*Beginning at the KHM: What are the things you are most looking forward to and/or are excited about?

Looking into what’s next. Thinking in groups. Reading in groups. Talking. Teaching. And being taught myself. I’m eager to find out more about language as a medium in contact, contrast, cooperation with other media, in conversation with students and artists and artist-students and student-artists. And I like beginnings. And to be able to begin twice a year, in Winter as in Summer, with a new topic (or an old one), together with students, seems to be the best thing in the world. And then: I hope that the things I am looking forward to are things I can’t think of yet.

* What is your artistic/scientific background? What are your main starting points in being an artist and/or scientist?

I studied comparative literature, religious studies, german literatures and gave up my PHD-Project for writing poetry. Also I am used to working in groups. In the Nineties and early 2000er years I’ve been part of numerous collectives: A.N.Y.P., b_books, Le Pingpong d’Amour, Das Lemma, der Lyrikkreis, Übung am Phantom, Filmrausch e.V., Meiers Schöner Fleischsalon, Die Liedertafel. These cooperative projects have been very essential for me. Later I’ve been working at Inforadio (at rbb), parttime for 18 years, which left me time for writing books, organizing festivals, translating poetry, teaching in Vienna, in Biel and Leipzig, going on Lesereisen all over the world and making a lot of Quatsch. Before coming to Cologne I’ve been teaching for three important years at the Institut of Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

* Which three words would you use to describe yourself or your topics?

Machs mal anders. (Do it differently.)

The posts titled “welcome” present and welcome the new staff members of exMedia.

more about Monika Rinck