Kunstausstellung „Tod und Teufel: Faszination des Horrors“: Das reinste Grauen ist gerade gut genug

What would we be without horror? – Page 1

Was heute längst Normalität ist, zählte einst zu den größten Horrorvorstellungen zeitkritischer Philosophen. Zum Beispiel, dass Museen sich als Event-Location anbiedern. Oder Theater als Verstärker von Trendthemen dienen. So weit fortgeschritten ist diese Art der Markthörigkeit unterdessen, dass der Philosoph Theodor W. Adorno, der solche Tendenzen schon vor achtzig Jahren kritisierte, sich dieser Tage wohl wie in einem Splatterfilm vorkäme.

If he had accessed the website for the exhibition Death and Devil: Fascination of Horror at the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast, the guardian of aesthetic sensitivity would probably have groaned: Does it have to be like this? Does Dmitry Smirnov’s photography of the fully tattooed Zombie Boy (2011) have to so blatantly showcase the horror theme? Isn’t true horror that which is so horrifying that it cannot be expressed in striking images or catchy titles because it surpasses our mental and spiritual capacity? And does it also have to be this: a genuine haunted house and a concert by the shock rockers Lordi in the courtyard of the Kunstpalast?! Is such Disneyfication and exploitation of emotions necessary to somehow lure a tired, oversaturated audience into the temples of muses?

To put it briefly: Yes, it is necessary! The presence of horror in art and popular culture, especially the sensational and exaggerated aspects, plays a psychosocial role that should not be underestimated. The plots of horror films, the dark narratives of black romanticism, or the sinister paintings of H.R. Giger are symbols that not everything can be rationalized and controlled. No matter what we do, there always remains a metaphysical residue, even in a technologically domesticated world.

Such works also remind us that we must remain vigilant. Similar to the medieval danse macabre as a memento mori, which reminded people that it could all be over at any time, the horror genre as a memento horroris specifically reminds the survivors of how fragile the ice of normality truly is. The banal commodification of horror in popular culture implicitly suggests that even the most fantastical terror is never so far away that it couldn’t somehow still reach us.

Diese Funktion erfüllen beispielsweise Horrorfilme mit ihren vordergründig so pubertär inszenierten blutrünstigen Clowns, ihren Aliens, ihren Monstern, Zombies, Dämonen, Geistern, Kannibalen und Psychopathen. Die populären Medien rücken das Grauen ins Gewöhnliche des Alltags, aus dem uns die Inhalte zugleich herausreißen. Auch der in der Düsseldorfer Ausstellung thematisierte Heavy Metal, ein naher popmusikalischer Verwandter des Horrorfilms, widmet sich bevorzugt dem Übermächtigen, Überwältigenden, auch Mystischen und Numinosen. Er beröchelt das Erhabene der Atombombe und des Gotteszorns, des Krieges und der Apokalypse, der Seuchen und der Fluten. Kulturen, die den mit solchem Horror verbundenen Affekten keinen Raum geben, ersticken an ihren formlos gebliebenen Ängsten.

Horror-Artefakte laden aber auch dazu ein, ästhetischen Genuss in der Konfrontation mit dem Grauen zu verspüren. Dadurch versetzen sich die Schauenden, Hörenden oder Lesenden in eine Position der Souveränität. Sie erfahren sich selbst als Menschen, die das mediatisierte Grauen nicht nur ertragen, sondern ihm sogar etwas abgewinnen können – vielleicht kann dies ja auch im Horror des echten Lebens gelingen?

We are, not only, but also: inexpensive, tacky, trivial beings.

From this perspective, consumption and reception of horror can be seen as an aesthetic resilience training, serving as sparring partners in preparation for real hardships. Media psychologist Johanna Börsting also emphasizes the role of „meta-emotions“. Horror in art, as well as genres like True Crime, prompt individuals to evaluate their own primary emotions, such as empathy for the victim and disgust towards the murders.

Why, however, the market shouting and sensationalism that is characteristic of so many horror products?

Adorno wollte nichts vom „revolutionären Affekt der Massen“ wissen, den sein Kollege Walter Benjamin noch hoffnungsvoll zu beschwören wagte. Doch wer seine Rechnung nicht mit den Massen macht, mit dem machen die Massen ihre eigene Rechnung.

Viele der in DüsseldorfThe presented exhibits, oscillating between pop culture and academically informed high culture, demonstrate that democratic mass societies not only require subtle poetic engagements with fear and horror. No, they also require the cheap, the trashy, and the trivial. Because we modern democrats and consumerist materialists are no longer detached godlike beings and no longer represent the pinnacle of humanism. We are, not only, but also: cheap, trashy, trivial beings – and sometimes, these beings can only be reached by being willing to aestheticize with a hammer.

It is noteworthy that even the Bible does not end with theological subtleties, but with a horror-psycho-fantasy blockbuster: the Revelation of John. The ascent to becoming a world religion is not achieved by the Sermon on the Mount alone. Therefore, to conclude, a fiery red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, wearing seven crowns on its heads, roars across the sky, with hail mixed with blood and fire falling down and devastating the lands. Locusts resembling warhorses torment people with venomous stingers. In the sky, a pregnant woman cries out in pain and gives birth to a son who will rule over all nations with an iron scepter (Rev 12:5). This is how one gains a community! In essence, a large part of today’s horror artifacts draw inspiration from the climactic ending of the Bible. One can think of direct adaptations like in the horror film „The Seventh Sign“ (1988) where Demi Moore portrays a martyr giving birth to a soulless child.

The philosopher Günther Anders recognized in the 1950s that without such blockbusters, the business of philosophical criticism of contemporary times would have little chance of success. Instead of writing scientifically correct treatises on the impending horror of nuclear war and diligently citing his sources, he therefore turned to a dazzling form of essay writing that reflected on its own exaggerations – something that populists generally tend to avoid. This is stated in Anders‘ „The Obsolescence of Man“ (1956): „And if there is any chance at all of reaching the ear of the other, it is only then when one sharpens their speech as much as possible. This is the reason for the overemphasis in my formulations. The happy time in which one can afford not to sharpen and not to exaggerate: the time of simplicity, we have not yet reached.“ Because this simplicity has still not been achieved today, the „fascination of horror“ will not end quickly, indeed it must not end quickly.

The exhibition „Death and Devil: Fascination of Horror“ will be running from September 14th to January 21st, 2024 at the Düsseldorf Art Palace.