Changes #0 – Wolfgang Bauer, Bernd Fischerauer: Change (1974 — 75)
Film screening
Wolfgang Bauer, Bernd Fischerauer, Change, 1974/75
based on a homonymous play by Wolfgang Bauer
96 min.
LISA Film
The series kicks off with Changes #0, featuring a screening of Wolfgang Bauer’s Change, the title of which also gives the series its name. The film is a specially adapted cinematic version of Change (1974÷75), based on the famous 1969 play of the same name, for which Bauer co-wrote the screenplay with director Bernd Fischerauer. Wolfgang Bauer (1941 – 2005) was one of the defining voices of Austrian post-war literature and a central figure of the Graz avant-garde. Through his plays, prose, and films, he shaped the cultural self-understanding of a generation of artists and writers whose experimental practice resonated far beyond Graz. His work combines linguistic radicalism, dark humour, and grotesque exaggeration with precise observations of social and cultural mechanisms.
The artist Fery, the protagonist of Change, sets out to expose the art world by turning its own mechanisms against itself. Together with the provincial painter Blasius Okopenko, he stages Okopenko’s meteoric rise to artistic fame, only to reveal the structures governing reputation, recognition, and authenticity. Yet the experiment increasingly escapes his control and ultimately turns against its initiator.
Situated somewhere between theatre, cinema, and happening, Bauer’s film unfolds through an episodic dramaturgy in which absurd situations, seemingly improvised dialogue, and grotesque exaggeration collide. Change interrogates both the art world and the self-image of its protagonists, with wit and satirical precision. It raises enduring questions of authorship, originality, and the conditions under which artistic recognition is produced. The work is regarded as one of the key achievements of the Graz avant-garde and remains an important point of reference for the artistic attitude from which the notion of GRAZ-KUNST emerged.
The screening is conceived not as a nostalgic retrospective but as the programmatic opening of the series. With Wolfgang Bauer’s Change, Changes takes its point of departure from a work that understands change not as an end in itself but as an artistic position. The designation #0 therefore deliberately marks not a beginning in the conventional sense, but a reference point from which the series unfolds. Opening Changes with Bauer’s film pays tribute to an artistic tradition in Graz distinguished by experimentation, independence, and institutional openness. Rather than looking back, the series builds on this legacy as a starting point for asking how art — and its presentation — can respond to the changing conditions of the present.
The writer, cultural studies scholar, and Bauer expert Thomas Antonic will deliver the introductory remarks. He will present Wolfgang Bauer’s artistic work and the film Change (1974÷75), situate the work within Bauer’s artistic development, and provide insights into its creation and its cultural and historical context. In doing so, he will also address Bauer’s unconventional approach to the medium of film and the special place that Change holds within his diverse literary and artistic body of work.
Artists
Participating artists
Wolfgang Bauer
was an Austrian writer.
Collected Works (Selection): Der Rüssel. Scenic Texts from the Literary Estate. Ed. by Thomas Antonic, Ritter Literatur, Klagenfurt/Vienna/Graz (2015), Ein schlimmes Kind bin ich. Plays, Prose, and Poetry from Four Decades. Ed. by Gerhard Melzer and Andreas Unterweger, Sonderzahl Verlag, Vienna 2007, Volume 1: One-Act Plays and Early Plays. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1987), Volume 2: Plays 1967 – 1973. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1986), Volume 3: Plays 1975 – 1986. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1986), Volume 4: Der Fieberkopf: A Novel in Letters. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1986), Volume 5: Poems. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1992), Volume 6: Short Prose, Essays, and Critiques. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1989), Volume 7: Films and Television Plays. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1995), Volume 8: Plays 1988 – 1995. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (1996), Volume 9: Foyer and Other Plays. Droschl, Graz/Vienna (2004).
Plays (Selection): Die Kantine. Capriccio à la Habsburg., Schauspielhaus, Graz (1993), A Terrible Dream, Literaturhaus Berlin (1986), Foyer, Theater Helmut List-Halle, Graz (1980), Memory Hotel, Schauspielhaus Graz (1980), New Year’s Eve or The Massacre at the Hotel Sacher, Volkstheater Wien, Vienna (1977), Film and Woman, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg (1971), Magic Afternoon, Landestheater Hannover (1968), Change, Volkstheater Wien, Vienna (1969).
Screenplays (Selection): The Christmas Dream, screenplay (1994), 22, Black…, Screenplay (1987), In Times Like These, eight-part television series (1983), Journey to the Brain, film adaptation of the novel Der Fieberkopf, ORF (1975), Change, screenplay co-written with Bernd Firscherauer (1975).
Bernd Fischerauer
was an Austrian director, actor, and author.
Directional Work (Selection): Frei, TV movie (2013), Mozart – ich hätte München Ehre gemacht, TV movie (2006), Apollonia, TV movie (2005), Zwei Asse und ein König, miniseries (2000), Liebe und weitere Katastrophen, miniseries (1999), Ärzte, TV series (1994 – 1996), Der Salzbaron, miniseries (1993), Ein Fall für zwei, TV series (1984 – 1991), Die Wiesingers, TV series (1984 – 1989), Blut und Ehre – Jugend unter Hitler, miniseries (1982), Der Aufsteiger, TV movie (1981), Change, feature film (1975).
Acting (Selection): Die nervöse Großmacht, as Dr. Otto von Bismarck (2012), Europas letzter Sommer, as Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary (2012), Der Gewaltfrieden, as State Secretary Paul von Hintze (2010), Der Stellvertreter, as Bishop of Galen (2002), Vera Brühne, as Dr. Vogt (2001), Der Salzbaron, as Colonel Zeilinger (1993), Tatort: Wer zweimal stirbt, as Dr. Heider (1991), Blut und Ehre – Jugend unter Hitler, as Dr. Zeissler (1982), Blauer Himmel, den ich nur ahne, as Eduard Thöny (1979).
Novels: Burli, Picus Verlag (2017), Neumann, Picus Verlag (2017).
Thomas Antonic Dr. phil.
is an author, musician, filmmaker, and holds a Ph.D. in literary studies. At the University of Vienna, he led the research project “Wolfgang Bauer — Life, Work, Estate, Impact” (2008 – 2015), which resulted in several publications, including a 600-page biography of Bauer.
He completed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, and has been the director of the editorial project for a critical complete edition of Ruth Weiss’s works at Danube University Krems since 2025. He has received numerous awards and published extensively. Most recently: *The Three Wives of Queer William S. Burroughs* (Beatdom Books, 2026).
Wolfgang Bauer, Bernd Fischerauer, Change, 1974/75
based on a homonymous play by Wolfgang Bauer
96 min.
LISA Film