In Leder
The publication presents the remarkable series of leather instruments and allows us to hear the newly created sounds
The publication shows the series of works In Leder (In Leather) by the artist Käthe Kruse and allows us to hear the newly created sounds of the leather-wrapped instruments. The starting point was the drum kit that Käthe Kruse played in the iconic band ‘Die Tödliche Doris’ (Deadly Doris) in the 1980s and which was the first of the instruments to be encased in leather. This was followed by all the other musical instruments used: guitar, bass, violin, clarinet, recorder, rattles, accordion, kettle, a children’s xylophone and sound bars, which have now been carefully covered in leather to become objects in their own right and develop new sound spaces.
They are shown both as art objects in exhibitions and as completely new-sounding instruments in the performance Lieder in Leder (Songs in Leather). In the performance, Kruse sings half-hidden in a leather column, accompanied by her daughter Edda Kruse Rosset on the original leather-covered percussion. Occasionally, the lyrics are also performed in French by her second daughter Klara Kruse Rosset. Lieder in Leder is based on the short a cappella songs from the legendary and now highly prized box set Chöre & Soli (Choirs & Solos) by ‘Die Tödliche Doris’, published in 1983 by gelbe MUSIK, Berlin and PURE FREUDE, Düsseldorf.
Käthe Kruse
Käthe Kruse, born in Bünde in 1958, lives and works in Berlin. Since the 1980s, as part of the West Berlin avant-garde trio ‘Die Tödliche Doris’ (Deadly Doris, founded in 1979/80 by Wolfgang Müller and Nikolaus Utermöhlen), she has been exploring the interweaving of music, text, performance, video, film and painting and has developed new formats that cannot be categorised in conventional ways. As a solo artist, Käthe Kruse also conceptually combines a wide variety of media to create her own artistic approach. In her project Ich sehe (I see) she investigated the interaction between language, politics and media reporting.
Käthe Kruse studied Visual Communication at Hochschule der Künste Berlin from 1990 to 1997. She was a master student of Heinz Emigholz and received the scholarship for the promotion of young talent. In 2001 and 2020 she received the catalogue grant from the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin. 2004 the working scholarship, Stiftung Kulturfonds, Berlin and 2008 the working scholarship visual arts of the Senate Chancellery. 2020 the scholarship NEUSTART KULTUR, Stiftung Kunstfonds and 2021 the PeterJacobiWerkPreis – the Peter Jacobi Foundation for Art and Design, Pforzheim. 2023 the NEUSTARTplus scholarship, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn.
She has taught at the Muthesius Academy of Art in Kiel and the Zurich University of the Arts. Käthe Kruse is represented by the Zwinger Galerie, Berlin
Objects and performance: Käthe Kruse
Text: N.N.
Design: Janine Sack
German
Approx. 50 pages, illustrations, audio, video
epub
Spring 2025
ISBN 978-3-947295-96-8