Artist Feature: Laibach
Laibach is one of the most interesting avant-garde music/art projects I’ve seen, spanning thirty years of creative provocation with their music, videos, and conceptual idealization. They were formed in Yugoslavia in 1980 by the members: Dejan Knez, Srecko Bajda, Andrej Lupinc, Tomaz Hostnik, and Bine Zerko. Laibach is known for their unique cover songs that often co-opt the original conceptual message and give a sharp ironic twist to a new remediation of sound and art. Much of the Laibach sound is put within the industrial genre, but the group has extensively experimented with classical and loop based sound dynamics.
Laibach has seen controversy over their visual style and aesthetics. They are often accused of being fascists and either politically far left or far right. The apparent irony of these accusations is that they do not take into account the satirical message of the group’s work.
