The show DIE POST-APOKALYPTISCHE ROMANTIK took place on one weekend in May 2023 at the Electro Studios Project Space in St Leonards on Sea, England UK. In part a retrospective of some of my work of the last 25 years, it also inaugurated the art movement DIE POST-APOKALYPTISCHE ROMANTIK.

A live-music event took place on the opening evening, which Stewart Rayment described in his review in the Hastings Online Times: “The disused workspace environment of the Electro Studios, hung with Hartlaub’s dark work gave an edge to what must have been one of the most ambitious ambient/minimalist music projects in the town for many years. Indeed, one of the punters, on leaving, said that it was probably the best performance she had seen in Hastings over many years. Keith Rodway deserves a special mention here, for pulling it all together”.

The live-music kicked off with the drum & bass ensemble Simon & the Pope, followed by Hastings band Necessary Animals, with special performances by Lucy Brennan Shiel, rendering Yeats’ The Second Coming, Amanda Thompson singing Nobody Knows Who I Am (the theme song by Necessary Animals for the comic/video game project Rosalie) and violinist Richard Moore. It concluded with two 20 minute impro-sets by Anthony Moore, Amanda Thompson and Keith Rodway, the last one improvised to a projected backdrop of some of my animated work.

The show also launched two vinyl records: the LP DIE POST-APOKALYPTISCHE ROMANTIK, a soundtrack-compilation, written and composed by J Peter Schwalm for film and art projects we have been working on together and the single ROSALIE produced for comic/video game Project Rosalie, with music and lyrics written by Necessary Animals including the song Nobody Knows Who I Am, sung by Maike Elena Schmidt.

Thank you Keith Rodway for putting the show together, Colin Booth and Electro Studios Project Space for hosting this show at your venue and the many other contributors and helpers.

The exhibition was dedicated to Jesko Barabas, co-founder of DIE POST-APOKALYPTISCHE ROMANTIK. Jesko died in 2022.

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