“I have done so much in Berlin that I have real roots in the city”

What does it mean to be an "insider" in Berlin's international art scene?

I didn’t know that I am in insider of the Berlin art scene! But I am if, you mean that I am so involved in the Berlin art scene. I know many Berlin artists since I did my BA and Masters at the Art University. I know many more through organizing the Tape Modern exhibitions. There, I get to work first-hand with many artists. I really enjoy meeting artists and working with them on different projects.

 What makes Berlin's art scene function differently than scenes in other major cities?

At the moment, I think it’s the public attention bringing so many artists here. The financial situation makes it easy for artists to live here and be creative, although in the last months there is increasing discussion about the rise in rent for ateliers and what it would mean for the future of art production in Berlin.

You’re currently working on your first show in Israel. How strongly do assumptions about Israeli identity influence perception of your work here in Germany?

People always bring their own cultural sensitivities to viewing work. And, of course, all artists bring their background into making work. Whether dealing with certain issues or how you deal with those issues, your cultural roots are always part of your work. You can allow yourself to overcome taboos because of your roots, and I know that I give myself more freedom to address certain subjects than a German artist might.

Are you prepared for a strikingly different response to your work in Israel?

My work in Israel will address general socio-cultural traumas, but I will also address certain issues that only relate to Israeli audiences.

After having developed real roots in Berlin, do you consider yourself as much a Berlin artist as an Israeli?

I have been active in Berlin for ten years. I studied in Berlin, and I’ve been showing as an artist, curating, winning an art award, working in galleries in Berlin. I have done so much in Berlin that I have real roots in the city.

This tie to Berlin is clearly reflected in your comfort confronting the city’s architectural history and troubled past.

I am always interested in the idea of buildings as ghosts.

Berlin is an especially vibrant city. How does the idea that it’s "haunted by the past" relate to its young reputation and sensibility?

I think that political and cultural debate in Germany is very present in the everyday media. These kind of topics are very much discussed in relation to current events.

 "In my work I am interested in buildings that no longer exist and in the way that their memory has been politicized and utilized as a symbol”

I would have a difficult time directly dealing with the material you use in your art. Loneliness, as well as mortality, is a regular theme yet you're one of the most liked and well-admired artists in Berlin. How does your relationship to objects imbued with histories of neglect and their owners' loneliness emotionally affect you?

I am very touched by everyday random objects, especially ones that relate to loneliness and death. It started when I used to buy furniture and material for my installation from companies that deal with estates and just any kind of objects that used to belong to dead people. There were items that I always used to find in those sales, like the ’70s bathroom cabinets and certain kinds of lamps. I also like to go to local museum and see what kind of things they have in their archives that were donated by people who died or their relatives. I find this relationship between a city, the museum collection and the donated objects fascinating in the context of the city’s history.

Can you describe a space which exemplifies Berlin’s relationship to its past?

In the last ten years since I moved to Berlin, I have been fascinated with the discussion around the demolition of the Palast der Republik and the re-construction Berliner Schloss. The struggle between the conservation of the Palast der Republik, the genuine memories of the people who lived in the DDR time and the people who would like to look further back into the past to a pre-WWII era is also a political struggle about the representation of the new face of the reunited Berlin and a change of it's newly found cosmopolitical identity.

How does your sensitivity to memory and loss affect your ability to make personal and professional decisions, like ending Tape?

In my work I am interested in buildings that no longer exist and in the way that their memory has been politicized and utilized as a symbol. This year I also decided to end the Tape Modern exhibition series that I have established four years ago both for personal reasons and technical reasons. The space of Tape in Heidestrasse is also scheduled to be demolished and re-developed, and it is time for me to move on with my work as an artist.

How does your role as a curator and facilitator of exhibitions influence your ways of viewing other artists' work?

I am always on the look out for great new artists to show in the Tape Modern exhibition.

Who is your IDOL?

I love Marlene Dietrich. I admire her sense of morality in a time when not so many people realized what was going on in Germany and also her courage to perform in front of American soldiers while they were fighting against her own country.

 “I am always on the look out for great new artists to show in the Tape Modern exhibition”

Interviewed by Ana Finel Honigman

Images by Maxime Ballesteros