Art & Culture

Art and culture are more than just entertainment - they are an expression of our history, our values and our inner standards. In this new category of MSchall Verlag, we dedicate ourselves to those personalities, works and developments that shape and enrich our social life. Whether drama, music, literature or contemporary debates: We look at these topics with the necessary respect for their tradition and with a keen eye for what they still have to say to us today. Every analysis follows the guiding principle that real culture does not have to be loud, but deep. This is a place where art once again becomes what it always was - a mirror of the times and an anchor for the individual.

Apple in transition: Early devices, personal experiences and an exhibition at the OCM

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Apple Macintosh Classic and Color Classic

If you are interested in computer history, a visit to the Oldenburg Computer Museum is particularly worthwhile. The museum is one of those places that doesn't have to be loud to make an impression and will be hosting a special exhibition from April under the motto „50 years of the Apple computer“. For many years, technology has not only been exhibited there, but kept alive. Devices are not behind glass, but often ready for use on tables - just as they were actually used in the past.

That's what makes the difference. You don't just see old computers, you get a feeling for what it was like to work, play and think with these machines. From early home computers to classic office computers and special one-offs, everything is represented - carefully collected, maintained and, above all, clearly arranged.

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Johann Sebastian Bach - Order, attitude and the foundation of our music

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Johann Sebastian Bach Portrait

As a child and teenager, I grew up in a family of musicians. Both my parents are music teachers. My mother plays the flute, my father the piano. Music was not a decorative background in our home, but a natural part of everyday life. We practiced, taught, discussed, sometimes even wrestled. Sheet music was laid out on the piano, not in the cupboard.

I played the piano myself, and later also the saxophone. And like so many people who go through classical training, I ended up with Johann Sebastian Bach at some point - more specifically the first prelude from the „Well-Tempered Clavier“. I can still play it. Maybe not flawlessly, I would have to practise again. But the structure of this piece is still with me today. This calm sequence of broken chords, the clear harmony, the self-evident order - even as a pupil you can sense that something important is happening here. This portrait is dedicated to my mother on her 70th birthday, who made it possible for me to take piano lessons at that time.

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Cancel Culture in the West: Sport, universities, the military and EU sanctions analyzed

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Cancel Culture in the West

When you hear the word „cancel culture“ today, you quickly think of universities, social networks or prominent individuals who come under pressure for making a thoughtless statement. Originally, the phenomenon was actually very much located in the cultural and academic sphere. It was about boycotts, protests and symbolic distancing. But something has shifted in recent years. The dynamic has grown, it has become more serious - and above all: it has become more political.

Today, we are not just observing individual debates about lectures or Twitter posts. We see athletes who are not allowed to compete. Artists whose programs are being cancelled. Professors coming under massive pressure. Military officers whose statements make international waves within hours. States that keep lists. Entry bans. Sanctions that affect not just institutions, but specific individuals.

This is more than a marginal cultural phenomenon. It has become a political mechanism.

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Helge Schneider: Attitude, humor and the freedom of not having to explain yourself

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Helge Schneider Portrait

I noticed Helge Schneider very early on. Not because he was particularly loud or pushed himself to the fore - on the contrary. It was this peculiar mixture of intelligent absurdity, linguistic sideways thinking and musical matter-of-factness that stuck with me. Something about it seemed different right from the start. Unexcited. Unimpressed. And above all: not in need of explanation.

This portrait is therefore not a fan text. Nor is it an ironic wink or an attempt to pigeonhole Helge Schneider into a cultural category. Rather, it is an attempt to look at a personality who has consistently resisted any form of appropriation for decades - and who shows attitude precisely because of this.

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What was Syria like before the war? Who rules today? What does this mean for refugees in Germany?

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Syria and Damascus

For me, Syria is not an abstract news country, not just a crisis concept in the headlines. I have been following this country - from a distance, but continuously - for around twenty years. Not out of political activism, but out of genuine interest. For me, Syria has always been an example of how the world is more complicated than simple good-and-evil narratives. A country in the Middle East that was secularly organized, relatively stable and socially much more modern than many would have expected.

An additional point that aroused my interest early on was the person of Bashar al-Assad himself. A man who had studied in Switzerland, trained as an ophthalmologist, knew the realities of life in the West - and then stood at the head of a Middle Eastern state. That didn't fit the usual mold. It was all the more irritating for me to observe how quickly public perception narrowed, how a complex state became a pure symbol of violence, flight and moral simplification within just a few years. The shock for me was not so much that Syria ended up in a war - history knows many such ruptures - but how little room there was left for differentiation afterwards. This article is therefore also an attempt to bring order back to a topic that is often only presented as chaos in the media.

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More than punk: Nina Hagen, Cosma Shiva and the art of not letting yourself be taken in

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Portrait of Nina and Cosma Shiva Hagen

When you approach a portrait of Nina Hagen, it's tempting to talk about music first. About punk, provocation, shrill performances. About everything that is loud and visible. This portrait deliberately begins differently. Not with songs, not with styles, not with images. But with something quieter - and more important: attitude.

Attitude is not a label. It cannot be put on like a costume, pasted on afterwards or explained with marketing. Attitude is evident in early behavior, long before someone becomes famous. It can be seen in how someone reacts to limitations, to contradictions, to power. And this is where Nina Hagen becomes interesting - not as an icon, but as a personality.

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Understanding Iran: Everyday life, protests and interests beyond the headlines

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Understanding Iran

Hardly any other country conjures up such fixed images as Iran. Even before a single detail is mentioned, the associations are already there: mullahs, oppression, protests, religious fanaticism, a state in permanent conflict with its own population. These images are so familiar that they are hardly questioned. They seem self-evident, almost like common knowledge.

And therein lies the problem. Because this „knowledge“ rarely comes from personal experience. It comes from headlines, from commentaries, from stories that have been repeated for years. Iran is one of those countries about which many people have very clear opinions - even though they have never been there, don't speak the language, don't know everyday life. The picture is complete, cohesive, seemingly free of contradictions. And that is precisely why it is so convincing. But what happens when a picture becomes too smooth?

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Dieter Hallervorden - More than Didi: Portrait of an uncomfortable free spirit

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Dieter Hallervorden and the Wühlmäuse in Berlin

There are figures that stick to you for the rest of your life. Some like an ill-fitting suit, others like an old friend who keeps popping in without being asked. In Dieter Hallervorden's case, this friend is called „Didi“. And he doesn't ring, he bangs. On an imaginary gong. Palim, Palim! - and almost everyone knows who is meant.

But this is where the misunderstanding begins. Because anyone who reduces Dieter Hallervorden to this one moment, to the slapstick act, the stumbling face and the exaggerated naivety, misses the real person behind it. The joker was always just the surface. Underneath was a mind that was more alert than many gave him credit for - and a character who never liked to be told where to go. This portrait is therefore not a nostalgic look back at the television entertainment of past decades. It is an attempt to take seriously an artist who deliberately did not want to be taken seriously for decades - which is precisely why he was so effective.

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