What are you currently working on—and what do you find particularly stimulating or challenging about it?
Sophia: I’m juggling four projects at once—oops, again. Love the people, hate the hustle.
Cathrin: Stimulating´, sounds like Italy or tiramisu. I was supposed to be working on my upcoming solo show in London and a new print set to appear this year. But instead, I procrastinated and applied for Berlin Art Week with Sophia. Now I’m curating for the first time with over thirty international artists, working on everything at once—and trying not to lose my mind. Maybe this is the most honest project I’ve ever done, and that’s exactly what excites me.
Do you have a daily ritual that gives you structure or inspiration?
Sophia: Walking the dog gives me structure, talking with Cathrin gives me inspiration.
Cathrin: Wearing the same painting uniform every day.
What kind of music do you listen to when you want to focus or reconnect with your creative process?
Sophia: I hate music.
Cathrin: I mostly listen to people talking. Audiobooks or podcasts.
Has there been a book that fundamentally changed your perspective—and why would you recommend it?
Sophia: I would recommend ›The S.C.U.M. Manifesto‹ by Valerie Solanas to anyone who wants to understand what it is like to live as a woman in this world.
Cathrin: I recommend ›The NeverEnding Story‹.
Is there a work of art you would love to have in your home?
Sophia: A ›Rupfentier‹ by Renate Müller.
Cathrin: Louise Bourgeois’ ›Maman‹.
Which exhibition venue in Berlin inspires you?
Sophia: I’m more inspired by exhibition architecture than by specific venues.
Cathrin: There isn’t a fixed place, as venues are always changeable. But the last exhibition space that stayed with me in particular was the Jewish Museum Berlin.
Is there an object that accompanies you and reflects a part of your identity?
Sophia: ›The List‹—a piece of paper on which my former flatmate Matthias Moroder in Vienna made a completely absurd list with very strange reference arrows, understandable only to him. I love lists and systems. At the same time, it expresses failure, chaos, and remains a complete mystery.
Cathrin: A black-and-white photograph my mother gave us children to protect us. It doesn’t show my mother, but someone else. I always carry it hidden in my wallet.
What keeps you going, even in moments of doubt?
Sophia: Sleep, food, hugs, my age, money, coffee, discipline, will, despair, conversations, hopelessness, humour, salami tactics, rethinking, simplifying, help, breaks, anger, hope.
Cathrin: My old life—which I never want to return to.
Which personality would you like to have a conversation with—and what would you talk about?
Sophia: I would like to speak with a mother who fled with her children over a long journey—about hope, if she still has any.
Cathrin: I would like to speak with artists who did not flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s—about their motivations and what hope they still held.
What do you look forward to when your working day comes to an end?
Sophia: The pug on my stomach and the sound of the TV blending with the morning birdsong, while the dog and I fall into snoring in perfect sync.
Cathrin: Italy or tiramisu.