ELASTE: Last Exit, First Return
From DIY zines to AI manifestos—culture never dies, it mutates.ELASTE was born in club nights and backroom conversations—shaped by pop culture, politics, and the restless afterglow of 1970s New York, filtered through Hannover and Munich.
It grew out of what we called the Szene: DJs, bouncers, designers, photographers, publishers—people orbiting the same dance floors, arguing about art at dawn.
Four decades later, it surfaces again with the same refusal to conform.
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a remix. A last exit that became a first return.
ELASTE 1980–1986 — The Book
Apparently, the ’80s weren’t done with us.
Thomas Elsner and Michael Reinboth have unearthed ELASTE — our restless, neon, and nicotine-stained child — and turned it into a 560-page time capsule. Published by DCV, Elaste 1980–1986 brings back the magazine’s beautiful confusion: Warhol, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, DAF, and the naïve belief that pop could still save the world.
Now reissued as a best-of anthology, Elaste. 1980–1986 collects original photographs, interviews, and essays from the magazine’s sixteen issues — featuring icons like Andy Warhol, Boy George, and Keith Haring — alongside new reflections by its founders and contributors. It’s a document of an era when print was bold, culture was experimental, and style had an opinion.
Available from DCV Books: Hardcover edition, 560 pages, bilingual version, set to be released on November 19.
Sniffin’ Glue
DINNER WITH ANDY
The King of Pop Art, our biggest inspiration, and the most enormous influence in contemporary art were coming to visit the Hinterland.
IN FLAMMEN
DOCUMENTA BOUND – KASSELER KREUZ
Always be Sceptical About Simplicity
Ping Pong mit den Rolling Stones (Deutsch)
Hero For One Day
P.L.O.
VISIONS OF CHINA
Looking for the Thin White Duke
Joi Trouvé
SOUNDS AND VISION
THE GERMAN DAYS
LC/SHT
The Video Japan Never Made—and Couldn’t Have
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“Fantastic Voyage” serves as Bowie’s Poignant Testament. an Impassioned Proclamation of Humanism.
It’s a very modern worldBut nobody’s perfectIt’s a moving worldBut that’s no reasonTo shoot some of those missilesThink of us as fatherless scumIt won’t be forgotten‘Cause we’ll never say anything nice againWill we?And the…
From Duchamp to Demna
When a urinal became art and a hoodie became luxury, something truly magical happened — context started printing money. Luxury Readymade: When Context Costs £1,590 Once upon a time, Marcel Duchamp bought a urinal, signed it R. Mutt,…
Post, Punk, Pop and Postmodernism: The Trendsetting 80s
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It was always a good night to go to CBGB.
New York’s Fashion New Guard
Elena Velez, Willy Chavarria, and Theophilio’s Edvin Thompson – are three visionary designers shaping New York’s independent fashion landscape. Ahead of their respective SS23 shows during New York Fashion Week, they discuss their brands’ origin stories, what drew them…
![Forty Years Ago Today, Simple Minds Changed Everything with “New Gold Dream [81,82,83,84]”](https://elastemgzn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SimpleMinds.png)
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Songs for Europe
What music did Bowie and Iggy listen to in 1970s Berlin? A new compilation, named after one of Bowie’s local haunts Cafe Exil, offers a speculative guide to the pair’s soundtrack favorites. Do your wurst … Iggy Pop and David Bowie in Berlin. Photograph: Rex…
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Venus in Furs
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In Praise of Copying
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Downtown 1981
In 1981, writer and Warhol associate Glenn O’Brien, Swiss photographer Edo Bertoglio, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, a graffiti innovator and noise music artist who’d just begun to exhibit his paintings, hit the streets of lower Manhattan to make a movie about the bombed…
Find a New City
Move to the Big City with nothing, make friends, make art, struggle, but make it. There’s a very romantic American story that I love, that lots of artists who are young and starting out love, too, and it goes like this: Move to the Big City with nothing,…
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“If you use a razor blade and glue, you can suddenly change the world.” —Winston Smith Terrific 15-minute documentary of collage artist, Winston Smith, and his collaborator, Jello Biafra, about the origins of their work. When he saw the Dada-esque posters of punk…
How Luxury Fashion Extends Brand Identity Through Art
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Dinner With Andy
The ELASTE squad had two icons who stood the test of time: Andy Warhol and David Bowie. The King of Pop Art, our biggest inspiration, and the most enormous influence in contemporary art were coming to visit the Hinterland. Thomas loved his silkscreen prints…
Every Place Is the Same
No place places, with a phone, anywhere else is always just a tap away. Anywhere has become as good as anywhere else. Those old enough to remember video-rental stores will recall the crippling indecision that would overtake you while browsing their shelves. With so…
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I drink and watch the zoo in motion Beautiful people devoid of emotion Sterilized, pedicured, pedigrees and mankind Thick as fuck and soulless And no longer fear genocide It’s gonna end from what I reckon As I puke my guts up all over the decking Cos the square reeks…
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Jenny Holzer on the Power of the Word in Art
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China’s Youth Breaking
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Ma’ Ma’ Raschplatz Da
»Just what is it that makes today’s home so different, so appealing?«
(Richard Hamilton, 1956)
Wenn der Postmann zweimal klingelt, liegt meist ein kleines Kärtchen in meinem Flur. So auch diesmal »Basement« Hannover Raschplatz. Eröffnung Freitag 12.6.81 22h. Knapp am dreizehnten vorbei, dachte ich und lenkte meinen Wagen einige Tage später durch die trostlose Gegend hinter dem Bahnhof. Beinahe am Ziel angelangt ging ́s dann auch noch in den Keller. Gleißende Leuchtstoffröhren, Pirelli Gummi auf dem Boden, die Decke unverkleidet, hier und da ein bißchen Chrom. Der erste Blick signalisiert, hier wollte jemand der Café– und Diskothekenszene mit ihren pastellfarbigen, schimmernden Barocktempeln eine Ohrfeige verpassen.“
