Comic: The future returns in “Métal Hurlant”
By the 1970s, the future of comics had dawned, at least in France. One of the cultural upheavals that May 1968 brought with it was that the “Bandes Dessinées” suddenly grew up and were no longer aimed only at a young audience. At the same time, the self-confidence of the artists and the (regrettably few) women artists grew. Unlike today, however, comics were not only available as albums; Magazines played an equally important role. Older minds were in charge of them. So some of the young savages, including Moebius, Philippe Druillet and Claire Bretécher, who died last year, set about setting up their own publications.
The most famous among them was Métal Hurlant, in German as much as “Schreiendes Metall”. Initially devoted entirely to science fiction, the magazine, launched in 1975, quickly opened up to other genres and gathered the stars of the local scene, including American artists who had little knowledge of superheroes. With Heavy metal in the USA and the German Heavy metal there were offshoots; then it was over in 1987. A relaunch attempt almost 20 years ago failed. Now is Métal Hurlant again on the market after a brilliant Kickstarter campaign (metalhurlant.com). For comic book fans with a solid knowledge of French, this should be one of the news of the year.
And rightly so: the first, almost 300-page edition, sure-footedly continues a great tradition, but dispenses with the sex and violence effects that Métal Hurlant were not strangers in the past. Several of the 22 short stories would be in Strapazin, the German-Swiss avant-garde magazine, is also in good hands. Should be every three months Métal Hurlant appear and each be dedicated to a topic; this time all of the articles are about the near future. In the editorial part, William Gibson, the cyberpunk inventor, also has his say in black paint. Vincent Bernières, the editor, argues against this with his foreword: “Métal Hurlant is back. Nothing is lost, nothing arises, everything changes. ” Christoph Haas
Dance: 100 seconds of chair acrobatics
In the golden era of the Hollywood musical, umbrellas, tables and clothes racks danced the most wonderful pas de deux with stars like Gene Kelly. But such an ingenious human-furniture duet, as the London dance house Sadler’s Wells is currently presenting on its digital stage, was rarely among them. In a shirt and suit, the just twenty-two-year-old young choreographer John-William Watson rotates through the natural backdrop of the English south coast. At his side, a ballerina shines, who can effortlessly turn, throw, hurl or catapult into the sea. After all, it is a very ordinary chair that Watson does acrobatically and athletically swirls around in three-four time of the “Fledermaus” overture. A hundred seconds of pure pleasure sadlerswells.com – and the discovery of a talented choreographer. Dorion Weickmann
Commemoration: Jena makes music for the NSU victims
On November 9th, many places in Jena will sing and make music.
(Photo: imago / Christoph Worsch)
Hardly any of the Jena musicians would have thought of registering a political rally ever in their life. But singing and making music, they can do that, and thus drive away evil spirits, they can do that too. At least on November 9th, this decisive day for the history of Germany, on which right-wing extremists like to spread out in the city of Jena, from which the terrorist group NSU originates. This time the right-wing extremists have no chance to dominate the city – because the musicians are already there. You have artfully occupied the city. The “sound of the stumbling blocks” can be heard at 45 places, at monuments and where there are stumbling blocks. Choirs sing, wind orchestras, jazz bands, school classes and the philharmonic orchestra play. (Klang-der-stolpersteine.de) To bow before the victims of the tyranny, but also, so the initiators say, “to make the city inaccessible for this special day for the parades of the yesterday”. A city that defends itself, a civil society that comes up with something. One would like to have that more often. And citizens who leave the daily struggle for democracy not only to the police and the protection of the constitution. Should get around. Annette Ramelsberger
Pop: Epically normal
Ed Sheeran, the nicest, nicest, crunchiest but also: with the most successful male pop star who has ever walked this planet (feels like he has two pants, a T-shirt, not a single haircut, never before, but everybody alternates with Drake Streaming Record That Can Be Invented) releases a new album. It says “=”, pronounced “equals”, the math symbol continuation of “+”, “x” and “÷”. And what can one say: The work brutally continues the almost epic struggle of the British against the insignia of pop – coolness, attitude, big poses and every other form of extraordinaryness. No conceit, sometimes sublime banal, at times interchangeable beyond recognition. But always also: incredibly beneficial. Absolute normality has never been greater, more powerful, or more beautiful. Jakob Biazza
Design: outdoors
Paul Cocksedge’s picnic blanket “Here Comes The Sun” from 2020 provides the necessary space.
(Photo: Mark Cocksedge)
Hardly any other exhibition should make what mankind has experienced in the past two years as tangible as the not-so-large exhibition “In the open” by the New collection, the design museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. The two curators Polina Gedova and Christopher Haaf present design objects along a wooden walkway that the West needs when it goes outside. Foldable chairs and stools are just as much as space-saving camping crockery, divisible kayaks, foldable skis, scooters, e-bikes and portable park benches. Some things were only just created during the pandemic, such as the bright yellow textile work “Here Comes The Sun” by Briton Paul Cocksedge, which calls itself a picnic blanket, but can be described as the friendly shape of a spell. Because the circle from which the circular seats extend provides the necessary distance between the participants.
Corona sent us outside, meetings should take place outdoors if possible. Accordingly, the market for outdoor products boomed, and the mountain boot department in a city is rarely seen as such place to be felt like the past two summers. The show also shows that the longing for a healthy outdoors, for nature and relaxation is of course much older than this damned virus, probably as old as mankind itself: The astonishingly colorful camping utensils come from the GDR. The folding chairs made of wood and iron stood around in parks and gardens in Austria-Hungary and France around 1900.
It is also not new that the urge to go out immediately caused problems. The colorful plastic of all the foldable, stackable and collapsible objects has long been piled up to form huge mountains of rubbish. Since the pandemic, even more beautiful stretches of land, but also parks, have been groaning under the onslaught of the population. Design wouldn’t be design if it didn’t offer a solution for this as well: At the end of the exhibition there is a square, silver-gray container with a pizza box written on it in large letters so that all the cardboard boxes can at least be neatly stacked. For urban green spaces, this is at least a start. Laura Weissmüller
Oscar Shumsky
The star conductor Leopold Stokowski called the boy a genius, Arturo Toscanini later brought him to the NBC Orchestra as concertmaster for two seasons. In the 1950s he played with the piano guru Glenn Gould. Oscar Shumsky (1917-2000), praised by Fritz Kreisler and David Oistrach as one of the “greatest violinists in the world”, did not really appear in Europe until the 1980s. These appearances were a huge success. What the violin singing of this singular musician is all about is shown by the recording of the violin concerto by Johannes Brahms, which Shumsky made in the eighties, but which has only now been published: It can hardly be played more intimately, lovingly. The way Shumsky longingly fills the cantilenas with vibrant life is movingly beautiful. Harald Eggebrecht