Publications

Kakanien. Neue Republik der Dichter

Editors: Plinio Bachmann, Rita Czapka, Knut Neumayer
Publisher: Zsolnay, Vienna
Content: 382 pages
ISBN: 978-3-552-05551-3
Year: 2011

Does the EU Eastern Enlargment lead to a new multinational state on old terratorium?

From 2009 to 2011, numerous important writers – Péter Nádas, Andrzej Stasiuk, Biljana Srbljanović, Michal Hvorecký, Serhiy Zhadan, Dubravka Ugresic, Doron Rabinovici, Josef Winkler, Jachym Topol, Terézia Mora, Tena Štivičić, Radek Knapp, Dževad Karahasan, Yuri Andrukhovych and Slavoj Zizek – were speaking on an imaginary literary landscape, which is constantly renewed and still remains unmistakably Central Europe. Almost one hundred years after the end of the Danube monarchy, that was called “Kakanien” in Robert Musil’s novel “The man without qualities”, renowned writers are laying the foundation for this endeavour. However, this time not accompanied by melancholic doom and gloom, but animated by old-new neighborhood. From this series of speeches, taking place at Burgtheater and Akademietheater Vienna, a book has now emerged – dealing with intellectual similarities and differences, cultural clashes and synergies, and ethical demands and visions that arise as a result of the new neighbourhood constellation.

This publication is available at ERSTE Foundation Library.

Florian Bauer

Director Social Finance, Sustainability and Innovation
Since 2023, Florian Bauer has been responsible for social finance, sustainability and social innovation at ERSTE Foundation. Prior to this role, Florian worked in the NGO & Social Entrepreneurship sector for more than 13 years. He led the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), an international multilateral NGO that works to accelerate market-based deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient systems in developing countries, and was Managing Director & COO of the Impact Hub Vienna. From 2020-2023, Florian established strategic alliances with key partners and helped to create innovative semantic technology solutions at Semantic Web Company (SWC), a leading IT company in semantic AI solutions.