helps scientists better understand. the world today. 60 minutes. there's no. manager who had a good day nothing could change you know the banks. and so was the language of a bank money. speaking the truth. that matters to a w. for minds. when . you want to be just speaking to one people it means a lot when it can resonate with somebody in berlin with somebody in brazil.

a warm welcome to our it's $21.00 this time from weimar for a special edition devoted to the good to medal every year since $955.00 germany's go to institute all those luminaries who've made outstanding contributions to international cultural exchange well the theme of this year's awards is the burden and benefits of contradiction which simply put is intriguing us to avoid black and white thinking and to engage in the kind of debate that encourages a more profound reflection well it's certainly evocative of the work of the 1st of our 3 go to medal recipients british author ian mckeown and because he's. lee

sitting out the pandemic at his residence in the cotswolds west of london we conducted this interview with him over skype. mckeown has a keen eye for detail little escapes him he's interested in every aspect of the human experience the murky depths of our souls our political debates the latest developments in science his insatiable curiosity as reflected in his novels an essay. with what's happening in the world and sometimes it's pulling me out of this private space to get involved whether it's great cities or climate change and it's a struggle for me because i'm not naturally an activist. but i think i have a strong moral sense and it's a push and pull between wanting to see in the solar tree in world a lot down world of the novel in his in his writing and this ng agent. mchugh

in his 1st book 1st love last rites appeared in 1975 he's published 20 novels and collections of short stories so far many of which have been adapted for the screen . but tone meant was critically acclaimed both as a novel and a film a sweeping tale of the trail guilt and love. the children act from 2014 was also made into a film a high court judge has to make a life or death decision a teenage boy refuses a life saving blood transfusion on religious grounds once again mckeown proved to be a con a sewer of the human experience on afraid to ask the big questions for novels or forms of investigation we are what condition is. what it's like to be human what it's like to be human now this stage in history and novels are also. increasingly exploratory and what the impact is all new

technologies on private lives as well as social existence something he explores in his latest novel in machines like me published in 2019 he tells the story of an android and asks are robots perhaps better than humans. only months later he published the cockroach up biting satire about pranks it mcewen imagines an insect transformed into the british prime minister it's the most overtly political novel he's ever written mckeown is a vocal and passionate remainer describing brags it as the most pointless masochistic ambition ever dreamed of in the history of the zionists we lost that battle we were outmaneuvered we were divided among ourselves in many ways. and we now just have to hope that. we can get away with that it works out.

you know we're now in a paradoxical business of hoping that bricks it somehow works. in there's nothing else we can. make you and has garnered numerous awards in the course of his career but the good to metal has a special significance to him he partly grew up in germany france kafka he says was his introduction to literature and bought his introduction to music he has a huge following here and confesses he has a strong sentimental attachment to germany i was in berlin for the fall of the wall . in 89 new member it meant more to me than 80 geopolitical public events in my life than than to be there in berlin in those 4 or 5 days and that is also a country very very. to be honored in the name of gutter is a privilege indeed. sometimes we talk about what information we should send.

an unmanned space ship that was going to leave our solar system we sent. we had to send a representative with humanity and i think a good 2 would come pretty close to the top of my list because his interests were not only in literature and drama. in the nature of. public administration politics and in music. he says the era of the great polymaths is over. but if there's a thinker today who comes close. it's in mcewen. well normally in mcewen would have been here in weimar on august 28th go to birthday to accept his go to medal in person and as is the custom he would have

received it from klaus to tell a man the president of the good to institute at a festive gala event complete with music and an enthusiastic audience but of course because of the covert $9000.00 pandemic none of that was possible and the event has had to be taken online all happily the good institute was able to team up with deutsche avella as media partner for a streamed event but laureates and guests alike will of course have to forego their visit to weimar a city that like no other embodies the spirit of german enlightenment. weimar interring and wrote european cultural history in the late 18th century giving rise to what today is known as a by mark classicism. a center of intellectual life weimar was a hotbed of creativity. the little dutchy in eastern germany attracted the greatest writers thinkers musicians and scientists of the era.

one of the most prominent personalities of the time johann both come from good made weimar his home he and his work thrived here he lived in this house for 50 years until his death and 1830 to. be noble helpful and good was his credo humanity and tolerance his guiding principles summed up in the concept of moral beauty the town's greatest minds all shared this deeply humanist approach. good as close as friend and collaborator was also interested in philosophy and the natural sciences for 20 years they exchanged ideas and inspired one another. by mars open atmosphere produced world literature. believed people should interact with the natural world appreciating it with all their senses

so it's hardly surprising that he chose to work and relax in the middle of a landscape gardening by the river in. here he pursued his passion for botany and wrote poetry inspired by nature. just a few 100 meters away is the duchess on a amalia library named after its main patron it houses materials from around the world which are accessible to everyone. for 35 years good to himself was head librarian there under his direction its collection grew to 80000 books and keeping with by mark classicism submission to educate the general public. alike your 15 conference good to himself go to medal winners are really lent list seekers of knowledge and conveyors of culture over the years many international personalities have been on it including the likes of iranian filmmaker and artist sheehan nasha nigerian british photographer hakim border i can be or spanish

writer or of a simpler. our next laureate is the 1st ever african woman to win the go to medal and a literary powerhouse whose work transcends borders well beyond her home continent south african writer and publisher to kids where when or not only has a way with words she doesn't mince them either. one of the pins that really gets my goat is when i get referred to as a black african american writer that i'm like how. why must i have this little what you call it where i just i want to be a good writer. so guess what is a woman unafraid to speak her mind born in zambia and now based in kenya the south

african novelist and children's sports writer is also a journalist and publisher in response to the coded 1900 lockdown she also founded and curated an african online literature festival that brings together new and established voices probably pick multitalented and with seemingly inexhaustible energy how does she juggle many interests. with very little sleep. i think if you love something you always make time for it. writing almost always has a political subtext. her debut novel the madams was published in 2006 it's the story of 3 well marked middle class women in post apartheid south africa torn between career and family traditional and modern female roles. i'm essentially prawle. who very pro are for ken i'm very pro women and i think

this generally comes out in my books what's the 3 or have in common is about identity. i'm writing for readers but more importantly i'm writing for people will say oh and reading is boring and out there i've got a book for you finish once i finish one page and told me of that. old writer with the message to kids well why not is eager to reach young readers and also to support emerging writers. i don't want my generation to be the last generation of writers you know i always to myself to be able to hold on and bring younger generation of writers and give them void. and give them the platform giving people a voice when i was writing off a beach or slang and dialect that reflects africa's diversity and views her stories with life my readers should be able to understand the context you know if they

don't get the context then it means i have failed it's not that the language has failed i have failed as a writer. frankfurt book fair $2900.00. 40 in a talk hosted by the go to institute. a feminist a citizen of the world she's a regular guest at international literary events. i think i'm an itinerant by nature in a way i have always been an outsider looking in if you were but i also give a insider's perspective. is the 1st african-american woman to win the got a medal making her a role model for many. when you're an artist you want to be. one people it means a lot where it can resonate with somebody in berlin or with somebody in munich

somebody in brazil but above all she wants to resonate as an african writer they need to be heard more but maybe we need more voices that are more visible a lot of african countries are only going to 60 years from colonialism still growing we are story. well it's a relatively small city but weimar is a heavyweight in terms of its cultural and artistic legacy with both classical and modernist traditions as the birthplace of the baha school just over a. century ago it was the starting point for one of the 20th century's most influential currents in modern design in architecture the museum here behind me recalls that early powerhouse period and the creative force that was ultimately

shot down by the nazis well now 75 years post world war 2 weimar is an international cultural magnate. paul house who is the. very well known university in our town 'd and when i came here just i was looking at the universe in various the universe and. that was 2 years ago farzana who's from tehran wanted to pursue her path and try out different art forms she opted for weimar and for a masters in public art and new artistic strategies ringback ringback. when i came here i met wonderful artists here from all over the war as our program is international all the time we share. some of our projects we need. each other and actually this is one thing that i hadn't experienced

before because when i was in iran most of my work was in division of. the nature archive is currently showing a selection of her cartoons which are very personal interpretation of the works of a controversial german philosopher nature. she read him as a teenager but did not know at the time that he had spent the last years of his life here at the villa. which was renovated at the beginning of the 20th century by the belgian architect the founder found. when they were right cross streets here sometime the meaning of time. for me has changed or sometimes i'm in the past or in the prisons because there are many who story each part of our different part of the city of l.a.

is a musician from mozambique he has lived in weimar for almost 3 years. he's currently doing a ph d. at the ponce list university of music where he also teaches. in this traditional instruments. these. is the future is all is there life is past present and future of woman of human kind that's what i see in the instruments and i believe it's it's our mission also to. keep it alive he also likes to make his own instruments saying that it's amazing how universal and versatile they are and that they can easily fit in with jazz or western classical music if you play music people will very quickly musicians with kids and go people can communicate musically when we are very far from understanding each other linguistically. he says that he loves the fact that by maher is music

upgrade to vittie inspiration and that he's also impressed by how visionary both good and schiller work. is also aware of the city's less glorious past not that far away is the former concentration camp. the tragic things that also happened. to to keep this consciousness of what can happen amongst humans and. it gives me more power to use music to address these issues to really see. music music or was it these kind of. you know. discrimination music works opposite of these. capital international is a popular meeting point for refugees and locals the jordanian architect who either

volunteers here translating an interpreter for those who don't speak german. these days also giving out information related to the culprit 19 pandemic which much did the fish i want to understand the personality of the refugees how they live here in germany but all over the world too it helps me from my research. as i pursue my academic career i want to continue working on migration refugees and refugee camps for the on the 1st bit of this thing that yeah. my depression was to . bali as doing a ph d. at bauhaus university where she has a research assistant post. she's particularly interested in how refugee camps are designed and managed. this month but i like this city and i like the people i feel good here i've been

living here for 2 years and via is like oh now. what. she says she likes the fact that it's small but beautiful and she especially enjoys its multicultural atmosphere. demonstrated here by a klezmer concert that's part of the get this summer festival. that. when you think of the bauhaus you most probably think of architecture and design but one of the most productive and successful bauhaus workshops was actually the weaving workshop where they experimented with both industrial methods and with traditional craft techniques from indigenous communities and weaving is just one of the arts that helped our 3rd good to medal

laureate. of bolivia to make her mark and to. broaden the scope of accepted indigenous art and be a space i caught up a libyan artist poet essayist musician and a weaver she fought hard to succeed in a world that traditionally sidelines women and indigenous cultures thought of the belief that let. every desolate zation is complete in its way has its own language its own forms of artistic expression be a textiles wood cutting ceramics it's not always painting pictures on canvas. when she was 6 her mother taught her how to weave. but she wanted more. this determination led her to leave her family and she financed her higher education herself. the 1st time she saw baroque art she was in a church she was instantly captivated by casey in the feet of. what did these

paintings mean people who had them put there why are they so important that the priest explained this art to me its importance and he also told me i could train as an artist myself. my curiosity was sparked. i went on to study art and the costs i was the 1st to wear indigenous dress in the academy that the the one up at a sauna. that i hated because the space home was a voracious reader she devoured texts on anthropology medicine archaeology and linguistics researching indigenous languages but she was especially interested and textile market. power colors traditionally made using which plants which techniques . she traveled throughout the andes gathering expertise on ancient crops in the course of researching

a book on weaving she discovered that the bauhaus movement's textile workshop was inspired in part by and. in the unweaving technique. that came as a surprise. i'd like to focus on the exchange between bolivia and germany in my future work fragments of our textiles had made their way to germany and served as a source of inspiration. i'd like to pay tribute to how bolivian textile art influenced modernism. building artistic and creative bridges as very much the focus of her work. this versatile artist has also collaborated with the musician oliver on montenegro they used traditional songs and instruments with jazz elements and contemporary urban sounds. in 2013 she was appointed to the national museum of a band folklore in the pots

a highlight of her career as expected she gave it an extensive review using modern presentations to display traditional art from berryessa south american countries. educational programs for children and young adults have been an enterable part of the museum's approach along with conferences and outreach workshops thanks to outbid us by. the museum is widely seen as one of the most important cultural centers in bolivia she's traveled the world as a tireless ambassador in this art. whenever i return to bolivia i see the problems that the ruling class is claiming to its power and barricading itself. it's a complex issue. that came as a shock earlier this year when it was announced she would be giving up her position after president evo morales resigned in 2019 many in bolivia fear that the interim

government will ship the country to the right good ok let them believe that at the moment. and art is one of the best tools of resistance but it's also a target pheidias band with street artist band it's difficult right now. she may now be an artist of international stature but her roots remain key to her identity. and with that congratulations to all 3 winners of the go to metal for 2020 you can find the digital stream version of the award ceremony on our website at www dot com slash culture where there's lots more information about the laureates and the go to metal itself not to mention music well that's it for our arts $21.00 special coming to you from historic weimar and because goods are once uttered the words enjoy it

when you can and endure when you must i think i'll take him at his word and see a little bit more of this wonderful city all the best to you and obviously. the.

it's an invisible friend that's been depicted in many ways the coronavirus. this man knows exactly what it looks like tomas schmidt stosur is a scientific illustrator. by extensive data he gives the virus a realistic face and helps scientists better understand it. tomorrow to do.

30 minutes on g.w. . i fuck on clears the guy german chancellor angela merkel and made a famous claim visited us when germany opened it borders to refugees. 5 years later we take an in-depth look at what happened then attack on what followed. and the consequences of the refugee crisis that we're still facing today . are topic on d'italia. didn't beethoven invent jazz did you did didn't mean to do. then is it just

a dotted 16 might he be. a raja. so many romance of stolen beethoven. of course the subconscious always one thing is clear. plato's just horribly popular. i see a sure i see a song but i feel sure. the mood sound one of the biggest composer of all time i can't even begin to imagine a world class horn player centralist on a musical journey of discovery. all over the world with the hope for a toast in. the tender 16 on.

the plane. this is v.w. news live from berlin and a tolerable attack in the heart of heart of opera see those are the words of germany's president after far right demonstrators stormed the parliament building in our land politicians from across the political spectrum have condemned the attack. also coming up protesters enveloped groups turn up the heat of the streets

of man's 3 weeks after a disputed election now president lukashenko says he's going to see if he's going to russia to seek help from president putin.