Wir waren hochgemute Nichtskönner. Die rauschhaften Jahre der Kölner Subkultur 1980-1995

In the organizer's words:

Reading and discussion with Gregor Schwering and Gisa Funck

The people of Cologne sometimes have a tendency towards local patriotism - but to mention Cologne in the same breath as New York or London would probably be a little presumptuous. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, things were very different: the art and gallery scene of the 1980s radiated as far as New York, Cologne gallery owners maintained branches on the East Coast and American artists made the pilgrimage to Cologne, where the magazine "Texte zur Kunst" was published with controversial opinions alongside world-class artists and galleries. In the early 1980s, the Cologne music magazine SPEX had already set the pace for a new music journalism, and the so-called Sound of Cologne of the Cologne electronic scene of the 1990s around conceptualists such as Wolfgang Voigt still reverberates worldwide today.

Gisa Funck and Gregor Schwering tell the story of this time with many original interviews with those involved at the time in their book "Wir waren hochgemute Nichtskönner - Die rauschhaften Jahre der Kölner Subkultur 1980-1995", which was published last fall by Kiepenheuer & Witsch. It tells the story of the emergence of SPEX, the provocative artist group "Mülheimer Freiheit" around Walter Dahn, the scandalous appearances of artist Martin Kippenberger or the electronic label Kompakt and much more. The narrative thread is held by a fictional marginal character who stumbles across all this while dabbling in the music business or the art market, studying a little on the side, but above all observing the illustrious crowd of creatives in Cologne's trendy pubs and at parties. Together with Gregor Schwering and Gisa Funck, we want to immerse ourselves in this time and its subculture. Of course, we would like to do this in a place of art and thank the friendly hospitality of Galerie Anja Knoess.

Afterwards we invite you to drinks and snacks.

Moderation: Christian Meyer-Pröpstl

Tickets via Kölnticket or at the B.O.!