Programm (DE/ENG)

From the beginning, punk rock has been employing a certain “sloganization” as a means of writing lyrics and composition, in which the ‘target’ of the song—often its title—is condensed into a small number of words, usually repeated within a very short interval. As Grail Marcus describes about the vocal delivery of punk rock, the words “must be said fast”, before the energy, or the opportunity, to express them disappears because there is no future available (Marcus 1989). Indeed, the extreme repetition of a few words and musical elements, as if to despise or mock any artistic device or idealistic ambition, is sometimes accompanied by a certain temporal irregularity and instability—subtle acceleration or, less often, deceleration—be it implemented deliberately, spontaneously, or accidentally, which partly reflects the content of the lyrics. This paradoxical combination of urgency and nihilism (Lee 2022) crystallized as a distinctive style of songwriting with the advent of hardcore punk and its more extreme subgenres. Not only was hardcore punk a “harder, faster, louder” version of punk rock, as is often defined somewhat pejoratively, but also it evolved, more importantly, to a new form of expression of words: the combination of extreme brevity, speed and distortion in vocal delivery leads to a considerable ‘retreat’ on the semantic level of the words, which thwarts, paradoxically, the very purpose of the sloganization of key words (that they should be easily intelligible). This semantic reduction, however, allows to obtain the “performative” dimension of the musical utterance, to borrow the term from linguistics and the philosophy of language (e.g., “I insist” or “we refuse”; Austin 1962). The vocal delivery in punk rock can be “performative” in that as an action it works regardless of the semantic content of the lyrics or, on the other hand, that this action embodies in itself a certain sense of urgency or nihilism underlying the specific content of the lyrics. We aim to explore this phenomenon by analyzing several songs from the early American hardcore punk, some of which were anticipating its more extreme subgenres. It goes without saying that this phenomenon was not the prerogative of American punk rock.

Auch wenn seine Ursprünge im britischen Punkrock liegen, werden Punks in den Texten von neonazistischen Bands fast immer zu einer ihrer zahlreichen Feindesgruppen gezählt. Punks müssen genau wie Jüdinnen und Juden, Migrant*innen, Queers etc. — in den lyrischen Phantasien der sog. Rechtsrocker bekämpft und vernichtet werden. Die „Zecken“, wie sie häufig auch in den Texten genannt werden, werden zur politischen Linken gezählt und sind durch die Bank unhygienisch, arbeitsscheu und drogenabhängig. Weibliche Szeneanhängerinnen, wenn sie mal vorkommen, sind allesamt sexuell deviant und wahllos bei ihren Sexualpartner*innen. Oft wird den „linken Chaoten“ auch eine Verschwörung mit den anderen Feindbildern gegen die „guten Deutschen“ unterstellt, die nur existieren, um ihnen das Leben zur Hölle zu machen und das Land zu zerstören. Dies sind in groben Zügen die Erzählungen, die in den Rechtsrocktexten über Punk seit gut 40 Jahren verbreitet werden. Im imaginierten deutschen Reich der Rechtsrocker haben Sie – wie die Asozialen im Nationalsozialismus – keinen Platz und keine Existenzberechtigung. Seit einigen Jahren jedoch lässt sich ein Wandel in den Texten und im Habitus der Rechtsrocker beobachten. Einzelne Akteur*innen der extremen Rechten beziehen sich zunehmend positiv auf Punk. Das bereits in den Achtzigern in extrem rechten Skinhead-Kreisen beliebte Motiv „Rock Against Communism“ wird zu „Punkrock against Communism“, die Bezeichnung und Selbstbezeichnung von extrem rechten Bands als Punkbands ist schon länger kein Tabu mehr und das Artwork lehnt sich an modernen Punkmerch an. Rechtsrocker tragen Irokesenschnitte und Nietenlederjacken und sind nur anhand einschlägiger Buttons oder Band-T-Shirts als Mitglieder der rechten Szene zu erkennen. „Punks not Red“ statt „Punks not Dead“ ist ihr Motto. Auch in den Texten klassischer Rechtsrockbands werden in einigen Texten die Bezüge zu Punkrock deutlich positiver. Protagonisten, die seit Jahrzehnten harte Polemiken gegen Punk gefahren haben, glorifizieren Punkrock auf einmal mitunter – zumindest den frühen Punkrock oder das Bild, das sie von ihm zeichnen. Manche covern – ohne textliche Änderung alte Deutschpunkbands oder bringen eine extrem rechte Version des beliebten „Schlachtrufe BRD“-Samplers heraus. In dem Vortrag soll dieses erstaunliche kulturelle Phänomen Anhand von Text- und Bildbeispielen der Rechten beschrieben, eingeordnet und potentielle Gründe für den vermeintlichen Bedeutungswandel genannt werden.

Growing influence of right-wing ideologies started to have serious consequences in the social life and everyday mobility in the 2010s in many localities around the world, as the first decade of the 21st century culminated in a global economic crisis. The crises had a distinct impact on Spain like other Southern European countries, which resulted in the enduring repercussions of this political shift towards conservatism in the years following the crisis. The second decade of the 21st century in Turkey, started with a change in the political stance of the government, which has been in power since 2002, towards a more conservative populist agenda. These political shifts challenged the spaces of resistance that had been tirelessly contending against fascist discourses in both countries. Narrowing availability of spaces for alternative gatherings, coupled with the gradual disappearance of sites of everyday resistance. It is doubtless that punk as a cultural phenomenon has consistently maintained its inherently political nature in various forms of expressions in different localities across the world. However, it is also true that the changing political conjuncture has undeniably affected the punk scene and its ways of musical production and songwriting in the past decade. After the 2010s, on the one hand, some bands kept the same radical tone of the past decades and called on collectivism in their songs. On the other hand, many punk bands that are less explicitly political emerged and they rather reflected on the individual struggles through narratives over boredom, despair and absurdity. In this presentation, in addition to a broad map that brings together the repeating themes in songs from different bands, several examples will be shared in order to have a closer look on the political meanings of individual takes on boredom and despair.

Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist activist art collective that has made use of punk music sounds, aesthetics, and ideologies in their actions of political protest (in the form of flash gigs in public places) directed against authoritarianism and patriarchy. The theme of revolution is very prominent in the group’s early songs (including the famous “Punk Prayer” performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on February 21, 2012). Using that theme is not new for punk rock, especially in the context of Russia. However, Pussy Riot’s use of the theme of revolution is different from the other known cases: the central argument of the presentation is that each of their early songs provides a revolutionary script (i.e. frameworks for political action, see Keith Michael Baker & Dan Edelstein (2015), ”Introduction”, in Scripting Revolution: A Historical Approach to the Comparative Study of Revolutions, edited by Keith Michael Baker, and Dan Edelstein, Stanford University Press, 2). These revolutionary scripts were further developed and explained in the group’s publications in social media. The purpose of the presentation is to analyze Pussy Riot’s lyrics and social media posts to discuss the development of the revolutionary scripts introduced by the group during the autumn and winter 2011-2012, when the mass political protests unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia were going on. The presentation will touch upon the influence of the protests and the discourses of the protesters on the language and the contents of the songs. The influence of the revolutionary scripts provided by the consumers of Pussy Riot’s art as comments to the group’s YouTube and LiveJournal publications will be also discussed in the presentation. The lyrics of the following songs will be analyzed: “Free the Cobblestones”, “Kropotkin Vodka”, “Death to Prison, Freedom to Protest”, “Putin Pissed Himself”, and “Punk Prayer”.

Polish punk blossomed in the 1980s, finding a home in the Jarocin festival, which has even been referred to as the “birthplace of punk rock during communism.” Punk itself was tensely negotiated under a Soviet-backed state: a rebellious, underground subculture in an environment in which none of those three things were acceptable. Perhaps for that reason exactly it found such a meaningful home in Poland, an expressive and affective outlet of anti-communism, a means through which youth could rebel against parents, state, and Soviets in a united goal of freedom. My research will thus contribute to the scholarly extrication of punk from its popularly imagined Western homeland. However, after the fall of the USSR, the objective musical genre and sound of punk as it initially emerged seemed to fail to inspire younger Poles, and its members became what one interlocutor described as “old and drunk.” What we can see today is the rebirth of the life and ideology of punk, the DIY ethic—what it means to be punk in Poland today encompasses vastly different genres—“It’s all the same basement”—as well as fluid relationships to time, state, and self. As Poles have escaped Soviet control, the threats that punks challenge have metamorphosized entirely. For example, local bands and venues in Kielce, Lodź, Warszawa, and Biała Podlaska make passionate, romantic statements against local governments who refuse to provide—or even tear down—community art, rehearsal, and performance spaces. This shift is accompanied, too, by a shift in sound, rhythm, lyrics, as well as the composition and appearance of bands and audiences alike; all the while, they continue to incorporate messages, aesthetics, and ideology from their predecessors. I support the notion that punk is inherently indefinable, that any attempt to present a universal definition is a futile attempt to wrangle discipline from the undisciplined, to reconcile an irreconcilable paradox. As an alternative, I propose ethnography as an ideal model of “definition,” as it affords punk the thick descriptions, meanings, and paradoxes of its being. My research will consist of preliminary findings from my ethnographic fieldwork this summer in Poland.

German punk had a significant cross-border impact on Czechoslovakia before and after the events of 1989/1990. Despite the Iron Curtain, unofficial cultural exchange still occurred. Czechoslovak youth were drawn to the rebellious and anti-establishment ethos of punk, which resonated with their desire for freedom and expression. Due to limited access to Western music, Czechoslovak punks resorted to tape trading. German bands like Die Toten Hosen, Toxoplasma, and Slime and Wizo were popular among Czechoslovak punks. German Oi! and street punk bands, such as Böhse Onkelz, had also a strong influence on Czech skinhead music. Some Czech skinheads eventually drew inspiration from the nationalist and other far-right aspects of German skinhead scenes, adopting similar political ideologies and symbols. The Lochotín festival located near Plzeň in 1987 was a significant event in Czechoslovakia’s punk music scene. The festival hosted several West German acts, including Die Toten Hosen. Tensions mounted as punk music was replaced by a local disco pop act and clashes between the attendees and the police erupted. With the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, the borders opened up, and cultural exchange became more accessible. This led to an influx of German punk bands touring and performing in the country. Czech lands also started hosting punk festivals that welcomed German punk bands alongside local acts. In the early 1990s, the punk scene in Berlin had a significant influence on Czech anarchism, which was emerging as a political movement in the post-communist era. Czech anarchists found access to a wealth of anarchist literature, zines, and publications from Germany. Berlin’s punk scene was known for its DIY culture and activism, which resonated strongly with Czech anarchists. Czech anarchists drew inspiration from squatting movement as well as from anti-fascist resistance, both mainly transferred through the punk milieu.

Seit seinen Anfängen in den siebziger Jahren ist das Medium Video eng mit den sub- und gegenkulturellen Bewegungen seiner Zeit verbunden, sowohl in der Kunst als auch in der Alltagskultur in Deutschland. Insbesondere Kunst- und Musikvideos weisen ein großes subversives Potenzial auf: KünstlerInnen und MusikerInnen widersetzen sich traditionellen Werten, überschreiten und hinterfragen immer wieder gesellschaftliche Normen und Geschlechterstereotypen. In diesem Vortrag werden queere wissenschaftliche Archivierungspraktiken im Kontext des ästhetischen Punk-Programms rekapituliert und eruiert.

“They own the land, the buildings, the money, the media and the sex. But maybe not the language.” (Douglas Rushkoff in Painful But Fabulous, p. 20). In punk’s interrogation of the power structures of UK society, language emerged as a formidable tool. Punks spread their (anti-) messages with a high sense of humor, absurdity, and mission awareness: the weapons of the underdog. Genesis P-Orridge of COUM Transmissions for example engaged

in a kind of reoccupation of the English language, using thee for the, E for I, butter for but, etcetera. These détournements became part of the “Coumalphabet” which was used in all statements made by the group. Much like the dadaists at the beginning of the century, punks used nonsense and fragmentation to command attention, forcing you to read twice: The incomprehensibility and the inconvenience were desired effects. Language became a means of resistance against the dominating omnipresence of conservative mass media. The street scape was used for posters, messages, disruptions. Furthermore, as Jon Savage notes, “Punk’s idea was to play the media’s accelerated jumble of signals back at them, like one of William Burroughs’ tape-recorder experiments in Electronic Revolution” (England’s Dreaming, p. 231). In this paper, I will analyze these different strategies of subversion and the use of media and language, focusing on European punk in the late 1970s.

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Wie sprechen Punx über Politik und Utopie? Die 35-minütige Szenedoku „Auf der Suche nach der Utopie“ folgt der Band pogendroblem in Kontexte der subkulturellen (radikalen) Linken und umfasst 15 Interviews mit Musiker*innen, Veranstalter*innen, Zine- und Radioredakteur*innen, Labelbesitzer*innen, die alltagsverstandliche Utopievorstellungen einfangen. Dabei ist vor allem der direkte Sprachgebrauch der Interviewten verlockend, der sich mit akademisch geschultem Sprechen abwechselt. Zwischen Konzert und Kater werden ein gutes Leben für alle und die großen politischen Fragestellungen verhandelt u. a. von Mülheim Asozial, Deutsche Laichen, Akne Kid Joe, Finisterre.

Doch trägt DIY-Punk als „reale Utopie“ (Erik Olin Wright)? Lassen sich die Prozesse selbstorganisierten Handelns, Lernens, Lebens und kulturell-politischen Schaffens als Transformationspraxis begreifen? Ist die Punkszene, welche insbesondere in Deutschland sozialen Bewegungen nahesteht, ein revolutionärer Raum? Gibt DIY-Punk transformative Praxen, solidarische Beziehungsweisen oder utopisches Begehren her? Sind Punx organische Intellektuelle für eine lebenswerte Zukunft?

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How do punx talk about politics and utopia? The 35-minute scene documentary “In Search of Utopia” follows the band pogendroblem into contexts of the subcultural (radical) left and includes 15 interviews with musicians, organizers, zine and radio editors, label owners, capturing everyday ideas of utopia. The interviewees’ cheeky vocabulary is particularly enticing, alternating with academically trained speech. Between concerts and hangovers, a good life for everyone and the big political questions are negotiated by Mülheim Asozial, Deutsche Laichen, Akne Kid Joe, Finisterre, among others.

But does DIY punk bear as a “real utopia” (Erik Olin Wright)? Can the processes of self-organized action, learning, living, and cultural-political creation be understood as transformational practices? Is the punk scene, which is especially in Germany closely linked to social movements, a revolutionary space? Does DIY punk offer transformative practices, solidary ways of relating or utopian desire? Are punx organic intellectuals for a future worth living?

This study investigates the profound connections between Berlin during the Cold War era and the emergence of post-punk bands, such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Tödliche Doris, Malaria! and many other, as well as the influential music movement known as Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) and Berliner Krankenheit (Berlin Illness). By examining the sonic expressions of these bands, we aim to elucidate their role as representative reflections of the post-war city in the early 1980s.

During this period, Berlin’s unique socio-political backdrop, characterized by a “gray” atmosphere and a newly reconstructed urban landscape, provided fertile ground for artistic innovation. The soundscape of the city, infused with industrial and machinery sounds, became a defining element, marking Berlin as a hub of new artistic proposals. Artists from diverse backgrounds coexisted in bars and clubs, contributing to a vibrant artistic community. It is crucial to emphasize that this era was marked by pervasive paranoia, as the world was deeply divided by the Cold War. The music of these post-punk bands captured the gloom and unease of this period, resonating with themes of fear, anxiety, claustrophobia, and the omnipresent dread of a nuclear war. The physical division of Berlin by the infamous Wall further accentuated the importance of this music in shaping the collective imagination of the city. Notably, the influence of David Bowie’s seminal albums, “Low,”, “Heroes” (from 1977) and “Lodger” (1979) recorded in Berlin, cannot be overlooked. Prior to Bowie’s presence, Berlin was primarily renowned as a political center, rather than a musical one. Bowie’s creative contributions shifted the city’s perception and opened doors to new artistic possibilities. Furthermore, this study acknowledges the impact of activist groups like Baader-Meinhof, student protests, riots, and the continuous influx of fugitives from both sides of the Wall and other Iron Curtain countries. These socio-political factors served as additional sources of inspiration for the post-punk bands and shaped the context within which their music emerged. Through an in-depth exploration of the connections between Cold War Berlin and post-punk bands, this study sheds light on how the sonic landscapes created by these artists became a powerful representation of the city’s post-war narrative, reflecting its unique historical, social, and political dynamics.

An introspective look into the clash between the Conservative Government lead by Margaret Thatcher and the radical anti-conformist frustrations of Punk (76-84) and Post-Punk. This presentation will discuss how the political and ideological agenda of Thatcherism clashed and exacerbated an already volatile situation between the government and Cold War youth culture. The, considered by many, Elitist politics of Margaret Thatcher and her governing body arrived at the worst possible moment, when the country was suffering from Cold War paranoia and a distrust of Government was at it’s highest point. Pay rises to the police and the relaxing of open market trade that seemed only to serve as a means of lining the pockets of the upper echelon while reducing many to unemployment, the shutting of the mines serving to drive some 222,000 individuals out of work, 90% of the total workforce at the time. The ever-present anti-government mindset within Punk was driven to the fore, protests erupting over the decisions being made by a collection of individuals whose responsibility was to the people, not the industries. Punk served as the vanguard for this sentiment, it’s radical approach to protest serving as the perfect platform to demonstrate the dissatisfaction of the public.

My presentation would seek to explore the relationship between Thatcherism and the Punk outlet of protest, focussing on the first term between 1979-1983 of the Conservative government and their actions that would inspire a post-Punk protest against the attitude of Parliamentary leaders. Utilising subjects such as ‘White Riot’, I will seek to demonstrate that a Thatcher government seemed to embody all the stances Punk was protesting against. While many historians and academics refer to Thatcher as the politician’s Punk and a revolutionary, it was her eagerness for a fight with any deemed outside the norm that made the enemy of the non-conformist. I will seek to present a balanced argument to the core values of both the Punk movement and Thatcher and her conservative government.

Manic Street Preachers’ (“The Manics”) seminal The Holy Bible (1994) has an aura that overshadows the message. From gender politics to death sentences, the album’s nod to a sorrow-drenched post-punk legacy and abuse of death-related imagery constitute a sweeping attack. In contrast, Richey Edward’s (1994, 1995) talks on truth and Simon Price’s (1999) recollection hint at a more targeted motive. However, doublespeak renders such a potential argument undecipherable, as demonstrated by “Revol.”  A series of psychoanalytic comparisons between sex and socialism turn lines such as “Lebensraum, kulturkampf/Raus raus, Fila fila!” into a moment of interpellation and affect. Something is alarming about these words, despite how they sound like slogans just thrown out. The project will approach “Revol” as a rhetoric of sabotage derived from Generation Terrorists’ (1992) “culture of destruction,” namely a creative process of breaking old knowledge structures to build one.

It will discuss the use of Lebensraum (“living space”) as a primary example.

As a signifier, Lebensraum denotes the notion of a settled land as well as that of its inhabitants. It has been a political term with implications that span from regional orders to a possible outcome of territorial expansion: sending a part of the population to the death camps. Yet through audiovisual mediation, the Manics managed to convert the word into a militant image stripped of its territorial origins, to provoke while diminishing Lebensraum’s political foundation. The détournement breathes new life into it through endless illegibility — or an intertextual richness “afforded” by culture and self-reflection alike.

From 2019 to 2022, I was the director of The House of The Deadly Doris. As the director, I had to figure out in which language to write and speak about the 1980s West-Berlin post-punk artist band Die Tödliche Doris. Academic language brings along an importance and seriousness that, in this specific case, seemed to annihilate its subject. Besides, Die Tödliche Doris was and is not a historical subject but is very much alive. Especially in the person of its founder, the artist Wolfgang Müller, with whom I collaborated closely while working on the House’s 1980s archive. Wolfgang Müller likes to talk and this was already noticed by journalist Gudrun Keil when she visited him in 1981 for breakfast together with Tödliche Doris-members Dagmar Dimitroff and Nikolaus Utermöhlen. She observed a certain ‘Gesprächstruktur’ (‘structure of conversation’) in the group. Wolfgang Müller was the dominant talker. Dagmar Dimitroff talked much less but when she did, it stuck. Nikolaus Utermöhlen was the quiet one.  But all of them, she remarked, felt at ease. The artist’s talking continues to this day and he does so almost exclusively about one topic: art. In my talk, I will navigate the Gesprächsstrukturen of Die Tödliche Doris and reveal how, in its midst, I found mine. I will do so while using my newest publication Material. The Archive of The Deadly Doris, a limited edition by AAAAA PPPPP Publishing.

Anhand des in Ausschnitten zu zeigenden Kurzfilms “Extrakte 1980-1984”, der anlässlich der Anfang 2023 erschienenen gleichnamigen LP mit Stücken der Berliner Früh- und zugleich bereits Post-Punk-Band Rosa Extra vom Ex-Bassisten Bernd Jestram geschnitten wurde, soll deren Sonderstellung angedeutet werden, die vor allem in der Wahl der Textquellen lag. Bereits ihre Vorstufe, welche (nicht ganz zu Unrecht) als Der Schwarze Kanal in der Geschichtsschreibung auftaucht, zeichnete sich dadurch aus, eine vom Experimental-Dichter Bert Papenfuß initiierte New Wave-Version der FDJ-Singebewegung zu versuchen, von dem auch die Texte stammten. Rosa Extra setzten diese Kooperation fort, erweitert um Texte von Stefan Döring, nutzten zudem aber auch solche von Kästner oder Brecht. So exzeptionell Rosa Extra waren, stellten sie zugleich ein frühes Beispiel für DDR-Dichter-Bands im Underground dar, seien es Zwitschermaschine mit Sascha Anderson und Michael Rom, teurer denn je und andere Projekte um bzw. mit Leonhard Lorek oder Frigitte Hodenhorst Mundschenk mit “Matthias” BAADER Holst.

The Punk Opera, Alchemy of Punk, was created using processes of amalgamation, deconstruction, distillation, and transmutation. While my thesis presents an academic discourse serving as epistemology of the subject, the punk opera is an extravaganza, bringing together the greatest voices of classical opera, punk, and industrial rock in an explosive spectacle, melting together theatrical and musical experiences, video installation, and live performance. It features star soprano Simone Kermes, along with underground diva Mona Mur and industrial music legend En Esch (exKMFDM), Swiss conceptual artist Dieter Meier from Yello, German baritone Max Raabe, Japanese butoh dancer Yoriko Maeno, improvisation dancer Meritxell Campos Olivé, and many other luminaries. Through the creation of this installation, I test the relevancy of my theories and ideas presented in my thesis as images on stage; the complementarity of the artwork and academic discourse va de soi.