Can you introduce yourself?
I'm Kai von Rabenau, I live in Berlin.

 

What's your job?
I studied graphic design in London from 1994 - 2000 and then started working
as a freelance photographer in 2001. From 2005 I do the magazine Mono-Kultur.

 

How would you describe it?
It is a monothemed interview magazine - every issue is dedicated to one particular artist from all the genres of culture -music, film, fine art, literature, etc. - and features one very long in-depth interview only. Just that, no gossip or distractions. We prefer opinions and life experiences. In addition, we organize a regular series of events such as readings, concerts, exhibitions, screenings, etc. to enable a direct experience of the featured artist and his/her work.

 

How did the idea of making the magazine started?
I've always had a dream of publishing an interview magazine and in 2003, I decided to give it on serious attempt, even though I had no money or experience in publishing. I started looking for people to work with and putting together a better concept. The first issue came out in September 2005.

 

What is it's motivation and purpouse?
We want to create a timeless archive of conversations with artists from all genres that we feel are exciting and inspiring. The idea is to transmit ideas and experiences which are unique and universal at the same time.

 

How do you chose the subjects foe each number?
According to our own personal interests, mostly. It takes a lot of time and work to put an issue together so we do not want to waste our energy on people that we don't appreciate.

 

And who did you profile?
Francois Ozon, Carsten Nicolai, Maurizio Cattelan, Frank Leder, Zeruya Shalev, among others.

 

Why the print medium?
The interviews we do are very very long and it is no fun to read extensive articles on the net. Your attention span tends to be extremely short with the internet, it is a fast medium, whereas print is a slow medium.

 

Is the final outcome what you had in mind or it changes during the process?
Actually, it changed a great deal from our initial idea at the beginning and funnily enough, ended up looking very much like what I had in mind beforehand. not in terms of content and design, bit in spirit.

 

Do you also design it?
Sometimes - we created an aesthetic blueprint for it, a general tone, but we also frequently invite other designers to create one issue. The issues are individually edited and designed to suit the interview partner, ideally in cooperation with him/her. So every issue looks different to the one before and they are always a surprise.

 

Did you have any previous experience in publishing?
No other than working as a photographer for various magazines and newspapers. Enough to realize that it is an utterly frustrating business.

 

How many people do you work with on each issue?
Ten on a frequent basis plus some people that will be involved with one specific issue.

 

What's it's frequency?
Bimonthly.

 

Do you think of an audience beforehand?
No.

 

Is profit a concern?
No. It is a non-profit project

 

Future plans with it?
To keep going. Also, in the longterm, to have regional offsprings of Mono-Kultur that pursue the same concept for Asia, South America and other places.

 

 

 

 

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