Ernst Strouhal
Ernst Strouhal, Vienna, 26 January 2026
“Chess just might be the coldest form of conviviality.”
The Viennese author, journalist, and cultural scholar Ernst Strouhal is hard to pin down amidst the overabundance of surprising divergences one sees in his work. Concurrent with this KONTAKT Video Portrait in the winter of 2026, his attention was divided between texts on the history of Vienna’s Museumsquartier complex, contemporary narcissistic defects and selfie sticks, and the children’s book heroes Pippi Longstocking and Red Zora. Important essays on the theory and history of play and magic are just as much a part of Strouhal’s bibliography as are remarks about threatening letters and highly worthwhile biographies on the history of his family, where a vital socialism meets major protagonists of elite media history. It follows that a central place in this conversation is occupied by memories of chess games between Strouhal’s grandfather and father, which his chess column (entitled “ruf&ehn”) might possibly echo—making this portrait an accordingly wild ride, an association-rich dialogue with an enthusiastic narrator.
“Chess just might be the coldest form of conviviality.”
The Viennese author, journalist, and cultural scholar Ernst Strouhal is hard to pin down amidst the overabundance of surprising divergences one sees in his work. Concurrent with this KONTAKT Video Portrait in the winter of 2026, his attention was divided between texts on the history of Vienna’s Museumsquartier complex, contemporary narcissistic defects and selfie sticks, and the children’s book heroes Pippi Longstocking and Red Zora. Important essays on the theory and history of play and magic are just as much a part of Strouhal’s bibliography as are remarks about threatening letters and highly worthwhile biographies on the history of his family, where a vital socialism meets major protagonists of elite media history. It follows that a central place in this conversation is occupied by memories of chess games between Strouhal’s grandfather and father, which his chess column (entitled “ruf&ehn”) might possibly echo—making this portrait an accordingly wild ride, an association-rich dialogue with an enthusiastic narrator.