The Red Scare and the Music of Hanns Eisler: Veronika Eberhart on Marxist and Aesthetic Strategies of Composer Hanns Eisler
Veronika Eberhart will share her research from the MAK Schindler Residency in Los Angeles. The session will explore the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the work of Eisler, a close collaborator of Bertolt Brecht known for his politically engaged music. Through archival material, sound, and speculative gestures, Eberhart will highlight Eisler’s compositional strategies alongside her own artistic reception. The talk will also draw on her recent book, “Garten sprengen” (Spector Books, 2024).
Veronika Eberhart is an artist, musician, and researcher working at the intersection of sculpture, text, sound, and moving image. Grounded in feminist and class-based theories, her work draws on a background in sociology (University of Vienna and Copenhagen) and fine arts (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). Eberhart is currently a PhD researcher in Architecture in Hasselt, Belgium. Her films have been screened at international film festivals, including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and Porto/Post/Doc – Film & Media Festival. As a musician, she has toured extensively with her bands Lime Crush and Plaided. Her recent book Garten sprengen (Spector Books, 2024) accompanied a solo exhibition at IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgium. She was awarded the Schindler Scholarship at the MAK Center Los Angeles (2019) and completed the WIELS residency in Brussels (2020).