Salzburg, Austria

I became interested in Lustfaust when I was quite young and very naïve. Despite this I still have a fondness for that era (which is probably why I still have the material I have given you). I thought of myself as an outsider, mostly as I am Austrian by birth (yet my mother is actually German) and we moved around a lot when I was a child. Politically, I believed this gave me a method of autonomy so that I could look at the political situation in the Germanies from a clear point of view. I realise now that this was a folly and in looking back I was definitely a child of the west. Still my inclination was to side with the underdog and so I saw myself as an unofficial teller of the hidden East’s story. I think this may go some way in explaining my gravitation towards Lustfaust and also explain why my covers reacted the way in which they did.

I saw the band live a few times early on and was very entertained. I enjoyed the performance and musical aspects. So my collection started early and by the end I was just getting the tapes for completeist reasons. Unfortunately, at some point along the way, I have lost the design for one of the tapes (Tiefländer) so my collection is now incomplete. I think I must have matured and outgrown the band. I am now a computer analyst so maybe this was correct. When you asked about my collection of tapes, I re-listened and was surprised to realise that the music was better than I remembered. My son, who is five years old, listens to it now!

The designs that I created were mostly formed from collage and then the overlay of titles and typography alongside paint. I’m not sure what I was intending anymore though I expect it was something to do with the political. None the less, I am still quite proud of the designs. I think they look reasonably good and seem worth looking at and I am in no way an artistic or creative person (maybe I was then!). So I am pleased to be part of this exhibition.