Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
) is an Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer and lecturer. Grenzfurthner is the founder, conceiver and artistic director of '' monochrom'', an international art and theory group and film production company. Most of his artworks are labeled ''monochrom''.
Grenzfurthner is an outspoken researcher in subversive and underground culture, for example the field of sexuality and technology, and one of the founders of "techno-hedonism".
Boing Boing magazine referred to Grenzfurthner as ''leitnerd'', a wordplay with the German term
Leitkultur
''Leitkultur'' is a German concept, which can be translated as 'guiding culture' or 'leading culture', less literally as 'common culture', 'core culture' or 'basic culture'. The term was first introduced in 1998 by the German-Arab sociologist Bass ...
that ironically hints at Grenzfurthner's role in nerd/hacker/art culture.
Career
In the early 1990s, Grenzfurthner was a member of several
BBS
BBS may refer to:
Ammunition
* BBs, BB gun metal bullets
* BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets
Computing and gaming
* Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet
* BIOS Boot Specificat ...
message boards. Grenzfurther used his online connections to create ''monochrom'', a
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...
or alternative magazine that dealt with art, technology and subversive cultures. His motivation was to react to the emerging conservativism in cyber-cultures of the early 1990s, and to combine his political background in the Austrian punk and antifa movement with discussion of new technologies and the cultures they create. The publication featured interviews and essays, by e.g.
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre.
Sterling's first ...
,
HR Giger
Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...
,
Eric Drexler
Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for studies of the potential of molecular nanotechnology (MNT), from the 1970s and 1980s. His 1991 doctoral thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was revised and ...
Bob Black
Robert Charles Black Jr. (born January 4, 1951) is an American anarchist and author. He is the author of the books '' The Abolition of Work and Other Essays'', ''Beneath the Underground'', ''Friendly Fire'', ''Anarchy After Leftism'', and ''Def ...
, in its experimental layout style. In 1995 the group decided to cover new artistic practices and started experimenting with different media: computer games, robots, puppet theater, musical, short films, pranks, conferences, online activism, which Grenzfurthner calls 'Urban Hacking' or more specific: 'Context hacking', a term that Grenzfurthner coined.
:Context hacking transfers the hackers' objectives and methods to the network of social relationships in which artistic production occurs, and upon which it is dependent. In a metaphoric sense, these relationships also have a source code. Programs run in them, and our interaction with them is structured by a user interface. When we know how a space, a niche, a scene, a subculture or a media or political practice functions, we can change it and "recode" it, deconstructing its power relationships and emancipating ourselves from its compulsions and packaging guidelines.
The group is known for working with different media, art and entertainment formats. Grenzfurthner calls this "looking for the best weapon of mass distribution of an idea".
Conferences and festivals
Grenzfurthner is head of the
Arse Elektronika
Arse Elektronika is an annual conference organized by the Austrian arts and philosophy collective monochrom, focused on sex and technology. The festival presents talks, workshops, machines, presentations and films. The festival's curator is Johann ...
festival in San Francisco (2007), an annual academic and artistic conference and anthology series that focusses on sexuality and technology. The first conference was curated by Grenzfurthner in 2007 to answer questions about the impact of sexuality on technological innovation and adoption.
Grenzfurthner is hosting
Roboexotica
Roboexotica (sometimes spelled: ''Roböxotica'') is an annual festival and conference where scientists, researchers, computer experts and artists from all over the world build ''cocktail robots'' and discuss technological innovation, futurology an ...
, the international Festival for Cocktail-Robotics (2002–) which invites researchers and artists to build machines that serve or mix cocktails. V. Vale calls Roboexotica "an ironic attempt to criticize techno-triumphalism and to dissect technological hypes."
Grenzfurthner is head of ''Hedonistika'', a festival for artistic food tech and robotic indulgement. The festival took place in Montréal at the 2014 'Biennale internationale d'art numérique', in
Holon
Holon ( he, חוֹלוֹן ) is a city on the central coastal strip of Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the metropolitan Gush Dan area. In it had a population of . Holon has the second-largest industrial zone in Israel, after Haifa. ...
, near
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
at 'Print Screen Festival', and in
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
at
Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...
2022.
Theatre work, performance art
Grenzfurthner wrote and directed theatre plays and pieces of performance (e.g.
Eignblunzn
''Eignblunzn'' (also known as Viennese Factionism: Eignblunzn or auto blood sausage) is a 2003 performance by Austrian art theory group monochrom and is considered an important work in the group's history and Austrian art history in the 2000s. The ...
) and interventionist art.
Film
Grenzfurther is the CEO of film production company ''monochrom Propulsion Systems''. He is member of the Austrian Director's Guild and the Association of Austrian Documentary Filmmakers.
He wrote and directed shorts and feature films. His first feature film was the independent fantasy-comedy Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl (2014). Grenzfurther first feature documentary was ''
Traceroute
In computing, traceroute and tracert are computer network diagnostic commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The history of the route is recorded as th ...
'' (2016), followed by ''
Glossary of Broken Dreams
''Glossary of Broken Dreams'' is a 2018 Austrian/American documentary film directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. The essayistic feature film tries to present an overview of political concepts such as freedom, privacy, identity, resistance, etc.
Gren ...
Drafthouse Films
Drafthouse Films is a film distribution company based in Austin, Texas which releases "provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world". It was founded in 2010 by Tim League, who had previously founded the Ala ...
.
His horror film ''
Razzennest
''Razzennest'' is a 2022 Austrian supernatural, satirical horror film written and directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. The film was produced by art group monochrom.
Plot
South African filmmaker and enfant terrible Manus Oosthuizen meets with film ...
'' had its premiere at Fantastic Fest 2022.
Grenzfurther is developing several feature films, for example, his documentary feature ''Hacking at Leaves''.
Grenzfurthner teamed up with
Juliana Neuhuber
Juliana Neuhuber (born 1979) is a director, screenwriter, and artist from Austria. She is based in Vienna.
Neuhuber has been active in the Austrian independent film scene since 1998, and realized many short films and artistic projects.
Her firs ...
to co-directing the sci-fi feature comedy ''
Je Suis Auto
''Je Suis Auto'' is an upcoming Austrian social science fiction indie comedy film directed by Juliana Neuhuber and written by Johannes Grenzfurthner.
Chase Masterson is voicing the title character "Auto", a self-driving taxi,. Johannes Grenzfurth ...
'' (featuring
Chase Masterson
Chase Masterson (born Christianne Carafano on February 26, 1963) is an American actress and singer.
Early life
Chase Masterson was born Christianne Carafano in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As her father was in the Army,
Academia, writing, lecturing
Grenzfurthner lectures at art institutions, symposions and political events, teaches at universities and mentors students.
He has published books, essays and articles on politics, contemporary art, communication processes and philosophy including ''Mind and Matter: Comparative Approaches Towards Complexity, Do androids sleep with electric sheep?, Of Intercourse and Intracourse: Sexuality, Biomodification and the Techno-Social Sphere and Pr0nnovation?: Pornography and Technological Innovation''.
Grenzfurthner published the much debated pamphlet "Hacking the Spaces", that dealt with exclusionist tendencies in the hackerspaces movement. Grenzfurther extended his critique through lectures at the 2012 and 2014 Hackers on Planet Earth conferences in New York City.
2020 through 2021, he was editor-in-chief of the print and online magazine ''The Free Lunch''.
Entertainment and acting
Grenzfurthner has taken a comedic turn and performed at various venues, e.g. Vienna's Rabenhof Theater. Parts of his comedy show "Schicksalsjahre eines Nerds" form the basis of his documentary film
Traceroute
In computing, traceroute and tracert are computer network diagnostic commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The history of the route is recorded as th ...
(2016). Grenzfurther is a presenter and emcee for various industry events, and guest performer at events like
Goldenes Brett
The award Das Goldene Brett vorm Kopf (English translation: "''The Golden Blockhead''", literal translation "''The Golden Board in Front of the Head''") is a negative prize awarded by the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Pseudosciences ...
. Grenzfurthner has had supporting and lead parts in several theater plays. He performs in Andi Haller's feature film ''Zero Crash'' and
Michael J. Epstein
Michael J. Epstein (born 1976), is an American filmmaker, musician, writer, and auditory scientist. Epstein has also spoken and written about the impact of local media on the arts, music service gatekeeping, effective social networking, and crowd ...
's and
Sophia Cacciola
Sophia Cacciola is a Los-Angeles-based, American filmmaker, artist, and musician.
Career overview Film
Cacciola is known for her sociopolitical genre feature films that showcase women: '' TEN'', Magnetic, Blood of the Tribades, Clickbait, a ...
's feature film ''
Clickbait
Clickbait is a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misl ...
'' and ''Umbilicus desidero''. He portrays one of the two lead characters in his own film
Je Suis Auto
''Je Suis Auto'' is an upcoming Austrian social science fiction indie comedy film directed by Juliana Neuhuber and written by Johannes Grenzfurthner.
Chase Masterson is voicing the title character "Auto", a self-driving taxi,. Johannes Grenzfurth ...
.
Grenzfurthner voice acted director
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
in
Karina Longworth
Karina Longworth (born July 10, 1980) is an American film critic, author, and journalist based in Los Angeles. Longworth writes, hosts and produces the podcast ''You Must Remember This'', about the "secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywoo ...
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
Grenzfurthner was one of the core team members in the development process of
netznetz
netznetz was a social platform for individuals and groups associated with internet art, net art and net culture in Vienna, Austria. The platform was dissolved around 2011 because of internal problems and loss of funding from the city authoritie ...
, a new kind of community-based funding system for net culture and net art together with the culture department of the city government of Vienna.
He started the "Hackbus" community.
Together with Florian Hufsky, Leo Findeisen and Juxi Leitner, Grenzfurthner co-organized the first international conference of the
pirate parties
Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties around the world. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively participation in government, reform of copyright and patent law, free sharin ...
.
Commercial work
Grenzfurthner conceptualized and co-built a robot installation to promote the products of sex toy company
Bad Dragon
Bad Dragon Enterprises, Inc. is an American manufacturer of fantasy-themed sex toys, primarily targeted at members of the furry fandom. Products are sold online and at conventions.
The CEO of Bad Dragon, Jan "Varka" Mulders, also owns the booru ...
. He created an artistic online ad campaign for Cheetos.
Personal life
Grenzfurthner lives and works in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. Grenzfurther grew up in Stockerau in rural Lower Austria and talks about it in his stand-up comedy "Schicksalsjahre eines Nerds" (2014) and his semi-autobiographical documentary film
Traceroute
In computing, traceroute and tracert are computer network diagnostic commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The history of the route is recorded as th ...
(2016).
:If I had not grown up in Stockerau, in the boonies of Lower Austria, than I would not be what I am now. The germ cell of burgeoning nerdism is difference. The yearning to be understood, to find opportunities to share experiences, to not be left alone with one's bizarre interest. At the same time one derives an almost perverse pleasure from wallowing in this deficit. Nerds love deficiency: that of the other, but also their own. Nerds are eager explorers, who enjoy measuring themselves against one another and also compete aggressively. And yet the nerd's existence also comprises an element of the occult, of mystery. The way in which this power is expressed or focused is very important.
Grenzfurthner uses his personal history and upbringing as a source for his work. In a conversation with ''Zebrabutter'' he names the example that he wanted to deal with his claustrophobia, so he started a series of art performances where volunteers can be buried alive.
As a child, Grenzfurthner spent a lot of time at his grandparents' farm in the small village of Unterzögersdorf (a
cadastral municipality
A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, ...
of Stockerau). His grandparents' stories about
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
,
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the Soviet occupation in
allied-occupied Austria
The Allied occupation of Austria started on 8 May 1945 with the fall of Nazi Germany and ended with the Austrian State Treaty on 27 July 1955.
After the in 1938, Austria had generally been recognized as part of Nazi Germany. In 1943, however, ...
Soviet Unterzoegersdorf
Soviet Unterzoegersdorf (german: Sowjet-Unterzögersdorf) is a fictitious country created by the art/technology/theory group monochrom. It is the "last existing appanage republic of the USSR", located inside the Republic of Austria. Unterzöger ...
.
Controversy
Grenzfurthner's name was one of 200 activists, politicians, and artists from Germany, Switzerland and Austria (only one of a total of 10 Austrian names) that were published on an
ultra-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
doxing list distributed on a variety of online platforms in December 2018 and January 2019. The list's extremist creators threatened "#wirkriegeneuchallee" (sic!) – "We will get you all". Grenzfurthner openly addressed this on online platforms and in lectures.
An artistic fake image posted by Grenzfurthner in July 2021 on his Twitter account sparked some controversy on social media and in the news.
Jean Peters reports in his book "Wenn die Hoffnung stirbt, geht's trotzdem weiter" (2021, translation from German) about a special form of anti-fascist prank Grenzfurthner staged:
:Austrian artist Johannes Grenzfurthner, who himself has also published on context hacking, mingled in disguise with a Nazi demonstration in Bavaria in the spring of 2005. When cameras passed by, he made the forbidden Hitler salute. When he started doing so, the dam quickly broke; everyone around him joined in. In doing so, he had created media images showing the group as it really was. It turned bizarre when a few of them then approached him and said, "Stop, stop!" which, coming from a Nazi, sounded like a performative peculiarity, "we're not allowed to do that here." Whether over-affirmation or mimicry, the point is to make truly visible what would rather remain hidden behind a facade of self-righteousness.
Awards
* Won (as director of "Udo 77")
Nestroy Theatre Prize
The Nestroy Theatre Prize is an Austrian theatre award named after the poet Johann Nestroy
Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy (; 7 December 1801 – 25 May 1862) was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the ...
(2005).
* Won Coke Light Art Edition Award (2006).
* Won (as the artistic director of monochrom) the Art Award of the FWF Austrian Science Fund (2013).
Filmography (Features)
*''Hacking at Leaves'' (to be released 2023) – director, writer, producer, actor
*''
Je Suis Auto
''Je Suis Auto'' is an upcoming Austrian social science fiction indie comedy film directed by Juliana Neuhuber and written by Johannes Grenzfurthner.
Chase Masterson is voicing the title character "Auto", a self-driving taxi,. Johannes Grenzfurth ...
'' (to be released 2023) – director, writer, producer, actor
*''
Razzennest
''Razzennest'' is a 2022 Austrian supernatural, satirical horror film written and directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. The film was produced by art group monochrom.
Plot
South African filmmaker and enfant terrible Manus Oosthuizen meets with film ...
'' (to be released 2022) – director, writer, producer
*'' Masking Threshold'' (2021) – director, writer, producer, actor
*''The Transformations of the Transformations of the Drs. Jenkins'' (2021) – segment director, actor
*''Avenues'' (2019) – producer
*''Zweite Tür Rechts'' (2019) – producer, actor
*''
Glossary of Broken Dreams
''Glossary of Broken Dreams'' is a 2018 Austrian/American documentary film directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. The essayistic feature film tries to present an overview of political concepts such as freedom, privacy, identity, resistance, etc.
Gren ...
'' (2018) – director, writer, producer, actor
*''
Clickbait
Clickbait is a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misl ...
'' (2018) – actor
*''
Traceroute
In computing, traceroute and tracert are computer network diagnostic commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The history of the route is recorded as th ...
'' (2016) – director, writer, producer, host
*''Shingal, where are you?'' (2016) – associate producer
*''Valossn'' (2016) – associate producer
*''Zero Crash'' (2016) – actor
*'' Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl'' (2014) – director, writer, producer
*''Kiki and Bubu: Rated R Us'' (2011) – director, writer
Trost Records
Trost Records is a record label located in Vienna.
History
In the early 1990s, Trost was founded as a tape label, releasing records of Austrian alternative and underground bands, such as Valina, , and Holly May.
In 2011, the sublabel Cien ...
, 2008)
Publications
* Editor of magazine/yearbook series ''" monochrom"'' (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010)
* Editor of ''"Stadt der Klage"'' (
Michael Marrak
Michael Marrak (born 1965 in Weikersheim, Baden-Württemberg) is a German science fiction and horror writer. He is also an illustrator and from 1993 to 1996 he edited the magazine ''Zimmerit''. His first novel ''Stadt der Klage'' was published by t ...
, 1997)
* Editor of ''"Weg der Engel"'' (
Michael Marrak
Michael Marrak (born 1965 in Weikersheim, Baden-Württemberg) is a German science fiction and horror writer. He is also an illustrator and from 1993 to 1996 he edited the magazine ''Zimmerit''. His first novel ''Stadt der Klage'' was published by t ...
and Agus Chuadar, 1998)
* Editor of ''"Who shot Immanence?"'' (together with Thomas Edlinger and Fritz Ostermayer, 2002)
* Editor of ''"Leutezeichnungen"'' (together with Elffriede, 2003)
* Editor of ''"Quo Vadis, Logo?!"'' (together with Günther Friesinger, 2006)
* Editor of ''"Spektakel – Kunst – Gesellschaft"'' (together with Stephan Grigat and Günther Friesinger, 2006)
* Editor of ''"pr0nnotivation? Arse Elektronika Anthology"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Daniel Fabry, 2008)
* Editor of ''"Roboexotica"'' (together with Günther Friesinger, Magnus Wurzer, Franz Ablinger and Chris Veigl, 2008)
* Editor of ''"Do Androids Sleep with Electric Sheep?"'' (together with Günther Friesinger, Daniel Fabry and Thomas Ballhausen, 2009)
* Editor of ''"Schutzverletzungen/Legitimation of Mediatic Violence"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Thomas Ballhausen, 2010)
* Editor of ''"Urban Hacking"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Thomas Ballhausen, 2010)
* Editor of ''"Geist in der Maschine. Medien, Prozesse und Räume der Kybernetik"'' (together with Günther Friesinger, Thomas Ballhausen, Verena Bauer, 2010)
* Editor of ''"The Wonderful World of Absence"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Daniel Fabry, 2011)
* Editor of ''"Of Intercourse and Intracourse – Sexuality, Biomodification and the Techno-Social Sphere"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Daniel Fabry, 2011)
* Editor of ''"Context Hacking: How to Mess with Art, Media, Law and the Market"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Frank Apunkt Schneider, 2013)
* Editor of ''"Screw The System – Explorations of Spaces, Games and Politics through Sexuality and Technology"'' (together with Günther Friesinger and Daniel Fabry, 2013)
* Editor of ''Subvert Subversion. Politischer Widerstand als kulturelle Praxis'' (together with Günther Friesinger, 2020)