Gerhard Rühm

Gerhard Rühm (born 12 February 1930 in Vienna) is an Austrian author, composer and visual artist. Rühm studied the piano and music composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Following his studies he undertook private lessons with the twelve-tone composer Josef Matthias Hauer. Since the beginning of the 1950s Rühm has produced sound poetry, spoken word, visual poetry, photomontages and books. He is a co-founder of the Wiener Gruppe (Vienna Group), with Friedrich Achleitner, Hans Carl Artmann, Konrad Bayer und Oswald Wiener, as well as the publisher of an anthology by the same name. From 1972–1996 Rühm taught as a professor at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg and from 1978–1982 he acted as president of the Grazer Autorenversammlung.

His artistic production is inspired by August Stramm, Kurt Schwitters, Gertrude Stein, Carl Einstein und Paul Scheerbart. Rühm's works are often located at the border between music, language, gestures and the visual. His audible works are outstanding examples of innovative radio plays and acoustic art. During a sojourn in Lebanon he became interested in eastern musical styles.

In addition to producing his own work, which has been recognized by numerous awards and prizes. Rühm is also the administrator of the estate of Franz Richard Behrens and is the publisher of the works of Konrad Bayer. Since 1978 he has been a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg. In 2009 he was awarded the Alice Salomon Prize for Poetics and on January 25, 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cologne.His son is the photographer and director David Rühm.