Fuckhead – This Beautiful Song

This beautiful song annihilates, at least since the group Fuckhead has been celebrating its progressive deconstruction in a big way. Already captivated in recent years by the adrenaline kick of the mosh pit, the musicians and performers Aigner, Bruckmayr, Strohmann, Kern, Jöchtl, and Pittermann got their start originally as a noise-rock band. Along with their music and audience members, who are integrated onto the stage, Tableaux Vivants-type held-pose ending scenes have allowed Fuckhead to differentiate themselves from the authenticity-oriented hardcore punk generation at end of the eighties. Their ironic handling of political and masculinity-related themes in their “authenticity pictures” is still relevant for them today.

However, irony must be understood in order to be noticed. This was not always the case. At the beginning of their career, Fuckhead’s role as a projection surface often ended up being a bad call. The left-wingers found Fuckhead to be too right, the right-wing found them to be too gay, the underground felt they lacked political objectives, and for the art world, Fuckhead was too nonconformist to be integrated into either art theory circles or the art business.

Fuckhead maintains a balance between music and performance. Some put more importance on their musical side, while others are particularly drawn to their visual side. In the midst of all the visual scenery, the physical body being pushed to its extremes has long been Fuckhead’s main act. With Bruckmayr being pulled from the chest by a hanging steel cable, the band had reached a limit, which left them wondering how to further position themselves. “We set ourselves up the last time to move on to something even more fantastical” commented the members of Fuckhead over the new adjustment. The public has embraced this change, along with the positive vibes and the adrenaline rush that Fuckhead embodies. This was especially the case at the Donaufestival in Krems, when the California body-art performer, Ron Athey, propelled fake pearls out of his ass, "paying tribute" to the European conquerors' original "gift" to America. (wh/jn)

The scenes for this episode were shot at the Donaufestival Krems.

https://www.fuckhead.at/

Interviewee: Didi Bruckmayr, Dieter Kern, Siegmar Aigner, Michael Strohmann, Alexander Jöchtl, Peter Pittermann
Artworks by: Fuckhead

Copyright info: The audio and video recording has been made with personal permission of the artist.
Licensing: 0
Language(s): German, English
Subtitles: German, English
Producer: KA21 GmbH / CastYourArt
Production crew: Sigmund Steiner, Ewa Stern, Wolfgang Haas
Production country: Austria, Krems