Underground, today

L'underground, aujourd'hui Goethe-Institut

“Underground”: in a context where even the most critical artistic activity no longer escapes the media spotlight, becoming assimilated and then recycled into a basic cultural commodity, what does this word—with its air of revolt against the establishment— still signify? What does it evoke, today? Does it always arise out of disagreement or rather does it reflect a parallel “praxis” that is not necessarily seeking confrontation? A practice operating discreetly and on the fringes of official networks, searching for neither recognition nor longevity… This collection aims to provide elements of a response by examining a range of cultural domains from here and from Germany.

Hip-hop artists like the trio Ok Kid! from Cologne often become a new generation of protest singers. Photo (detail): Stefan Braunbarth / Sony

Protest Song in Germany
 “Destroy What Destroys You!”

Underground has become complicated. Because it assumes that there are norms that must be protested against.

Les amazones © Diane Dupuis

Underground Cinema
 Quebec cinema at the time of the underground

The underground is above all a practice which isn’t concerned with its continuity. The discovery of the work by Diane Depuis, filmed in the 1960s, proves it.

The Music Gallery, Claire Harvie Photo: Claire Harvie

Underground Venues
 Toronto's Unconventional Spaces

Toronto has a thriving underground scene, so naturally these performers and artists need spaces where they can showcase their work.

Underground_An Other Literary Life © Mathieu Poirier

An other literature
 An Other Literary Life: The Public Reading Scene

Having emerged through the cracks in a declining system of cultural production and distribution, outside the official institutions and businesses dedicated to literature, another literary scene exists in Quebec and renews itself daily.

Nina Walser Photo: Andre Habermann

Underground Music
 The MUS: The Munich Underground Scene

“There’s an underground scene in Munich?! I didn’t know there was a scene for anything at all!” is the reaction I get when I talk to them about the Munich Underground Scene. Well, it’s true—such a thing does exist!