Since 1968 – Avant-garde with Tradition
Did you know that Martin Kippenberger designed the famous herbst poster in 1997? That Samuel Beckett wrote the only commissioned work of his life for steirischer herbst? That Elfriede Jelinek featured at the festival a total of twelve times and that Christoph Schlingensief caused a stir with three productions in Graz?
Those are just a few names from the almost fifty-year history of steirischer herbst. steirischer herbst has re-invented itself many times in its history - paradoxically (and with some self-irony), steirischer herbst can be referred to as an avant-garde festival with tradition.
Back to the Future
In addition to our core task, initiating and producing current art, we see it as our mission in society to nurture the rich legacy of the festival and to make it available, something that we have been doing for many years.
The festival archive comprises more than 100’000 objects, allowing you to read about, watch, listen to and research 3’924 projects with more than 15’000 participants. This unique fund is managed by our archivist Martin Ladinig.
Over the past years, he and his team have built up a large digital database, that is available for scientific and artistic inquiries. It includes every single production since the festival was founded in 1968, along with images and film material.
The Archive Online
The next big step is to publish an online version of this database so as to make it available to the general public.
Research about projects, artists, other festival participants, photos, overviews by year, genre, etc. – users will have convenient access to all of these services from home over the internet. Martin Ladinig will continue to be available for more in-depth, complex inquiries.
There are some great rewards from the archive and connected with the upcoming festival! Take a look:
Poster Martin Kippenberger steirischer herbst 1997 
steirischer herbst 2015 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas «Golden Hours» Photo: Anne Van Aerschot 
Catalogue ABBILD – recent portraiture and depiction steirischer herbst 2001 ed. Peter Pakesch, Springer-Verlag, Vienna 2001 
Hammock Every hammock was made out of various herbst-flags, on the spot in Graz from 2006 – 2009. Includes bag for transport, handmade, numbered, limited edition: 40 pieces Designed by glückslabor 
Andreas Siekmann «Drehtürenkapitalismus» steirischer herbst 2013 Domino, 28 imprinted wooden dominoes in a cloth bag. 
Catalogue Latent Utopias Experiments of contemporary architecture steirischer herbst 2002 Hg. Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher Springer Verlag, Wien/New York, 2002 
Catalogue hers – video as female terrain steirischer herbst 2K ed. Stella Rollig Springer-Verlag, Vienna/New York 2000 
Catalogue Utopie und Monument Exhibition for Public Areas steirischer herbst 2009-2010 ed. Sabine Breitwieser and steirischer herbst Springer-Verlag, Vienna/New York, 2011 Separate German and English edition. 
Poster Willy Puchne «Die Sehnsucht der Pinguine» steirischer herbst 1990 
Poster Günter Brus steirischer herbst 1985 autographed 
Poster Botho Strauß «Angelas Kleider» steirischer herbst 1991 
Poster Cosima von Bonin steirischer herbst 1998 
Archivist Martin Ladinig 
Poster Rudi Gernreich – »Fashion will go out of Fashion» steirischer herbst 2000 
Eröffnungsproduktion steirischer herbst 2015 Josef Winkler / Johannes Maria Staud «Specter of the Gardenia oder der Tag wird kommen» Collage by Heta Multanen 
Katalog Fashion will go out of Fashion steirischer herbst 2000 Hg. Brigitte Felderer, Verlag Dumont 
Catalogue Inklusion : Exklusion Art in the Age of Postcolonialism and Global Migration steirischer herbst 1996 ed. Peter Weibel, DuMont Verlag, Cologne 1997 
Catalogue Zonen der Ver-Störung steirischer herbst 1997 ed. Silvia Eiblmayr