Matthias Weischer is an established artist. Collectors have paid hundreds of thousands of euros for his paintings. He's known for his darkly decorative, overwrought interiors that are devoid of people. But now Weischer has changed his style radically. Suddenly he's painting landscapes: bright and glowing, almost garish. What's happened? Our reporter visited the painter.

Tel Aviv boasts the largest collection of buildings designed in the Bauhaus or International architectural style outside of Germany. In the 1930s, German-Jewish architects who belonged to the Bauhaus school imported the defiantly futuristic style when they emigrated to what was then British-ruled Palestine, and the newly evolving city embraced it. But for a long time Tel Aviv neglected its architectural treasures, and only in recent years started refurbishing the rundown facades. Much of the work has been funded by private citizens -- luxury redevelopment that is also helping to preserve the city's architectural heritage. Our report from Tel Aviv.

The Leipzig Book Fair is a known meeting place for writers from eastern Europe. This year the fair is attracting even more interest. What has changed in the twenty years since the fall of communism? Is the east the new west? How do these authors write now, and what are they writing about? ARTS.21 hasn't waited for their books to reach Leipzig. Instead, we've travelled by train through eastern Europe to visit writers in Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The prize winners at the 2009 Leipzig Book Fair The Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding goes to the historian Karl Schlögel Marijn Rademaker receives the German Dance Award

Just 16 years old and already an award-winner: Helene Hegemann recently won the Max-Ophüls Prize – and for a film that reads a bit like her own story. Her drug-addicted mother died when she was just 13. After that, she moved to Berlin and became the protégé of her father’s theater scene where she loved to hang out backstage. Her film debut "Torpedo" is currently on view in theaters and getting rave reviews. Now Helene Hegemann already busy writing her own autobiography. High time for ARTS.21 to chronicle the life of this gifted teen.