just a little bit beyond...

Author: caribu

Ausland in München?

Oskar Maria Grafs „Wunderbare Menschen – Heitere Chronik einer Arbeiterbühne nebst drolligen und traurigen Erlebnissen dortselbst“

Dennoch ist nichts von unserer damaligen Arbeit umsonst gewesen, denn die wirkende Zusammengehörigkeit der Wenigen hat sich im Laufe der Jahre erhalten, ist stärker geworden und hat die lauen und fremden Elemente abgesondert. … Missgeschick und Unglück können nicht zerbrechen, was eine gute Not zusammenschweisst. (S. 187)

Der 1927 entstandene Text beschreibt in loser Romanform die Zeit Oskar Maria Grafs bei der „Neuen Bühne“ in München ca. 1920-1927. Die Neue Bühne ist eine Arbeiterbühne, die für Graf soetwas wie die Bewahrung und Wiederbelebung sozialistischen Kampfgeistes nach der verlorenen Revolution war. Auf Betreiben des ehrgeizigen Direktors Felber als Arbeitergenossenschaft gegründet, hat die Neue Bühne aus meiner Sicht einige Ähnlichkeiten mit dem ausland, dies allerdings in deutlich kleinerem Massstab.

Oskar Maria Graf: Wunderbare Menschen, 1. Auflage, München 1927

Oskar Maria Graf: Wunderbare Menschen, 1. Auflage, München 1927

Ein Baum

Chris Kraus’ Where Art Belongs

Art belongs in JailAttributionNoncommercialShare Alike Some rights reserved by deepwarren

Longing for Belonging?

(review of: Chris Kraus: Where art belongs)

I like how Chris Kraus always contextualizes the art she talks about. Art is always a product of circumstances (Xavier LeRoy) first and foremost. It is never just “the work” that stands on its own, at best informed by some unmutable history. Art to Chris Kraus is a subjective result of an attitude that is as much rooted in the artists condition of production as in the observer’s vantage point. “I am trying to find a way to work”, says Moyra Davey (pg. 108) while Janet Kim’s work as curator rests in her community as well as in her ability to build this community. The “Sex Workers Art Show” turns the conditions of production into a label and preserves enough proletarian drive to be not just art but also of political consequence.

Where art belongs” – the longing in the title already betrays the romantic in Chris Kraus. And that the romantic elements often closely relate to the conditions of production is my major problem with her writing. Why – when it touches the hardship and the alienation – does her writing avoid the confrontation by fleeing into a romantic world?

Confluency and conflation of personal history (Ceŝar and the Nazis) evoke Pynchon’s magical realism. In these essays meaning is given to art works and to attitudes of artists’ almost like a spell. By not quite saying the word, as if speaking it would render the magic void. This of course is just a different reading of the “romantic” touch in Chris Kraus work.

Hello world!

Hello World, indeed.

This is my latest attempt at trying to blog. Entries in this blog will cover Ausland, software development, some thoughts on copyright and open source as well as random ideas.

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