“In sweet music is such art…”

During the preparation for the final choir performance at this year’s graduation ceremony, the harmoniously-intertwined voices of the ECLA of Bard choir were repeatedly—each time with the addition of a new musical ‘flavour’ and spirit—singing this beautiful verse from the part-song Orpheus, with his lute. Based on the poem of William Shakespeare, the musical piece,

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What home has meant.

I do not remember the time or the place. It might have been Bangalore, Kolkata, Shillong, Chennai, Mussoorie, or Berlin. It might have been at a park, a mall, a wedding, a hospital, or even at a bar. Despite the many possibilities, there was always a time when certain places would generate an awkward reaction

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Berlinale Review: Lee Don Ku’s Kashiggot

At this year’s Berlinale, South Korean director Lee Don-Ku debuted Kashiggot, a film which explores the commission, atonement and punishment of sin. In the Asian market, prolific filmmakers traditionally prefer to remain within the often painfully saccharine genre of the “Asian blockbuster.” This presents a stark contrast to Asian art-house cinema, which aims at commenting

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Berlin’s Other Film Festival

For the cinephile living in Berlin, February means attending as many Berlinale screenings as possible. The still-intact Friedrichstrasse Christmas decorations add a sense of cheer to the festival, and with the arrival of movie stars – be it yesteryear’s goddess Catherine Deneuve or sex-appeal induced James Franco – comes the hope of a glimpse of

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The Käthe Kollwitz Museum

On December 7, the students in the Berlin: Experiment in Modernity course visited the Käthe Kollwitz Museum as part of their then on-going class discussion about social democracy, through the lens of Europe’s workers’ movement in the 19th and 20th century. Situated in Berlin’s elegant Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf neighborhood, the museum is actually a modified 19th century

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