GerhardJaschke

Biography

Gerhard Jaschke is an Austrian writer and editor of the literary magazine Freibord, founded in 1976 together with Hermann Schürrer. He studied law but did not complete his degree, focusing instead on writing from the 1970s onwards. Jaschke has done extensive research and writing on the international avant-garde. The journal Freibord responded precisely to the desire to present artistic experiments aimed at uniting literature and art with cultural criticism and political and social engagement. Recognized in Austria and internationally, the magazine quickly became a key platform for underground authors and experimental literature. Numerous monographic issues were devoted to the presentation of artistic movements or portraits of individual artists, such as Hermann Nitsch and the writer Andreas Okopenko. Several issues were devoted entirely to Fluxus: issue no. 60 analyzes the movement, starting with an extensive digression on Apuleius’s Metamorphoses, and contains texts by Dick Higgins and Jackson Mac Low, graphic works by George Maciunas, and an interview with Francesco Conz. Most of Jaschke’s published work consists of short prose and poetry as anagrams and lipograms. In addition to multiple publications in local and foreign journals and anthologies, he has published several individual works, including Fliegende Trümmer (1984) and the more recent Gemischte Freuden (2018), Geliehene Leben (2020), and wie nie danach (2022). Jaschke has been honored on several occasions with, among others, the Literature Prize of the Theodor Körner Foundation (1977, 1982, 1987). Between 1986 and 2009, Jaschke taught at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In 1991, 1993, and 1994, Jaschke received the Federal Ministry of Education and Arts Book Award. Together with Ilse Kilic, he is Managing Director of the Austrian writers’ association Grazer Autorinnen Autorenversammlung.

Artworks (6)