Why I Love Musicians

Maybe we ought to be listening more. After years of being deprived of creative surroundings, at least those offered by an academy, one day I walked with my three children into the local music school. Though the office was located in a basement and definitely a pretty ugly one, I felt instantaneously an air of creativity and freedom there. Refreshing indeed to meet people who are very free in most aspects and who on seeing you make some ironic remarks that were not hurting but rather destined to lighten the atmosphere.

Now that my children have been attending this school for several years, I've come to fully realise what is truly attractive about musicians, which is that they do not need much to perform their art. They can do it any time and any place ;), eg Zita Swoon in a supermarket...

The R-Word - It's All About Reputation, Baby

Sometimes, while I was still studying, I've come across people, who have been cherishing an idea, a concept, a work of art for  a long time and have told me about it, but then when it came to finally realising it, they sort of backed down. One might of course conclude that there were some financial aspects troubling these projects, but nothing was further from truth. So I discussed my findings with fellow students and they answered: "It is all very well for you as a student to try to realize these sometimes daring projects, but they are professors and artists they have a reputation to lose."
Later on exactly this word "reputation" was also featuring in a book on some daring theatrical project
I've benefitted from, for I was lucky enough to attend a performance: The ESC "The Wars of the Roses", a staging of the Shakespearean history plays from Richard II to Richard III, all done in a row and sometimes at just one weekend, which they toured around the world. Here the word "reputation" almost killed the whole project at the beginning because institutions that wanted to support this effort were reminded that this just might endanger their reputation.
Thus I've come to learn that this tiny word is the obstacle to many a wonderful and daring work of art, and yet again the true artist reveals himself in exactly this moment, for he or she would not bother about his or her reputation at all and just skip it.
So thanks to all you lovely artists who don't give a damn about their public image and just daringly do whatever they feel compelled to.

Die künstlerische Performance des Jahres...

bisher...
 
Christoph Maria Herbst bei der Verleihung des... von kaufhausmusik

Wat is kunst? - de blik in haar ogen dat is kunst - Was ist Kunst?

How strangely things turn out to be sometimes. While I was still lamenting a great loss, exactly this loss resulted in me unexpectedly getting an answer to a question I had been posing to Raimund Stecker - in fact the very person, who made me first aware of the problem. Raimund mentioned that to his mind there are basically two kinds of art, first at all the art that is concerned with art history, wanting to enhance it somehow, and then there is art that is authentic. Since I never ever believed in progress, lol, I was very anxious to find out about authenticity. How and when are you authentic? I certainly did pose the question to Raimund, but never got an answer.

Yet a year ago, having one of my paintings in his hands and  noticing that I was more than upset to learn that one of my drawings got lost in the mail, M P stated to somebody else  - translating my feelings to her - that I can never ever do the drawing again. Now I know what authentic implies and I'm more than grateful to him for letting me know.