WARSAW, POLAND –Warsaw has long been seen as the ugly stepsister of Krakow. While Krakow gets all the invites and accolades—pretty, special, sweet—the Polish capital is forgotten, seen as nondescript and cold. But scratch beneath the surface and Warsaw is a dynamic and lovely old gal. Read more
LONDON–LAST MONTH, WHILE most of her fellow Danes were off on vacation, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen was nesting in Copenhagen. “For me, this is the greatest holiday, being at home,” she says. Little wonder, considering the past two years have been a whirlwind for the actress, who gained international recognition as the hard-nosed journalist Katrine Fønsmark in the popular and acclaimed Danish political drama “Borgen.” Read more
LONDON- Marina Abramovic tells really funny dirty jokes. Maybe it’s because the self-proclaimed grandmother of performance art has made a career out of timing, but she tells her jokes—too racy to print—with great delivery and panache. This summer at London’s Serpentine Gallery, audiences will get a chance to interact—and just maybe share a joke—with the 67-year-old Belgrade-born, New York-based artist during her new performance “512 Hours.” The award-winning artist also recently worked with Jay Z for his ” Picasso Baby” video and taught Lady Gaga the Abramović Method, a series of exercises to heighten mental and physical awareness. Read more
JAKARTA, INDONESIA** — Wiyu Wahono admitted that the first time he came across a contemporary painting while on a student backpacking trip in Venice in the late 1970s, he was “shocked” by how ugly it was. But the jolt soon subsided, and Mr. Wahono developed a passion for contemporary art. He has amassed a collection of video, installation, photography, sound and new-media art — much of it Indonesian. His office in central Jakarta also serves as an art space, where visitors can see video pieces like Yusuf Ismail’s “Eat Like Andy,” where he mimics a video of Andy Warhol consuming a hamburger, and “Ting,” a whimsical video and installation piece by the artistic collective Tromarama from Bandung. Read more
LONDON — It was little wonder that Mila Turajlic looked a tad weary during a recent interview in a London cafe.
The 32-year-old Serbian documentary filmmaker had flown overnight from Chicago and was off again the next day for short trips to Portugal, France, Prague and Belgrade before returning to the United States to promote her documentary, “Cinema Komunisto.”
The film, which won Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival, tells the story of the golden years of the Yugoslav film industry, from the 1950s to the 1980s. Ms. Turajlic, however, believes that the best days of filmmaking for the countries of the former Yugoslavia — Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo — may still lie ahead. “I think there is a fresh energy in the Balkans in terms of filmmaking,” said Ms. Turajlic, sipping her tea. “So this is an exciting time.” Read more