A good future is female. This is one of the main programmatic theses of the new yearbook of “Austria Kultur International”
Our common ability to shape a future that gives planet Earth a chance to regenerate so that people can live on it in human dignity depends on our willingness to cooperate and build teams. This makes it all the more important to reshape the role of men in society. After all, wars, environmental destruction and exploitation were and are mostly initiated by men. So how could we think of a future in which the focus is on the positive and not on the abysses of human behaviour?
“The future is female”, this is the basic approach of this year’s yearbook of “Austria Kultur International”, which can also be read as a programmatic compass for the coming years of the Austrian cultural endeavours abroad.
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, the new Director General of International Cultural Relations of the Austrian Foreign Ministry and long-time director of the Vienna MAK, builds on the work of his predecessor Teresa Indjein, whose “Calliope” program, which she initiated, aimed, among other things, to open up international cooperation opportunities for women from Austrian culture, science and society. Thun-Hohenstein further develops this approach and, at the same time, builds a bridge to those central issues of sustainable future shaping on which he has already focused as program maker of the “Vienna Biennale”. Thun-Hohenstein formulates 10 theses, which at the same time can also be read as a framework for the future activities of Austrians International Cultural Relations. The focus is on two concepts: DIGNITY & REGENERATION. DIGNITY as a concept of a new appreciation for each other and for nature in all its forms. And REGENERATION not only understood as a concept of a circular economy in the future, which nevertheless continues to produce – albeit circularly – come hell or high water, but as a basic socio-economic model, in which only is produced, what we actually need for a fulfilling life and as a fundamental mindset for a holistic thinking, which only enables us to exploit our positive potentials. From this programmatic perspective, art and culture have the role of the avant-garde of regenerative innovations.
Which concrete considerations could underpin such “Female Futures”? 32 women from the most diverse fields of culture, science and society, from the composer Olga Neuwirth to the landscape architect Maria Auböck and VALIE EXPORT, formulate their suggestions for answers in Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Auslandskultur.
A conclusion from this could be: Respect for the dignity of nature, the human being and all other species is the most essential prerequisite for holistic regeneration.
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Yearbook Austria Kultur
International
Downloadlink
www.austriakulturinternational.at
Calliope – Join the Dots.
www.calliope.at
