Love and vampires at Viennese exhibition

Love, death, vampires and lots of darkness star in an art exhibition in Vienna that explores the unsettling images that appear in paintings by artists from Francisco de Goya to expressionist Edvard Munch. The Edvard Munch and the Uncanny main autumn exhibition at the Leopold Museum until January 18, 2010, contains works ranging from the late 18th century (Piranesi, Goya’s Caprichos) up to the early 20th century.
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Annie Leibovitz’s life in pictures

The exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990–2005 on view at the Kunst Haus Wien until January 31, 2010, encompasses a total of over 150 photographs, many of them large-format works, as well as a number of private photos. Numerous sequences of photographs focus on her parents with images of family reunions and trips to the sea. And again and again we find ourselves face to face with the celebrities whom Annie Leibovitz portrays with such startling immediacy: Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, William Burroughs and many others. Leibovitz’ works in this exhibition emanate an emotional power that eclipses everything the photographer has done before.
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1989: End of History or Beginning of Future?

The “annus mirabilis” 1989 marked a paradigm shift. The breath of history wafted through the collective consciousness and a cheerful, yet incredulous “Wow!” was on everybody’s lips. 1989 stands for the opening of the Iron Curtain and the fall of the Berlin Wall. That year is the starting-point and key year of the exhibition 1989. End of History or Beginning of the Future? on view at the Kunsthalle in Vienna until February 7, 2010. The title emphasizes that history continues to be written –contrary to the famous thesis of political scientist Francis Fukuyama.
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Ben Hur Live!

Fifty years after the first screening of the legendary film starring Charles Heston, Ben Hur dazzles the audiences once again with a breathtaking combination of light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects in a show performed in the round, like an ancient arena. Ben Hur Live, the major arena extravaganza continues its European tour with thirty-five shows in the UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, France, Spain and Belgium selling out fast. Check out when and where the show performs until the end of January 2010 and book in advance.
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Placebo Battle for the Sun

With 38 gigs in 34 cities and 14 countries in Europe from October to the end of December, the legendary alternative rock band of Placebo completes their Euro-tour for 2009. The London-based trio of Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest was founded back in 1994. Six studio albums, six EPs and 27 singles later, they gained a considerable amount of international recognition, and sold over ten million albums worldwide (one million in the UK alone). The promotion of their latest work Battle for the Sun brings them now to France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, UK and Ireland.
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Diana Krall’s Quiet Nights in Europe

With a Canadian and US tour now behind her, international jazz superstar Diana Krall is focusing on her remaining European trek behind her latest album, the Brazilian bossa nova-flavored Quiet Nights. The remaining part of her European leg in October and November 2009 is a hectic 37-date tour that spans 33 cities in 19 countries: France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, FYRoM, Serbia, Romania, Czech Rep. and Russia. If you’re anywhere close where she performs do not miss the opportunity.
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Dancing with the Dutch

The Nederlands Dans Theater has been a cultural ambassador of the Dutch since 1959, when it was founded. Giving sold-out performances all around the world, this is one of the leading dance companies worldwide. If you go to the Netherlands any time after November 2009 and until the end of May 2010, do not miss the opportunity to go to one of he NDT shows given in 24 cities around the country. But even if you cannot make it to the Dutch country, you might be lucky: the NDT may come to you! This season's European tour for the NDT runs until July 2010 and stops to France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg and Norway.
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Vienna’s art in a nutshell

A short visit to Vienna these days is not the easiest thing if you really love the arts and are a devoted museum-goer. There’s so much on offer you will surely feel puzzled in this wonderful city. You see, Vienna has over 100 museums, major collections of global calibre as well as bizarre little ones and there’s no time to visit them all. Besides, there are problems as lack of information or too much of it that make the selection even more tricky. OnCulture went through some of the city’s hottest museums, saw what’s on and presents a shortlist of 76 shows you should not miss from Fall 2009 until the end of 2010, or even through 2011.
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Depeche Mode touring the Universe

The English electronic band Depeche Mode returns to Europe to continue the Tour of the Universe 2009, after a long leg in the Americas. The trek is in support of the group's 12th studio album -Sounds of the Universe, released in April 2009- and takes them to 36 cities in 17 countries (Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, UK, Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Poland, Croatia) from October 31, 2009 to February 27, 2010.
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Massive Attack in Europe

The Massive Attack is launching a "huge" world tour to coincide with the release of their next album, tentatively titled Weather Underground, due in October on Virgin. More than 40 dates have been confirmed in the UK (Isle of Wight, London, Sheffield, Birmingham, Reading, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leicester, Swindon) and 18 countries in Europe (Ireland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Czech. Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, France Portugal, Switzerland) from September to November 2009.
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Fashion that freed women

A not-to-be-missed exhibition in Vienna until November 1 might just prove to you that fashion shopping at the end of the 19th century had probably done more for the freedom of women than you ever thought. Owning the city’s and one of Europe’s premiere historical clothing collections with more than 20,000 items, the Vienna Museum Karlsplatz presents an exhibition titled Grand Entrance: Viennese Fashion in the Ringstrasse Era (1860-1910) that does more than illustrating the lifestyle of the Viennese at the end of the 19th century.
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Vienna as Europe’s dance Mecca

Europe’s largest contemporary dance festival is turning Vienna into the hub of the international dance elite from July 16 to August 16. The program is top-quality, those hungry for movement are offered over 200 workshops, and the festival lounge becomes a meeting point during the long summer nights. The ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival is simply the place to find all important professional dancers, choreographers and teachers that exist today in the world.
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Freud's theories through masterpieces

For the first time, the exhibition Eros & Thanatos–Drives, Images, Interpretations, on view at the Sigmund Freud Museum and in the Historic Library of the Liechtenstein Museum, thematizes Freud’s theory of drives through exceptional works of fine art. Paintings, drawings, prints, enamels and sculptures by artists including Dürer, Rubens, Bellucci, Klimt and Schiele illustrate the interplay between the life and death drives. The exhibition in both museums runs until October 13, 2009.
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