Metamorphoses of the Self:
The Fantastic Cosmos of Guido and Johannnes Häfner

So that is what, in the Age of Romanticism, the alchemist's magic laboratory looked like, where gentle people mutated into demons when trying to take the divine act of creation into their own hands. The being they created is "a tall, very slim, perfectly proportioned, splendidly dressed woman" (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann).This is the daughter of Spalanzani, professor of physics. She is called Olimpia and drives Nathanael almost out of his mind. What do the magic laboratories of the modern age look like? Let us pay a visit to Johannes Häfner, who deals with E.T.A. Hoffmann professionally, in the Nuremberg quarter of ‚St. Peter', surprisingly near ‚Galgenhof' (‚Gallows Yard'), the region around the central station. It is hardly surprising that he lives with his automata in a pretty 19th century building, but he is not at all like a mad scientist on his quest for the philosopher's stone / the Holy Grail / the Blue Flower. A pity, really! Automata? Correct, Johannes Häfner lives together with automata which inhabit his whole home and - so it seems to me - have taken over control. Olimpia, too, is among them, described by the Häfner brothers as "a puppet without reason, without ability to be critical - she is an automaton, really." (Guido und Johannes Häfner, Informationen/Aktivitäten [Informations/Activities], 3/99) Although "perfectly proportioned", nevertheless her head is the shape of a flat screen.

This mixing of two periods in art and literary history has to be one's starting point, if one wants to grasp the cosmos of the brothers Guido and Johannes Häfner. E.T.A. Hoffmann was really Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann. An admirer of Mozart, he adopted the name ‚Amadeus': born in 1776, he was music teacher, conductor, theatre composer, writer, painter and graphic artist. Johannes Häfner: born in 1961, colleges of design respectively communications design, data processing clerk, software developer, artist, typographer, writer, and, of course, also composer and musician. His brother Guido: born in 1968, precision mechanic, Munich University of Technology, artist and presenter. These three all-round talents approach their world by employing different disciplines, thus moulding it into word and image: ‚Gespenster-Hoffmann' (meaning ‚Spectre-Hoffmann' or ‚ Phantom-Hoffmann'), known for his fantastic poetry. His work approaches the limits of consciousness in order to penetrate the demonic depths of human psyche and to replace the structure of day with different forms of madness. Guido und Johannes Häfner, whose work - in whatever form - comes to life with an enormous lightheartedness and positive energy and has not at first much in common with Hoffmann's gloom.

An automaton, whose various mutations inhabit Häfner's home, is Olimpia, sprung from master Hoffmann's cosmos. She is joined by the Häfner brothers' creations: ‚Königskasper' (‚King Caspar'), his wife, ‚Musterknabe' (‚Model Boy'), ‚Kopfrüssler' (‚Trunk Head'), ‚Schnabelbaby' (‚Beaked Baby') and ‚Hirnbirn' (‚Pear Brain'). These characters are exaggerated, grotesque, but nevertheless amiable. They are found in the Häfner brothers' work as steel or wood sculptures, artist's books, drawings or computer graphics. They let us look into an unmasking mirror: ‚King Caspar', of noble birth, as St. Caspar one of the Three Kings, endowed with a crown as an insignium of power, also wears a fool's cap - he is both master and fool in his family. Well-fed ‚Model Boy', comic-like ‚Trunk Head' (a mythical creature that watches situations of human conflict without comment or judgement), and finally ‚Pear Brain', a boy in his puberty, approaching his world and its possibilities with open arms. These figures all constitute archetypes, forming a ‚Gesamtkunstwerk' (total work of art) by means of paper, bytes, wood and steel. The beings of this world are well-meaning towards us; they initially do not pretend to want to pull us into Hoffmann's demonic world by power. They invite us to watch, to talk, to remember and to recognize. Their effect, however, is insidious, with unforseen consequences.

The artist's book ‚ETA-Leben' (‚E.T.A.'s Life') - a zigzag-fold with computer graphics and mouse drawings by Johannes Häfner, published in 2003 with 26 copies - describes this effect: The first pages are dominated by characters in a dazzling explosion of coloured lines derived from the world of E.T.A. Hoffmann and the Häfner brothers - figures agitated, restless, but detached as if catapulted out of their universe. As if perceived through a veil, photographs of people can be seen acting in the background and coming forward occasionally through cracks in the space-time-continuum. Suddenly this world becomes more organized. Silence reigns and the artificial figures behind the inserted quotation look at us and want to contact us: "He was nowhere comfortable but in the world of his ideas, imaginations, designs, and occupations. When working, he wanted to spice up life. He worked by summoning all his strength of life, but without being aware of his efforts; then he was weary, within and around himself everything was silent and dull." (Helmina von Chézy, Bei Hoffmann im Verhör [Hoffmann's Questioning]) With these words, the contact is interrupted, the time slot starts to dissolve from the outside, and the picture of two men, one of whom is moulding types into texts, withdraws. Finally, the imaginary world of pictures is destroyed. This piece of work irritates; similar to Hoffmann, Johannes Häfner approaches the limits of human perception, the penetration of the unconscious into the apparent structure of everyday life; here by means of computer painting.

The portraits of the Häfner brothers found in the media seem to verify this loss of reality: In a self-portrait from 1989/90, Johannes is still the personification of ‚King Caspar', whereas in 1996 he shows himself as a thoughtful poet, behind him the generous writing "Ich" ("I"); some months later, he presents himself as a carefree hippie with long hair; in 1998, finally, he is the distinguished, friendly smiling elderly gentleman. Who, really, is Johannes Häfner? One of his books from 2003 is called "ICH ETA ICH" ("I E.T.A. I"). Is this the answer to my question? And Guido Häfner? He is known, above all, in side and rear view, with head gear and ear protection, bent and kneeling. Clearly recognisable, however, are ‚Genius Dethelding', the ‚Model Boy', and ‚Peregrinus'. Although they are tackled with chain saw and weld torch, they are the real winners in this picture puzzle. And you, gentle reader, are you still on Guido and Johannes Häfner's trails, or have you already left our universe? Watch out!!!

Reinhard Grüner
Translated by Cornelia Göbel