Interfunctions

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The inter functions was a West German magazine for neo-avant-garde art and art theory. It appeared in Cologne and was discontinued after 12 issues. Nevertheless, today it is regarded as a pioneering platform for the art production of that time in Europe as well as the international networking of the West German art scene.

inter functions

description West German art magazine
First edition 1968
attitude 1975
Frequency of publication once or twice a year
editor Friedrich W. Heubach ; Benjamin HD Buchloh
ZDB 531759-9

history

The interfunction was created in April 1968 in connection with protests against the curatorial orientation of Documenta 4 . Some artists of the Rhenish art scene, among them Jörg Immendorff , Wolf Vostell , KP Brehmer and Chris Reinecke , had attacked their focus on North American Pop Art and object art in protest actions as market-attached and conservative. They claimed greater attention to more recent artistic strategies such as Fluxus , Happening and Intermedia. The first issue of the magazine was v. a. a documentation of these protests. It consisted of typescript articles, newspaper clippings, leaflets and campaign documentation and was published in a small edition of 100 copies.

The first editor was the Cologne art critic and psychologist Friedrich Wolfram Heubach , who was also responsible for the following nine editions up to 1973. While the circulation increased and the appearance of the magazine became more professional, the thematic focus of the Inter functions also expanded: The initially regional focus on Documenta, Fluxus and the political disputes at the Düsseldorf Art Academy gave way to broader international art reporting and documentation on Land Art , Body Art , performance and media art . Instead of editorial discussions, works and artist texts were now documented in recurring sections and often accompanied by sketches and photographs. Some of the works were specially created for the respective issue. A small part of the edition appeared as an edition revised by artists to finance the magazine. Both were understood as an attempt to find new ways of distributing works of art and thus bypassing the institutional apparatus of commercial galleries, art criticism and museums.

In 1973, in the tenth edition, Heubach announced his retirement as editor. The art critic Benjamin Buchloh finally took on this task and continued the magazine with the new subtitle “Magazine for new works and ideas”. Production and sales were outsourced, and galleries could now place advertisements. Issue 11 was dedicated to the book as an artistic medium, issue 12 to the artist film.

A political dispute over the evaluation of an Anselm Kiefer's work in this issue finally led to the end of the magazine. After Marcel Broodthaers had canceled an edition in protest, the planned 13th edition on art and architecture could no longer be financed; the show was discontinued in 1975.

Exhibitions

From February 19 to May 2, 2004, the Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea in Porto organized the exhibition Behind the Facts under the curation of Gloria Moure . Inter Functions 1968–1975, in which over 100 works by 43 international artists were shown.

literature

  • Burcu Dogramaci: The journal 'Inter functions' (1968–1975). Artistic medium of designed anarchy. In: Critical Reports. Journal for Art and Cultural Studies 40.4 (2012), pp. 66–76.
  • Gwen Allen: Artists' Magazines. An Alternative Space for Art. MIT Press, Cambridge (MA) 2011, pp. 201-225.
  • Christine Mehring: Continental font: The Story of Inter functions. In: Artforum International 42, May 2004, pp. 178-183.
  • Gloria Moure (Ed.): Behind the Facts. Inter functions 1968–1975. Polígrafa, Barcelona 2004.

Web links

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  1. ↑ Cf. Christine Mehring: Continental Font: The Story of Inter functions. In: Artforum International 42, May 2004, pp. 178, 183.
  2. ↑ a b Cf. Christine Mehring: Continental Font. The story of inter functions . In: Artforum International 42, May 2004, p. 180.
  3. ↑ See the announcement in Interfunktion, Vol. 8, Issue 12 (1975), p. 96.