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Published on March 25, 2008

The traces left by travellers all over the Earth provide evidence of a continually growing tourist industry and mark the beginning of a global movement that drastically transforms present-day man and the spaces he passes through.

Exhibition "All-inclusive: A Tourist World", on show at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany until May 4, features several works that depict and question various tourist phenomena. Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Ayse Erkmen, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Tracey Moffatt, Jonathan Monk, Santiago Sierra and Thomas Struth are among the 30 artists presenting documentation, parodies and dream images that interlink with subjects like migration, the tourist industry, and global communication in project curated by Matthias Ulrich.

For more information, visit www.Schirn-Kunsthalle.de.

Literary gathering

German literature expert Professor Juergen Wertheimer of Germany's Tuebingen University will present a talk entitled "The Prospects for Comparative Cultural Studies" on April 5, 10am, at The Siam Society.

Wertheimer lectures in German and comparative literature at his university, an institution known internationally for its prominence in the field.

A native of Munich, he has also studied art history in Italy. His scholarly works embrace a very wide range of subjects, including classics of Western literatures as well as hot issues related to cultural conflicts and integration.

He will address a topic which has been his main concern in recent years - reaching out to contemporary demands for "international literatures" and at the same time exploring the possibilities offered by important developments in cultural studies.

Prof Wertheimer's visits to Thailand and Japan are being supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. The lecture will be introduced by Professor Chetana Nagavajara, honorary member of the Siam Society and president of the Humboldt Club, Thailand.

E-mail info@siam-society.org.

Spectacularly Singapore

The Singapore Arts Festival, one of the leading international arts festivals known for its bold and innovative artistic collaborations at the cutting-edge of contemporary arts, is scheduled to run from May 23 to June 22.

Dance luminaries taking part this year are Larbi Cherkaoui from Belgium, the Slovene National Theatre Opera, Ballet Maribor and Lujbljana and La La La Human Steps from Canada.

Audiences will also be impressed by the complexity of youth, modernisation and identity issues addressed in the theatre creations by leading European director Haris Pasaovic's East West Theatre Company (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Indian luminary Ratan Thiyam's Chorus Repertory Theatre of Manipur.

The music programme includes Howard Shore's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony" by the Singapore Festival Orchestra and jazz luminary Paolo Frescu.

More information on shows can be found at www.SingaporeArtsFest.com. For tickets, call (65) 6348 5555 or visit www.Sistic.com.sg.

The Nation