Büchersendunged from Herr Erni, Off Scene Academie Hamburg--du Magazine featuring Dieter Roth

[Bifidus Jones]

Dieter Roth was prolific in his creativity, making poetry books, artist's books, sculptures, paintings, sound recordings, and biodegradable art. Erni has generously tracked down this 1993 issue for me which features Roth's exhibit in Switzerland:

This is the kind of artist who, if you were standing too close to, might lob off your hair and use it in his next piece. He probably ate clowns for breakfast. Not only was this man "off scene", he was off planet. I can only imagine what it must be like to see his work in person--like taking a bullet train into the cosmos. Thanks to Erni, I have been exposed to the mind of a genius and now there's nothing left to do but get off the couch and shoot my TV. Why aren't we all living like this????

[Bifidus Jones]

Erni, I can see why the man is one of your heroes. Stummes Relief boggles my mind. I checked the Walker Art Center--Minnesota's modern art museum--and was pleased to discover that they have six of his pieces. Here's one of them called Tonbild:

And here's what Roth had to say:

It's important to exhibit your mistakes. Man is not perfect. Neither are his creations. I've given up using sour milk. Instead I use music. I sometimes fasten a tape recorder onto paintings or objects and have the music pour over the spectator/listener. This creates a certain effect: those who look at the art don't realize how bad it is when they hear the music. For the music is even worse. Two bad things make one good thing.--Dieter Roth, 1978

When Roth stopped working on Tonbild in 1988, four of the nine tape decks had ceased to play and had been marked "kaput" by the him. It was his intention that all the tape recorders should play until they broke, a process of deterioration that reversed his process of creation.