Clemens J. Setz
Clemens Setz, Vienna, 26 February 2021
“Art is a way to banish ghosts and demons”
Why do human beings mistrust their own natural language? Clemens J. Setz, winner of the Georg Büchner Prize, tells of an untranslatable poem by H. C. Artmann, reads from his essay on artificial languages entitled “Die Bienen und das Unsichtbare” [The Bees and the Invisible], asks—with a nod to Thomas Pynchon—whether “fake” research doesn’t often produce the more interesting findings, and provides insights into both a planned historical novel about hollow Earth theories and his penchant for extreme scenarios of thought and life in literature. “I’m a great admirer of everyday poetry, in terms of finding what’s special in the everyday; it amazes me, but I can’t quite pull it off myself.”
In cooperation with the Austrian daily newspaper “Der Standard”, this Kontakt Video Portrait was published on their website www.derstandard.at on 28 April 2024.
For English subtitles please click on the "cc" icon on the control bar.
“Art is a way to banish ghosts and demons”
Why do human beings mistrust their own natural language? Clemens J. Setz, winner of the Georg Büchner Prize, tells of an untranslatable poem by H. C. Artmann, reads from his essay on artificial languages entitled “Die Bienen und das Unsichtbare” [The Bees and the Invisible], asks—with a nod to Thomas Pynchon—whether “fake” research doesn’t often produce the more interesting findings, and provides insights into both a planned historical novel about hollow Earth theories and his penchant for extreme scenarios of thought and life in literature. “I’m a great admirer of everyday poetry, in terms of finding what’s special in the everyday; it amazes me, but I can’t quite pull it off myself.”
In cooperation with the Austrian daily newspaper “Der Standard”, this Kontakt Video Portrait was published on their website www.derstandard.at on 28 April 2024.
For English subtitles please click on the "cc" icon on the control bar.