What are you working on at the moment?
I’m in the process of finalizing 60 sculptures, actually 57 headless creatures that are becoming one installation or body, and 3 pillars that together are made out of 56 separate pieces or legs. These works are for my upcoming solo exhibition at Trauma bar und Kino, curated by Madalina Stanescu and Juliet Kothe, which will open on 16 SEP.
What are you reading or listening to right now?
I don’t have so much time to read but if I manage to take the bus instead of the bike to the studio then it is currently ›Everybody: A book about freedom‹ by Olivia Laing or switching to re-reading ›Waiting for Godot‹ by Samuel Beckett. In the studio I’m listening to whatever my assistant puts on.
What does it take for good art education/mediation through art?
The art work needs to speak for itself and in return, the mediator needs to have done their research.
Do you have a favourite building?
No, but I have buildings I can’t get out of my head and keep coming back to, although it happens to be while I’m sleeping and dreaming. One is a kind of rundown apartment building where everything is gray, and one mansion with bright fuzzy colors that also has a green river. When I visit other cities, I like going into all the churches but not for spiritual reasons.
Who would you like to meet?
There is a lot of people I’d like to have more time to meet. However, I’ve been thinking about Eva Hesse since a while back, so if I have to choose one person perhaps it is her. Actually I don’t know if I have to meet her, but I would like to see one of her last exhibitions she did before she died, during the 60’s and the development of minimalism and post-minimalism in New York, and to run into her there somewhere.
Do you have a daily ritual?
There are no usual rituals I hold on to, it is more like discipline. One day during an intense production period can look like; waking up at 7, have some concentrated caffeine and green tea while doing computer work at home. I arrive latest 11.30 in the studio, alternate between working on the sculptures and eating something or drinking tea every second to third hour, then leave the studio between 8 and 9pm, depending on how successful the day went. Never leave before the goal for that day is reached.
What accessory or object could you not be without?
This I can’t think of, I would rather be without everything and live an almost ascetic lifestyle and with as few objects as possible in possession. However, this would also not be worth considering for me in the way I make art, but I guess I enjoy that contradiction because I can’t or won’t change that either.
What is sustainability for you?
It is a form of individual attitude that everyone must have; to care.
What do you wish for Berlin’s art and cultural environment?
More possibilities, always, in whatever way needed.
What do you do when the work is done?
Contemplating some post-production melancholia and then of course start the next artwork, there is always something in queue and that queue is never-ending.