LESEN, HÖREN, SCROLLEN?

BOOK PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION ABOUT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRINT

Writing about thin lines, surface division and unpainted canvases requires a good deal of courage. The art critic and journalist Hans-Peter Riese, whose 85th birthday is in May, has never shied away from this and has earned himself a reputation as a mediator of "difficult art". His tool is the word, his battlefield the book.
Tempi passati? Who still reads in the age of podcasts, Instagram and YouTube?

After the reading by Hans-Peter Riese from his new publication "Hinter dem Spiegel", Wienand Verlag, Cologne, the author, the publisher Michael Wienand and the artist Christoph Westermeier, moderated by Barbara Könches, will talk about the future and past of books.

An opportunity for all book lovers to have their say; as well as for all book skeptics to argue for the advantages of audiobooks on the bike or fast TikTok videos on the beach.

H.-P. Riese was already a guest at the ZERO foundation in February 2026. His lecture on Christian Megert's 90th birthday is one of eight chapters in the slim volume of around 112 pages (good for light luggage), which also includes reports on Norbert Kricke, Hans Jörg Glattfelder, János Megyik, Arne Schreiber, Norbert Thomas, Andreas Brandt and the founder and honorary chairman of the Friends of the ZERO foundation, Hubertus Schoeller.
The volume, which is as graphically unagitated as it is convincing, can be purchased on the evening and enhanced with a signature from the author.

Hans-Peter Riese is a German journalist, art critic and curator. He was a foreign correspondent for ARD in Prague, Moscow and Washington and chief radio editor at Hessischer Rundfunk, as well as art critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for forty years.

Christoph Westermeier is artist and 1st chairman of the artists' association Malkasten, Düsseldorf. 2004-2010 studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, 2009 master student of Prof. Christopher Williams, numerous stays abroad such as in Moscow or Istanbul, scholarships and awards.

Michael Wienand is a second-generation publisher. With his enthusiasm for art and his friendship with many artists, he has developed one of the leading art book programs. Wienand Verlag stands for exhibition catalogs that are produced in cooperation with national and international museums and foundations.