1984

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“So in steirischer herbst ’84 it is 1984 and not ‘1984.’ In any case, one focus of the program—after a thirteen-year break in steirischer herbst—is architecture. In spite of discussions concerning the old city and efforts connected with development plans or local planning that have been taking place for decades, this exhibition will not be set up in the so-called public space that is already developed and thus defined. Architekturvision 1984 (Vision of Architecture 1984) is being presented in a bunker under the Schloßberg in Graz that protected thousands from bombs each day during the final years of the war and has now been opened for the first time for this exhibition. In other words, in spaces in which people who were confronted with the apocalypse could see our future ending, provided it is granted to us at all. … The beginning of a vision has its origin at the end of a feeling of foreboding.”
—Herbert Nichols

In 1984, the name steirischer herbst was translated into English as “styrian autumn” in the bilingual pamphlet supplementing the bound program booklet, emphasizing its international character for the first time. As for the overarching theme, it did not take very long to come up with one in the year of Orwell—it was provided by the year itself.

The program opened with the concerto A Farewell to Orwell, “a contemporary organization of sound for jazz musicians, acoustic instruments, and electronic machines” (composer Erich Kleinschuster quoted in the program booklet) that was commissioned by steirischer herbst and presented at the Stefaniensaal. It was followed by... after a reading by Orwell, Mauricio Kagel’s “scenic presentation of a radio play in the Germanic meta-language” that was performed by the ensemble of the Bremer Theater in the Saal Steiermark at the Congress Graz. In the former Schlachthof (slaughterhouse), the interdisciplinary format falso loco followed open house and herbstpark, including a crossover and special program, which were nevertheless not continued after this year.

In the field of theater and music, there were premieres of G. M. Hofmann’s Blasius (director: Wolfgang Bauer) and Luna Alcalay’s Ich bin in Sehnsucht eingehüllt (I Am Swathed in Yearning), scenic reflections on love poems by Selma Meerbaum from the Mikhailovka Concentration Camp. musikprotokoll and the Music Symposium were dedicated to a Personale (solo presentation) on György Ligeti, who had been a regular in the program since the very first year. There was also a separate architecture section for the first time, including the exhibition Architekturvisionen 1984 (Visions of Architecture; concept: Sokratis Dimitriou) in an air-raid shelter on the Schloßberg. Märchen—Mythen—Monster: Modell Trinidas (Fairy Tales—Legends—Monsters: The Trinidas Model; concept: Wilfried Skreiner) was presented at the Künstlerhaus and the Neue Galerie, with artists from Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria.

Program