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Sunday 22 August 2010

Ex und Hopp?

Or, Christoph Maria Schlingensief almost made it halfway to the century mark. Sure as fuck has me beat.

Exit, stage left.

Upon hearing of his departure yesterday, Elfriede Jelinek said that he was one of the greatest artists who had ever lived, that she'd always thought such a person could not die, and that it's as if life itself had just died. Hyperbole from someone caught mourning a personal and professional loss? Maybe. It's particularly tough to lose someone who had your ideological back.

In his weekly "how are we doing" interview in the TAZ, Friedrich Küppersbusch called Schlingensief's passing bad, taking solace, however, in the fact that the artist's body of work ensures that, regarding his death, one'll ask, "Just what exactly does he mean by that?"

We can only hope that he's inspired more than he's just retired.

October 24, 1960 – August 21, 2010