Gerd Herholz: Gespenster GmbH

In the organizer's words:

Various ghosts, some of them long-lived and tenacious, haunt the cultural and literary landscape along the Ruhr. Gerd Herholz tracks them down and investigates their mental and material environment. He focuses on the socio-economic damage to the once heavily industrialized conurbation, but above all on the devastating temptations of the creative industries.

In his contributions and essays, Herholz mockingly skewers the pompous vocabulary of a cultural industry that - pressured by the pressure to innovate - is only too happy to believe any lofty promise of salvation. A well thought-out promotion of reading and literature would look different. But instead of multifaceted mediation work, marketing strategists in the region prefer to follow the pull of lavish events.

In addition to polemical observations, this volume brings together encounters, committed pleas and critically appreciative portraits of individual authors: for a literature that persistently writes against ghosts.

Gerd Herholz, born in Duisburg, is a literary mediator, freelance author and journalist. He was scientific director of the Literaturbüro Ruhr until 2018 and writes for newspapers, magazines, blogs and radio. This volume brings together contributions from the years 2011 to 2023.

Moderation: Arnold Maxwill

An event in cooperation with the Fritz Hüser Institute.