In October of this year in Munich, a program in honor of the exceptional exhibition, "Tour de Madame," which chronicles the work of the inimitable Jutta Koether, took place over three days. For those unfortunate souls who could not be in Munich to attend the concerts, performances, and discussions that followed, you need not despair. We at Texte zur Kunst were fortunate enough to receive four of the talks given in Munich, which we are republishing here in their original form, without editorial intervention on our part. What follows are a series of unique meditations on the significance of Koether's art, attesting to diversity of starting points, and points of departure, in her practice.

Following on the heels of the release of our latest issue, “Noise/Silence,” on music and sound in the arts, we continue the conversation with the addition of a new regular feature column to our website, “Klang Körper,” devoted to music and performance. The current installment deals with a new book by musician and author David Grubbs, which is a long-form poem, “Now that the audience is assembled,” that concerns both music and performance. Berliner Gazette co-founder Krystian Woznicki recently sat down with Grubbs to talk about this unique work and its implications for what music writing can potentially accomplish today.

Nach 38 Jahren wird Ende Dezember die letzte SPEX erscheinen. Das Magazin für Popkultur definierte den Begriff Pop für die deutsche Musikgeschichte neu und setzte ihn in einen Diskurs um Subkultur, poststrukturalistische Philosophie und Kunst. Die Texte von Redakteur*innen wie Jutta Koether, Clara Drechsler und Diedrich Diederichsen prägten das Blatt (und eine Jugendkultur) über mehrere Jahrzehnte. Dass das musikalische Fachwissen allerdings vor allem aus einer männlichen Perspektive vermittelt wurde, darüber schreiben die Autorin Sandra Grether und die ehemalige Redakteurin der SPEX, Kerstin Grether.

In their song, “History Lesson Part II,” the Minutemen claimed that their band was “scientist rock.” Could one call Alicja Kwade’s work “scientist art”? Kwade’s artistic practice is heavily influenced by the worldview of the natural sciences, and her most recent exhibition in Berlin, “ENTITAS,” certainly invited talk of such a moniker. For Kwade, though, science is not a subject thematized in her works; rather, science provides a particular way of thinking, an awareness, which structures the practice of making. Texte zur Kunst editor-in-chief, Colin Lang, examined the proofs of Kwade’s “science” and what we can learn from their appearance in the present.

In the last year, several so-called mid-level galleries, featuring ambitious programs and a roster of young but accomplished artists, shut their doors. In the aftermath, some are reimagining their gallery activities, operating now without the usual brick-and-mortar spaces, while others are simply closed for good. Berlin was not spared from the unfortunate trend, and Texte zur Kunst editor, Nadja Abt, sat down with the owners of three galleries that have either recently closed, or have otherwise been severely hit by the recent spate of closings. What follows is an account of the phenomenon, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Texte zur Kunst gratuliert Natascha Süder Happelmann und ihrer stellvertretenden Sprecherin Helene Duldung herzlich zur Wahl als Künstler*in des deutschen Pavillons auf der Venedig Biennale 2019. Zu diesem Anlass publizieren wir daher einen Artikel online, der Ende 2017 über das Werk einer namensverwandten Künstlerin im Heft 108 "Idiom-Languages of Art" von Giovanna Zapperi erschien.

Die Dezemberausgabe wird das Thema Sound in der Kunst neu aufgreifen, wobei diesmal die Extreme von Noise und Silence im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung stehen werden. Hierbei greifen wir auch Diskussionssstränge auf, die das Redakteurenteam Clemens Krümmel und André Rottmann gemeinsam mit Aram Lintzel und Olaf Karnik im Jahre 2005 im Heft Sounds vereinte. Zur Einstimmung möchten wir daher den Text von Ebba Durstewitz aus jenem Heft voranstellen. Hier betreibt die Autorin und Musikerin eine Entmystifizierung des Begriffs „Sound“ anhand mehrerer Musikbeispiele verschiedener Genres.