Current contributions

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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Why distance is not a retreat - and how a freeze-out creates orientation

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Freezeout - distance in crises

When you are in the middle of a crisis, everything seems urgent. You have the feeling that you have to act immediately, speak immediately, decide immediately. And there is often a second feeling on top of that: If you don't keep at it now, everything will slip away. That's understandable. It's also human. But this is exactly where the mistake often begins.

Because closeness is not automatically clarity. Proximity can also mean that you are too close to see what is really happening. Just like you can't recognize a painting if your nose is stuck to the canvas. You then only see individual brushstrokes - and think they are the whole painting.

A freeze-out, properly understood, is nothing more than a step back. Not to run away, but to be able to see again.

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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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Why having your own magazine is more important for companies today than advertising

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Magazine as property

When you talk to entrepreneurs about visibility these days, it's almost always about reach. People talk about findability on Google, social media, paid ads on Google or other platforms, click numbers, followers and interactions. Visibility is considered a prerequisite for commercial success, and in many industries this is true.

What is rarely discussed is a quiet but decisive shift: most companies are visible today - but on spaces that do not belong to them. This development has not been dramatic. It was convenient, gradual and seemingly logical. That is precisely why it is hardly questioned.

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Nord Stream demolition: sabotage, power politics and the uncomfortable unanswered questions

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Nord Stream blasting

When people talk about energy, many think first of electricity - of light, of sockets, of power stations. In reality, however, Europe's everyday life depends on a quieter foundation: heat and process energy. Over the decades, natural gas has become a kind of invisible backbone. Not because it is particularly „beautiful“, but because it is practical: it is easy to transport, relatively flexible to use and can be reliably supplied in large quantities. For private households, this means heating and hot water. For industry, it means one thing above all: predictable production.

Particularly in industries such as chemicals, glass, steel, paper, ceramics or fertilizers, energy is not simply a cost factor that is „optimized“. Energy is an integral part of the process. If it fails or becomes unreliable, it is not just one machine that comes to a standstill - often an entire plant, sometimes an entire supply chain. This is the point at which „energy policy“ ceases to be an abstract controversial issue and begins to have a very concrete impact on jobs, prices, availability and stability. Anyone who has understood this also understands why Nord Stream was far more than just an infrastructure project on the seabed for Europe.

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Understanding hernias: Why posture and statics are often more crucial than expected

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Hernia, posture and tension

I've been dealing with hernias since 2020. Looking back, it didn't start with a dramatic accident, but rather with a moment when the body suddenly sent a clear signal: Something is different. A hernia can announce itself in a surprisingly unspectacular way - until you can no longer ignore it. For me, it came relatively suddenly.

The first operation followed a few months later, but the journey was not „finished“. This is precisely why it is worthwhile to first understand the topic properly - as it is medically intended, and at the same time with a keen eye on the things that often fall by the wayside.

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Artificial intelligence without the hype: why fewer AI tools often mean better work

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Artificial intelligence without the hype

Anyone who deals with the topic of artificial intelligence today almost inevitably encounters a strange feeling: constant restlessness. No sooner have you got used to one tool than the next ten appear. One video follows the next on YouTube: „This AI tool changes everything“, „You absolutely have to use this now“, „Those who miss out are left behind“. And every time, the same message resonates subliminally: You're too late. The others are further ahead. You have to catch up.

This doesn't just affect IT people. Self-employed people, creative professionals, entrepreneurs and ordinary employees are also feeling the pressure. Many don't even know exactly what these tools actually do - but they have the feeling that they could be missing out on something. And that's exactly what creates stress.

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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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