monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group of DIY enthusiasts and extravagant theoreticians. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. monochrom publishes the book of the same name in addition to its activity in other areas. monochrom is an open field of experimentation.

Interview with Johannes Grenzfurthner

Who/What are you?

My wikipedia entry says that I am an ‘Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, curator, performer, actor and lecturer’. But I’m too lazy to change it.

What are your fields of activity?

I’ve never confined myself to a specific field of action. With monochrom, I do everything – ranging from musicals to computer games, from documentary films to sex machines.

How do you reach your goals?

With the strategy of not giving up. But that’s not always made easy for a creative person - for instance, by the conditions of late capitalism or food allergies.

What challenges do you face?

a) realising artistic ideas in the form and quality in which I conceive them. Beautiful failure remains an inherent part of the process.
b) drinking at least 2.5 litres of water a day. I’ve got an app now reminding me of that.

What is important to you?

I have never been interested in ‚l'art pour l'art‘. I find it important to find the right medium for the right message. To that effect, I consider myself a story-teller and an educator of the people. How can you explain something to people if they don’t want to listen anymore? There’s tricks, and I’ve been working on them for 26 years.

How big is your team?

We’re nine people. But I’ve never had their blood tested to find out how many of them are human and how many are aliens.

Since when have you been at Q21?

Since 2002, when it all started. So we moved to MQ four years before YouTube even existed.

A perfect work day starts with…

…a battle cry: ‘El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!’ (‘The people united will never be defeated’)