Jonathan Guggenberger - "Opferkunst"

Opening of the Tuttlingen Literary Autumn - running parallel to the Frankfurt Book Fair - featuring the novella "Opferkunst", the debut novel by Tuttlingen-born author Jonathan Guggenberger. The newspaper Tageszeitung calls the book an "illuminating key novel about the contemporary art and cultural scene".

Venice, April 2024, International Art Biennale: Irish performance artist Aaron Geldof immolates himself on a cross - for Palestinian freedom, a martyr's death. German media and politicians quickly see in this the true motive behind his martyrdom: hatred of Jews. For Geldof's closest confidant, cultural journalist Enzo Bamberger, the death in flames was, however, only one thing: art. On assignment from his British newspaper, he embarks on a journey into the depths of the art world - and in the tangle of sex, power, and manipulation encounters grey eminences spinning intrigues in the shadows. Do they have the answer to his question: Why did Aaron have to die?

Jonathan Guggenberger studied fine art, film, and political science in Berlin and conducted research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on aesthetic strategies of political mobilization in social media. He writes for taz, Freitag, and Tagesspiegel about digital image cultures, memory politics, and antisemitism in art and culture.