About the author
Frank Steinhofer is a German novelist and contributor to international publications, connecting the threads between ecologies, cultures and philosophies.
Frank Steinhofer, born in Dahn, Germany, works as a novelist and, since 2016, as a writer and essayist for international magazines such as ‘Der Spiegel’ and ‘The Architectural Review’. Previously, he was one of the editors-in-chief of the independent art magazine ‘Dare’ for seven years. His debut novel ‘Das Terrain’, about a new type of museum building on the edge of the rainforest, was published in 2021.
His literary work explores issues of ecological justice, art and climate, and natural building methods. In 2021, he opened the Amazon edition of the Culturscapes Festival with his essay ‘For a climate change of sensitivity’ with the Brazilian indigenous writer Ailton Krenak. In 2022, he exhibited a poetry installation from the perspective of fungi and plants at the Vernacular Institute in Mexico City. Years of living from Mexico to Brazil, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Namibia have informed his writing, as have the eco-social philosophies and environmental justice movements of the Americas. He is based in Mexico City and Dahn.
Press contact
For media enquiries please contact ‘press[at]franksteinhofer.com’
Interviews
2024, Interview with 5fm, South Africa, ‘There are places that nourish us’
‘The example of Chido Govera in Zimbabwe, the farmers of Mahangu in Namibia or Arca Tierra in Mexico point to something: They are places that nourish us. Our bodies, our minds and our spirits. These places are not industrial. They are not touristic. They are overlooked. And sometimes they are inside you.’
2022, Interview with the Philosophie Magazine, Germany, ‘About Rhizomatic Literature’
‘If you imagine books as mushrooms, there is no limit to thoughts, only the idea of a rhizome that continues to branch out.’
2021, Interview with Deutschlandfunk, Germany, ‘How a fictional story is going viral’
‘We live in a time at which communication increasingly takes place in closed technical circuits, in the absence of bodies. The sense of reality is shifting towards the virtual. What does this imply for us?’
2021, Interview with Monopol Magazine, Germany, ‘Our museum is already growing in many people’s minds’
‘Climate change is progressing, the earth is burning and injustice is everywhere. Yet the art market is still focused on growth and discriminates against female, Black and non-Western positions. The cult of genius may have faded, but megalomania has not. Some works of art want to be sustainable, but only in a certain sense: they want to be kept and admired in museums for all time. I would like to see more positions calling for greater solidarity between all species. More courage for animism, because everything follows an inner meaning. Trees, too, have ideas about the world. Sometimes I wonder whether the Western art world is more interested in life or in its own alienation?’
2021, Interview with GQ magazine, Germany, ‘Three questions about masculinities’
‘In today’s world, we no longer need strong heroes, but people who have the courage to show each other their vulnerabilities.’
2021, Interview with the newspaper Rheinpfalz, Germany, ‘A new bond of tenderness with the world’
The book takes an earth-centred view of the world. What does that mean? Western thinking has created pairs of opposites such as nature and culture, body and mind. It tempts us to see ourselves as separate from the world, rather than feeling connected to it. In other words, to develop an abstract relationship to reality rather than a sensual, compassionate one. Seeing the world as a property and mastering it is at the root of Western metaphysics. But how much suffering and destruction has this view caused?
Voices of humans
‘An author you should get to know.’ Insa Wilke, WDR3
‘Fragile. Searching. A template of how fiction can critically explore whiteness & masculinity.’ Sharon Dodua Otoo, Novelist
‘This novel goes all out. It takes aim at the international art market, at the ecological forms of a new architecture.’ Helmut Böttiger, Deutschlandfunk
Voices of forests
»Fffffop, buitsch, whuah, whuah« – Ecuador, Parque Nacional Yasuní, » listen
»Siiiidiiididi Sidiidii« – Nicaragua, Natural Reserve Peñas Blancas, » listen