If I had any advice: Always expect artists to be cowardly. Other people are cowards too. But no one has the knack of making calculations and at the same time pretending to follow their conscience. This is what defines the modern artist: opportunism in the name of morality.

In the USA they have now brought down Casey Wasserman, owner of the artist agency of the same name and one of the big names in the industry. One star after another declared that they no longer wanted anything to do with him. The weekend before last, Wasserman gave up and announced the sale of his agency.

Sometimes I watch Ricky Gervais’ performance

His crime? He did it 22 years ago Ghislaine Maxwell pined. Not Jeffrey Epsteinbut Maxwell. He wasn’t at any of the sex monster’s invitations, nor was he at one of his houses or one of his island parties. He wasn’t guilty of anything. All you can accuse him of: As a young man, he wrote a few flirty emails to the woman who is now known to have introduced young girls to Epstein.

Billie Eilish made a big appearance at the Grammys. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” she shouted to loud applause from the audience. After the Epstein distancing, ICE bashing is currently the big thing among stars. It’s a bit stupid that their million-dollar villa is exactly where it stands: on stolen land, as the survivors of the Tongva Tribe claimed a few days later.

The Tongva have now hired a lawyer. They would like to pitch their tents again in the garden where Billie Eilish’s swimming pool now stands. Of course, that wasn’t the intention when it came to encouraging people to take back stolen land.

Sometimes when it gets too much for me, I look up Ricky Gervais’ performance at the Golden Globe Awards on YouTube. The bewildered faces of the Hollywood elite as he cheerfully calls out to them from his podium to collect their awards, to thank their agent and their mother, but for God’s sake the world should thank them political statements save – priceless.

Artists in the Third Reich were called “God-gifted”.

It was also the last time Gervais hosted the Globes. Next time they chose someone who was guaranteed to take part in the whole circus, including the political show. A few jokes at the stars’ expense are always fine – but it’s important to keep them quiet when it comes to big topics like maintaining world peace and the fight against Donald Trump require the commitment of every individual?

Artists in the Third Reich were called “God-gifted”. A brilliant word. It pretty much describes how you see yourself. Do your job, inspire people, make a ton of money, but protect us from your lectures: They can’t do it, they just don’t have the heart to do it.

Berlinale, Gaza and political confessions

There was huge excitement when jury president Wim Wenders declared at the opening of the Berlinale that he had no opinion on Gaza that he thought was worth sharing with everyone. Everyone who had bought a ticket for political interference was over the moon: the Indian troublemaker Arundhati Roy, the legendary actor Javier Bardem, the German political singer Tilo Jung – in that order.

Anyone who thinks it is inappropriate to mention Roy and Jung in the same breath is doing Roy an injustice: when it comes to political intelligence, they are pretty much on the same level. Which isn’t to say that Roy didn’t write fabulous books. Just as Tilda Swinton and other Israel haters may be great actors. You have to separate person and work, that was already the case with Leni Riefenstahl.

Open letters and cultural workers in Germany

Of course, the stickiest means is also used again, the open letter. “Those who write open letters don’t want to enchant, don’t surprise, don’t want to make anyone laugh. They just want approval. And from as many people as possible,” cultural correspondent Claudius Seidl recently wrote. Above all, he wants to achieve greatness without paying a price for it.

It’s an almost surefire indication: Anyone who signs their name to an open letter has previously given up their mind to the cloakroom. If he then describes himself as a “creator of culture”, i.e. uses the most German and disgusting of all words in the cultural sector, he really can’t be helped anymore.

The fact that “cultural creator” in Germany is synonymous with “subsidy recipient” completes the picture. Berating the federal government for allegedly financing a genocide, but at the same time holding out a hand so that it can pay for your latest project – that’s what makes the German subsidy star.

Why do artists believe they have a special responsibility to express themselves politically? What makes them think the world will hold its breath when they speak out? The track record is impressively poor.

A rule from “engagement”

The German forefather of the movement, the Nobel Prize winner and SPD pioneer Günter Grass, was reliably caught on the wrong foot by reality. Of course, that didn’t stop him from calling the Chancellor’s office all over the place to explain to the Chancellor what he had to do to rally the German workers behind him.

You can almost derive a rule from “commitment,” as it is called among writers: the more an artist gets behind something, the more certain it is that everyone, and absolutely everyone in his milieu, is guaranteed to see it the same way. If it were different, you would have to risk something. Then it could happen that a few people are angry with you.

Last season it was climate change, now it is Gaza-Solidarity and the fight against Israel. You almost had to feel sorry for singer Katy Perry when she showed up at Davos to raise climate awareness with her new boyfriend Justin Trudeau. Big yawn among the journalists: That was the fashion item of last season. She was a bit embarrassed that she had made such a mistake in the wardrobe.

Why do we continue to listen to Bob Dylan?

Why do people still read Büchner? Why is “The Rhinos” by Eugène Ionesco still on the schedule today? Why do we continue to listen to Bob Dylan, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix? Because of the overwhelming political message? Because of the thunderous call against the injustice of the world that shimmers through every line and every line of song?

In his column, “Wirtschaftswoche” author Dieter Schnaas recalled Theodor W. Adorno and that committed art always misses its goal because it reifies reality. Art must be autonomous and see itself as the antithesis of society. Its purpose is not to illustrate the world, but rather to influence it, to counteract it through the absoluteness of its form.

Leonce and Lena: When the mind is tired

But nobody has even the slightest idea about this, who scolded Wim Wenders for not being interested in the political beliefs of artists. Unfortunately, many films, books and texts are the same.

People, read more Büchner! As it says in “Leonce and Lena”: “The tired body finds its sleeping pillow everywhere, but when the spirit is tired, where should it rest?”