Thu 15.10.2026 DJ-Set with...: Thomas Venker & Linus Volkmann

Pop culture knowledge meets musical obsession, with an evening blending punk and pop and plenty of vinyl: for a new instalment of the ‘Spinning Records with …’ series, the Kunsthalle Dortmund welcomes two old friends to the mono Listening Café. Thomas Venker and Linus Volkmann have been working as journalists for many years and, through their articles, podcasts and, not least, the jointly published *Kaput – Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop*, they shape the discourse on music and pop culture.

Linus Volkmann is one of Germany’s best-known music journalists. With incisive pieces and astute commentary on pop culture events, he reaches a wide audience – on Instagram as well as in magazines, podcasts and his pop column for *Musikexpress*. Having played in punk bands himself, his selection promises to be a journey through punk and pop that is as knowledgeable as it is wild.

He will be joined by Thomas Venker: journalist, lecturer and co-editor of *Kaput*, as well as the Kunsthalle Dortmund’s favourite presenter. The pair have already demonstrated their well-rehearsed teamwork in past exhibition projects with the Kunsthalle. Now they return with a selection of records that draw connections to the themes, locations and global movements of the exhibition *INDUSTRIAL. Silk Roads 3000*.

The event is once again taking place in collaboration with Black Plastic and the mono Listening Café.
 

Thomas Venker studied sociology and political science in Stuttgart, where he founded the multimedia magazine *Harakiri* in 1993. He subsequently worked as a freelance writer for various music magazines and daily newspapers, and published several books. From 2000 to 2014, he was editor-in-chief of Intro magazine and, from 2011 to 2014, also Director of Media Content at the Hörstmann Group. He runs the labels onitor, Scheinselbständig and Cereal/Killers, as well as the art edition Edition Fieber. He currently publishes regularly in the magazines Spex and Groove.

Linus Volkmann was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1973. He published various fanzines and moved to Cologne to study. In the new millennium, he met his destiny in the form of Thomas Venker. Together with him, he served as editor-in-chief of the pop culture magazine *Intro* for over a decade. Linus Volkmann publishes books and articles on pop culture criticism. His pets are snails; his hobbies are Jägermeister and cola, and ghosts.