Werner Raffetseder
Werner Raffetseder (* 1955 ) is an Austrian adventurer and world traveler. He lives in Vienna as a freelance author, photographer and multimedia artist .
Life
Werner Raffetseder attended grammar school in Wels and studied civil engineering at the Vienna University of Technology as well as interpreting (Romance languages), oriental philology (Arabic, Persian) and ethnology (today: cultural and social anthropology) at the University of Vienna . Even as a student, he went on extensive research trips, which he summarized in lectures and commented on in the media. After completing his engineering studies as a graduate engineer, language studies followed in Cairo and Khartoum with first essays and photo reports from 1983. He then worked for three years as a site manager in bridge and tunnel construction, but in 1989 turned back to research into cultural phenomena. Since then he has been working on his own projects and mainly publishes in print media.
Raffetseder's photos of the garbage people in Manila caused a media sensation : “They sink deep into the heart,” wrote Günther Nenning at the opening of the exhibition series Smokey Mountain - Living in Garbage , which started in Vienna in 1992. In the year of the European solar eclipse in 1999, Raffetseder also became known as an eclipse expert: his experience with the natural spectacle solar eclipse , which he had gathered over the course of two decades, made him a frequent guest on German-language radio and TV broadcasts. Since 2000 he has headed the international art and media initiative United Festivals for the protection of the intangible cultural heritage .
to travel
- 1974–75: North Africa - Middle East : Morocco - Algeria - Tunisia - Libya - Egypt - Jordan - Syria - Lebanon - Turkey
- 1976: Middle East - South Asia : Turkey - Iran - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India - Nepal
- 1977–78: Central America - South America : Mexico - Belize - Guatemala - El Salvador - Honduras - Nicaragua - Costa Rica - Panama - Colombia - Ecuador - Peru
- 1979–80: South Asia - Southeast Asia : India - Myanmar - Thailand - Malaysia - Singapore - Indonesia
- 1983–85: Middle East - East Africa : Turkey - Syria - Jordan - Egypt - Sudan - Uganda - Rwanda - Burundi - Tanzania - Kenya
- 1988–89: Far East - Siberia : Malaysia - Singapore - Borneo - Philippines - Hong Kong - Macao - People's Republic of China - Soviet Union ( Trans-Siberian Railway )
- since 1990: Photo projects and research in around 100 countries
Projects (selection)
Life in the trash
With the project Leben im Müll , Raffetseder shed light on the environment and the Third World . While the exhibitions and the illustrated book Leben im Müll addressed human existence in an inhumane environment, the radio and multimedia productions showed political backgrounds. The humanitarian project of the same name supported the medical care of the garbage collectors from Smokey Mountain in Manila until they were expelled (see also the section on multimedia productions).
Total Eclipse
On February 16, 1980 Raffetseder first witnessed a solar eclipse in Pagan , Myanmar. In July 1991 in Mexico he documented one of the longest total solar eclipses of the 20th century, during which planets and stars could be seen for almost seven minutes at noon. Until the eclipse in February 1998, which he captured in Aruba , he gained experience and astronomical knowledge. The following August he wrote for the first time about the impending European eclipse and provided detailed forecasts. The non-fiction book Solar Eclipse - The Mystery of the Traveling Night and the multimedia presentation Total Eclipse in the Deutsches Museum in Munich also attracted the attention of the German media from May 1999 onwards. The special broadcast of the ZDF lunch magazine on the solar eclipse, which he commented on as a studio guest, was followed by 4.85 million viewers nationwide.
The solar eclipses of February 16, 1980 (Myanmar), February 26, 1998 (Aruba), July 11, 1991 (Mexico).
Festival de la Concorde
For the 'European solar eclipse' Raffetseder planned a Concorde supersonic flight in the umbra of the moon. On August 11, 1999, observers on Earth could reckon with a maximum of two minutes and 23 seconds of total solar eclipse. A Mach-2 supersonic flight over Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, where the speed of the moon's shadow raging eastward fell to a minimum, guaranteed ten times the observation time. Raffetseder obtained special permits for the legally compliant implementation of this project (sonic boom) with the support of the Austrian and Hungarian governments and the transport ministers of Romania and Bulgaria. Ultimately, however, the Concorde flight took place over the Atlantic, where the flight duration in the moon's shadow was shorter (see also Concorde - Records ).
United festivals
The international art and media initiative United Festivals advocates the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage. The cultural treasure passed down from generation to generation comes alive in celebrations and festivals, but is in danger in many places. In 1980 Werner Raffetseder therefore began to document this cultural asset worldwide and laid the foundation for this project, to which he has primarily devoted himself since 2000.
A central archive (photo, film, sound, facts, myths ...), targeted publications and artistic campaigns - also at the locations of large festivals - are intended to emphasize the importance of the intangible cultural heritage and contribute to preserving diversity. Raffetseder is currently in charge of the worldwide documentation activities within the meaning of Articles 1 and 14 of the UNESCO Convention for the Preservation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Paris 2003.
Works (selection)
Multimedia productions
Asia trilogy
In the 1990s, Werner Raffetseder created a multimedia trilogy about Asia. Nature, man and the mysterious phenomena of his cultures ( magic , trance , headhunting etc.) are the focus of this work, which illuminates the continent from the Hindu Kush to the Pacific Ocean :
- Fascination with the Far East
- Mysterious Asia
- Asia MysticaDoubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Chinese New Year.
Chinese Street Opera (Singapore), New Year rockets over Kek Lok Si (Georgetown, Malaysia), Chingay Parade (Singapore).
"I lived with the garbage people"
Werner Raffetseder spent eight months on Smokey Mountain , the mountain of rubbish in Manila Bay. On the 80 meter high, smoking landfill stood a city made of cardboard and corrugated iron, in which 30,000 basureros ('garbage people') found a refuge. For the outcasts, homeless city dwellers and stranded immigrants, the rubbish of the metropolis offered a chance of survival. However, after decades of official toleration, their claim to livelihood security through the sale of recyclable raw materials met with resistance from a powerful lobby made up of state and church that wanted to generate billions in profits with a construction project. 1995–96 Smokey Mountain was forcibly cleared and leveled; the displaced ended up in mass camps or went into hiding in new garbage communities. Raffetseder's work traces the Basureros' struggle for survival and, as a contrast, shows the Manila of the millionaires. In conversations with Imelda Marcos , Corazón Aquino , Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and the garbage collectors, he uncovered machinations that resulted in several deaths.
Essays, features, reports
Essays and print reports by WRA have appeared in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, London and worldwide in agency sales, features and documentaries in ORF Vienna.
- Blood and Tears (Sudan), Female Circumcision in East Africa, 1984
- No reason to hope , apartheid in South Africa, 1984
- The participation certificate mosque (Morocco), King Hassan erects his monument, 1989
- Train No. 19: Trans-Taiga-Express , Beijing - Moscow in the Transsib , July 1989
- From street boy to drug lord (Colombia), The Medellín Cartel , 1990
- Socialism or Death (Cuba), The Fidel Castro Phenomenon , 1990
- The suffering of the children of Chernobyl , 5 years after the Gau, 1991
- High Noon in Tombstone, Arizona, USA, An American Myth, 1992
- Tortures That Make Blissful , Trance and Pain as Paths to God, 1993
- The Burden of Beauty (Myanmar), The 'Long Neck Women' of the Padaung , 1993
- Der Waldmensch (Malaysia), Orangutans from Borneo, 1993
- The mushrooms from the witch's kitchen (Philippines), self-experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms 1994
- Tortilla Curtain Checkpoint (USA - Mexico), America's Iron Curtain , 1994
- Rendezvous with prehistoric times (Ecuador), Galápagos - in Darwin's footsteps, 1996
- Rubble and Ashes (Philippines), The Pinatubo Eruption and its Consequences, 1996
- The Gardens of Death , Cemeteries, and the Cult of Death, 1996
- In the womb of the earth (Malaysia), Lubuk Mandi gold rush , 1997
- I am the heir of the Inca Empire (Peru), Don Alfredo Inka Roca , 1997
- Virgin Islands (Caribbean), billionaires anchorage, 1997
- In Gandhi's Footsteps (India), The Mahatma's Granddaughter , London 1998
- Imelda and the Cash (Philippines), Imelda Marcos on the test, London 1998
- Marketplace of Desire (Atlas Mountains, Morocco), The Last Marriage Market , London 1999
- Jim Red Cloud Goes Fancy Dancing (USA), The Intertribal Indian Ceremonial, London 2000
- Happiness with Sakura (Japan), The Cherry Blossom Festival , 2001
- The procession of warriors (Swaziland), King Mswati and the Incwala ritual, 2001
Books
- Leben im Müll , illustrated book with text (forewords by Franz Cardinal König , Vienna and Jaime Cardinal Sin, Manila), Mödling 1994, ISBN 3-85264-455-0
- Solar eclipse - The mystery of the traveling night , non-fiction book, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-89631-302-9 , in addition:
- Solar eclipse , media combination with CD-Rom, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-89631-303-7 and
- Solar eclipse , licensed 1999 in the Bertelsmann Club .
Performances, exhibitions, presentations (selection)
- 1992: University of Vienna, Smokey Mountain
- 1993: University and TU Vienna, fascination with the Far East
- 1993: University and TU Vienna, Mysterious Asia
- 1995: Seitenstetten Abbey , Smokey Mountain
- 1995: Palmenhaus Gmünd: Fascination with the Far East
- 1996: Palmenhaus Gmünd: Mysterious Asia
- 1997: ÖGB headquarters in Vienna, living in garbage
- 1997: Mödling Social Academy, Life in Garbage
- 1998: Press Club Concordia Vienna, hit me on the cross! (Good Friday rituals)
- 1998: University of Vienna, Asia Mystica
- 1999: Vienna Marriott Hotel Wien, Asia Mystica
- 1999: German Museum Munich, Total Eclipse
- 1999: Technical Museum Vienna , Total Eclipse
- 2002: Imilchil, Morocco, United Festivals Presente "Le Moussem d'Imilchil "
- 2008: Ban Nai Soi, Thailand, United Festivals Presents " Padaung Songkran "
- 2008: Royal Residence, Ludzidzini, Swaziland, United Festivals Presents "Incwala"
- 2009: Galerie Time, Vienna: Werner Raffetseder presents " United Festivals "
Award
- 1994 Theodor Körner Prize for Fine Arts
Web links
- Literature by and about Werner Raffetseder in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual references, comments
- ^ WRA as a guest in: Club Ö3 , April 14, 1978, ORF Radio.
- ↑ WRA in conversation with Vera Russwurm . In: Hallo Ö3 , May 22, 1980, ORF Radio.
- ↑ The last marriage market in the Arab world - an Austrian was there . In: KURIER , May 16, 1982.
- ↑ Günther Nenning: The garbage commune . In: Kronenzeitung , May 16, 1992, p. 10.
- ↑ Makers and Mystics - Solar Eclipse on TV. In: Der Spiegel , August 16, 1999, p. 98.
- ↑ WRA as a guest in: Schiejok Daily , April 25 and July 12, 1995, ORF 2.
- ↑ WRA as guest of honor in: Seniors Club , March 31, 1996, ORF 2.
- ↑ Trude Sagmeister: And the sun rises again and again. In: Kronenzeitung , August 8, 1999, pp. 24-25.
- ↑ WRA in conversation with W24 wienweb ( memento of the original from July 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the solar eclipse of March 29, 2006.
- ↑ WRA: Hunter of Darkness - Solar Eclipse in Austria . In: WIENER , August 1998, pp. 40–44.
- ↑ WRA: The Traveling Night . In: OÖN Magazin , August 8, 1998, p. 7.
- ↑ WRA: The Secret of the Moon . 10-part series in: Bild , 2.-11. August 1999.
- ↑ Heike Ehlert: Record quota for the event of the century . In: Press release by the “Mittagsmagazin” editorial team , Mainz, August 12, 1999.
- ↑ Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Central Aviation Section, GZ. 78.533 / 1-Z9 / 98 ff.
- ↑ The intangible cultural heritage ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Significance, dangers, conservation.
- ↑ WRA as guest in: Okay , July 6, 1980, ORF 2.
- ^ WRA as a guest in: Willkommen Österreich , March 15, 2001, ORF 2.
- ↑ WRA: This is how the peoples celebrate . 12-part series in: All World , Vienna 2001–2003.
- ↑ WRA in: THE STANDARD Ati-Atihan - Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Philippines.
- ↑ UNESCO Convention for the Preservation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Paris, October 17, 2003.
- ↑ WRA presents “Fascination Far East” . In: Kronenzeitung , May 16, 1993, p. 30.
- ↑ Peter Leopold: A boom at the summit. The lectures . In: NEWS , November 25, 1993, pp. 142 ff.
- ^ Gerhard Bitzan: Relaxation for managers . In: Die Presse , January 29, 1999, p. 14.
- ↑ Trude Sagmeister: "I lived with the garbage people" . In: Kronenzeitung (Krone Bunt) , March 31, 1996, pp. 18-19.
- ↑ WRA as guest in Willkommen Österreich , May 2, 1996 and July 12, 2000, ORF 2.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Raffetseder, Werner |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | WRA |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1955 |