FRIEDERIKE MAYRÖCKER

It is thanks to Lassnig that I discovered Mayröcker’s work and began to read her countless books. Along with Etel Adnan, Édouard Glissant, and Robert Walser, Mayröcker is one of the few writers whose works I have read almost entirely. Naturally, I always wanted to meet Mayröcker in person, and it was Lassnig again who made this possible. In the many decades of my friendship with Lassnig, it became a kind of ritual for me to visit her whenever I was in Vienna. During one of these visits, when Lassnig’s life was near its end after 95 years, she turned to me and asked worriedly: “What will you do in Vienna when I’m gone?” So during our very last visit, she suggested that I meet her good friend Friederike Mayröcker, the great Austrian writer.

After Lassnig’s death, I wrote a letter to Mayröcker, explaining Lassnig’s touching idea. And thatis how we came to meet at Café Sperl in Vienna. Mayröcker firmly believes that writing reflects life, and she describes melancholia as her driving force. She has devoted her entire life to writing, and the intensity of her dedication has resulted in more than 100 books to this day.

At our first meeting at Café Sperl, I discovered that Mayröcker’s work also includes drawings. These drawings, which she has been creating in series for decades, depict, among other things, the ‘protective ghosts’ that have lent this exhibition its name. We could really use their protective powers, especially in these difficult times. Over the years, Mayröcker has drawn many protective ghosts – for example, ones that “protect against life’s uncertainties,” which she dedicated to her life partner Ernst Jandl.¹ Mayröcker has also drawn other protective ghosts for Jandl: Ghosts who protect against the fear of being alone and against being afraid of the dark, and ghosts. who protect you from bad people, from feeling tired in the mornings, or from not having enough cigarettes. Other series of drawings in this exhibition include the ABC-Thriller and Kinder KaLaender, the latter of which is presented in two versions: the finished series and first sketches.

It was my intention to tie the many different dimensions of Mayröcker’s work together and toplace her poetry, her prose, and her audio books in the context of her drawings. Mayröcker’s more than 100 books are also presented in the exhibition on tables specially designed by Koo Jeong A for this purpose.

My sincerest thanks to Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Edith Schreiber, Robert Fleck, Melanie Harl and the entire team of Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Koo Jeong A, Lorraine Two Testro, Max Shackleton, and Adèle Koechlin.

¹ Friederike Mayröcker in a conversation with the author, KC-1702

Hans Ulrich Obrist