Artist "Birdman" back in Bad Tölz after a serious illness: "Without art I would have perished"

Created: 08/09/2022, 06:30

By: Elena Royer

Art has made him healthy again: The "Birdman" Hans Langner (left) together with Neurokom Managing Director Tim Mrzyglod unveils a work of art that he created for the rehabilitation facility.

© Arndt Pröhl

The well-known artist Hans Langner, alias “Birdman”, who used to live in Ratzenwinkel, found his way back to life in the Neurokom rehabilitation clinic in Bad Tölz.

Bad Tölz – Where people usually recover from their injuries, a large screen has been set up.

Chairs are lined up in front of it.

A picture hangs on the wall, covered with a red cloth.

On this day, the foyer of the "Neurokom" in Bad Tölz doesn't look like a facility for people with brain injuries.

Rather, there is an expectant mood in the air.

And there's a reason for that: The "Birdman" is back in Tölz.

And he unveils an artwork he created for the rehab facility.

"Birdman" Hans Langner suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2019

After a brain hemorrhage in January 2019, the "Birdman", whose real name is Hans Langner, came to the "Neurokom" in Bad Tölz.

There, patients should find their way back into a self-determined professional and social life through physiotherapy, ergotherapy, speech therapy and work therapy.

Hans Langner succeeded.

After the year and a half he spent in the "Neurokom", he says today: "I'm doing as well as ever." As a thank you, he created a work of art for the rehabilitation facility.

Before it is unveiled, Tim Mrzyglod, managing director of the Tölz rehabilitation clinic, shows a film about Langner's performance Entkäfigung on the screen.

In 2016, the 57-year-old had himself locked in a cage.

"It hurts," Langner calls out while stuck in the tiny cage.

"I feel imprisoned." This is exactly the feeling Langner gave his cerebral hemorrhage.

"It's like being locked up," says the artist today.

“It comes suddenly.

You're thrown into something.” Four years after his performance, Hans Langner experienced these tormenting feelings of constriction and 'not being able to get out of himself' through his cerebral hemorrhage,” says Tim Mrzyglod.

I came back to myself through painting.

"Birdman" Hans Langner

But through art he regained his freedom.

"I came back to myself through painting," says Langner.

How did he do it?

In addition to the correct medication, this was also ensured by the carpenter Jochen Götz, who constantly stood by the "Birdman" during his recovery.

At the beginning of his therapy he said to Langner: 'Take a picture!', says Götz.

“But we quickly realized that it didn't work that way.

You can't impose a concept on everyone.” That's why Langner got a studio in the basement of the “Neurokom”, which worked wonders for the artist.

"His development can be seen in his works of art," says Götz.

"At first they were reserved, then overloaded with glitter and gold." And that's no coincidence: "My new color is gold," explains Langner.

The large-format work of art that Langner unveiled together with Mrzyglod after he had thanked him for the “honorable souvenir” also shines in shiny gold: On a golden background, ever-growing birds in a wide variety of shapes and colors fly in a spiral.

Hans Langner can move his right hand better and better

Meanwhile, Langner feels "reborn".

"Without art I would have perished," he says today.

"She made me healthy again." Even if it was frustrating for him at the beginning not being able to move his right hand.

In the meantime, however, this works better and better with constant practice.

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Only the vision in the right eye is still severely limited.

"I bump into everything," says Langner, showing a wound on his shin as if to prove it.

Today “Birdman” Hans Langner lives in Starnberg

The 57-year-old, who lived in Ratzenwinkel near Bad Tölz for 13 years, now lives with a friend in Starnberg, with whom he has also set up his own studio.

"It's great to finally be an artist again," says the "Birdman".

Nevertheless, the time in the "Neurokom" in Bad Tölz was "incredibly good" for him.

"I'm slowly finding my way back to my old self," says Hans Langner.

"Here I became an artist again."

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.