american season 2004
The "MoMA/P.S.1 Lab" at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art presents the unusual and visionary work of the film, video, architecture and design departments at the Museum of Modern Art. In its show, "Seen at MoMA", Galerie Kicken is presenting the works of photographers who are represented in MoMA’s famous collection. Among them are Ansel Adams, Robert Doisneau, Helen Levitt, Man Ray and Aaron Siskind.
The Berlin Film Museum is showing treasures from MoMA’s film archive at the Arsenal Cinema. The films being screened under the slogan "East Side – West Side" are some of the most significant pieces in the history of US filmmaking. Restored copies of films directed by greats like Charlie Chaplin, Vincente Minelli, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock are part of the repertoire.
"MärzMusik 2004" is putting on a series of concerts featuring the work of the composer Charles Ives (1874 – 1954). A central figure in liberating American music from European tradition, Ives played a key role developing a unique North American experimental sound. His influence on philosophy and music theory was so great that it continues even five decades after his death.
The "Hebbel am Ufer (HAU)" theater offers two contributions to “american season 2004”. One is an adaptation for stage of Billy Wilder’s famous film, "One, Two, Three". The play tells the story of how Otto, a card-carrying East German communist, is converted to western ways by the quintessential capitalist, an executive from the Coca Cola company. The second production is an adaptation for stage of Hermann Melville’s "Bartleby the Scrivener", which shifts the protagonists in time to the period of the New Economy. In an era of globalization, they represent members of society who devote their lives to their firm and can no longer distinguish between public and private spheres.
The American Academy and the literaturWERKstatt berlin are holding a series of lectures and talks titled "Curating Modernity". One issue being addressed is the shift between the consciousness and concept of the self in the arts in America. Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education is also holding a series of events called "Continental Drift 3.0 – America between Europe and Asia". It spotlights contemporary developments and phenomena in U.S. society against the background of their historical roots and diverse contemporary societal constellations.
Among the other institutions joining in "american season 2004" are the Akademie der Künste, the Art Forum Berlin, the Deutsche Guggenheim, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin International Literature Festival, the Neuköllner Oper, the Sophiensæle, the Maxim Gorki Theater, radio EINS and many more.
The Berliner Festspiele has organized "american season 2004". The German Minister of State for Culture and Media Affairs, Christina Weiss, is the program's patron.