About this Event
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a generation of young Germans became infected by the punk virus. Not for them schlager-schmaltz, smiling chart pop, droning kosmische: they craved voltage, attitude, rewiring. Their enemies were multiple: capitalism, boredom, housewifery, piety, the spectre of nuclear war. In punk—its sounds and attitudes—they found an alternative community. Bands were formed, fanzines scribbled, DIY labels started, clubs and underground venues developed. Wild, inventive music emerged—Malaria!, DAF, Äbwarts, Einstürzende Neubaten, Die Tödliche Doris. Angles and edge, raw rhythms, the dance floor deconstructed.
This evening brings together three of the most revered and restless figures of the punk and post-punk era. Gudrun Gut, JG Thirlwell, and Vivien Goldman will discuss the musical and social revolutions they experienced in Germany, the ways in which punk questioned the freedoms offered by the state, its post-unification legacies. What does—could—German punk mean in 2026?
Panelists:
GUDRUN GUT is a foundational figure in the story of German punk and independent music. She was a member of all-women bands Mania D, Malaria! and Matador, in an early incarnation of Einsturzende Neubaten, and a founder of the record labels Monika Enterprise and Moabit Musik. She has also been a radio producer, festival curator, and international DJ. Subject of a 2021 book M_DOKUMENTE, and featured in Reto Caduff’s Jetzt im Kino: Einfach Machen! She-Punks von 1977 bis heute (2024), she filmed and released her own miniseries GUT for the German TV ARD Mediathek (2023).
JG THIRLWELL is a composer/producer/performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Melbourne, he moved to London in 1978, then relocated to NYC in 1983, where he has been based ever since. As wellas his own name, he works under many pseudonyms including Foetus, Xordox, Manorexia, Steroid Maximus, Baby Zizanie, Hydroze Plus, Clint Ruin, and Wiseblood. He has released over forty albums, worked as a producer, remixer and collaborator for artists such as Karen O, Coil and Nick Cave, and is an acclaimed graphic artist.
VIVIEN GOLDMAN is a writer, educator, broadcaster and musician. A Londoner, she now lives in New York where she is an Adjunct Professor at NYU's Clive Davis Institute. Her early '80s post-punk music was anthologized on the 2016 LP Resolutionary. Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe: Frontline Adventures Linking Punk, Reggae, Afrobeat and Jazz, a selection of her journalism, is published this fall.
Moderator:
SUKHDEV SANDHU directs the Colloquium for Unpopular Culture at New York University and is the curator of which runs from 8 October-7 November at Various/Artists Gallery, 19 Essex Street, New York.
Event venue & nearby stays
Goethe-Institut New York, 30 Irving Place, New York, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.