Harry´s Blog

Herbert Kuhner
Art can no longer be produced.
- Peter Weibel, Commissioner of Culture
Dear friends, we have gathered here today to discuss the situation in the arts and literature, which is indeed critical. In the history of mankind, there has never been such an impasse, as far as culture is concerned. Something must be done and we […]

Herbert Kuhner
Two is better than one,
and that goes for bass drums.
Now there are double bass drum peddles
for one drum
so that you can use the hi-hat as well,
while you’re at it.
Ray McKinley started using two in ‘41.
That went almost unnoticed.
Louie Bellson made a big splash with them,
or rather big thuds, nine years later.
But to this credit, […]

Herbert Kuhner
One thing that the Love Goddesses seemed to have in common was that the love didn’t play much of a role in their private loves. They were desired by every man and were a romantic object for all men, but they invariably had a cynical view of amour and were down to earth about […]

The jury, which is independent of the Municipal Cultural Department has unanimously cast its vote against this book (Der Ausschluss/Memoirs of a 39er)….I feel that I must adhere to that decision.
- Dr. Ursula Pasterk, the Municipal Cultural Coordinator of the City of Vienna
Your behavior is revolting and uncouth. You have a persecution complex.
- Peter Bochskanl, […]

After Returning to the Scene of the Crime: Herbert Kuhner was forced to leave Austria in 1939. In his Memoirs Kuhner presents the balance sheet. His book deals with his experiences after returning to the “new Austria.” In it he describes the incredible chain of intrigue, baseness and calumny that he has encountered. The aspects […]

Herbert Kuhner is an exceedingly weak author who could never represent Austria in any way.
- Wolfgang Kraus, Head of the Austrian Literary Society.
If you are man enough, you will apologize to Dr. Kraus.
- Gregor Woschnagg, Austrian Foreign Office
Kuhner is an insignificant author and will never read on our premises.
- Reinhard Urbach, Austrian Literary Society.
He […]

From Advisor in the Sky
If someone believes that the world is five thousand years old, that’s his business,
but a lawmaker who strives to impose the teaching of “Creation”
on our educational system and forbid the teaching of evolution
is an example of what H. L. Mencken termed “Boobus Americanus.”
Representative Tom DeLay: “Give me one example that […]

Li Peng, the guest, dictates the rules
Ban on demonstrations. On the second day of Chinese Premier Li Peng’s state visit to Austria, there was not one demonstrator or one protest banner to be seen, nor was there one “Li Peng go home!” shout to be heard. A large contingent of police was called out to […]

Herbert Kuhner
Jazz is a religion,
but it’s a nice religion.
The faithful don’t pray together,
they just listen or play together.
There are, to be sure,
various musical sects,
and there may be some fanaticism,
but it is not expressed by violence,
but rather on musical instruments.
-From Swing Men and Women

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Here’s a comment on Sermon I received from David Axelrod,
American poet and writer:
Hello Harry,
I would jump at the chance to see the Brody poem published.
It is a wonderfully blasphemous, scatological piece
which most people won’t understand as they are locked onto their faith
like passengers on a plane experiencing turbulence.
Others would have to work hard to say […]

We’ll make a sequel better than the original.
Kane’s son will be modelled on Murdoch.

Herbert Kuhner
Der menschenverachtende Geist des Dritten Reichs ist in die Kunst geleitet worden und fließt darin mit großer Leichtigkeit, und es ist kein Ende in Sicht. Die sadomasochistische Ideologie befürwortet Gewaltformen wie Vergewaltigung, Pädophilie und Mord, sowie politische Attentate und die Diffamierung und das Töten von Krüppeln. Seine Anhänger arbeiten unter die heiligen Schutzschale […]

PETER WEIBEL
vortrag bei „kunst und revolution”, 7.6.69 über finanzminister dr.stephan koren
ich kannte universitäteprofessor dr. stephan koren, er war ein krüppel und wollte mir immer zeigen, dass er einer ist wie ich. mir zur beweis hat er sich zum minister hinaufgeangelt . auch nur mit einem arm, der arme. doch wenn finanzminister koren mit der linken […]

Alter Brody
The Jew
Like a mad accountant
Trying to make sense out of a senseless ledger
Balancing the Holy Scriptures of his life
With double entry bookkeeping.
With good and with evil.
With reward and with punishment.
Juggling, the accounts
To make debit and credit meet.
To cover up
The latest overdraft on his agony.
But sometimes
In a moment of revulsion
In a moment of insidious sanity
He […]

Herbert Kuhner
I first came upon Alter Brody’s poems when I received a poem card from Anthony Rudolf of the Menard Press, London with The Holy Ledger. This striking poem, which is presented here, started me off on collecting the work of this significant poet and playwright.
I met the American poet George Wallace at a reading […]

LAMENTATIONS
Jews of the Old World in the New World
by
ALTER BRODY
Author of “A Family Album”
Lamentations are four one-act plays about Jews of the Old World who lead lives in the New World.
In Lowing in the Night a married couple who owns a candy store in the Bronx serve children every day but can have none of […]

Herbert Kuhner and George Wallace have edited
Before the Storm - The Complete Poetic Works of Alter Brody
The American Jewish poet Alter Brody published A Family Album,
a volume of poetry, in the last year of World War I.
He continued to publish in journals during the Twenties.
In 1928, Brody published Lamentations, Four One Act […]

or Sidewalk Café Philosophers Have a Go at It
Herbert Kuhner
Characters:
Kuno Knöbl, author, former TV entertainment chief
and “troublemaker” in the best possible sense.
Kurt Pollak, author, charming raconteur and gay blade.
Harry Kuhner, author and cultural public enemy number one.
Location: sidewalk café in the Kutschkergasse pedestrian zone
in the Eighteenth District of Vienna.
Here’s a typical repartee:
Scene One:
Kuno: God is […]

Herbert Kuhner
Vor Jahren, ging ich mit meinem Freund Alfred aus der Bukovina und einem älteren Ehepaar zu einem Heurigen. Das Paar sprach mit einer Stimme. Ich war alleinstehend, und sie hatten die perfekte Partnerin für mich: eine schöne junge Witwe. Ich war ein Schriftsteller und sie - Herausgeberin einer Zeitschrift. Wer konnte nach mehr fragen? […]

Herbert Kuhner
A key quotation by Nitsch: “I no longer intend to place a humane corset on my work.”[91]
In […]

Der Meister (Nitsch) selbst: „Was hat der Rudi (Schwarzkogler) für einen herrlichen Schwanz. Warum hat er mir nicht seine Leiche vermacht? Dabei hat er ihm Monsignore Mauer eingebrockt, der den Bruder Rudi begraben hat.”[81]
Rudolf Schwarzkogler verübte Selbstmord als die endgültige „Aktion”. Es wird behauptet, daß Schwarzkogler seinen Penis abgeschnitten hat, bevor er sich aus einem […]

We have learned from Hermann Nitsch. We have begun to understand him . . . Now we think more profoundly. […]

Herbert Kuhner
Es ist mir völlig unverständlich, wie ein Jude zu den Tötungsgebieten zurückkehren konnte. Sie haben sich für die Hölle entschlossen, und dann wundern Sie sich, daß die Landschaft voller Teufel ist.
- Cynthia Ozick, Schriftstellerin, U.S.A.
Als ich nach Österreich zurückkam, konnte ich die menschliche Grausamkeit der Vergangenheit nicht fassen. Jetzt stelle ich mir keine Fragen […]

Milena Merlak Detela
Her long hair
got caught
in the wheel of night;
she was brave.
Unjustly condemned
she suffered
as she spun around;
she was bright.

Press Conference, Café Landtmann, Vienna, March 1, 2004 by former members of the Commune: “According to the latest information, Otto Mühl began to abuse small children from the ages of four to five in the 1970s. He did this regularly over the years. Such abuse took place at times in front of the Commune Leadership […]

Austrian Cultural Commissar Peter Weibel about a political figure, who happens to have been a man of integrity: “I […]

Poem by Alter Brody
Like a petulant child
The wind railed in the tree tops,
Tearing aimlessly through the foliage
Pulling plaintively at the twigs,
Shaking the branches,
Fretfully.
Like mothers,
Fondly-indulgent,
The old trees bent their heads
Chidingly, soothingly.

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[…]

“. . . We guarantee Nitsch the protection of the state for practicing his profession freely.”
- Dr. Peter Wittmann […]

Herbert Kuhner
It is impossible for me to deal with Austrian actionism without referring to my own fate as a […]

Herbert Kuhner

The Nazis called
the great art
of the 20th Century
degenerate.

Herbert Kuhner
Hier sind Zitate aus dem Film Das Meisterspiel von Lutz Dammbeck, in welchem der 1994 erfolgte und bis […]

Viennese actionism can no longer be the basis for dispute in a civilized state; it has been canonized for quite some time and has found its place in museums. Today anyone who opposes actionism simply disqualifies himself. [12]
- Sigrid Löffler, critic
[12] Sigrid Löffler: “Banausie am Balhausplatz,” Profil, No. 39, Sept. 21, 1992, Vienna, p. 11.

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„Die Nazis haben versucht, die Kunst von außen zu zerstören. Die jetzigen Zerstörer haben sich alles unter den Nagel […]

Heinrich Eggerth
Dich meine Seele
erhänge ich am Ästen,
ertrank ich in Teichen,
stürz ich in Graben,
verleir ich an Nichts,
vergeß ich ohne Unterlaß,
vergift ich mit grübeln,
verschrieb ich dem Zweifel,
vergrab ich mit Toten,
verrat ich an Freunde,
verkauf ich für Worte,
verlaß ich für ein Lächeln.
Dich meine Seele,
ermorde ich täglich,
solang
bis die ganze Welt lebt.

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The new fascism will not declare itself as fascism, but rather as anti-fascism.
- Ignazio Silone

Mühl’s speciality is minors and sex and my speciality is the agonizing torture of animals. . . . I could well envision that murder could be a component of a work of art.[9]
- Hermann Nitsch, actionist

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by Herbert Kuhner
There are people on our side
who write for
racist and revisionist tabloids
in order to make their liberal ideas
available to a large readership;
there are people on our side
who forge documents
to exonerate people on our side;
there are those who favor dictatorship
and oppose
a democratic form of government;
those who declare solidarity
with political leaders
responsible for massacres;
those who recommend assassination
as […]

The animal-lover
who stated
the actionist
who had poured boiling wax
over live birds
should be publicly horsewhipped
found out to his dismay
that this had already occurred
and that she had
enjoyed it.
© by Herbert Kuhner

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(*ed. F. Stadier and P. Weibel)
Herbert Kuhner
In the spring of 1995, an official Austrian exhibit commemorating prominent Austrians who were forced to emigrate was shown at 565 Fifth Avenue in New York. The organizer of the exhibit and co-editor of the accompanying book, The Cultural Exodus from Vienna [117] is Peter Weibel, who is […]