As part of the first International Week at Jefferson Academy, the Austrian Embassy participated in their World Fair event on November 21, 2014, co-hosted by D.C. Public Schools and the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.
Students from all grades were eager to learn about location, population, food and other fun facts relating to Austria.
The Austrian Cultural Forum Washington is currently showing an exhibition entitled "A Different View of Vienna".
Barbara Zeidler has set out to discover museums in Vienna, open to the public but off the beaten track, tucked away from any Museum Mile or Art Quarter: Besides the great temples of art such as the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), the Belvedere or the Albertina, Vienna offers a number of specialties, which hardly anyone knows - some of her discoveries are not even mentioned in specialised guidebooks such as "Unknown Vienna".
For instance, who knows the location of the world's largest collection of magic boxes or has ever heard of the unique museum of the Mekhitarist Congregation, the Imperial Hat Museum or the Circus and Clown Museum? Yes, all of them can be found in Vienna!
Thus, use this unique opportunity to complete your picture of the Austrian capital!
The exhibit will be on display until December 19, 2015. Visit www.acfdc.org for more information.
On November 4, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York hosted the U.S.-premiere of the English adaptation of the successful Austrian play, "Butterbrot" ("Chickenshit").
Written by Gabriel Barylli and translated into English by Alan Goodson and Jerry Marwig, the play focuses on the life of two bachelors, Stefan and Martin, who prepare to celebrate the birthday of their married friend Peter. To their surprise, Peter shows up without his wife Lilli after he found out that she had cheated on him. The fact that Peter has been disloyal to his wife multiple times is irrelevant to him. In a drunken frenzy he decides to join the male-only household of Stefan and Martin and for a short period of time everything works out perfectly – until Martin falls in love again with a woman.
The English adaptation of "Butterbrot" starred Alfons Haider as cheated, disloyal Peter, Howard Nightingall as bachelor Stefan and Dave Moskin as enamored Martin.
The play was performed at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York and was fully booked for three consecutive evenings.
Visit the Austrian Cultural Forum New York online: www.acfny.org
In 2010, Austrian cable-car company Doppelmayr was awarded the contract to build the Oakland Airport Connector between Oakland International Airport (OAK) and the Coliseum Station.
The new 5.1 km (16.732 ft.) long Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) automated people mover opened just in time for the holiday season on November 22, 2014. The train will transport up to 3.2 million passengers per year; adding a fourth car to the current fleet would expand the capacity to 4.9 million passengers annually.
The cable-cars are equipped with windows on all sides, so passengers can view the traffic beneath them on their approximately 8-minute ride. With an investment of $484 million, the city of Oakland now disposes of a train-to-airplane transport system that is comparable to those in San Francisco (also operated by BART) or the AirTrain – systems in New York (JFK) and Newark (EWR).
On November 19, 2014 the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington hosted the Austrian Actress Maxi Blaha for her monologue "Soul of Fire - She fought for peace".
The Austrian suffragette and first Nobel Peace Price winner Bertha von Suttner is the central figure of the performance, portrayed in deliberately and chronologically chosen chapters, contrasts and episodes.
From passionate humanitarian engagement to dramatic love-affairs, the heroine's life's vicissitudes were presented in a moving, yet humorous manner.
Accompanied by guitar music, Maxi Blaha spoke and sung about the political, psychological and emotional aspects of Suttner´s life. Based upon scientific research, the play showed that the visions and ideals of Berta von Suttner are still valid to date.
Gery Keszler, founder and CEO of Life Ball has requested fashion designers and international personalities to create unique Build-A-Bear® bears to be auctioned for the benefit of Operation Bobbi Bear.
The auction of these unique bears will take place on December 8, 2014 at Sotheby's New York ( 1334 York Avenue, NY, NY 10021)
The Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) was held from 3 to 5 November 2014 in Vienna, Austria. At the LLDC Conference, more than 1,000 participants from governments of LLDCs, transit developing countries and donor countries, UN and other international organizations and the private sector came together to shape the new development agenda for the landlocked developing countries for the next decade.
They agreed on a Vienna Declaration and a Vienna Programme of Action to address, in a holistic manner, the special development needs and challenges of landlocked developing countries arising from their landlockedness, remoteness and geographical constraints.
For more information visit: www.lldc2conference.org
On Sunday, October 26, the Embassy participated in the 2014 Global Village fair organized by AIESEC DC, in partnership with GWU Program Board, the GW Office for Study Abroad and Student Exchange, and the Student Association at The George Washington University (SA), at George Washington University. Various student organizations, embassies and cultural organizations in the D.C. area participated in the event designed to inform visitors about the respective countries and cultural practices. Besides the vast selection of international snacks and drinks, various performance groups entertained the students and guests on campus.
On October 27, Austrian Scientist of the Year Verena Winiwarter spoke at the Embassy of Austria in Washington D.C. Her evening talk, hosted by Embassy's Office of Science and Technology Austria, focused on how, in environmental history, human intervention with nature often results in unintentional impacts on the environment, economy, and social conditions. To avoid repeating mistakes of the past, environmental historians tell stories of both success and failure and how they contribute to sustainable futures. Such stories include the regulation of the Danube River, and the management of forests in pre-modern Salzburg. To Verena Winiwarter, neither are stories of collapse. Five hundred years of regulating the Danube in Vienna leaves Austria with a profoundly transformed river, and irreversible consequences. As many plans did not turn out as intended, looking at environmental history leaves historians with valuable lessons from the past.
On October 11, 2014, Austrian Scientists and Scholars in Northern America (ASciNA) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW) presented the 2014 ASciNA Awards to Sonja Schmid, Mariella Gruber-Filbin and Simon Gröblacher. These prizes – €10.000 for the "Young Principal Investigator" and €7.500 for the "Young Scientists"– were awarded to scientists for outstanding publications within the last 12 months at North American research facilities in the two categories of "Young Principal Investigator" and "Young Scientist." This year, awards went to three scientists who have worked for many years in North America and have had work presented in numerous publications.
Austrian Artist Isa Rosenberger's exhibition "Café Vienne" will be presented at Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049) from October 23, 2014 - March 1, 2015.
Café Vienne is a site-specific exhibition developed for the Skirball by Austrian artist Isa Rosenberger (born 1969). Within this immersive installation, which pays tribute to the important cultural role of Viennese coffee houses, Rosenberger honors little-known Jewish writer Gina Kaus (1893–1985).
When: October 22 - November 14, 2014
Where: Embassy of Austria, Washington, D.C.
On October 22, 2014, the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. hosted the opening of the exhibition "Yearning: Sehnsucht" by artist Oskar Stocker. Around 150 guests had the opportunity to get a first glimpse at the exclusive portraits and to speak to the artist himself. After a short performance by singer Andrea Huber, an exquisite selection of wines from Styria as well as delicious cake was served. For those who could not join the opening, the exhibition will still be on display in the atrium of the Embassy until November 14, 2014. Core of the exhibition are portraits of Styrian expats, who emigrated from Styria to various parts of the world and are now "Yearning" for their home country.
The exhibition will be open to visitors Mon-Thu between 9:30AM-11AM and 2PM-4PM as well as on Friday from 9:30AM until 11AM.
On October 23, 2014, Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz welcomed more than 600 guests at the Embassy on the occasion of Austrian National Day. At the celebration, expats and friends of Austria had the opportunity to mix and mingle while sampling authentic Austrian food and drinks. A special highlight of the event this year was the rendition of both the Austrian and the U.S. anthems by singers of the American Institute for Musical Studies.
Every year, one of Austria’s nine regions is being highlighted during the celebration. This year the focus was on the state of Styria, which was represented by a delegation from Styria including the vice president of the state assembly of Styria, Ursula Lackner, and the city councilor of Graz, Gerhard Rüsch.
During the evening, Austrian wine specialist Harald Surpan presented a fine selection of Styrian whites and reds while pastry chef Erich Handl spoiled the guests with his special Steiermarktorte.
On September 24, 2014, Eva-Johanna Kammel was officially inaugurated as the Austrian Honorary Consul in Seattle. Mrs. Kammel, who was educated at the University of Vienna, works as a Mathematics Instructor at Cascadia Community College in Bothell, WA. She is very active with the Austrian Club of Washington and has served as a member of the Viennese Ball Committee since 2012. In her function as Honorary Consul, Mrs. Kammel will serve the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana. You can visit the website of the Honorary Consulate under http://www.austrianconsulateseattle.org.
For a full list of all Austrian Honorary Consulates please visit:
https://austriainusa.squarespace.com/honoraryconsulates/
From September 28 - October 1, 2014, the Austrian Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter, visited Washington D.C. to participate in a conference on the topic of “Global Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Online“ at the Ronald Reagan Building. During his visit to the U.S. capital city, Federal Minister Brandstetter also met with U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, and the Israeli Minister of Justice, Tzipi Livni. His trip also included visits to the Catholic University of America and Capitol Hill.
From September 17-20, 2014, delegations from altogether 24 countries including 19 EU member states visited Washington, D.C. to participate in the "Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum" at the U.S. Congress. The conference served as a platform for dialogue and aimed to foster mutual understanding between the U.S. and the rest of the world following the revelations of Edward Snowden. The Austrian delegation included Mag. Andreas Schieder (SPÖ), Dr. Reinhold Lopatka (ÖVP), Dr. Andreas Karlsböck (FPÖ), Dr. Peter Pilz (Grünen), Dr. Jessi Lintl (Team Stronach), and Mag. Christoph Vavrik (NEOS).
From September 21 to September 22, 2014, Austria's Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Andrä Rupprechter, came to Washington, D.C. to meet with representatives of the U.S. agricultural sector. On his trip, the minister went to see various organizations including the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the International Dairy Foods Association, and the American Farm Bureau Association, and met with Under Secretary of Agriculture, Michael T. Scuse, and Ambassador Darci Vetter, Chief Negotiator for Agriculture in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Following his trip to D.C., the minister traveled to New York City to participate in the UN Climate Summit 2014.
On September 10, 2014, Ambassador Manz conferred the Decoration of Merit in Gold to the Republic of Austria upon Nicholas "Nick" Coward, who, for the past 10 years, has supported and advised the Commercial Section of the Austrian Embassy in matters concerning U.S. trade compliance including U.S. sanctions against Russia and Iran. In his function as chair of the Global Trade and Commerce Practice of Baker & McKenzie, he often makes the elegant office space available for events organized by the Embassy's Commercial Section. The laudation was given by Joshua Bolten, former Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush.
On October 1, 2014, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington, D.C. screened a selection of award winning short films of last year's Ars Electronica Animation Festival. The array of films ranged from abstract and experimental works to traditional narrative cinema. Since 1979, the annual ARS ELECTRONICA festival for art, technology and society serves as an inter-disciplinary platform and forum of discussion for international experts from the arts and sciences with a broad audience of highly diverse backgrounds and interests. The program usually features symposia, exhibitions, performances, interventions and concerts, each successive biennial production more multifaceted than the one before. The theme of the 2013 festival was "TOTAL RECALL – The Evolution of Memory."
Thursday, September 25, 2014 – Friday, November 28, 2014 | Austrian Cultural Forum New York
On Wednesday, September 24, 2014, Federal President of Austria, Dr. Heinz Fischer, opened the photo exhibition by Martin Karplus at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City. Karplus, a renowned chemist, professor emeritus at Harvard University and Nobel laureate, spent the last fifty years consumed by his passion for documenting humanity in thousands of intimate photographs. Born in Vienna, Karplus fled the Austrian capital city in 1938 to settle in the United States. Last year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. President Fischer personally approached Karplus to show his exquisite exhibit at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York and subsequently at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington, D.C. Next year, Martin Karplus plans to go back to visit Vienna and receive his honorary doctorate at the University of Vienna. The exhibition will travel to the Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington, D.C., in January 2015, and to the University of Vienna in May 2015 to mark the occasion of its 650th anniversary.
