Josef Strau : spirits and objects ...and how non-productive love is sometimes contained in them...

This publication assembles a selection of the texts produced between the years 2005 and 2020, starting with “The Non-Productive Attitude” (2005), his prominent reflections on the anti-productive attitude in the Cologne art scene of the time. The experience of having to write the essay overnight within a few hours, and without any time for revision, triggered his interest in exploring forms of unintentional writing, and consequently the replacement of the intentional author by an unconscious writer / producer. This mode of automatic writing has manifested itself until today, and has become the core of Strau’s artistic practice.