Artistic freedom is not a privilege - The Kay Ray case
Kay Ray has been a fixture in Germany's alternative comedy and cabaret scene for decades. He's always been considered a kind of sophisticated punk, the kind of guy who was never nice, never wanted to be, and who, precisely for that reason, said things others wouldn't. It's in this role that he became famous.
By Serdar Somuncu
By Serdar Somuncu
And it is precisely in this role that he is being systematically punished.
In recent months and years, he has repeatedly faced cancellations, withdrawals, and canceled performances. Most recently, this occurred at the Renitenztheater in Stuttgart, where announced dates were withdrawn, even though the very theater once stood for resistance and defiance, and derives its name from this tradition. In Hamburg, at the Winterhuder Fährhaus comedy theater, cancellations also occurred in 2023 following complaints from politicians and members of the audience. In Wuppertal, after initially confirmed announcements, he was later disinvited, citing "sensitivity" and "the prevailing mood." And these are just the known cases--in reality, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
One doesn't even need to assess these cases politically to recognize that a mechanism is at work here that has long since ceased to have anything to do with artistic quality. It's about who is allowed to speak. And who isn't. It's about the permission to publicly articulate uncomfortable perspectives. And it's about the fear many event organizers have of being caught in the crossfire. Organizers no longer fear scandal, but rather a shitstorm. And that's why they try to avoid scandal in advance--by filtering artists before anyone has even seen them.
What we're witnessing here isn't just the disciplining of individuals. It's an inward-looking self-censorship within the cultural sector, a preemptive adaptation to moral expectations that no one has formally decided upon, but which, in practice, function like guidelines. The problem runs deep: It leads to a situation where only the conformists, the compliant, the harmless, and those socially and pedagogically molded remain. That would be the death of artistic relevance.
We know these mechanisms from authoritarian systems: Art that is no longer grounded in risk, but in the approved context, is no longer art of the people, but merely art of the rulers, the watchdogs, the moral authorities. But art is not what is permitted. Art is what takes risks, what provokes, what articulates what cannot be said.
Freedom of art is not a privilege granted by the prevailing mood of a public-educational majority. It is a foundation upon which democracy stands.
If we abandon this foundation, we lose not only individual artists.
We lose the right to provoke. The right to disagree. The right to friction.
And with that, we lose the very essence of what constitutes vibrant culture.
November 7, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
"The new book - Lies - A Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and directord director
LINK TO THE NEW BOOK
In recent months and years, he has repeatedly faced cancellations, withdrawals, and canceled performances. Most recently, this occurred at the Renitenztheater in Stuttgart, where announced dates were withdrawn, even though the very theater once stood for resistance and defiance, and derives its name from this tradition. In Hamburg, at the Winterhuder Fährhaus comedy theater, cancellations also occurred in 2023 following complaints from politicians and members of the audience. In Wuppertal, after initially confirmed announcements, he was later disinvited, citing "sensitivity" and "the prevailing mood." And these are just the known cases--in reality, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
One doesn't even need to assess these cases politically to recognize that a mechanism is at work here that has long since ceased to have anything to do with artistic quality. It's about who is allowed to speak. And who isn't. It's about the permission to publicly articulate uncomfortable perspectives. And it's about the fear many event organizers have of being caught in the crossfire. Organizers no longer fear scandal, but rather a shitstorm. And that's why they try to avoid scandal in advance--by filtering artists before anyone has even seen them.
What we're witnessing here isn't just the disciplining of individuals. It's an inward-looking self-censorship within the cultural sector, a preemptive adaptation to moral expectations that no one has formally decided upon, but which, in practice, function like guidelines. The problem runs deep: It leads to a situation where only the conformists, the compliant, the harmless, and those socially and pedagogically molded remain. That would be the death of artistic relevance.
We know these mechanisms from authoritarian systems: Art that is no longer grounded in risk, but in the approved context, is no longer art of the people, but merely art of the rulers, the watchdogs, the moral authorities. But art is not what is permitted. Art is what takes risks, what provokes, what articulates what cannot be said.
Freedom of art is not a privilege granted by the prevailing mood of a public-educational majority. It is a foundation upon which democracy stands.
If we abandon this foundation, we lose not only individual artists.
We lose the right to provoke. The right to disagree. The right to friction.
And with that, we lose the very essence of what constitutes vibrant culture.
November 7, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
"The new book - Lies - A Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and directord director
LINK TO THE NEW BOOK
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