(Feridun Zaimoğlu,
The Third Turkish Siege of Vienna, 2005)
Here's one for any Viennese Arts Diary followers. On 28 January, the Kunsthalle Wien will be hosting a 'kulturtalk' around contemporary art and culture and Islam, featuring Turkish-born poet and visual artist
Feridun Zaimoğlu alongside artist Olaf Metzel, architect Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi and philosopher Almir Ibric. Both Zaimoğlu and Metzel have polarised and scandalised the public in Vienna. The former spectacularly upset local right-wingers with his
Third Turkish Siege of Vienna (above), and the latter enraged the Turkish community with his life-sized bronze model of a naked woman in a headscarf entitled
Turkish Delight. This discussion looks at the broader debates around tolerance and freedom of speech, and promises to provoke a lively and heated debate.
