Christoph Schaub

Von der international boomenden Forschung zu Weltliteratur bisher weitestgehend unbeachtet entstand zur Zeit der Weimarer Republik eine internationalistische Weltliteratur der Arbeiterbewegung. Diese stellt den historisch ersten Versuch dar, eine Weltliteratur als Teil einer politischen Massenbewegung zu erzeugen. Auf der Basis der Analyse von u.a. Zeitschriften, Buchgemeinschaften und Autoren wie Franz Jung, Anna Seghers und Egon Erwin Kisch zeichnet die Studie literatur-, kultur- und mediengeschichtliche Aspekte der Vorstellungen, Theorien und Praktiken dieser Form der Weltliteratur nach. Insbesondere beschäftigt sie sich mit transnationalen literarischen Gegenöffentlichkeiten sowie mit einem literarischen Wissen vom globalen Proletariat und alternativen Vorstellungen von Globalisierung, die in den untersuchten Texten erzeugt werden. Die Studie leistet einen Beitrag zur Theorie der Weltliteratur, stärkt die intersektionale Kategorie der Klasse für Analysen von Repräsentationen einer geteilten Moderne und eröffnet neue poetologische, literatur- und kulturgeschichtliche Perspektiven auf die Literatur der Arbeiterbewegung.

Architecture has fascinated Swiss director Christoph Schaub for many years. Since his first, award-winning architectural documentary Il Girasole - A House Near Verona, Schaub has realised nine more films on architects and their buildings. His moving images, his way of looking at and showing architecture captivates the viewer instantly. Schaub features acclaimed Swiss architects Gion A. Caminada and Peter Zumthor, and structural engineer Jurg Conzett. He looks at the socio-economic and architectural culture and policy of Vrin in the Swiss mountains, and tells the story of the construction of hydroelectric power stations in the canton of Grisons with their stunning structures in the landscape and underground. He portraits Swiss architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter and their search for the best solutions in urban planning, as well as the controversial Spanish engineer-architect Santiago Calatrava on his journeys to building sites around the world. And he documents the vast undertaking of building Brasilia and the memories of people participating in it, and the genesis of Beijing's spectacular Olympic stadium Bird's Nest by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The three DVDs offer each film in its original version with subtitles in English, French, and German. Christoph Schaub, born 1958 in Zurich, is one of Switzerland's most eminent film directors. Besides documentaries on various subjects he has also realised many drama and comedy movies.

On the slope of a gentle hill on the northern boundary of the Po basin in Northern Italy stands a remarkable house. A modernist villa in the middle of a park, with its metallic facade shining above an enormous circular base of reddish stone. The extraordinary structure of the Casa Girasole (The Sunflower) follows the way of the sun across the sky - and the inhabitants' vista over the surrounding landscape - during the day, driven by an electric motor that can turn the entire house by 360 . It was built in the early 1930s by the Italian architects Angelo Invernizzi and Ettore Fagiuoli and is an important example of Italian Futurismo in architecture. Preserved entirely in its original state, including the original furniture and curtains, it makes traceable the fascination for modern technology, but also the already slightly broken optimism, of that period. The documentary film 'I Girasole: A House Near Verona' by Christoph Schaub and Marcel Meili enables the viewer to take part in a day at the house that turns around its vertical axis once. The movie introduces both the architecture and atmosphere of the building, its various rooms, furnishings and decoration. It gives a memoir of the house's history and of the time and feeling of life in which it was conceived. The film was awarded the 1st prize at the 1995 biennale Film and Architecture in Graz (Austria). The DVD is complemented by a booklet with introductory essays and illustrations.