Afterwards: documentary premiere “The Soul of Color” – on January 15th from 10:25 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – The first “kulturMontag” magazine issue of the new year, presented by Clarissa Stadler on January 15th at 10:25 p.m. on ORF 2, deals with two special annual anniversaries: On the 150th birthday of Karl Kraus, the magazine highlights the complex and lasting work of the Austrian journalist , satirist and playwright, and the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner, the musical ruler of the year, is an occasion for an examination of his important work. Norbert Trawöger, artistic director of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and artistic director of the first Upper Austrian KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, is live in the studio. Furthermore, on the occasion of the upcoming cinema release, the program presents “Rickerl”, the latest film by director Adrian Goiginger, who has hired songwriter Voodoo Jürgens in his first leading role. Following the magazine, ORF 2 will show the new documentary “The Soul of Color” (11:10 p.m.).
Chief cynic of the nation – Karl Kraus’s 150th birthday
Crucial formulations made the critic, satirist, publicist, playwright and reciter Karl Kraus, born on April 28, 1874 in Gitschin, northern Bohemia, popular. For example: “The devil is an optimist if he believes that he can make people worse.” In his magazine “Die Torch” he mercilessly criticized the venal tabloid media, which he called “Journaille”, against which “ Inkwalkers”. However, Kraus’ culturally pessimistic and media-critical work has stood the test of time; writers still refer to him, the eloquent media critic, to this day. His drama, “The Last Days of Mankind,” in which he satirized the enthusiasm for the First World War, has lost none of its validity. Brutal, brilliant and clear-sighted, Kraus shook up Austrian society, was revered and hated, and proved that people can be destroyed with words. His critics included fellow writer Stefan Zweig, who described Kraus in his memoirs “The World of Yesterday” as the “master of poisonous ridicule.” When Karl Kraus died in his Vienna apartment on June 12, 1936, he left behind an almost unmanageable estate, which the Vienna Library will present in an exhibition to mark his 150th birthday. The “kulturMontag” has already discussed Kraus’ cosmos, his pacifism and humanism, his media and social criticism, his precise linguistic thinking and entertaining his enlightening wit.
Everything Anton, or what? On the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner
He was a stubborn and eccentric loner from the country, an organ virtuoso with a talent for improvisation, had a strong compulsion to count and was a real late bloomer as a composer: the Upper Austrian musical genius Anton Bruckner. It was only in his old age that his contemporaries recognized him as a composer. Today he is one of the most important and innovative sound creators of his time, whose works exerted a great influence on music history well into the 20th century. Even the American cult band “White Stripes” quotes the great master in their song “Seven Nation Army”, with which they scored a worldwide hit in 2003, which has since been found on every rock playlist and played in the stadium at many European football matches becomes. But very few people know that the striking riff comes from Anton Bruckner’s monumental 5th Symphony. So who was this Anton Bruckner, who will be celebrated across the country on the occasion of his 200th birthday in 2024? How did the oldest of twelve children of a village school teacher from the small town of Ansfelden near Linz come into contact with music? Why did he give up his career as a music teacher and pursue the path of becoming a composer despite moderate success? What kind of person was he and why was he unlucky with women? Why did Anton Bruckner only achieve his breakthrough with his 7th Symphony at the age of 60? “kulturMontag” went looking for clues. Clarissa Stadler speaks live in the studio with Norbert Trawöger, the artistic director of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and artistic director of the first Upper Austrian KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, who is currently preparing a very personal biography about the composer.
“Music is at most a hobby” – Voodoo Jürgens in the comedy “Rickerl”
One catapulted himself into the hearts of the Austrian audience with his autobiographical film “The Best of All Worlds”. The other has now become the epitome of the current Austropop scene with his darkly humorous lyrics. Adrian Goiginger and Voodoo Jürgens are the congenial duo whose film “Rickerl”, co-financed by ORF as part of the film/television agreement, will be released in local cinemas on January 19th. The Salzburg director discovered the music of Voodoo Jürgens many years ago and was thrilled and touched by his first album “Ansa Woar” from 2016. Inspired by Jürgens’ songs, Goiginger gave the cult singer his first leading role and sent him to the Vienna of Tschocherln and Beisln in “Rickerl”. After “The Best of All Worlds”, “Märzengrund” and “The Fox”, “Rickerl” is the fourth feature film and his first comedy. With depth and Viennese humor, Goiginger tells the story of Erich “Rickerl” Bohacek, who performs his songs for a little tip and dreams of a great career. The Austrobarde, who is called David Öllerer in real life and likes to call himself “Strizzi”, also contributed the film music, but does not see himself as a pure musician. He is fascinated by the different forms of art because “acting and music cross-fertilize each other and both have to do with rhythm,” the likeable Tullner is convinced. “Rickerl” is a reminiscence of the soul of Austropop and a melancholic, humorous declaration of love to Viennese tavern culture.
New documentary “The Soul of Color” (11:10 p.m.)
The world is full of colors, but strictly speaking they don’t actually exist. Because, in contrast to colloquial language, color does not mean just any substance that is processed. Rather, it is the perception that arises in humans and animals when light falls on the eye and is converted by the brain. Only a small spectrum is actually visible to humans. So color only emerges in our heads. With the documentary “The Soul of Color,” director Hannes Opel takes an exciting journey into the world of historical color recipes and their craftsmanship.
The filmmaker visits, among others, the Spanish artist Miquel Barceló in Mallorca, who is known for his large-scale, thick-layered and colorful works, which represent an explosive departure into a new era of Spanish art in the post-Franco era. Free from conformity and obedience, open to contradiction and the pure power of color. For Barceló, color is pure instinct and passion. He also dives in the Mediterranean for purple snails, which have been used to make the most expensive dye in the world for thousands of years.
In a paint mill in the Allgäu you get an insight into a unique archive of long-forgotten colors. The Kremer family company specializes in the production of historical color pigments. The family has saved more than 100 colors from oblivion, which they also sell all over the world, such as the oldest known cobalt pigment smalt, which played a special role in German painting of the Renaissance and Baroque. Smalt was also the favorite blue pigment of the well-known German painter Caspar David Friedrich, whose pictures are characterized by magical beauty but also dark melancholy. The secret hidden in Friedrich’s favorite blue is finally revealed in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.