On the occasion of receiving the Max-Beckmann-Stiftungsprofessur (do not ask) at the Staedel Academy, Luc Tuymans honored us by giving a lecture here in Frankfurt. The room was full as Tuymans speech, which was accompanied by an interesting picture show, streched and streched and wrapped itself around time. Having listened to him before I am still not sure if I was witness of a), b) or c) – but everybody clapped gratiously at the end – while I guarantee that only the fewest understood what the hell he was talking about – or was NOT talking about.
I was sitting in the second row and … could not resist taking a set of pictures – it was just too welcoming! And he took it gracefully, even though the red light of my autofocus must have caught his eye (yeah, that evil point&shoot camera again).
After some excrushiating working days with an average of 3 hours of sleep, I was kidnapped by a friend to visit a Frankfurt Bar which is called “Gesellschaft fuer Nachtungerhaltung”, which means something like “society for nightly entertainment”. No, it is neither a strip club nor a game place, it is merely a bar with a live dj. Very stripped down actually, a little on the cheap side as to the material, but nonetheless, as you are flooded by darkness when you get inside, it feels like going onto an old and long time not used movie set once decorated by “Wallpaper” – specifically designed for total shots. No close-ups.
There are two eyecatcher in this bar: the one is a set of three illuminated aquariums fixed on a thick vertical bar, that at the same time is the handle for the stairways to the cellar (restrooms), and the second one is that what you will see when you look into the mirror when you wash your hands down there. It might not be you.
I thing I slept 12 hours after I finally got to bed.
(click here or on the image to see more)
I met Tony in 2006 during a cowsession (yeah, well, that is how it was called – it was also a birthday party of a friend of mine) in Offenbach. It was such a secluded place that the taxi guy almost gave up before finally getting me there – it was a huge hall at the end of the old and mosly useless harbour – and there was a little sign: “cowsession”. This hall immediately fascinated me for its surreality and it was rented by … yeah … Antohny Hunt, the host of this party.
I admit I had a hidden agenda as soon as I first saw that place: I wanted to attach myself to that – I NEEDED to rent part of this marvel … A place, like twighlight … something out of the normal boundaries of time and space.
Today I am sitting here with Tony and we are setting up a contract: I will be renting part of that hall – a gallery – as a studio.
My face is not enough to host the smile I feel inside of me!
Artists friends asked us over on April 1st to celebrate the birth of their venture “Lichtbaeckerei” (backery of light). It was definitively not a joke, as the newly designed lamps, that where hanging in every room, showed us. They were dummies for a huge proposal – which they ended up winning: thus the new company … and the celebration.
Needless to say: everybody was vibrant and optimistic – we had a wonderful evening!
Driving to my studio in Offenbach I pass these wonderful residues … I will post some more of it some other day.
