Join us on a trip to the countryside
August 24, 2008
Episode 1: The Atlantis of the Baltic
Every year at a festival in the northeastern German town of Zinnowitz, the lost city Vineta rises once again from the waters. The legendary city is reputed to be located somewhere off the Baltic Sea Island of Usedom, and has featured in a number of literary works, including two novels by Günter Grass. It was a place of wealth and loose morals, and its citizens paid a high price for their dissolute way of life, it is said. In the first part of our Summer Outing series we send our reporter to watch the start of the Vineta festival, which was first launched in 1997.
Episode 2: World Music in Rudolstadt
The eastern German state of Thuringen is not exactly the center of the world. It's famed in Germany for its deep valleys, forts and castles but once a year Thuringen awakes to the sound of African drums, Finnish tango and Swiss yodeling. The modest town of Rudolstadt is the location for Germany's Folk Roots World Music Festival and our reporter went there to find out what it's like.
Episode 3: Cowboys, Choreographers and Campfires
The Ponderosa dance festival combines Wild West nostalgia with a hippie atmosphere. Dancers, choreographers and performance artists from across the globe meet up every summer on an idyllic farm estate in the Eastern German hamlet of Stolzenhagen about 100 kilometres south of Berlin. As this retreat also welcomes amateurs are our reporter went along to strut her stuff.
Episode 4: Summer Art Courses in Northern Germany
In our Summer Outing series ARTS.21 takes you to many wonderful events that are tucked away in the German countryside. Art isn't just to be found in museums. In Germany many people take advantage of the warm summer weather to participate in outdoor art courses. The small town of Barnitz on the Trave river, located between Luebeck and Hamburg, plays host to TraveArt. Here our reporter tried her hand at stone carving, wood carving and drumming at sunset.
Episode 5: Theater on the Swabian Alb
Every summer, villagers in a scenic corner of south-west Germany down tools and flock to Melchingen to give their all as extras at the Lindenhof Theatre. Our ARTS.21 reporter was there to witness the theatre commune's latest production – a dialect version of Milton's «Paradise Lost».
Episode 6: Techno on the Launch Pad
«Nature One» is the biggest electronic music festival in Europe, a two day techno party held at a former military missile base in Pydna, in western Germany. Once a year, the region’s star DJs play the music for more than 50,000 techno fans. ARTS.21 reporter Melanie Matthäus was there!
Episode 7: A Literature Festival in North Rhine-Westphalia
Falkenhagen Monastery in the heart of Westphalia is an unusual backdrop for an unusual literature festival. German actress Corinna Harfouch reads old stories about witches; the Icelandic writer Sijón retells the mystical sagas of the far north. Our ARTS.21 Reporter Matthias Frickel visits a poetic staging of new and old literature.