Johannes Grenzfurthner

Johannes Grenzfurthner
Grenzfurthner at Museumsquartier, Vienna (2011)
Born	(1975-06-13) 13 June 1975 (age 49) Vienna, Austria
Occupation	Artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer, lecturer
Signature
Website
grenzfurthner.com

Johannes Grenzfurthner (German: [joˈhanəs ˈgrɛntsfʊɐ̯tnɐ]; born 1975 in Vienna) 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,^[1][2][3] and one of the founders of "techno-hedonism".^[4]

Boing Boing magazine referred to Grenzfurthner as leitnerd,^[5] a wordplay with the German term Leitkultur that ironically hints at Grenzfurthner's role in nerd/hacker/art culture.

Career

In the early 1990s, Grenzfurthner was a member of several BBS message boards.^[6] Grenzfurther used his online connections to create monochrom, a zine^[7] or alternative magazine that dealt with art, technology and subversive cultures.^[8] His motivation was to react to the emerging conservativism in cyber-cultures of the early 1990s,^[9][10] and to combine his political background in the Austrian punk and antifa movement with discussion of new technologies and the cultures they create.^[11] The publication featured interviews and essays, by e.g. Bruce Sterling, HR Giger, Eric Drexler, Terry Pratchett and Bob Black,^[12] in its experimental layout style.^[13] In 1995 the group decided to cover new artistic practices^[14][15] and started experimenting with different media: computer games, robots, puppet theater, musical, short films, pranks,^[16][17] conferences, online activism, which Grenzfurthner calls 'Urban Hacking'^[18] or more specific: 'Context hacking', a term that Grenzfurthner coined.^[19]

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.^[20]

The group is known for working with different media, art and entertainment formats.^[21] Grenzfurthner calls this "looking for the best weapon of mass distribution of an idea".^[22]

Conferences and festivals

Grenzfurthner, keynote at Paraflows Symposium, 2012

Grenzfurthner is head of the Arse Elektronika^[23][24] festival in San Francisco (2007 – ), an annual academic and artistic^[25] 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,^[26] 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."^[27]

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',^[28] in Holon, near Tel Aviv at 'Print Screen Festival',^[29] and in Linz at Ars Electronica 2022.

Grenzfurthner and Matt Winston talk about Stan Winston and special effects ("Traceroute", 2016).

Theatre work, performance art

Grenzfurthner wrote and directed theatre plays^{[30][31][32][33]} and pieces of performance (e.g. Eignblunzn) and interventionist art.^[34]

Film

Grenzfurther is the CEO of film production company monochrom Propulsion Systems.^[35] He is member of the Austrian Director's Guild^[36] and the Association of Austrian Documentary Filmmakers.^[37]

He wrote and directed shorts^[38] and feature films. His first TV film was the independent fantasy-comedy Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl^[39] (2014). Grenzfurther first theatrically released feature documentary was Traceroute (2016), followed by Glossary of Broken Dreams (2018). His horror feature Masking Threshold was premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2021^[40][41] and was released by Drafthouse Films.^[42][43]

His horror film Razzennest had its premiere at Fantastic Fest 2022. His documentary feature Hacking at Leaves had its premiere at Diagonale in 2024. His horror mystery feature Solvent will be released 2024.

Grenzfurthner and Pedobear at ROFLcon 2010

Academia, writing, lecturing

Grenzfurthner lectures at art institutions,^[44][45] symposions^[46][47] and political events,^[48] teaches at universities^[49][50][51] and mentors students.^[52][53]

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.^{[54][55][56][57]}

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.^[58][59]

2020 through 2021, he was editor-in-chief of the print and online magazine The Free Lunch.^[60]

Since April 2023, he has been contributing as a weekly columnist to the Austrian news magazine Profil.

Grenzfurthner acting as a CDC official at a staged virus outbreak at Art Basel Miami Beach 2005

Entertainment and acting

Grenzfurthner has taken a comedic turn and performed at various venues, e.g. Vienna's Rabenhof Theater.^[61] Parts of his comedy show "Schicksalsjahre eines Nerds" form the basis of his documentary film Traceroute (2016). Grenzfurther is a presenter and emcee for various industry events,^[62][63] and guest performer at events like Goldenes Brett. Grenzfurthner has had supporting and lead parts in several theater plays.^[64][65] He performs in Andi Haller's feature film Zero Crash^[66] and Michael J. Epstein's and Sophia Cacciola's feature film Clickbait^[67] and Umbilicus desidero.^[68] He portrays one of the two lead characters in his own film Je Suis Auto.

Grenzfurthner voice acted director Fritz Lang in Karina Longworth's Vanity Fair podcast Love Is a Crime (together with Zooey Deschanel and Jon Hamm).^[69]

Community work

Grenzfurthner was one of the core team members in the development process of netznetz, 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.^[70]

He started the "Hackbus" community.^[71][72]

Together with Florian Hufsky, Leo Findeisen and Juxi Leitner, Grenzfurthner co-organized the first international conference of the pirate parties.^[73][74]

Commercial work

Grenzfurthner conceptualized and co-built a robot installation to promote the products of sex toy company Bad Dragon.^[75] He created an artistic online ad campaign for Cheetos.^[76]

Personal life

Grenzfurthner on the cover of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector 2 (2009)

Grenzfurthner lives and works in Vienna. Grenzfurther grew up in Stockerau in rural Lower Austria^[77] and talks about it in his stand-up comedy "Schicksalsjahre eines Nerds" (2014) and his semi-autobiographical documentary film Traceroute (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.^[78]

Grenzfurthner uses his personal history and upbringing^[79] as a source for his work. In a conversation with Zebrabutter he names the example that he wanted to deal with his claustrophobia,^[80] 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 of Stockerau). His grandparents' stories about Nazism, World War II and the Soviet occupation in allied-occupied Austria (1945–1955) influenced monochrom's long-term project Soviet Unterzoegersdorf.^[81]

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 doxing list distributed on a variety of online platforms in December 2018 and January 2019.^[82][83] The list's extremist creators threatened "#wirkriegeneuchallee" (sic!) — "We will get you all". Grenzfurthner openly addressed this on online platforms^[84] 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.^[85][86][87]

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.^[88]

Awards

• Won (as director of "Udo 77") Nestroy Theatre Prize (2005)^[89]
• Won Coke Light Art Edition Award (2006)^[90]
• Won (as the artistic director of monochrom) the Art Award of the FWF Austrian Science Fund (2013)^[91]

Filmography (Features)

• Solvent (2024) – director, writer, producer, actor
• Je Suis Auto (2024) - writer, actor
• Hacking at Leaves (2024) – director, writer, producer, actor
• Razzennest (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 (2018) – director, writer, producer, actor
• Clickbait (2018) – actor
• Traceroute (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

Theater (examples)

• Udo 77 (Rabenhof Theater, Vienna, 2004/2005) – director, actor, writer
• Waiting for Goto (Volkstheater, Vienna, 2006) – director, writer
• Campaign (Volkstheater, Vienna, 2006) – director, performer, writer
• monochrom's ISS (Garage X, Vienna and Ballhaus Ost, Berlin, 2011 and 2012) – director, actor, writer
• Schicksalsjahre eines Nerds (Rabenhof Theater, Vienna, 2014) – director, performer, writer
• Steppenrot (komm.st, Styria and Theater Spektakel, Vienna, 2017) – director, actor, writer
• Die Hansi Halleluja Show (komm.st, Styria and Theater Spektakel, Vienna, 2018–2019) – director, actor, writer
• Das scharlachrote Kraftfeld (komm.st, Styria and Theater Spektakel, Vienna, 2019–2020) – director, actor, writer

Music (examples)

• Carefully Selected Moments (album, Trost Records, 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, 1997)
• Editor of "Weg der Engel" (Michael Marrak 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)

References

1. Interview with Arse Elektronika curator Johannes Grenzfurthner in Kill Screen Magazine Archived 14 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine: "Stories about orcs and rape: the man behind Arse Elektronika"
2. Wong, Julia Carrie. "Joy Stick: The Tarnished Dreams of Teledildonics' Inventor". SF Weekly. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
3. Petter, Jan (17 March 2019). "Wir haben mit einem Sexroboter-Entwickler über billige Sextoys, C3P0 und das Patriarchat gesprochen". Der Spiegel. Spiegel. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
4. Roboexotica. edition mono/monochrom, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502372-3-8
5. "The story of Traceroute, about a Leitnerd's quest", Boing Boing magazine; 14 April 2016
6. Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner about Traceroute, Boing Boing magazine; 14 April 2016
7. German 'Fanzine Index' about monochrom
8. Uwe Husslein, Ralf Bornowski (1995). Fandom Research (Reader und Index zu deutschsprachigen Fanzines. Ventil-Verlag. p. 70.
9. "Chaos Radio Express, episode 62: Monochrom"
10. "Schubumkehr Manifesto, published 1996; "Manifiestos sobre el arte y la red 1990–1999", published 2021 by Exit Media)". Retrieved 25 March 2021.
11. Marc Da Costa, "Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom, Part 3 Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine", Furtherfield.
12. "monochrom print".
13. "monochrom #26–34 Ye Olde Self-Referentiality Archived 5 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine", Neural, 15 June 2010.
14. Kobayashi, Erin (6 February 2007). "How to be buried alive". Toronto Star.
15. Lechner, Marie (4 March 2008). "Pop Guérilla | Libération". www.ecrans.fr.
16. Video documentary short "The Thomann In(ter)vention" by Hadas Emma Kedar
17. Interview with V. Vale in Pranks! 2
18. "OtherZine".
19. Context Hacking: Some Examples of How to Mess with Art, the Media System, Law and the Market, at O'Reilly ETech 2008, San Diego Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
20. "monochrom: CONTEXT HACKING – Essay".
21. Q21 Backstage Tour – monochrom
22. Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner in 'Futurezone', 15 March 2018
23. Silverberg, David (4 October 2007). "Sex Meets Tech at Kinky Conference in San Francisco" Digital Journal. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
24. Violet Blue, Special to SF Gate (4 October 2007). "Arse Elektronika 2007: Porn and Tech Conference / Violet Blue holds hope for the future of sex, despite the musical condoms". SFGate.
25. 'Dirty Deeds Done Six Feet Deep', in Rue Morgue, January 2011
26. Jenna Wortham (12 June 2008). "Bot Bartenders Sling Drinks at Roboexotica USA". WIRED.
27. Justin Page. "Sputnikfest 2012 Event Schedule". Laughing Squid. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
28. Hedonistika; information on BIAN homepage Archived 25 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
29. "Hedonistika at Print Screen Festival 2016". Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
30. Der Standard, Ronald Pohl: "Das ist der Zuckerbäckerblues"; 2004
31. Peter Mühlbauer (24 June 2011). "Kotze, Sperma und Inventur im Weltraum". Telepolis.
32. Kurier: "Steppenrot: Der Sonnenkönig ist runtergefallen"; December 2017
33. "Sex, Crime und ein Halleluja für Hansi". Die Presse. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
34. ""Protestors" call games industry a "temple of sin," demand repentance". Ars Technica. 9 March 2012.
35. Producer of "Traceroute", 2016
36. "Profile Johannes Grenzfurthner". Austrian Directors Guild. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
37. "Profile Johannes Grenzfurthner". Dok.at. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
38. Laughing Squid: "Earthmoving, A Short Film by Monochrom (A Prequel To Sierra Zulu)", 6 February 2012
39. "Die Gstettensaga" project page, film download
40. The existential unease of "MASKING THRESHOLD" (in: Rue Morgue; written by Michael Gingold, 5 July 2021)
41. Review of Masking Threshold by Annick Mahnert Archived 9 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine on the Fantastic Fest website
42. "Drafthouse Films Sells to Giant Pictures, Sets Nick Savva as CEO". Variety. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
43. "Draftshouse Films Label Sold to Giant Pictures". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
44. CCA Montreal, 'Come and Forget, with Johannes Grenzfurthner'; April 2018
45. Aksioma, Tactics&Practice, Ljubljana 2010
46. UtopiaFest 2104, Tel Aviv: "Robots in Human Society"
47. KUPF/Symposion about crowdfunding, Linz; 2012
48. "Linkes Sommercamp, Wagrain; "Context Hacking"; 2014". Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
49. Academic biography in "Kunst, Krise, Subversion", referring teaching positions at FH Joanneum Graz and art university Linz
50. Academic biography at Transcript
51. Sexual Cultures Conference 2012, Brunel University, UK (Onscenity Research, School of Arts and the School of Social Sciences at Brunel University)
52. "Keeper of Evil", 2014
53. Mir, Georg. Michtim: Designing a Pen & Paper Storytelling Game. Graz: FH Joanneum, 2012. p. 1.
54. Die Presse, 2020: "Die Leiden der Politik, oder: Die Identitätskrise"
55. "Guerrilla Comm?". 21 April 2009.
56. Ingo Vavra. "Kroeger u.a. (Hg.) – Geistiges Eigentum und Originalität". Archived from the original on 3 August 2016.
57. SF Site: "Do Androids Sleep With Electric Sheep? Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and Pornography in Science and Social Fiction. A review by Paul Graham Raven"
58. Niarchos, Nicolas. "A Print Magazine for Hackers". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
59. Dunbar-Hester, Christina (2020). Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures. Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-691-19288-8.
60. "The Free Lunch, team page; 5 December 2020". Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
61. Dorian Waller. "Pornos und tote Hühner". derStandard.at.
62. Elevate Festival 2013, Grenzfurthner hosted the opening gala
63. "IT-Press: "Auszeichnung für innovativste Köpfe Österreichs: Zehn heimische IT-Projekte mit dem Open Minds Award prämiert"; 2017". Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
64. Kleine Zeitung: "KOMM.ST 1.6 – Gasthäuser werden zum Wald", 23 May 2016
65. Heute.at: "Steppenrot bringt Musical-Schlagabtausch in der Bahnhofskantine"
66. Zero Crash, official website
67. Starburst Magazine, Clickbait
68. "Umbilicus Desidero (2019); movie review: A Goodbye Letter To Neal's Belly Button; in: PopHorror". Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
69. Love Is a Crime Podcast: A Hollywood Partnership Built and Destroyed by Art, Money, Sex, and Celebrity; Episode 3
70. OTS: "Netz-Community hackt Kulturfördersystem", 2 May 2006
71. "Sur la route des hackers évangélistes".
72. "Mozilla Bildung: Jeder ist ein Lehrer – brand eins online". Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
73. Ben Jones: Pirates Gather at First International Pirate Party Conference, torrentfreak, 9 September 2007.
74. "International Pirate Parties Conference 2007 Wiki". Wiki.pp-international. 10 July 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
75. Philip Steffan (27 November 2014). "Wenn Roboter einschenken: 16. Roboexotica in Wien". Make.
76. Learmonth, Michael (11 February 2009). "Frito-Lay Puts Cheetos Brand in Bloggers' Hands". Ad Age. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
77. Film Threat, "Johannes Grenzfurthner is kinda nerdy", 21 March 2017
78. Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner about Traceroute, Boing Boing magazine; 14 April 2016
79. Higgins, Chris (May 2016). "Nerds and Annihilation, Q&A with Johannes Grenzfurthner". Mental Floss. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
80. Kaestle, Thomas (25 April 2018). "Der Film Glossary of Broken Dreams oder: Im Schlachthaus Zum Goldenen Kalb". Zebrabutter. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
81. FM4: "Kurzbesuch in Sowjet-Unterzögersdorf", 23 July 2002
82. Fritsche, Andreas. "Rechte Drohliste auf linkes Portal geschmuggelt". Neues Deutschland. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
83. "Großer Hack und kleinere Drohliste". Stopp die Rechten. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
84. @johannes_mono (7 January 2019). "Ich bin auf dieser rechten Drohliste..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
85. "Viral Photo of 'F**k You Greta Thunberg' Sticker on Drowned BMW is Not Real". news18.com. 21 July 2021.
86. Giornalettismo, 17 July 2021
87. Estadao, 19 July 2021
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90. "gast.at: "COKE LIGHT ART EDITION 2006 – Kultflasche wird zum Kunstobjekt"; 31 May 2006". Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
91. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

External links

• Johannes Grenzfurthner at IMDb