Ö1 Podcast
Since 2020, steirischer herbst has been accompanied by an Ö1 festival podcast featuring interviews with artists and authors on the festival’s themes. You can listen to all episodes here.
steirischer herbst ’25
Never Again Peace
The 58th edition of steirischer herbst had the motto Never Again Peace and promised a return to the festival’s antifascist roots. The motto was much more than a provocative slogan and revealed its literary roots in the program. From Ernst Toller’s (eponymous) Nie wieder Friede (No More Peace) as a puppet show to immersive elements in the central group exhibition [at the] BAU and performances that—as usual—took place in the Styrian capital’s main venues: In the Ö1 festival podcast Hört, hört! Festivals mit Ö1, the editors explored the Graz festival in eight episodes, discussing performances and the group exhibition and reflecting on themes and works with artists and cultural workers who participated in this year’s festival.
(Source: Ö1)
steirischer herbst ’24
Horror Patriae
Emmerich Kálmán’s life as the Phantom of the Operetta; the favorite songs of Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Slobodan Milošević, and Joseph Stalin as a performance; an evening concert with children singing the audience to sleep; a history hike in the Kastner & Öhler fashion store … From 19 September to 13 October, steirischer herbst ’24 dealt with the concept of the fatherland. A hybrid of the Latin horror vacui (fear of emptiness) and amor patriae (love of the fatherland) loomed as a monstrous motto above this year’s festival for contemporary art, problematizing the term.
Ö1 accompanied steirischer herbst ’24 with eight episodes of its new festival podcast Hört, hört! Festivals mit Ö1, offering an overview of the program, reporting from Graz on performances and exhibitions, and reflecting on the festival’s themes with participating artists and cultural workers.
(Source: Ö1)
steirischer herbst ’23
Humans and Demons
How much time is left before climate change leads to total collapse? How radically will artificial intelligence change our workplaces? How long will the conflict in Ukraine keep the world busy, and what challenges will arise once it ends, if it ever does? How long can Europe ignore the corpses of refugees lying on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea? Can the tension in media coverage still be ramped up? And what will happen afterward?
Ö1 is accompanying steirischer herbst ’23 with a festival podcast again, offering an overview of the program, reporting from Graz on performances and exhibitions, and reflecting on the festival theme together with participating artists and speakers.
(Source: Ö1)
steirischer herbst ’22
A War in the Distance
After an initial, rather prolonged shock, Austria has settled back into its familiar coziness. Society is biding its time, more attentive than usual, but calm, almost stoically awaiting whatever may come. Until then, we continue to enjoy the comfortable life we know. Our emotional and mental shield is active. steirischer herbst ’22 brings the discrepancy between the front, freedom, and peace back into the collective consciousness, placing it in the center of this year’s festival.
In the Ö1 festival podcast, we present artistic perspectives on visible and invisible threats and on the aesthetic processes they provoke. We offer an overview of this year’s festival program and report from Graz on performances and exhibitions. In conversation with participating artists, cultural workers, and curators, we explore to what extent the front has arrived in our society, how such situations are handled elsewhere, and whether the impending danger might also offer a few solutions that can—and must—be utilized.
(Source: Ö1)
steirischer herbst ’21
The Way Out
The collective experience of recent months has shaped society and makes us less confident when looking toward the future. steirischer herbst ’21 uses the current situation for a countermovement: radically outside, into the open air, into the crowd, perhaps even into the masses, but also out of the institutional bubble in which art, especially the avant-garde, typically operates.
The Ö1 festival podcast reflects on this shift in conversations with artists participating in the current festival. What parts of public space have been lost during the pandemic? How can they be (re)claimed, and what role does the avant-garde play in this process? In which situations do people feel the need to “get out”? And where to? Conversations with artists, designers, thinkers, and performers accompany the festival acoustically; musician Manfred Engelmayr contributes a bouquet of newly composed sound pieces.
(Source: Ö1)
steirischer herbst ’20
Who’s Afraid of …
In the wake of the pandemic, social isolation, mass surveillance, conspiracy theories, and the increasingly obvious economic impact of the virus are creating a state of anxiety. steirischer herbst is responding to this complex situation with the addition of a new media format called Paranoia TV. The Ö1 podcast Who’s Afraid of … takes up this invitation to reflect on the logic of suspicion, examining the vulnerabilities of artists and authors as well as their relation to various threats.
Ö1 culture editors Petra Erdmann and Thomas Edlinger explore these questions between personal experience and artistic-narrative reflection. Faced with the virus, can we no longer trust even ourselves? Can we render ourselves immune against experiencing crises? How can we cope with a future that feels frightening? How contagious is paranoia, and who benefits from it? And how can the new fears between lockdown and trivialization be dealt with artistically?
(Source: Ö1)