

Colin Herd on Oskar Kokoschka

Martin Bakero on TBC

Morten Sondergaard on TBC

March thurs 26th at the Austrian Cultural Forum

Featuring brand new commissions from:

George Szirtes on Arthur Schnitzler

Joshua Alexander on Paul Wittgenstein

Jeff Hilson on Ludwig Wittgenstein

Emily Berry on Sigmund Freud

Marcus Slease on Max Kurzweil

Stephen Emmerson on Rainer Maria Rilke

Kakania is an ambitious project which explores the legacy of the Habsburg past through decidedly contemporary, original works of text and art, which will attempt to be as complex and genre testing as the works, and the people, they are responsive to. Please come out to support the endeavour.

Kakania is also partnered by Pushkin Press, who will have books to sell at the events & who publish vital Habsburg figures like Stefan Zweig http://pushkinpress.com/ & the website is ever growing with new works of art and poetry published online, as well as information on the project and its commissions, so please check back regularly www.kakania.co.uk All thanks go to the Austrian Cultural Forum http://www.acflondon.org/