<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/01/german-museum-grumpy-guide-kunstpalast-dusseldorf>
"On a recent autumn evening in Düsseldorf’s Kunstpalast museum, the guide
Joseph Langelinck paused next to a Renaissance sculpture of a man with a wooden
club and challenged his flock of 18 visitors to name the mythical hero
depicted.
“Hercules?” a woman in the front row proposed in a soft voice. “If you know the
answer, why can’t you tell us in a way that those at the back can hear you,
too?” Langelinck admonished the visitor, before challenging her to name the 12
labours in chronological order. A non-answer elicited an eye roll and a tut.
“Oh god, I feel like I’m back at school,” sighed the woman, 62-year-old Corinna
Schröder.
The museum advertises Langelinck’s tours, which cost €7, as “grumpy” and
“highly unpleasant”, though that might still be an understatement. Over the
course of the 70-minute walk, the ponytailed art historian points fingers into
visitors’ faces, tells them off for checking their phones or sitting down, and
berates them for their general ignorance, all while stomping through the
palatial corridors of the Kunstpalast at breakneck speed.
In spite of the rudeness, or perhaps because of it, the twice-monthly “Grumpy
Guide” tour has been a surprise hit, with each one since the launch in May sold
out. Anyone looking to book a spot will have to wait until next year.
“I never insult visitors directly, based on their personality or their
appearance, but I insult them as a group,” said Carl Brandi, 33, the
performance artist who conceived of and performs as the aggressive Langelinck.
“My contempt is directed at an inferred ignorance that may not even exist. But
I try to make them feel as ignorant as possible.”
Asked to explain the tour’s popularity, Brandi said people “enjoy the emotional
ride”. “We all know comedy or cabaret formats where the performer’s bad mood or
aggressive attitude is key to the show, it’s just not something we’re used to
seeing in museums. And unlike in a comedy show, there’s no barrier between the
character and the audience here,” he said.
The Kunstpalast director, Felix Krämer, was inspired to commission Brandi’s act
partly by the viral success of “rude waiter” restaurants, such as Karen’s
Diner, in Sydney, or Rome’s Cencio la Parolaccia, though impolite service staff
are hardly an alien concept on the banks of the Rhine. Waiters at brewery pubs
in Düsseldorf and neighbouring Cologne, colloquially known as
Köbesse, are
known for their brash wit."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
