TONSPUR_display #7 • Peter Weibel • Der elektrische Krieg

TONSPUR_display #7
in memoriam
Peter Weibel
* 5.3.1944  † 1.3.2023
Der elektrische Krieg, 1983
TONSPUR für einen öffentlichen raum 2024

2.3.—1.5.2024
Preview • Friday • 1 Mar 2024 • 19:00
introduction Romana Schuler •
word donations: Sabine Kienzer • David Moss (text below) •
Ruth Schnell • Gerhard Rühm

TONSPUR_display
Showroom TONSPUR Kunstverein Wien
MuseumsQuartier Wien
Museumsplatz 1 • 1070 Vienna
daily 10:00 to 20:00

Der elektrische Krieg (Ausschnitt)
Ausstellung: Köln, Moltkerei Werkstatt
13.—19.11.1983

PETER WEIBEL * 5.3.1944 IN ODESSA † 1.3.2023 IN KARLSRUHE

ON THE DEATH OF PETER WEIBEL

i was greatly saddened by the news of peter weibel’s death. he was unique in his way, and is irreplaceable. we went way back together — if i’m not mistaken, we met at the beginning of the nineteen-sixties. at first as a welcome acquaintance within my circle of friends, we gradually became close friends, a friendship i would have sorely missed. he was not only highly intelligent and well educated — it was always rewarding to chat with him — he was also very approachable, and had an agreeable, friendly manner in conversation. you couldn’t help but like him, just as he was.

we performed together on numerous occasions, a source of quite a few anecdotes. at the outset, by the way, he frequently had bad luck during his performances. something often went awry or didn’t go as planned — especially when complicated technical equipment was involved. but the outcome was always okay. sometimes he put himself in physical danger, for example when he dipped his arm, which was coated with a fire-repellent liquid, into a bucket filled with flames and then held it up while it was burning. luckily, he didn’t suffer any permanent injury from the burns. still, he put on a whole row of successful performances, right up to the end. he was probably one of the first Action Artists, certainly in a conceptual vein.

his catalogue texts are essential reading and undoubtedly of lasting value. the catalogues he produced were extraordinarily capacious, and frequently immense, often not being available until the end of the exhibition concerned — due, of course, to the complexity of the contents. This notwithstanding, his theoretical writings are of particular significance, while also being highly recommendable, if challenging, reading material. his books and essays on unjustly forgotten artists and scientists active before and during the nazi era of barbarism are also extremely commendable. what he has saved from obscurity is impressive and will endure.

my most important, most intense memory of peter is his presentation of the vienna group (friedrich achleitner, h.c. artmann, konrad bayer, gerhard rühm, oswald wiener) at the 1997 venice biennial. the concept for his sensational presentation was a stroke of genius. he built a huge block in the exhibition space — out of vast tomes, copies of his catalogue, which was rich in images and information. They were stacked on top of each other, setting a stage where visitors were free to take the catalogues away. So the stage set-up was constantly changing. in the streets of venice at night you would occasionally come across individual copies lying around — as they had clearly become too heavy for their owners to carry any further through the bustle of venice. in any case, the whole thing was a spectacular event and met with great resonance. i shall never forget those eventful days spent together in venice.

my thanks and my respect go to the man, the artist, the theoretician, and the often chaotic organiser, my lost friend peter weibel, with sadness and deep sorrow at his unintentionally hasty departure from the scene.

—gerhard rühm, february 2024

A Mystery Revealed

From 1983 to 1986 I was the producer/moderator for “U.S. Ear: the New Music Review for Radio” — a weekly magazine-style program about new and experimental music, and broadcast by over 100 radio stations throughout the country.

As I remember it now (40 years later), one day an audio cassette arrived from our German reporter… no performers or band listed, simply titled “Sex in der Stadt”.   We decided to feature the song, but because this was America in the early 80’s, (and radio stations had rules about “appropriate” content), it was decided to pronounce the title as “Six in the City”.  Fine!  No problem… the lyrics were in German, and no one could really understand them.  The music was propulsive — with a quasi-spoken lyric and a sung refrain of the title:  totally Berlin for the American radio public. And so, in 1984, “Sex in der Stadt” was premiered all over the U.S.

On 25. Feb. 2024, I’m in Wien for the opening of TONSPUR D, as curator for the installation by Boris Hegenbart, in the MuseumsQuartier.
We’re standing in the cool evening air and record-collector, Thomas Epple presents Georg Weckwerth with a small paper bag. In it are two 45-rpm records made by Peter Weibel and band. They are for Georg’s memorial event for Peter Weibel in just a few days.  Georg hands them to me to look at, and I’m hit by a memory because one 45 is titled “Sex in der Stadt” with a release date of 1983.  I suddenly realize that THIS is the very song we played on U.S. Ear in 1984.  But now, for the first time, 40 years after I first heard it, I understand that it was Peter Weibel talking/singing and the Hotel Morphila Orchester playing.  I laughed in time-travel-delight:  a mystery from the past had been put in my hands and solved just outside of the TONSPUR_passage in downtown Vienna!

Postscript: after moving to Berlin in 1991, I came to know and honor Peter Weibel and his many works. We had the pleasure of meeting at ZKM in 2002, when I performed with Heiner Goebbels’ “Die Befreiung des Prometheus”.

— David Moss, Berlin, 27 February 2024

PETER WEIBEL / HOTEL MORPHILA ORCHESTER • SEX IN DER STADT

Sabine Groschup • Als gehörten sie einem Mundleser

Als gehörten sie einem Mundleser
scannen hellwache Augen die Worte
und übersetzen sie in den Windungen des Gehirns.
Ein kleiner Roboter stakkatot
die einzelnen Buchstaben zu seinen Worten
einer fremden Sprache, einer fernen.
Das weiße Universum der Trägerseiten
füllt sich mit schwarzen Buchstabensternen.
Jedes Wort ist wie ein Wald,
der sich in der künstlichen Welt wiedergefunden hat.
„Schwarze Energie; Sex in der Stadt!“
Erst ist es Projektion im expanded cinema,
übergeleitet in die Jetztzeit der Galaxien.
Hier das Blatt, dort der Screen.
Und aus der Vergangenheit schöpfend,
in die Zukunft gedacht.
Seine Augen blitzen. Seine Freude entfacht
durch Kunstwerke anderer, die einem intelligenten Prinzip folgen.
Seine Objekte träumen, reflektieren und genügen sich selbst.
Worte schlagen im Rhythmus einer Snare Drum.
„Das gelebte Leben ist nicht das eigentliche Leben,
das man leben könnte!“
Und so arbeitet seine Energie nach dem Tod
im expandierenden Universum weiter.

Peter Weibel gewidmet       

SG 2023

Uwe Bressnik • Song For My Art Father

Peter Weibel R.I.P.

TONSPUR 42: Peter Weibel • Das Leben im 20. Jahrhundert: 225 Millionen Morde

Installation View

Photos Reinhold Leitner