October 4th, 2023. One day has passed since the world premiere of the dance spectacle New Ballet mécanique (choreographed by Richard Siegal) and resumption of Half life (choreographed by Sharon Eyal), which, like all other spectators, put me in a trance. How can I transfer these fantastic performances into words? Ballet, first in dialogue with the sound-space installation by the artist Zimoun, and then in dialogue with the hard techno beats by Gai Behar. What a contrast! What connection is there between these seemingly completely different pieces, and why did Jan Vandenhouwe, the artistic director of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, choose this extraordinary combination? … to read more tap on image

Have you ever heard of the Birdcage Theory? That theory that derives a connection between the birdcage and the coordinate system of the globe? The author is – according to the current state of research – unknown, but the Birdcage Theory (abbreviated as BT) oscillates somewhere between art and science. In insider circles, BT is already being discussed as THE hot topic for upcoming art events in Vienna, Cologne (Art Cologne), Copenhagen and Berlin. Connecting art and science is not new, but the manner of this staging will undoubtedly provoke new levels of intrigue, be entertaining, generate a unique artistic experience, and retrospectively inspire contemplation… in other words, it will be something new. This is ensured by Gernot Seeliger, Anton Peitersen, and Dargelos Kersten of Pegasus Product … (to read more tap on image)

Anybody looking at the designs of the Austrian fashion designer Flora Miranda, set in her very special staging, is directly transported into the dream worlds created by her. The models appear to transform into moving sculptures; into artificial beings in an artificially created world. The viewer is magically drawn into something both unknown and familiar. Is this effect perhaps produced by the generative design used by Flora Miranda? … TAP TO READ MORE

Loud and trendy, or futuristic and downright cosmic, Sophie Ramirez alias SOFF poses on the photos of her brightly coloured Instagram-Feeds. When meeting the student of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf privately, you get a surprise. Her extraordinary styling is not just a means of her staging, but an expression of her personality. Make-up, clothing – everything is loud, stands out from what is usually described as “normal”. SOFF lives this style. Bold, and impressively self-confident! But, what exactly is her art? Doesn’t SOFF fall into the rather more superficial category of pop culture or, is she simply a good model?
I wanted to find out and go and visit her in her live-in studio … (to read more, tap on photo)

Museumsverein Abteiberg (Museum Association Abteiberg) landed a truly sensational coup! At the occasion of the triple anniversary of 120 years Museumsverein/50 years annual gifts/40 years Museum Abteiberg 66(!) artists followed the Association’s unusual invitation to contribute to the creation of a HOMMAGE A MUSEUM ABTEIBERG, amongst them Andrea Bowers, Alexandra Bircken, Imi Knoebel, Thomas Rentmeister, Giuseppe Penone, Katharina Sieverding, Ulrich Rückriem, Monica Bonvicini, Jonathan Meese and Joanne Greenbaum. Thus sensational unique works of unbelievable diversity were created that are connected by only one common factor: A box measuring 28,0 x 33,5 x 2,5 cm – the same as the Grünen Schachtel by Marcel Duchamp from 1934 in the museum’s collection. Why a box? Where did the idea come from? How are the artworks presented? Under which conditions is the acquisition at a flat rate of 1.200 Euros possible? You can find all the answers here. Because, as a member of the advisory board I have been involved from the start ,)

Bad-Gastein. Is that an urn in the window and a coffin at the back of the shop? Nonsense, it’s probably simply a vase and a trunk. After all, an exhibition is about to be opened within the context of the sommer.frische.kust art festival. While I am still shaking my head at my own thoughts, I pause, in a mixture of feeling dumbfounded and astonished, when I hear the opening speech: “Xenia Lesniewski created a room installation here that moves between a concept store, funeral parlour and travel agency […].” Is that possible? – My past just flitted through my mind at high speed and links up with the here and now. For those, who didn’t know this yet: Before I got involved in art, I was an undertaker….

The impulse, or, rather, the incredible longing of wanting to visit this art festival, came over me in New York. Stressed by the hectic style of this city, in a stuffy, gloomy hotel room across a noisy construction site, I trawled through the current news in my Instagram account and got stuck on the following picture: Andrea von Goetz, barefoot, on a lush green meadow, sitting at a crystal clear stream, under an unbelievably blue sky, with greetings and the invitation to the sommer.frische.kunst. Festival in Bad Gastein in Salzburg County. And even if every New York afficionado now howls in protest: I wanted to be exactly there at exactly that minute.
A few weeks ago it finally happened. What a contrast: … (read more)

All Jan Glisman really wanted to do was to “just” document a spectacular event in Cologne: The demolition of all three parts of the 138-metre-high Deutsche Welle broadcasting tower, the third-highest building in the city. The funding had been approved, the plans worked out, but then – everything turned out quite differently. The risk to the broadcasting operations of Deutschlandfunk, which is connected by a common foundation slab, and the spread of asbestos fibres feared by residents in the neighbourhood had prevented the blasting. “Blasting” therefore became “deconstruction”. A process that was to extend over a total of five years and challenged Glisman to document precisely that period. Huge numbers of photos, video material and drawings were initially created without any concrete idea of what was to happen with them …

The imminent premiere of XERROX Vol. 2, a ballet for the music of the same name by Alva Noto, choreographed by Richard Siegal and performed by his company BALLET OF DIFFERENCE, was also a premiere for me. The attendance of the rehearsal and the subsequent conversation with Richard Siegal challenged me to get involved in contemporary ballet. To give you a heads up: I was immediately bowled over …

No matter if it is a DIOR campaign with Sharon Stone, Natalie Portman or Sophie Marceau, PORSCHE campaign with Patrick Dempsey or stylish stagings for editorial pictures in luxury magazines like VOGUE, ELLE or FLAUNT … it is always Frederic Auerbach who is responsible for those iconic images.

Born and raised in Switzerland, he was first drawn to Paris before his work finally took him to Los Angeles.

At the Sander Gallery in Düsseldorf, his photographs were presented in an art context for the first time. Beside the opportunity to talk to him about his life and work I was also given the chance to gain a practical impression of his photographic approach as a model afterwards …