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Werner Raffetseder

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Werner Raffetseder
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Werner Raffetseder (born in 1955, given as WRA) is an Austrian adventurer and world traveller. He lives in Vienna as a freelance author, photographer and multimedia artist.[1]

Raffetseder attended Wels Grammar School and studied constructional engineering at Vienna University of Technology as well as Romance languages, Oriental philology (Arabic, Persian) and ethnology (cultural and social anthropology today) at Vienna University. He already undertook extensive field trips as a student, which he recorded for lectures and commented on in the media.[2][3][4] Following the completion of his technical studies as an engineering graduate, from 1983 he continued his language studies in Cairo and Khartoum and created the first essays and photo reportages. He was then a building director in bridge and tunnel construction for three years, but turned again in 1989 to the research of cultural phenomena. He has since worked on his own projects and publishes predominantly in the print media.

Raffetseder’s photographs of the 'Rubbish People' in Manila won acclaim in the media: "They sink deep into the heart", wrote Günther Nenning for the opening of the exhibition series Smokey Mountain – Leben im Müll (Smokey Mountain – A Life in Rubbish),[5] that began in 1992 in Vienna. In the year of the 1999 'European Eclipse of the Sun' Raffetseder was also known as an eclipse expert: his experience gathered worldwide over the course of two decades of the natural spectacle that is the total eclipse of the sun made him a frequent guest in radio and TV programmes in the German-speaking world.[6] Since 2000 he has directed the international United Festivals Arts- and Media Initiative for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

WRA and camel lady Aischa

Travels[edit]

Projects (Selection)[edit]

Leben im Müll – A Life in Rubbish[edit]

See also: Smokey Mountain
Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych A Life in Rubbish. Everyday life on 'Smokey Mountain', Manila.

With the Leben im Müll (A Life in Rubbish) project Raffetseder illustrated the themes of 'environment' and 'third world'. While the exhibitions and the illustrated book Leben im Müll (A Life in Rubbish) focussed on human existence in an environment contrary to humanity, the multimedia production showed the political backgrounds. The humanitarian project of the same name supported the provision of medical care for the rubbish collectors on Smokey Mountain in Manila to the time of their expulsion (see also the multimedia productions section).[7][8]

Total Eclipse[edit]

See also: Wikipedia:Solar eclipse

On 16 February 1980 Raffetseder was in Pagan, Myanmar to witness for the first time an eclipse of the sun. In Mexico in July 1991 he documented one of the longest total solar eclipses in the 20th century, during which planets and stars were visible for almost seven minutes at noon.[9][10] Until the eclipse in February 1998, which he recorded in Wikipedia:Aruba, he collected experiences and astronomical knowledge. In the following August he wrote for the first time about the imminent ‚European eclipse‘ and provided detailed prognoses.[11][12] From May 1999 Raffetseder also won the attention of the German media with his non-fiction book Sonnenfinsternis – Das Mysterium der reisenden Nacht (Eclipse of the Sun – the Mystery of the Travelling Night) and the multimedia presentation Total Eclipse at the German Museum in Munich.[13][14] The special Wikipedia:ZDF-Mittagsmagazin programme about the eclipse of the sun, which he commented as a studio guest, was watched throughout Germany by an audience of 4.85 million people.[15]

Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Cosmic Clockwork.
Solar eclipses of 16 February 1980 (Myanmar), 26 February 1998 (Aruba), 11 July 1991 (Mexico).

Festival de la Concorde[edit]

For the 'European eclipse' Raffetseder projected a supersonic Concorde flight in the umbra of the moon. On 11 August 1999 observers on earth could reckon with a total eclipse of the sun lasting a maximum of two minutes and 23 seconds. However, a mach 2 supersonic flight over Austria, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria, where the speed of the umbra racing to the east was at a minimum, guaranteed a tenfold observation time. Special permissions for legally conform execution of the project (Wikipedia:sonic boom) were obtained by Raffetseder with the support of the Austrian and Hungarian governments and the Transport Secretaries for Rumania and Bulgaria.[16] The Concorde flight eventually took place over the Atlantic with a shorter flight duration in the shadow of the moon (see also Wikipedia:Concorde).

United Festivals[edit]

Main article: United Festivals
Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Inti Raymi. Inca Sun Festival, Sacsayhuamán, Cusco, Peru.

The international United Festivals Arts- and Media Initiative fosters the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.[1] The cultural treasures of humanity handed down from generation to generation vitally emerge in celebrations and festivals but are endangered in many places.[17] Therefore in 1980 Werner Raffetseder began to document these cultural assets worldwide[18] and laid the foundation for this project to which he has been predominately dedicated since 2000.[19][20][21]

Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Geerewol Dances. Charm dances of the Wodaabe herdsmen in the Sahel, Niger.

A central archive (photographs, films, sound recordings, facts and myths…), targeted publications and artistic campaigns – also at the scenes of large festivals – are meant to emphasise the importance of our intangible cultural heritage and to contribute to maintaining its diversity. Raffetseder currently directs worldwide documentation activities according to Articles 1 and 14 of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Paris 2003.[22]

Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Maha Kumbh Mela. The largest gathering of humanity on planet Earth, Allahabad, India.

Works (Selection)[edit]

Multimedia Productions[edit]

Asian Trilogy[edit]

In the 1990s Werner Raffetseder created a multimedia trilogy about Asia. Nature, humanity and the mysterious phenomena of its cultures (magic, trance, head hunting, etc.) are the focus of this work that illustrates the Asian continent from the Hindu Kush to the Pacific Ocean.

  • Faszination Fernost – Fascination Far East[23]
  • Geheimnisvolles Asien – Mysterious Asia[24]
  • Asia Mystica[25]
Doubleyou RA (WRA) - Triptych Chinese New Year.
Chinese street opera (Singapore), New Year's rockets exploding over Kek Lok Si (Georgetown, Malaysia), Chingay Parade (Singapore).

Leben im Müll – A Life in Rubbish[edit]

See also: Smokey Mountain

Werner Raffetseder spent eight months living on 'Smokey Mountain', the mountain of rubbish in the Bay of Manila. On the 80-metre-high, smoking waste disposal site stood a city of cardboard and corrugated iron in which 30,000 Basureros ('rubbish people') had found a refuge. For the ostracised, homeless city dwellers and immigrants, the waste of the metropolis offered a chance for survival. But their demand for a secure existence through the sale of recyclable raw materials, after decades of official toleration, met the resistance of a massive lobby from the state and church, which wished to achieve a profit of billions with a building project. Between 1995 and 1996 Smokey Mountain was cleared by force and levelled; the expelled people ended up in mass camps or disappeared into new rubbish communes. Raffetseder’s work shows the fight for survival of the Basureros and also as a contrast the Manila of the millionaires. In conversations with Wikipedia:Imelda Marcos, Corazón Aquino, Archbishop Cardinal Sin and the rubbish collectors he revealed the machinations that had cost several lives.[26][27]

Essays, Features, Reports (Selection)[edit]

Essays and printed reportage have been published in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, London and worldwide through agencies as well as features and documentaries in Wikipedia:ORF Vienna.

  • Blood and Tears (Sudan), female circumcision in East Africa, 1984
  • No Reason for Good Hope, apartheid in South Africa, 1984
  • The Dividend Mosque (Morocco), King Hassan erects his memorial, 1989
  • Train No. 19: Trans-Taiga Express, Beijing – Moscow on the Wikipedia:Trans-Siberian Railway, July 1989
  • From Street Urchin to Drug Lord (Colombia), the Medellín cartel, 1990
  • Socialism or Death (Cuba), the phenomenon that is Wikipedia:Fidel Castro, 1990
  • The Suffering of the Children of Chernobyl, five years after the disaster, 1991
  • Wikipedia:High Noon in Tombstone (Arizona, USA), an American myth, 1992
  • Torture to Achieve Bliss, trance and pain as paths to God, 1993
  • The Burden of Beauty (Myanmar), the Wikipedia:Padaung ‚long neck‘ women, 1993
  • The Forest Man (Malaysia), orang-utans in Borneo, 1993
  • The Mushrooms from the Witches’ Kitchen (Philippines), experiments with a natural drug, 1994
  • Checkpoint at the Tortilla Curtain (USA – Mexico), America’s Iron Curtain, 1994
  • Rendezvous with Primeval Times (Ecuador), Galápagos – on the trails of Darwin, 1996
  • Rubbish and Ash (Philippines), the Pinatubo outbreak and its results, 1996
  • The Gardens of Death, cemeteries and the cult of the dead, 1996
  • In the Bowels of the Earth (Malaysia), gold rush in Lubuk Mandi, 1997
  • I Am the Inheritor of the Inca Kingdom (Peru), Don Alfredo Wikipedia:Inca Roca, 1997
  • Wikipedia:Virgin Islands (Caribbean), anchoring ground for millionaires, 1997
  • In Gandhi’s Footsteps (India), the granddaughter of the Mahatma, 1998
  • Imelda and the Cash (Philippines), Imelda Marcos on the touchstone, 1998
  • Marketplace of Desire (Atlas Mountains, Morocco), the last remaining marriage market, 1999
  • Jim Red Cloud Goes Fancy Dancing (USA), the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, 2000
  • Happy with Wikipedia:Sakura (Japan), the Cherry Blossom Festival, 2001
  • The March of the Warriors (Swaziland), King Mswati and the ‚Wikipedia:Incwala‘ ritual, 2001

Books[edit]

thumb|250px|left|WRA - Leben im Müll (A Life in Rubbish)thumb|right|165px|WRA - Sonnenfinsternis (Eclipse of the Sun)

Exhibitions, Performances, Presentations (Selection)[edit]

  • 1992: University of Vienna: Smokey Mountain
  • 1993: University and University of Technology of Vienna: Fascination Far East
  • 1993: University and University of Technology of Vienna: Mysterious Asia
  • 1995: Wikipedia:Seitenstetten Abbey: Smokey Mountain
  • 1995: Gmünd Palm House: Fascination Far East
  • 1996: Gmünd Palm House: Mysterious Asia
  • 1997: ÖGB-Headquarters in Vienna: A Life in Rubbish
  • 1997: Mödling Social Academy: A Life in Rubbish
  • 1998: Concordia Press Club in Vienna: Crucify Me! (Good Friday rituals)
  • 1998: University of Vienna: Asia Mystica
  • 1999: Vienna Marriott Hotel: Asia Mystica
  • 1999: German Museum in Munich: Total Eclipse
  • 1999: Vienna Technical Museum: Total Eclipse
  • 2002: Wikipedia:Imilchil, Morocco: United Festivals Presents ‚Imilchil Moussem (Agdoud N'Oulmghenni)‘
  • 2008: Ban Nai Soi, Thailand: United Festivals Presents ‚Wikipedia:Padaung Wikipedia:Songkran‘
  • 2008: Ludzidzini Royal Residence, Swaziland: United Festivals Presents ‚Wikipedia:Incwala‘
  • 2009: Time Gallery, Vienna: Werner Raffetseder presents „Wikipedia:United Festivals“

Award[edit]

See also[edit]

References, Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Werner Raffetseder Donaumarkt Mauthaused/Tourismusverband Mauthausen (Austrian)
  2. ↑ WRA as guest in: Club Ö3, 14 April 1978, Wikipedia:ORF radio.
  3. ↑ WRA as guest in: Hallo Ö3, 22 May 1980, Wikipedia:ORF radio.
  4. ↑ Der letzte Heiratsmarkt in der arabischen Welt – ein Österreicher war dort (The Last Marriage Market in the Arab World – An Austrian Was There). In: Wikipedia:Kurier, 16 May 1982.
  5. ↑ Günther Nenning: Die Müllkommune (The Rubbish Commune). In: Wikipedia:Kronen Zeitung, 16 May 1992, page 10.
  6. ↑ Macher und Mystiker – Sonnenfinsternis im Fernsehen (Doers and Mystics – The Eclipse of the Sun in Television). In: Wikipedia:Der Spiegel, 16 August 1999, page 98.
  7. ↑ WRA as guest in: Schiejok Täglich, 25 April und 12 July 1995, ORF TV, channel 2.
  8. ↑ WRA as guest of honour in: Seniorenclub, 31 March 1996, ORF TV, channel 2.
  9. ↑ Trude Sagmeister: Und immer wieder geht die Sonne auf (And the Sun Rises Again and Again). In: Kronenzeitung, 8 August 1999, pages 24-25.
  10. ↑ wienweb in conversation with WRA about the 29 March 2006 solar eclipse. (in German)
  11. ↑ WRA: Jäger der Finsternis – Sonnenfinsternis in Österreich (Hunters of Darkness – Solar Eclipse in Austria). In: WIENER, August 1998, pages 40-44.
  12. ↑ WRA: Die reisende Nacht (The Travelling Night). In: OÖN, 8 August 1998, Saturday supplement, page 7.
  13. ↑ WRA: Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Sonne (The Secret of the Black Sun). 10-part series in: Wikipedia:Bild, 2–11 August 1999.
  14. ↑ Der Mast ist zu niedrig, der Mond zu hoch. – The Mast Is Too Low, the Moon Is Too High“ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Nr. 167, p. 53, 22 July 1999. (German)
  15. ↑ Heike Ehlert: Rekordquote zum Jahrhundertereignis (Record Figures for the Event of the Century). In: Press Release ‚Mittagsmagazin‘, Mainz, 12 August 1999.
  16. ↑ Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Air Traffic Headquarters, Ref. No. 78.533/1-Z9/98 ff.
  17. ↑ Intangible Cultural Heritage – Threats
  18. ↑ WRA as guest in: Okay, 6 July 1980, ORF TV, channel 2.
  19. ↑ WRA as guest in: Willkommen Österreich, 15 March 2001, ORF TV, channel 2.
  20. ↑ WRA: So feiern die Völker (How the People Celebrate). 12-part series in: Alle Welt, 2001-2003.
  21. ↑ WRA in: DER STANDARD Ati-Atihan – Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Philippines (in German)
  22. ↑ Full text of the Convention
  23. ↑ WRA präsentiert ‚Faszination Fernost‘ (WRA presents ‚Fascination Far East‘). In: Kronenzeitung, 16 May 1993, page 30.
  24. ↑ Peter Leopold: Ein Boom am Gipfel: Die Vorträge (A Boom at the Summit: Lectures). In: NEWS, 25 November 1993, pages 142 ff.
  25. ↑ Gerhard Bitzan: Entspannung für Manager (Relaxation for Managers). In: Wikipedia:Die Presse, 29 January 1999, page 14.
  26. ↑ Trude Sagmeister: ‚Ich lebte bei den Müllmenschen‘ (‚I Lived with the Rubbish People‘). In: Kronenzeitung, 31 March 1996, Sunday supplement, pages 18-19.
  27. ↑ WRA as guest in: Willkommen Österreich, 2 May 1996, ORF TV, channel 2.
  28. ↑ Werner Raffetseder: Sonnenfinsternis, Hugendubel, 1999. ISBN 3-89631-302-9

External links[edit]

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