Natias Neutert (spoken: "noytərt"; born February 24, 1941[1]) is a German artist, author, poet, orator,[2] and translator[3] who lives in Hamburg and Berlin.
Neutert was born in Neusalz, Province of Lower Silesia, Germany (Nowa Sól, Poland) and grew up in Hamburg-Eppendorf, attending the Rudolf Steiner School. After doing an apprenticeship as a graphic illustrator, he studied philosophy, literary studies, and art history at the University of Hamburg, and completed a fellowship at the Franz Mehring-institute, part of the University of Leipzig. From the outset of his career, he has been active in different media.
Since the mid-1960s he has written poems,[4] and made collages and drawings[5] about which the Hamburger Abendblatt wrote: "He delicately draws human figures" (and) "he has his own distinctive verve and expressiveness".[6] Inspired by America's new journalism, he has also written articles for different newspapers, including Die Zeit, Frankfurter Rundschau, Stern, and essays for Süddeutsche Zeitung and Norddeutscher Rundfunk.[7]
In 1965, he screened his short film Noch und Nöcher (with Iris Berben) at the Berlinale.[8] But his actual artist's departure was in 1968. Instead of a normal academic final degree, he founded the first Internationale Walter Benjamin Gesellschaft in Hamburg. Its purpose: to promote Benjamin into a global prototype of theory of revolutionary change beside Marx, and to connect Benjamin's insights with the mass phenomenon of pop music.[9] From his first docentship at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences[10] in 1971, through his 2014 book Wo sind wir, wenn wir im Bilde sind? (Where Are We When We Are In The Picture?)[11] he has always been concerned with the freedom, power, and variety of imagination.
Between the 1970s and 1980s almost every child knew him as "Zaubertramp"[12] because of his conjuring performances all over the country, his appearances in TV shows like Sesamstrasse and others, and because his children's book, which he illustrated himself, became a bestseller.[13] He also developed a performance art, about which Die Zeit No. 32, 04. August 1978 wrote: "In his person are blended jugglery, poetry, standup theater, and self-expression into a kind of entertainment that is really based on a colloquy with the audience".[14] As a solo artist who presented almost two-hour performances at thousands of cabarets, street and folk festivals, he also appeared at the top theatres, opera houses, and art museums in Germany, which earned him the nickname "Totalkünstler" (total artist).[15]
Since the turn of the 21st century, he has concentrated more and more on freely spoken lectures which include distinctive performance art elements.[16][17]
In the '70s, Neutert began translations from English into German,[35] and since living in New York in 1980, he has also translated works from German into English,[36]
In 2013, at the Leipzig Book Fair,[37] during a public reading at "Leipzig liest"[38] Neutert provided insights into his greatest private passion project—translating Gottfried Benn’s poetry adequately to preserve his linguistic innovations as well as his poetic sound.[39]
