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Kraftwerk Pop Art

July 1, 2014

They inspired many artists and influenced many styles of music. Provocative and visionary but also commercially and good for clubs: Kraftwerk - electronic pioneers who continue to fascinate us today.

https://p.dw.com/p/1C7fp
Image: Peter Boettcher/Kunstsammlung NRW

Pop music is art! In order to give artistic expression to their innovative ideas, a group of young men from Dusseldorf more than four decades chose neither painting nor photography. Instead, they founded the cult band Kraftwerk. Since then, they have always been one step ahead of their time.

Kraftwerk subversively turned rock culture upside down and rebelled against the prevailing cult of personality. The publicity-shy band from the Rhineland with their totally new industrial sound has become one of the most influential pop groups of all time. Almost prophetically, from the very outset the band had a clear idea of ​​what the music of the future and the world in the digital age would be like.

Long before the smartphone, they predicted that computers would very soon connect us to the world and shining pixels determine our visual perceptions. This documentary weaves all these extraordinary details into a whole picture. We talk to a variety of pop culture visionaries such as Paul Morley, Tate Modern curator Catherine Wood and Kraftwerkphotographer Peter Boettcher.

Their insights are interwoven with footage from the band's history and exceptional images from Kraftwerk’s thematic world: movement, cycling, travel, globalization, communication, automation and the harmonious coexistence of man, nature and technology. Finally, the film shows exclusive footage from the spectacular concert series "The Catalogue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8" at London's Tate Gallery of Modern Art, illustrating the band’s transition from electronic pop music into the realms of modern art.

Band "Kraftwerk" Konzert in München
In their search for a cultural identity, Kraftwerk oriented themselves strongly on the Avantgarde of the inter-war period.Image: dapd
Dänemark Musik Roskilde Festival 2013 Zuschauer
A Kraftwerk concert is always a visual experience. The electronic pioneers’ shows still enthrall audiences around the world.Image: picture-alliance/dpa



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