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Forbes
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Uncovered World: Kraftwerk And The Philosophy Of Technology
Kraftwerk in Austin The Bass Concert Hall turned dark, seeming almost cavernous. A low frequency electronic pulse filled the air, mechanical yet strangely alive. Scintillating. Vibrating. Evocatively turning deep, electronic guttural sounds into something that resembled human speech. Deconstructing information into component frequencies. In Austin, far from Düsseldorf and Zürich, Kraftwerk performed what may be one their last world tours. Florian Schneider is gone. Ralf Hütter is 78. These artists are to me, more influential and important than the Beatles. More primal than Elvis. And greater philosophers than many who have dedicated their life to this subject. What unfolded in their performance was the furthest thing from an ordinary concert. It was a revelation. An introduction to, and a glimpse into a potent, fascinating, yet hidden world. A world not of nature. Not of man. A third realm, that of technology itself. Throughout history, human understanding has been framed around two dominant spheres: The world of nature, existing independently of our will. The world of man, shaped by mind, imagination, and society. But there is a third realm, often overlooked as a place unto itself; the world of technology, distinct, autonomous, yet seen, discovered and perceived through human hands and minds. It is not a mere extension of man, nor a deformation of nature. It is something else. A reality lying latent, awaiting uncovering. Like mathematical truths that exist before their discovery, technology embodies structures and possibilities inherent in the fabric of reality itself. Kraftwerk, through sound and image, strips away the familiar, and for a moment, exposed this world to view. The struggle to distinguish between the natural and the artificial is as old as philosophy itself. For Plato, reality was not the flux of nature, but the eternal, immutable Forms, perfect ideas underlying the chaotic surface of the world. The material world was a mere shadow, a poor imitation of deeper truths. In this light, human creation was often seen as one more step removed from authenticity. And yet, if the Forms exist, if reality has an underlying structure, then acts of creation, invention, and discovery are not degradations, they are gestures toward uncovering deeper truths. Technology, seen through this lens, is not a corruption of nature, nor a rebellion against it. It is another projection of the universal truths. It is an alignment, a striving to manifest hidden structures of existence. The discovery of numbers, the construction of machines, the algorithmic symphony of logic. All are not mere human artifice, but the surfacing of something real. Something that was always there. Consider the wheel exists in nature's circles, electricity in lightning, binary logic in the on/off of neural firing. We do not invent these principles; we uncover them, give them form, allow them to emerge into visibility. Kraftwerk's brilliance is, then, not merely music. It is not merely the visual art. It is in the comprehensive and accessible act of uncovering. In the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger reframed the ancient dialogue. Technology, he argued in The Question Concerning Technology, is not simply a collection of tools. It is a mode of revealing, a way in which reality itself is brought forth into visibility. Heidegger called this Entbergen, an act of uncovering. Through technology, aspects of the world hidden from ordinary experience are made accessible. Yet, Heidegger warned, there is also a danger. Technology may reduce the world to a mere standing reserve, stripping away mystery, reducing being to resource. But at its heart, technology is revelatory. It makes visible that which was veiled. As the figures of Numbers cascaded across the screens in Austin, integers tumbling in German, Japanese, English, Russian, I realized these were not merely intended to be seen as familiar, mundane symbols. They were aspects of reality, uncovered by the mind, given form through machine, presented as pure abstraction. Numbers collide. Numbers emerge. Numbers equate. Numbers exceed. They exist absent all else. This is the paradox. While technology requires human consciousness to be revealed, what is revealed transcends the merely human. Like a mathematician discovering rather than inventing mathematical truths, we are conduits for technology's emergence, not its sole authors. Each song in Kraftwerk's set was a meditation on different aspects of this hidden realm: Numbers presented pure abstraction, numbers not as human symbols, but as ontological realities, revealed through machine logic. Pocket Calculator emphasized the act of operation over creation. I'm the operator of my pocket calculator. The device exists apart from us; we interact with it, but we do not author it. An electric ambience pervades the entire performance... Radioactivity captured the duality of nature and technology. A phenomenon that exists both in the heart of stars and in the heart of human made reactors, creation and destruction blurred. Transported into the world of man, radioactivity is the harbinger of destruction. But on its own… The Robots explored the emergence of a new entity which is neither human nor merely mechanical, but something third, something that occupies a new ontological space. Here, perhaps, we glimpse what artificial intelligence may become: not mere tools, but entities with their own form of being, uncovered at the intersection of mind and mechanism. Autobahn is a celebration of technological connectivity, of a machine conduit. Of a platform that unlocks more of what the machine can do. Accompanied by images not of people, but German machines on a low poly German road, expressing the machine capability of speed; of transit; of unimpeded flow. Tour de France is a meditation on the tour not as a human endeavor. Not as a journey across nature. But as a network; a graph; a succession of nodes. A tour enabled by a machine; the bicycle. This is the projection of the concept of Tour de France in the world of technology. It is distinct from the projection of this concept into the world of man, or the world of nature. Each performance abandoned traditional human emotions, focusing instead on precision, abstraction, minimalism, all in service of revealing technology's independent existence. It is no accident that Kraftwerk arose from the German speaking world, a civilization with a profound, sometimes ambivalent, relationship to technology. This relationship became clearer to me when I read that great ode to German invention and technology, "German Genius," recommended to me by my brilliant friend, Paul Achleitner, who is both deeply interested in art and a leader of German finance. In Germany, technology was never merely a means to an end. It was something closer to a metaphysical destiny. "Vorsprung durch Technik", or advancement through technology, is not simply an Audi slogan. It is more a declaration of belief. Just walking in the German speaking world, in Zürich for example, you come across streets named Maschinenstrasse ("Machine Street") and Enginestrasse ("Engine Street"). Here man decided to pay homage not to nature, not even to humanity, but to the idea of machinery itself, an acknowledgment that technology has a life and dignity of its own. This cultural recognition reflects a deeper truth. That technology deserves reverence not as our creation, but as a fundamental aspect of reality we have learned to perceive. German Romanticism, industrialization, and the later traumas of the twentieth century all layered into this complicated reverence. Technology was seen as both salvation and abyss, a force capable of transcending human limits, but also one that could eclipse the human altogether. Kraftwerk inherited this dual consciousness. Their music is neither celebration nor lamentation. It is the pronouncement of prophets. It is an act of witnessing. It is the declaration of a truth. A truth many don't yet see. In The Man Machine, Kraftwerk advanced perhaps their deepest philosophical statement. The man machine is not fully human, stripped of frailty, emotion, decay. But it is not merely mechanical either, it possesses autonomy, responsiveness, a shadow of intention. It is a new quantity. Less than human, because it lacks spirit. More than human, because it transcends biological constraint. It is a being uncovered at the intersection of mind and mechanism, a glimpse, perhaps, of what is to come as artificial intelligences evolve beyond narrow tools toward autonomous existence. Standing between nature and humanity, technology births beings that are neither, yet partake of both. Nature will endure, with its forests, rivers, stars. Human culture will continue, spinning its myths, its struggles, its dreams. But the third realm, the uncovered world of technology, is rising. It is not merely a byproduct. It is a domain of being: real, structured, autonomous. Technology is not our invention alone. It is an unveiling, a drawing forth of latent realities woven into the fabric of existence itself. Even if we were not, technology would be, in the same way that mathematical truths exist independent of minds to think them. We are the occasion for its revelation, not its ultimate source. Through minimalist beats, robotic voices, and cascades of pure data, Kraftwerk offered us a glimpse into that domain. A world not of nature. Not of man. But something new. Something uncovered.
Chicago Tribune
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Kraftwerk creates visions of a very '80s future at the Auditorium Theatre
The sound of the present and multiple futures resonated as a spectacular series of pulse waves transmitted by Kraftwerk Saturday at a near-capacity Auditorium Theatre. Though a majority of the songs they played were created more than four decades ago, the electronic maestros' precision-mannered performance, thematic statements and winking humor ensured none of the material lost any of its cutting edge. Being Kraftwerk, the two-hour concert featured abundant visuals and illumination that ensured each tune was accompanied by its own custom, unique treatment. The German band also benefited from the venue's excellent acoustics. Clear and dynamic, the main frequency ranges blossomed with a fidelity not possible at the group's two most recent local gigs at the Riviera Theatre (2014) and Aragon (2022). Those stops came with a free pair of 3-D glasses and the illusory effects they produce. But Kraftwerk required nothing of the sort to prompt heads to bob, stimulate deep thought or convey clever messages. Everything it needed was arranged onstage in a sleek configuration that looked familiar to fans. Resembling architect drafting tables, four workstations stood evenly spaced apart and atop a raised platform. A large projection screen served as a constantly shifting canvas. One headset microphone for co-founder Ralf Hütter, the group's last active original member, covered the vocal feed. Members wore matching black apparel scored with grid lines that changed color in coordination with the lighting accompanying a particular song. Red, yellow, baby blue, fluorescent green, magenta, gray: The quartet's look mirrored the aural character of the music's tones. Touring to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its 'Autobahn' album, Kraftwerk persists as an intriguing merger of band, concept, art installation and enigma. The ensemble last issued new studio music in 2003. As if making up for lost time — Kraftwerk avoided the road for long stretches of the '70s and nearly all the '80s — it sticks to live shows, playing places that range from music halls to museums and European festivals. Notwithstanding its overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, Kraftwerk remains unknown to a wide swath of the mainstream. This despite the fact that, after finding its footing on three early records, Kraftwerk pioneered electronic music on five groundbreaking LPs released from 1974 to 1981 that supplied the blueprint for many of today's popular styles. The albums proved an outsized influence on house, hip hop, techno, drum 'n' bass and synth-pop. None of those genres existed when the collective first set up shop in its cryptic Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. Permitting no visitors, Kraftwerk experimented with bespoke analog equipment to devise songs that also used everyday objects. Those devices are now digital, and still Hütter — who stood at stage right for the duration — and company embedded Kraftwerk's self-described 'robot pop' with a peculiar warmth and organic textures that announced actual humans were responsible for the output. However methodical, strict or manufactured the rhythms, the group balanced the mechanization with irresistible melodies and danceable grooves. Crossing the spookiness of a theremin with falsetto keyboards and vocoder vocals, 'Airwaves' segued into the exotic lounge of 'Tango,' whose spiked bass notes caused the floor to vibrate. Expansive, and akin to the equivalent of an echo chamber in which repeat patterns linger in perpetuity, 'Electric Café' toyed with depth perception and prompted Hütter to follow along by tapping his right foot. The concert's closing medley — comprised of the first three tracks from the 'Techno Pop' album — seized on a percolating succession of bleeps and bloops, as well as Hütter's ping-ponging onomatopoeias and repeat declarations of 'music, non-stop.' Indeed, Kraftwerk's hypnotic excursions occasionally hinted they could go on for days. Yet the group's laser-focused control and fixed positions prohibited excess in the same way its austere arrangements, filtered vocals and minimalist lyrics adhered to form-follows-function techniques. Kraftwerk's unembellished techniques escalated the significance of works that feel more apropos now than ever. An opening tandem of 'Numbers' and 'Computer World' spoke to technology's infiltration of practically every sector of modern life. The soft symphonics of 'Computer Love' addressed the desire for companionship via a 'data date,' a circumstance that plays out constantly on dating apps and adult websites. Rather than depict cryptocurrency, electronic surveillance, data privacy or endless swiping, Kraftwerk primarily showed graphics and apparatus tied to the early '80s, the era when these songs debuted. While ostensibly charming and funny, the throwback images appeared to operate with the prophetic lyrics to establish a striking dichotomy: That of a period when technological advancement was largely associated with hope and promise, when humans managed the machines and steered their own fate. That era's visions of a romantic, alternative future frequently emerged. In contrast to space trips for the super-wealthy, Kraftwerk's come-one-and-all 'Spacelab' put everyone inside a craft complete with reel-to-reel decks, oscillators and a bay window — all sketched by hand. After cruising around the Earth, it naturally touched down in front of the Auditorium. Carefree innocence also fueled 'The Model,' 'Neon Lights' and 'Autobahn,' the latter punctuated with retro-styled portrayals of a vintage Volkswagen Beetle (and its analog radio) rolling through a sun-drenched German countryside. The band's lulling, relaxing instrumentation provided the soundtrack. 1 of For a 'Trans-Europe Express' sequence, Kraftwerk replicated the motorized chug, low-pitch horn, high-speed whoosh, metallic wheels-on-tracks clatter and departure announcements connected with train travel. On a joyous, upbeat sprint through 'Tour de France' selections, it turned to manual transport. Complemented by black-and-white footage of old races, the group conjured the labored breathing, accelerated blood flow and competitive exertion of cycling up hills, through valleys and across finish lines. For all its idealism and command of several languages, Kraftwerk recognized Atomic Age inventions had their own negatives. The band saved its harshest, most intense effort for 'Radioactivity,' an apocalyptic commentary on the risks of nuclear energy. Flashing strobes, toxic symbols and haunting moodiness aside, Kraftwerk barely flinched. Though Hütter broke with tradition more often than he did in the past, the members' rigid postures and all-business demeanors suited the seriousness with which they approached an event that suggested the future depended on it. As to which future, Kraftwerk isn't saying. Bob Gendron is a freelance critic. Setlist from the Auditorium Theatre on March 29: 'Numbers' into 'Computer World' into 'Computer World 2' 'Home Computer' into 'It's More Fun to Compute' 'Spacelab' 'Airwaves' 'Tango' 'The Man-Machine' 'Electric Café' 'Autobahn' 'Computer Love' 'The Model' 'Neon Lights' 'Geiger Counter' into 'Radioactivity' 'Tour de France' into 'Tour de France Étape 3' into 'Chrono' into 'Tour de France Étape 2' 'La Forme' 'Trans-Europe Express' into 'Metal on Metal' into 'Abzug' 'The Robots' 'Planet of Visions'
CairoScene
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Honeycomb Hi-Fi to Host Exhibit for Kraftwerk ‘Dance Forever' Feb 27
The event offers music, a book signing and an exclusive showcase for Kraftwerk curated by cultural historian Toby Mott. Honeycomb Hi-Fi is hosting a special event in celebration of Kraftwerk, the famous German electronic band made up of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, where people can come check out some live music, an art exhibit and a book release. The night includes an exclusive showcase, curated by cultural historian Toby Mott, featuring artifacts and original vinyl records that offers attendees a glimpse at the band's musical influence in the 70s and 80s. Mott will also be leading a discussion into Kraftwerk's lasting musical impact. A limited-edition book, titled 'Kraftwerk Dance Forever' and published by Cultural Traffic & Honeycomb Hi-Fi, will also be available for purchase. For entertainment, DJ Ken will be spinning Kraftwerk's iconic sounds with modern electronic beats, and promising a joyous night for music lovers and collectors alike. The event takes place at Honeycomb Hi-Fi in the Pullman Hotel Downtown on February 27th. For bookings, visit Honeycomb Hi-Fi's official Instagram account and click the link in their bio.
