(German Version below)

I wasn’t a big Lady Gaga fan. Her performances seemed too trendy, too flashy, and I was really put off by her plastic aesthetic—until I saw the movies House of Gucci and A Star Is Born. I thought she is amazing as an actress and started to get into her songs. Actually, for her artistic concept.

As an art historian, I’ve been wondering for quite some time where the new, the different, the ‚edgy‘ is. Where is avantgarde? Much of what catches my eye at art colleges has been there before, nice, ironic, and, well, okay. Performance rules: Half-naked, oiled-up humans are currently rolling around on the floor in the Schinkel Pavilion, while the Berlin art clique stands around bored, sipping Pinot Blanc. Oh, come on, folks, you’ve been seeing that in kinky clubs for years, and even I—living in a small village in the Westphalian countryside—have actually seen more outrageous and bizarre performances on queer and kinky stages.

I find the art world increasingly perverse, perverse capitalist! The way curators, who are also collectors, throw themselves at artists and everyone profits financially from it would violate all compliance regulations in any company and be punished as insider trading in the banking sector. Anyway. So what (still) excites me about contemporary art? Besides Grayson Perry, Hans Ticha, Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s B-movie lesbian trilogy – above all, Lady Gaga! What a paradox that I find the avant-garde in the mainstream of pop culture!

Lady Gaga is the salvation of the world’s healer, Salvator Mundi! The counterweight to MAGA! The counterweight to the power-hungry, corrupt, uncouth male fraternities! The counterweight to the simple-minded autocrats who rule our world and take great pleasure in trampling on civilizational achievements of tolerant and empathetic cooperation. Lady Gaga effortlessly manages to unite millions of humans at a concert. One and a half million, at least half of them, waved their fans loudly and angrily in the air in Rio when her “Born this Way” rang out, sung with fervor by millions of voices, indeed, shouted out loud. And you sing along right there behind your computer screen because you are infected by this passion and the message behind the lyrics! Because you want to take a stand against all the terrible, repressive acts that happen at the behest of power-hungry men. Fans against autocrats!

Her ‘Mother Monster’ world is the counterpoint to right-wing nationalist egalitarianism, her Mother Monster Manifesto a manifesto of ‘boundless freedom’. The manifesto for her latest album, Manifesto of Mayhem, is a call to embrace chaos and become part of the liberation from boundaries: “The album is ultimately about hope, but it’s about the chaos of being you and being all the parts of you that sometimes don’t make sense.”

In 2012, despite being banned from performing on stage in Moscow, Lady Gaga shouted: „I believe that men and women deserve to love each other equally. Cuff me Russia. Arrest me, Russia! I don’t give a fuck!“ Eat this art scene, eat this— you f*** capitalist bootlicker and sycophant!

I’m going to make a Lady Gaga oil painting, without selling it to anyone!

German Version

Ich war nie ein großer Lady Gaga Fan. Es erschien mir alles zu modisch, zu schrill, zu sehr stieß mich ihre Plastik -Ästhetik ab. Bis ich den Film „House of Gucci“ sah und „A star is born“. Sensationell fand ich sie als Schauspielerin und begann mich für ihre Songs zu interessieren, beziehungsweise für ihr künstlerisches Gesamtkonzept.

Als Kunsthistorikerin frage ich mich seit geraumer Zeit, wo denn das Neue ist, das andere? Die Avantgarde? Vieles, was mir von den Kunsthochschulen ins Auge springt, ist da gewesen, nett, ironisch und, na ja, ganz okay. Performance rules: Halbnackte, eingeölte Menschen wälzen sich derzeit im Schinkel-Pavillon auf dem Boden herum, während die Berliner Kunstclique gelangweilt drumherum steht und am Weißburgunder nippt, ach, ja, ihr Lieben, das bekommt man doch schon seit Jahren in Kinky-Clubs zu sehen und selbst ich – wohnend in einem kleinen Dorf in der westfälischen Provinz – habe tatsächlich schon schrillere und abgefahrenere Performances auf queeren und kinky Bühnen gesehen.

Den Kunstbetrieb finde ich zunehmend pervers, pervers kapitalisitisch! Wie ekelig sich Kuratoren, die gleichzeitig Sammler sind, an Künstler ranschmeißen (man kennt sich…) und alle davon monetär profitieren, das würde in allen Unternehmen gegen sämtliche Compliancevorgaben verstoßen und im Bereich der Banken als Insiderhandel abgestraft werden. Anyway. Was begeistert mich also (noch) im Hinblick auf zeitgenössische Kunst? Neben Grayson Perry, Hans Ticha, die B-Movie Lesben-Triologie von Ethan Coen und Tricia Cooke – vor allem Lady Gaga. Was für ein Paradox, dass ich die Avantgarde ausgerechnet im Mainstream der Pop-Kultur finde!

Lady Gaga ist die Weltheilerin, der Salvator Mundi der Jetztzeit! Die Gegenwaffe zu MAGA! Die Gegenwaffe zu den machtgeilen, korrupten, ungehobelten Männerbünden! Die Gegenwaffe zu den einfältigen Autokraten, die unsere Welt beherrschen und mit großer Freude zivilisatorischen Errungenschaften des toleranten und empathischen Miteinanders zertrampeln. Lady Gaga schafft es spielend, Millionen Menschen zu einem Konzert zu vereinen. Anderthalb Millionen, also mindestens die Hälfte von Ihnen knallte in Rio laut und wütend den Fächer in der Luft, als ihr „Born this way“ erschallte, das aus Millionen von Kehlen voller Inbrunst mitgesungen, ja geradezu herausgebrüllt, wurde. Und man singt direkt mit, hinter der Mattscheibe des PCs, weil man angesteckt wird, von dieser Leidenschaft und der Botschaft hinter dem Text! Weil man ein Zeichen setzen will, gegen all‘ die fürchterlichen, repressiven Taten, die auf Anordnung von machthungrigen Männern passieren. Fächer gegen Autokraten!

Ihre „Mother Monster“-Welt ist der Kontrapunkt gegen die rechts-nationale Gleichmacherei, ihr Mother Monster Manifest ein Manifest of „boundless freedom“. Das Manifest zu ihrem neuesten Album „Manifesto of Mayhem“ eine Aufforderung, das Chaos zu umarmen und selbst Teil der Befreiung von Grenzen zu werden: „The album is ultimately about hope, but it’s about the chaos of being you and being all the parts of you that sometimes don’t make sense.”

Lady Gaga rief 2012, trotz Verbots sich auf der Bühne in Moskau für Gay-Rights einzusetzen: „I believe that men and women deserve to love each other equally. Cuff me Russia. Arrest me, Russia! I don’t give a fuck!“

Eat this zeitgenössische Kunstszene, eat this – Du verf* kapitalistischer Steigbügelhalter und Speichellecker!

Ich werde ein Lady Gaga Gemälde machen und es an genau niemanden verkaufen!


English Version:


I wasn’t a big Lady Gaga fan. Her performances seemed too trendy, too flashy, and I was really put off by her plastic aesthetic—until I saw the movies House of Gucci and A Star Is Born. I thought she is amazing as an actress and started to get into her songs. Actually, for her artistic concept.

As an art historian, I’ve been wondering for quite some time where the new, the different, the ‚edgy‘ is. Where is avantgarde? Much of what catches my eye at art colleges has been there before, nice, ironic, and, well, okay. Performance rules: Half-naked, oiled-up humans are currently rolling around on the floor in the Schinkel Pavilion, while the Berlin art clique stands around bored, sipping Pinot Blanc. Oh, come on, folks, you’ve been seeing that in kinky clubs for years, and even I—living in a small village in the Westphalian countryside—have actually seen more outrageous and bizarre performances on queer and kinky stages.

I find the art world increasingly perverse, perverse capitalist! The way curators, who are also collectors, throw themselves at artists and everyone profits financially from it would violate all compliance regulations in any company and be punished as insider trading in the banking sector. Anyway. So what (still) excites me about contemporary art? Besides Grayson Perry, Hans Ticha, Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s B-movie lesbian trilogy – above all, Lady Gaga! What a paradox that I find the avant-garde in the mainstream of pop culture!

Lady Gaga is the salvation of the world’s healer, Salvator Mundi! The counterweight to MAGA! The counterweight to the power-hungry, corrupt, uncouth male fraternities! The counterweight to the simple-minded autocrats who rule our world and take great pleasure in trampling on civilizational achievements of tolerant and empathetic cooperation. Lady Gaga effortlessly manages to unite millions of humans at a concert. One and a half million, at least half of them, waved their fans loudly and angrily in the air in Rio when her “Born this Way” rang out, sung with fervor by millions of voices, indeed, shouted out loud. And you sing along right there behind your computer screen because you are infected by this passion and the message behind the lyrics! Because you want to take a stand against all the terrible, repressive acts that happen at the behest of power-hungry men. Fans against autocrats!

Her ‘Mother Monster’ world is the counterpoint to right-wing nationalist egalitarianism, her Mother Monster Manifesto a manifesto of ‘boundless freedom’. The manifesto for her latest album, Manifesto of Mayhem, is a call to embrace chaos and become part of the liberation from boundaries: “The album is ultimately about hope, but it’s about the chaos of being you and being all the parts of you that sometimes don’t make sense.”

In 2012, despite being banned from performing on stage in Moscow, Lady Gaga shouted: „I believe that men and women deserve to love each other equally. Cuff me Russia. Arrest me, Russia! I don’t give a fuck!“ Eat this art scene, eat this— you f*** capitalist bootlicker and sycophant!

I’m going to make a Lady Gaga oil painting, without selling it to anyone!