Dirk von Lowtzow

After dropping out of art history studies, Dirk von Lowtzow landed in Hamburg in 1993.
Hamburg in 1993 and saw for the first time at the Hamburger Kunstverein what was then
what was called "contemporary art" then and now and did not exist in Freiburg. The
exhibition was called "Backstage" ("I only knew him from punk clubs") and was intended as
a peek behind the scenes and at the same time as an overview of "institutional critique" and
"context art". Many of the positions on display corresponded with the recently
Tocotronic's practice, which had just begun.
Five years later in Cologne, he met Isabelle Graw, author and editor of "Texte
zur Kunst" and was hired as an art critic for the magazine after an evening at the bar.
This volume of essays brings together (almost) all of Dirk von Lowtzow's contributions to "Texte zur Kunst" from
1999-2019 for "Texte zur Kunst" and for catalogs - in chronological order.
It begins with a visit to Sigmar Polke's exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle
and ends with some (unanswered) questions to the writer Leïla Slimani.
Slimani. There is also a mini-drama!
Dirk von Lowtzow will create an entertaining and sometimes very funny evening with old and new
and new texts about art and sing the matching songs from three decades of
decades of Tocotronic.
"Detektive" will be published by Verbrecher Verlag in August 2026.

Dirk von Lowtzow, born in Offenburg/Baden in 1971, founded the rock band Tocotronic in Hamburg in 1993.
rock band Tocotronic together with Arne Zank and Jan Müller. Since 1995 he has released
many Tocotronic albums, most recently the album "Golden Years" in 2025.