greetings from berlin and a warm welcome to the show well it's a slow burning saga that keeps flaring up director roman polanski is at the center of another uproar in france and also coming up. much more than just music a brand new exhibition at the show in frankfurt revisits the contribution of female artists to surrealism. and after a blustery start due to last week's storm goal way on the west coast of ireland begins its stint as a european capital of culture for 2020. there's been a dramatic new developments in the ongoing controversy about french film prize nominations for roman polanski's latest film an officer and a spy on the board of the seas that's the french equivalent of the oscars resigned

all mass on thursday just 2 weeks ahead of its awards ceremony of the academy had faced a wave of criticism after polanski's film talked nominations despite new sexual assault allegations against him. so you're going to build a model build a god. in the roman polanski's film about alfred gerry 1st a jewish french officer unfairly accused of spying for germany in the 890 s. it has been well received by critics it picked up the grand jury prize at last year's venice film festival and it topped the french box office for a while. but screenings in france were also met with widespread protests the outrage intensified in january when the season academy and outs that the film lead the nominations the academy initially defended its actions saying it could not be expected to take

a moral stance. that it was a lengthy fled the us to avoid imprisonment after pleading guilty to the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl in 1978 and in november $2900.00 french actress valentino manyi allege that polanski raped in 1985 when she was 18 and accusation he has denied. for the time being the nominations for an officer and a spy remain in place. a new says on board will be selected after the awards ceremony which takes place on february 28th. when french writer all published his surrealist manifesto in paris in 1924 the movement was gathering momentum as an artistic and cultural revolution of the circle of painters writers and filmmakers that surrounded him reveled in

fantastical free association works that tapped into the unconscious and of course they often had women as their primary inspiration but on closer examination it's now clear that the women in that circle actually contributed more than is generally reported as proven by the fantastic exhibition fantastic women. female artists as they saw themselves by strokes ironic confident. searching. the exhibition at frankfurt's she. brings together 34 surrealist artists all women many previously forgotten the scot for if this clear were more than 50 women artists working in this surrealist group but today we only know a few of them maybe frida kahlo or married up and harm their well known but we wanted to initiate a big re discovery and it's very interesting to see from today's perspective how

female artists in the 1930 s. forty's fifty's it's a time when women were quite restricted how they represented the freedom of the female spirit and the female bodies guys to survive if you couple that. many of the women whose works are on display were the lovers models or muses of famous male artists until they pursued their own artistic paths. and save on highways where young women who love freedom and who wanted to go their own way and it's amazing to see how each of these artists developed her own vision despite the obstacles they had to battle in their careers you have a and guns i mean and black and because it's hot diggity you know brought us as our sexuality and particularly men's fantasies of the female body are all at the center of male surrealists works but they're also at the center of female surrealists

works as most of. the female body dominates the exhibition but instead of being seen only through the male gaze here it's about women grappling with their own bodies and identities and attempting to depict that in their art. not to get that by a few corners of the female body. an important subject for female artists but what distinguishes them from their male counterparts is the way they interpret the female body sometimes demystifying it or depicting it from an unusual perspectives . from muses and models to artists in their own right the show brings together surrealists worthy every discovery. well some amazing stuff there and i'm joined by my colleague david levitz who's going to tell us a bit more about this exhibition david i'm sensing a bit of a theme here because actually there are several exhibitions on at the moment that are shedding light on lesser known female artists just remind us of all the reasons

why female artists have not so many of them have not been given their due right i was going to say well if i had to remind you of all the reasons we could be here for days but basically in the last while for centuries the art world's been dominated by the myth of the male artistic genius and what's behind that well men are not actually more creative than women but women have for centuries been denied access to every man and a better woman. you could say that women have been denied access to arctic out of music many times they weren't allowed to draw live models they were expected to draw or to paint pretty things such as flowers and when they did. produce work as good as their male counterparts it was considered an oddity or just a lot of ignored now of course curators are falling over themselves to bring them to the forefront rightly so and we just saw some of frida kahlo as famous portraits in self portraits in there and she's one artist who hasn't been ignored obviously she's been merchandised to the max how does she fit into this discovery of female

artists so i think it's easy to forget the frida kahlo was also in the shadow of her husband diego rivera for very long and it wasn't until the eighty's decades after she died that his work started to get a little bit old fashioned looking for many people in her work was really rediscovered and given the recognition that it deserves now i'm not saying. the other women in this exhibition here in frankfurt will be as famous as she is but there is some really good stuff here alongside here her here's one image woman seated on a naked man by a leonor fini an argentinian artist her works of famous or i should say powerful women even inspired a madonna music video this is showed by is also not a household name a belgian artist and her work really taps into the same kind of uncanny dreamscapes as her male counterparts but also not a household name and it's interesting because there's another female surrealist that we saw in there who's having a bit of a moment almost a century century after or after her heyday and that's the wonderful dora marr

that's what she's got to she's the subject of a show at the tate modern and london right now no she's had a very very long career but it's 1930 s. photo montage is and collages that are being celebrated now and they're just wonderful they're really odd associations durham are of course was a lover and model of pablo picasso who allegedly was very abusive of her but she's finally being given her do as well so another another wonderful woman artist who is emerging from the shadow of that without a little bit late but better late than never and that's the next and this and that is on in london for another month i believe thanks very much david for bringing so many women artists into the limelight for us here today thanks. well they irish city of gold way is set to pull a to the world as it kicks off its stint as one of this year's european capitals of culture it shares the honor with in croatia the coastal city bears the full brunt

of stormy atlantic weather which has of course a monkey wrench into the celebrations so far but it does promise a deluge of culture. just with my music freshly caught seafood. and breathtaking. scenery all reasons why galway was chosen as a european capital of culture this lively university town attracts young people from around the world. everything is kind of medieval stole its harbor and the sea is beautiful. everybody is so nice the beer is amazing as well. a week before the city's year is european capital of culture officially began county galway rang it in with musicians and fire jugglers touring 7 of the surrounding towns coming in one town closer to galway each day.

always really an incredible place it mazing people extraordinary bounce cape and ferocious weather it's a bit like vacillator in the rain. the city lies exposed to the fan fury of the atlantic giving it an average $220.00 days of rain per year and heavy storms but the ocean and the rugged terrain also provided bounty of treasures local chef. braves the elements as he gathers ingredients grass and other sea plants which he uses to address oysters they always serve has been around for like thousands of years. and i think it's probably only in recent years we've become to appreciate it more i think always people travels to go away to taste the oyster the irish gaelic name for galway is from stony river referring to the river current which runs through it center galway has been enjoying an economic boom since the 1990 s.

the old center posts pubs aplenty a vibrant park scene and not just one but 2 universities. the mix adds up to go way special charm for hundreds fighter schmidt tommy is a professor of german who's lived here for 15 years. among the big. it is the nicest one the malls most need one so this is attracts a lot of young people the university has no more than $15000.00 students and the total population is about $80000.00 so that gives you an idea. and it's a city it was a thriving youth college party tall and really. that's the feeling among planned official opening for gone ways year as culture capital was supposed to put across but the big party had to be cancelled amid a severe storm warning still nothing rains for long on galway's parade the

celebration simply took place in the pubs with traditional irish music of course. a key word in music can the new bond song is out performed by none other than pop billie eilis who is the youngest our guest ever to be commissioned with a theme song for double 07 and i will leave you with the strains of no time to die and until we meet again i wish you all the best and by a. world of course. you're going to.

in the light of climate change. for. what's in store. for the future. for the major cities. counter. that. was really. a running. joke you made for mine.