LICLAIR, Christian (ed.)
Texte Zur Kunst 34/135 (September 2024) Country

“Country” – the title of this issue of TEXTE ZUR KUNST – is distinctly ambiguous. On the one hand, it explores specific ideas of rural life and the cultural-historical implications associated with them, which are closely linked to the ongoing exodus of Berlin’s cultural workers from the city. On the other hand, its articles ­address the political situation in our own country: the issue was conceived under the shadow of upcoming state elections, in which the ­Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) – a party with some factions that are considered by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to be right-wing extremist – is threatening to emerge as the strongest political force in the states of Brandenburg, Thuringia, and Saxony. Although many places in the world are seeing steady growth in the popularity of right-wing and extreme right-wing positions, the focus on our own location in Germany enables us to adopt a spotlight approach, homing in on individual cases and their cultural-political impact.

Against this backdrop, the title is by no means intended to suggest that the city serves as a bastion against right-wing ideology. Rather, the aim of this issue is to draw attention to the relation between rural life and right-wing propaganda, a relation that has emerged and developed over time. In this context, we see again and again how right-wing figures, in keeping with their völkisch rhetoric, position an ostensibly pure and uncompromised rural culture against the supposedly woke cultural imperialism of the big cities. However, here we focus not only on the ideological instrumentalization and glorification of regions generally regarded as rural but also on the function of the countryside as a place of longing. [publishers’ note]

Published by Texte Zur Kunst, 2024
Periodicals / Art Theory