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Astrid Hiemer

Bio:

A cultural critic and writer, Astrid grew up after WW II in Hamburg, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in the 1960s. She was formerly the assistant director (Administrative Officer) of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT under Otto Piene, with whom she has worked in the past several years editing, translating, and researching for a major book about his life and career. While at The Center she knew and worked with many multi-media artists. In addition to professional work as an editor and translator she is also a poet, and writer of fiction. Most of her written work is accompanied by her own photographs.

Recent Articles:

  • Dance in August, Berlin, 2024 Front Page

    Tanz im August, International Festival

    By: Angelika Jansen - Sep 02nd, 2024

    The 36th 'Tanz im August' took place from August 15th – 31st in Berlin. It is the most important European dance festival showcasing contemporary dance tendencies around the globe.

  • The Great American Mousical Front Page

    The Legacy Theatre

    By: Karen Isaacs - Jul 24th, 2024

    The plot is simple; a Broadway theater is about to be demolished while in the basement, a company of mice rehearses their own “musical.”

  • Our Surreality: At Eclipse Mill Gallery, N. Adams, MA Front Page

    June 7 to July 7, 2024

    By: Astrid Hiemer - May 28th, 2024

    Our Surreality Lives: Michelle Wiley, 2020 to 2021 and Astrid Hiemer, 2023 to 2024, at the Eclipse Mill Gallery, 243 Union Street, North Adams from June 7 to July 7. Opening Celebration, Friday, June 7, 6-8 pm. The gallery will be open from Thursdays to Sundays, noon to 6 pm . See how we celebrate Surrealism and DADA at 100!              

  • Eclipse Mill Gallery: Spring Forward, until May 27 Front Page

    Part of ArtWeek Berkshires, 24

    By: Astrid Hiemer - May 16th, 2024

    ArtWeek Berkshires, a county-wide celebration, includes the Eclipse Mill's show, 'Spring Forward: Recent Work from 27 Eclipse Mill Artists.' The overall festival takes place from May 17 to 27, and the Opening at the Mill will be on May 18 from 6pm to 8 pm. You are invited!

  • Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation Front Page

    Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA)

    By: Charles Giuliano - Mar 22nd, 2024

    On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Not long after that, John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910) created the bronze sculpture “The Freedman.” It depicts a semi-nude seated figure in the act of his removing shackles. Resembling the iconic Roman “Boxer,” the work was arguably the first bronze sculpture to depict an African American.

  • The 74th Berlinale Front Page

    The International Flm Festival in Berlin

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 26th, 2024

    The 74th Berlinale is Europe's first international film festival of the year. Always a glamorous happening with stars galore, this year's events from February 15-25th,  2024 have drawn to a close.

  • Anatevka at Komische Oper, Berlin Front Page

    Better known as Fiddler on the Roof

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 17th, 2024

    Most people know the story of Tevye, the milkman, as 'Fiddler on the Roof.' What started in the1960's as a sensational Broadway musical by Jerome Robbins, has kept all of its allure. 'Anatevka,' here named after the location of the action, is still the wonderful same.

  • The Golden Cockerel at Komische Oper, Berlin Front Page

    Der Goldene Hahn by N. Rimsky-Korsakov

    By: Angelika Jansen - Jan 31st, 2024

    Barrie Kosky, former director at the Komische Oper, Berlin, directed Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's last opera "Der Goldene Hahn" (The Golden Cockerel) at the Schiller Theater, the temporary house of the Komische Oper during its renovation.

  • Sartre's "Dirty Hands," at Berliner Ensemble Front Page

    Opened Jan. 26 in Berlin, Germany

    By: Angelika Jansen - Jan 29th, 2024

    Opening night of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Die Schmutzigen Hände" (Dirty Hands) on January 26th, 2024 at the famed Berliner Ensemble in Berlin, Germany was sold out.

  • A. Baker, The Big Picture Show, at Eclipse Mill Gallery and Front Page

    E. Berland/ W. Beavers, Somatic Movement Workshops

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Oct 12th, 2023

    E. Alexander Baker, Erika Berland and Wendell Beavers are all residents at the Eclipse Mill in North Adams, Massachusetts. The mill offers live and work spaces for creative people. Baker’s exhibition can be seen in the Eclipse Mill gallery until October 29 with hours from Thursday to Sunday, 11 am to 6pm.

  • Tanz im August in Berlin Front Page

    With 19 World-Wide Dance Companies

    By: Angelika Jansen - Sep 02nd, 2023

    Tanz im Augus is the Berlin showcase for contemporary international dance. Organized, as usually, by the theater Hebbel am Ufer (HAU).

  • Compagnie Käfig at Jacob’s Pillow Front Page

    Final Company in Residence, 2023 Season

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Aug 29th, 2023

    For PIXEL, by Compagnie Käfig, today based near Lyon, France, ten male Hip Hop dancers, French style, a woman contortionist, a roller-skater, small robots carrying tiny lights, and a huge metal hoop shared and interacted on stage with highly sophisticated projections, music, and sounds.

  • Martha Graham Dance Company at Jacob’s Pillow Front Page

    The Oldest American Dance Group

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Aug 22nd, 2023

    The venerable and totally contemporary Martha Graham Dance Company was in residence from August 16 to August 20 at Jacob's Pillow. The dancers gave memorable and also frenzied performances.....

  • Complexions Contemporary Ballet, at Jacob’s Pillow Front Page

    A Most Powerful Ballet Company

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Aug 15th, 2023

    Perhaps, it’s not accidental that 'Complexions' followed the 'Hip Hop Festival.'The performance started with an excerpt of 'Hissy Fits, 2006,' to ongoing very loud percussion, sounding like drum beats to, as per program, J.S. Bach music. And the music mostly continued at a high decimal, just like hip hop.

  • Hip Hop Across The Pillow at Jacobs Pillow Front Page

    A Festival inside the 2023 Summer Dance Festival

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Aug 07th, 2023

    Hip Hop Across The Pillow was curated by Melanie George and Ali Rosa-Salas. We were fortunate enough to catch the very last totally engrossing performance yesterday.

  • (Not Entirely) Black and White, by Nelson and Fried Front Page

    Show at the Eclipse Mill Gallery, North Adams, MA

    By: Astrid Hiemer - May 20th, 2023

    This exhibition in North Adams ends on May 29 and so we also introduce the Old Stone Mill Center in Adams, MA, on Rt. 8, outside of downtown, direction to S. Adams. Both are worth a visit!

  • Strindberg's Totentanz at Berliner Ensemble Front Page

    August Strindberg's Play of 1900

    By: Angelika Jansen - Mar 11th, 2023

    August Strindberg's "Totentanz" had its opening in Berlin at Bertolt Brecht's famed theater, the Berliner Ensemble. Written in 1900 it is one of those plays that lets one shudder about the senselessness and cruel relationship some couples endure and call it a marriage.

  • 73rd Berlinale Front Page

    Februray 16 to 26, 2023

    By: Angelika Jansden - Mar 01st, 2023

    Too bad and not long enough! The 73rd Berlinale is now film history. After the limited screenings during the Covid years, the festival became an obvious success.

  •  Die Rache der Fledermaus, at the Komische Oper, Berlin Front Page

    The Revenge of the Bat

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 22nd, 2023

    Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss, from 1874, is one of the most well known light operas the world over.  Known for its indulgence into song and dance, the audience is at first surprised to find an almost empty stage with a five member musical ensemble to play all the tunes....

  • Ivanov, at the Berliner Ensemble, Germany Front Page

    By Anton Chekhov

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 17th, 2023

    "Ivanov" was Anton Chekhov's first play. It opened in 1887 and had been modified several times by the writer/playwright himself, vascillating between comedy and tragedy. 

  • La Cage Aux Folles, Komische Oper, Berlin Front Page

    An Over The Top Production

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 08th, 2023

    What a performance of La Cage Aux Folles at the Komische Oper, Berlin!! This musical with music by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein has seen many international interpretations since it opened in 1983 at the Palace Theatre in New York.

  • Amore, at Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin Front Page

    Lighter Fare for Valentine's Day

    By: Angelika Jansen - Feb 06th, 2023

    Valentines Day is drawing near and the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, Germany, seems to bow to this occasion with its new production 'Amore' under the direction of Aram Tafreshian.

  • Clockwork Orange at Berliner Ensemble, Germany Front Page

    Theatrical Adaptation by Tilo Nest

    By: Angelika Jansen - Jan 17th, 2023

    Who does not remember Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film 'A Clockwork Orange' based on the novel by Anthony Burgess from 1962!? It was one of the most chilling cinematic affairs then, and it remains today on stage. Here, the photographs speak a million words....

  • Oyayaye and Fortunio's Lied, Komische Oper Front Page

    Of Course in Berlin

    By: Angelika Jansen - Jan 10th, 2023

    The Komische Oper Berlin is one of three opera houses in the Capital. Committed to presenting lighter fare, it just celebrated its 75 birthday in January with a big gala and two operas by Jaques Offenbach: Oyayaye and Fortunio's Lied.

  • Cape Ann Rocks! Front Page

    Quarries, Poles Hill, Ocean Ledges

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Jan 06th, 2023

    Quarries, Poles Hill, Ocean Ledges and gratitude weave through the following essay, with 30 plus photographs.

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