Author Marcel Beyer gets us to witness an evening at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg attended by a host of celebrities—a reception in honour of Andreas Gursky. In his waspish descriptions of the images, the writer, who relies on widely disseminated and easily accessible photographic material, takes umbrage at the way executives, football managers, and actresses confidently push themselves in front of the art. In the process he produces an ironic commentary on Gursky’s series of large-format, decorative pictures. Beyer’s essay is based on a lecture that the writer gave in spring 2017 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum at the launch of the DFG Research Training Group (GRK 2132) “Das Dokumentarische: Exzess und Entzug”. The audience who attended the event now respond to the talk in writing: with comments, remarks, and ripostes.
Marcel Beyer (b. 1965 in Tailfingen) is a German writer, epic poet, essay writer, and editor. He received the Georg Büchner Prize in 2016.
Text: Marcel Beyer & Graduiertenkolleg 2131 (Friedrich Balke, Natalie Binczek, Tabea Braun, Esra Canpalat, Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky, Robert Dörre, Julia Eckel, Oliver Fahle, Katja Grashöfer, Maren Haffke, Sarah Horn, Felix Hüttemann, Niklas Kammermeier, Cecilia Preiß, Matthias Preuss, Stefan Rieger, Simon Rothöhler, Armin Schäfer, Monika Schmitz-Emans, Robin Schrade, Annette Urban, Leonie Zilch)
