You are here: Homepage Tag Europe Articles Children play in front of corrugated iron huts in the Spanish informal settlement of Cañada Real. Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/ Getty Images Informal Settlements | Worldwide “The first slums were in Europe” Many people think of informal settlements as something that only exists in the Global South - but there are also slums in Europe. Geoscientist Monika Kuffer maps these areas all over the world, making the invisible visible Interview with Monika Kuffer 11/27/2024 The Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz Portrait: Victor Boyko / Getty Images Personal history | Brazil A new world in every film The Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz has always been drawn to distant horizons. From Brazil via New York, he found his way to Berlin By Karim Aïnouz 03/14/2024 Writer and journalist Mohamed Amjahid Photo: Antoine Midant Media | Germany Beyond the European bubble German media outlets are often indifferent when it comes to reporting from outside Europe. German journalist Mohamed Amjahid has realised that writing about sex helps break down barriers By Mohamed Amjahid 06/01/2023 Fatma Said, born in Cairo in 1991, is a soprano and most recently released the album “Kaileidoscope” Photo: James Bort Talking point | Music Why go to the opera? Opera: outmoded and out of touch or timeless and eternal? We ask the soprano singer Fatma Said By Fatma Said 06/01/2023 In the middle of greenery and with a view over the bay Photo: Jess Smee How we live now | Mallorca A home with a view The scientist Maria Teresa Escalas lives in Mallorca, overlooking a rocky bay called Cala Santanyí. It is a modernist structure with sharp angles and clear lines but it also blends into the colour scheme of the local coastline. By Jess Smee 01/09/2023 Musa Okwonga in front of the Oberbaumbrücke in Berlin Photo: Kasia Zacharko Personal history | UK to Germany A healing journey The author Musa Okwonga hasn’t looked back on his decision to leave his home country Great Britain. On a life between Eton College, day-to-day life in Berlin and memories of Uganda By Musa Okwonga 01/09/2023 An election party of the Swedish Democrats in Nacka (near Stockholm) during the Swedish general election on September 11, 2022 Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty Images Polarisation | Sweden Blind spot Sweden has long stood for cosmopolitanism and tolerance. But now a shift to the right is sweeping through the country - and its colourful image is crumbling. How could this happen? By Khashayar Naderehvandi 01/09/2023 Kornelia Binicewicz with her record collection Photo: private Pop culture | Turkey “The music is full of sorrow and longing” The project “Intimacy of Longing” uses interviews and mixtapes to tell the stories of Turkish women who migrated to Germany. On the link between music and homeland Interview with Kornelia Binicewicz 01/09/2023 Musician and composer Malakoff Kowalski lives in Berlin Photo: Julija Goyd Playlist | Minimalism Pared-down sound In music, forgoing excess often stands for minimalist innovation. Rarely has less been so much more than in the nine piano pieces that the musician Malakoff Kowalski handpicked for this playlist By Malakoff Kowalski 01/09/2023 Literature | International I think that art needs time to emerge In a world of fast-moving news about the War in Ukraine and climate change, it is often hard to focus and take time to create art. But literature works on a different clock: It needs time to form and silence to emerge. By Cécile Wajsbrot 01/09/2023 Welcome to the European Union Illustration: TengMeu Cultural policy | Europe Welcome to the club! In the light of the Ukraine war, Europe needs to allow new countries to join and also strengthen its cultural policy. After all, the European Union is first and foremost a cultural project By Gijs de Vries 07/01/2022 Jasbir Singh in a greenhouse near Odemira Photo: Tilo Wagner Personal history | Portugal From engineer to fruit picker Born in the Indian city of Chandigarh, fruit picker Jasbir Singh, 34, has been picking berries in Alentejo for five years. Soon he could apply for Portuguese citizenship. A conversation Interview with Jasbir Singh 07/01/2022 Soura on stage dancing in cobalt blue robe. Scene from the "Messiah" performance with the German Symphony Orchestra 2018 in Berlin. Photo: Kai Bienert Personal history | Burkina Faso Black Messiah Ahmed Soura lost his family in Burkina Faso and suffered racism in Europe. When he danced to Händel’s “Messiah” in Berlin, he understood: those who really want to be free must redeem themselves By Ahmed Soura 07/01/2022 Former professional footballer Tugba Tekkal Photo: Christoph Koepsel / Bongarts / Getty Images Talking point | Sports Can football be apolitical? By Tuğba Tekkal 04/14/2022 Publisher and editor Sharmaine Lovegrove Photo: Kate Berry Black and white thinking Critical thinking For a long time, diversity was not an issue in many literary publishing houses. Suddenly everyone wants diversity. About an industry in transition By Sharmaine Lovegrove 04/14/2022 From the event Being Sensitive at the Stuttgart Literaturhaus, with Naika Foroutan (on the wall screen) and Svenja Flaßpöhler (right), moderated by Jenny Friedrich-Freksa (left) Photo: Literaturhaus Stuttgart Black and white thinking Changing our mindset Who has the right to speak and what can be said? The philosopher Svenja Flaßpöhler and the sociologist Naika Foroutan discuss inclusive language, and the fight for equality. A conversation. Interview with Svenja Flaßpöhler, Naika Foroutan 04/14/2022 The professional soccer player and author Lilian Thuram Photo: Basso Cannarsa / opale photo / Raif Black and white thinking White thinking The basis of white supremacy is a way of thinking, one that says the colour of one's skin makes one human being better or worse than other human beings. Even as a successful professional, the author was unable to escape it. By Lilian Thuram 04/14/2022 The mosque in the "Park of Peace" in Kaunas: For the Capital of Culture year, the building opens its doors to interested visitors Photo: Martynas Plepys European Capitals of Culture What we don’t remember The war in Ukraine, a pandemic that never ends: This may not be the best time for the new European Capital of Culture cities to present themselves. Novi Sad in Serbia and Kaunas in Lithuania are going ahead anyway. And both metropolises are approaching their own urban histories in very different ways By Jenny Friedrich-Freksa, Doris Akrap 04/14/2022 "The era of migration" Photo: Matt Hardy / Getty Images Books | Migration “Get ready to move” In his new book, author Parag Khanna envisages a future in which we are all migrants By Sieglinde Geisel 07/01/2021
Children play in front of corrugated iron huts in the Spanish informal settlement of Cañada Real. Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/ Getty Images Informal Settlements | Worldwide “The first slums were in Europe” Many people think of informal settlements as something that only exists in the Global South - but there are also slums in Europe. Geoscientist Monika Kuffer maps these areas all over the world, making the invisible visible Interview with Monika Kuffer 11/27/2024
The Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz Portrait: Victor Boyko / Getty Images Personal history | Brazil A new world in every film The Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz has always been drawn to distant horizons. From Brazil via New York, he found his way to Berlin By Karim Aïnouz 03/14/2024
Writer and journalist Mohamed Amjahid Photo: Antoine Midant Media | Germany Beyond the European bubble German media outlets are often indifferent when it comes to reporting from outside Europe. German journalist Mohamed Amjahid has realised that writing about sex helps break down barriers By Mohamed Amjahid 06/01/2023
Fatma Said, born in Cairo in 1991, is a soprano and most recently released the album “Kaileidoscope” Photo: James Bort Talking point | Music Why go to the opera? Opera: outmoded and out of touch or timeless and eternal? We ask the soprano singer Fatma Said By Fatma Said 06/01/2023
In the middle of greenery and with a view over the bay Photo: Jess Smee How we live now | Mallorca A home with a view The scientist Maria Teresa Escalas lives in Mallorca, overlooking a rocky bay called Cala Santanyí. It is a modernist structure with sharp angles and clear lines but it also blends into the colour scheme of the local coastline. By Jess Smee 01/09/2023
Musa Okwonga in front of the Oberbaumbrücke in Berlin Photo: Kasia Zacharko Personal history | UK to Germany A healing journey The author Musa Okwonga hasn’t looked back on his decision to leave his home country Great Britain. On a life between Eton College, day-to-day life in Berlin and memories of Uganda By Musa Okwonga 01/09/2023
An election party of the Swedish Democrats in Nacka (near Stockholm) during the Swedish general election on September 11, 2022 Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty Images Polarisation | Sweden Blind spot Sweden has long stood for cosmopolitanism and tolerance. But now a shift to the right is sweeping through the country - and its colourful image is crumbling. How could this happen? By Khashayar Naderehvandi 01/09/2023
Kornelia Binicewicz with her record collection Photo: private Pop culture | Turkey “The music is full of sorrow and longing” The project “Intimacy of Longing” uses interviews and mixtapes to tell the stories of Turkish women who migrated to Germany. On the link between music and homeland Interview with Kornelia Binicewicz 01/09/2023
Musician and composer Malakoff Kowalski lives in Berlin Photo: Julija Goyd Playlist | Minimalism Pared-down sound In music, forgoing excess often stands for minimalist innovation. Rarely has less been so much more than in the nine piano pieces that the musician Malakoff Kowalski handpicked for this playlist By Malakoff Kowalski 01/09/2023
Literature | International I think that art needs time to emerge In a world of fast-moving news about the War in Ukraine and climate change, it is often hard to focus and take time to create art. But literature works on a different clock: It needs time to form and silence to emerge. By Cécile Wajsbrot 01/09/2023
Welcome to the European Union Illustration: TengMeu Cultural policy | Europe Welcome to the club! In the light of the Ukraine war, Europe needs to allow new countries to join and also strengthen its cultural policy. After all, the European Union is first and foremost a cultural project By Gijs de Vries 07/01/2022
Jasbir Singh in a greenhouse near Odemira Photo: Tilo Wagner Personal history | Portugal From engineer to fruit picker Born in the Indian city of Chandigarh, fruit picker Jasbir Singh, 34, has been picking berries in Alentejo for five years. Soon he could apply for Portuguese citizenship. A conversation Interview with Jasbir Singh 07/01/2022
Soura on stage dancing in cobalt blue robe. Scene from the "Messiah" performance with the German Symphony Orchestra 2018 in Berlin. Photo: Kai Bienert Personal history | Burkina Faso Black Messiah Ahmed Soura lost his family in Burkina Faso and suffered racism in Europe. When he danced to Händel’s “Messiah” in Berlin, he understood: those who really want to be free must redeem themselves By Ahmed Soura 07/01/2022
Former professional footballer Tugba Tekkal Photo: Christoph Koepsel / Bongarts / Getty Images Talking point | Sports Can football be apolitical? By Tuğba Tekkal 04/14/2022
Publisher and editor Sharmaine Lovegrove Photo: Kate Berry Black and white thinking Critical thinking For a long time, diversity was not an issue in many literary publishing houses. Suddenly everyone wants diversity. About an industry in transition By Sharmaine Lovegrove 04/14/2022
From the event Being Sensitive at the Stuttgart Literaturhaus, with Naika Foroutan (on the wall screen) and Svenja Flaßpöhler (right), moderated by Jenny Friedrich-Freksa (left) Photo: Literaturhaus Stuttgart Black and white thinking Changing our mindset Who has the right to speak and what can be said? The philosopher Svenja Flaßpöhler and the sociologist Naika Foroutan discuss inclusive language, and the fight for equality. A conversation. Interview with Svenja Flaßpöhler, Naika Foroutan 04/14/2022
The professional soccer player and author Lilian Thuram Photo: Basso Cannarsa / opale photo / Raif Black and white thinking White thinking The basis of white supremacy is a way of thinking, one that says the colour of one's skin makes one human being better or worse than other human beings. Even as a successful professional, the author was unable to escape it. By Lilian Thuram 04/14/2022
The mosque in the "Park of Peace" in Kaunas: For the Capital of Culture year, the building opens its doors to interested visitors Photo: Martynas Plepys European Capitals of Culture What we don’t remember The war in Ukraine, a pandemic that never ends: This may not be the best time for the new European Capital of Culture cities to present themselves. Novi Sad in Serbia and Kaunas in Lithuania are going ahead anyway. And both metropolises are approaching their own urban histories in very different ways By Jenny Friedrich-Freksa, Doris Akrap 04/14/2022
"The era of migration" Photo: Matt Hardy / Getty Images Books | Migration “Get ready to move” In his new book, author Parag Khanna envisages a future in which we are all migrants By Sieglinde Geisel 07/01/2021