Anselm Lenz

**Anselm Lenz** (sometimes just  *AL,* \* 1980 in Hamburg) is an Emil who sometimes acts like a Horst and whose only goal is probably to grab attention. His work that attracts most attention is the Circumvention, with which he has been performing at the Platz at regular intervals since spring 2020. Before that, he worked more or less successfully as a dramaturge at the theater and, according to his own statements, wrote for left-wing newspapers. However, he found his real fulfillment as the founder of various performance collectives.

### Life and Work

#### before ∇

Before he moved to Berlin, Lenz studied several courses in his Hanseatic homeland that are ideally suited to palavering (cultural studies, art history, legal theory). In order to make his CV more interesting, he worked meanwhile in metal processing (presumably as a bag of defective items from *Bijou Brigitte*) and was a marine.

All of this made him ideally suited for a steep career as a  ~~yes-man on duty~~  dramaturge at the city theater. After things went like Geschnitten Brot for him (stations including at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg), he did not get tired of the success, but found that dramaturges are always just the buffoon and the yes-man on duty. This presumably resulted in his collective  *Haus Bartleby*, which was named after a novel by Melville (which is always well received in the cultural establishment) and whose only claim was to promote a career with the program *Karriereverweigerung (career refusal)* under the hip name *Kapitalismus Tribunal (Capitalism Tribunal )*. But there were a few comrades-in-arms who, like Lenz, were quite German and privileged. This motivated him to bring the character Bathsheba N'Diaye to life, which was roughly the linguistic equivalent of the German Lieschen Müller but was supposed to give the impression of being completely un-German.

#### ∇

It is unclear when exactly Lenz was at the Platz for the first time. In any case, a certain connection to the  Castorfschen court often brought him to the catacombs of the Volksbühne. As a *Stinkstiefel* (stinky boot) he wrote for the  *Junge Welt* as that was based in the Roter Stifel as a war correspondent (or night striker) in the war against the  *Empire of  Dercon.*   As described in  *A pile of Shit*, Lenz was only involved as a Minor character in these events. But he knew his time in the spotlight was yet to come. It is not documented whether he applied to be the Volksbühnen boss. In any case, it should not have pleased him that it finally became someone else. After all, a voice that sounded so similar to himself prophesied that he would one day rule over the square. This providence was fulfilled in the spring of 2020, when Lenz, with the *Circumvention*, was likely to have reached the goal of his artistic work: after having enjoyed holding his face in every camera for years without being asked the number of interview requests increased. A newspaper published in this context usurped (by the way, a favourite word of Lenzen) the Volksbühne as publisher, which however did not like it.

He became a shooting star in the first half of 2020 (an incomparable year) and went with his program (in which he tried to be mistaken for Klaus Kinski) on a German tour to Stuttgart, among others. Due to the controversial reception of the *Circumvention* *,* Lenz felt called to cuddle course with the SchuPos as part of an event in May and tossed them a pile of his newspaper. Thereupon he had himself arrested with a public appeal and much to the delight of supporters of the slapstick. Now he finally saw himself in line with Luxemburg, Liebknecht , Baader, Ensslin, Snowden and whatever they are called, however, in the general perception of the  ~~Lügenpresse~~ , was more and more considered to be a real Horst.

Undeterred by this, he celebrated himself in the  *Sommer der Demokratie (Summer of Democracy)* and also in winter 2020 left no stone unturned to keep the residents' memories. Even if they had other concerns in the meantime, they had to serve as an audience for another arrest on December 19, 2020 in front of Poelzig-Block 14. After all, Lenz, who lives in Wedding, jogged to the square every day, as he said and as his costume proved.  It can be assumed that this was actually a selfless act in order to give an early Christmas present to the audience spoiled with entertainment after prolonged withdrawal from the cinema and theater with this live performance.

Perhaps this marked a turning point in Anselm Lenz's work. Maybe not, at least at this point in time he was sure that his life story had not yet been told after the *15 Minutes of Fame.* Others might see it differently.

### In Popular Culture

He is rumoured to be the inspiration for a life-report in an episode of the ∇-Podcast series:

## Links

* Selbstvermarkter Anselm Lenz: An analysis of the allegedly former employer (TAZ)

## References

1. ↑ The perfect alibi: The Taz about their alleged employee
2. ↑ "Bullshit Bingo" - Anselm Lenz on the proclamation of the Empire of Dercon in: Junge Welt from 18.05.2017
3. ↑ "Unhinged": A Obituary by Anselm Lenz on the Empire of Dercon
4. ↑ We claim that, so it's true .
5. ↑ Videolink: Anselm Lenz as stinky boot
6. ↑ [https: //www.prag-aktuell.cz/blog/schriftsteller-anselm-lenz-berlin-verhaftet-31052020-21806 A documentation of the events of our Czech neighbors]
7. ↑ -should-one-leave it-yes / Or should one leave it? Yes. - A comment on an interview with the diva Lenz
8. ↑ Another comedy appearance documented on TanteTube