Gerhard Rühm and Friedrich Achleitner

The two 83-year-old exponents of the legendary Wiener Gruppe (Vienna Group) and pioneers of concrete poetry in conversation with Michael Pfister.

Friedrich Achleitner, born 23. 5. 1930 in Schalchen (Upper Austria), writer, architectural historian. 1955-64 member of the Wiener Gruppe (Vienna Group), collaborative works with H. C. Artmann, K. Bayer, G. Rühm and O. Wiener, 1983-98 holder of the chair of architectural history at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Representative of concrete poetry and modern dialect poetry. Austrian State Prize for Cultural Journalism in 1984.

Gerhard Rühm, born 12. 2. 1930 in Vienna, experimental lyricist, dramatist and prose writer, trained musician. 1964-75 in Berlin, then in Cologne; from 1972 teaching at the State Art College in Hamburg; co-founder of the Wiener Gruppe. As its most radical "concrete poet," Rühm (with H. C. Artmann and K. Bayer) attempted to define the theoretical position of the Vienna Group, partly by drawing on the avant-garde of Expressionism and Surrealism; his own work is very heterogeneous. Both acoustic and graphic elements enter into the lyric poetry. The dramatic works move on the border to the happening. Rühm influenced the development of the new radio play through numerous innovative acoustic works that replace conventional role-playing with linguistic and noisy sound events. 1978-83 President of the Graz Authors' Assembly; 1991 Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature.