»I enjoy creating connections between different systems, it's my happy science.«

I would like to start in general: What themes inspire and influence you in your drawings, paintings, sculptures and spatial installations?

 

The interesting thing about art is that you can build relationships that otherwise don't exist. I process the topics that interest me, such as science fiction, economic structures and mythical creatures, into a kind of individual mythology. Certain symbols, signs, characters and figures appear again and again. I'm not trying to portray reality. It is more of a parallel universe in which fiction and pieces from the real world come together.

 

These signs, symbols and figures in your work are often an interplay of futuristic and archaic aesthetics. What's it all about?

 

A work of art always moves through time. I'm not just interested in a detail from the now, for example the aesthetics of a certain technology, but I'm also interested in how it moves in time. When you juxtapose 3,000-year-old works of art or ancient philosophy and events from the here and now and things that will happen in the future, you get a larger time horizon. I like to imagine that there are places where people sit who conduct research over this long time horizon and that's why some of my exhibitions look like headquarters or offices of such institutes. And typically, companies in the financial world try to fit themselves into something larger - for example, they use ancient names such as Triton or Pegasus and their logos often have references to ancient Greece or Egypt. They want to convey the feeling that what they are doing has a larger context. I think it's a natural human need to want to create a transtemporality in your own short life. And it is precisely the things that are actually the most intangible and short-lived, such as financial markets, that often strive to fit themselves into a higher sphere.

 

Where does your interest in financial and economic topics come from?

 

I studied architecture for a year and traveled a lot. I have always been particularly fascinated by the central business districts that exist all over the world. These structures manifest in reality, but behind them there is of course a financial system. Cathedrals used to be built over 300 years, but today the temples of our time are the central business districts. The fact that it is even possible to build such high-rise buildings has its roots in the global financial system. That's what got me interested in financial markets and what lies behind them. At first I was more interested from the outside, then I became curious and wanted to know more: who exactly works there, what do these companies actually do, what are they called, what kind of logos do they have, what does the website look like, maybe I can have a look at the office. Everything that has to do with finances is often shrouded in mystery, like in burial chambers or temples. Especially in art, it's more of a taboo to deal with it because art itself is of course also part of this financial system, but people prefer not to really discuss that. But I enjoy creating connections between different systems, it's my happy science.

 

And what does the &NE in your artist name mean?

 

This is the same starting point again. I'm not interested in making art as a private individual. I see myself in a larger context, like an entrepreneurial entity. Just as there are different roles in a company, I also have different roles that I perform as an artist. The NE stands for New Entity, at the beginning it stood for New Europe, but it has become more global. It is an entrepreneurial structure in which I employ myself. In it, sometimes I'm the one making strategic decisions, sometimes I'm the one executing a plan, sometimes I might have to do research and development.

 

You like to use the latest technologies in your work, e.g. artificial intelligence. What opportunities does this offer you?

 

I just find technology exciting. It's nothing new, there have long been technologies that helped entire countries or entities to be faster and more efficient. Whether that was during colonization or later in the establishment of a global communication system. In today's globalized world, so much is happening at the same time that it would no longer be possible to navigate it without technology. Art has also always been technology-oriented. I'm particularly interested in technologies that are productive and try out which ones are really interesting to me and which ones aren't.

Now is a special moment because a lot of open source technologies are emerging. Especially when it comes to AI, it is a big revolution that copyrights are being repealed. That calls a lot into question. I think that in the future it will no longer be the case that we only use cutting-edge technology from Silicon Valley, but that it will become more decentralized. I find these developments really exciting.

 

To what extent do you think image generating AI will change the art world; what developments could motivate the emergence of AI?

 

The most interesting thing about it is actually that I have a toolbox that is evolving incredibly quickly. I can generate a lot of images, create a lot of texts, much more than I need, and everything is copyright-free. As an artist I can use anything. Until now, the problem with digital technology has always been that every Google search was essentially private ownership and I wasn't allowed to use the images and texts that I found. As an artist you have to constantly be afraid that you'll steal something and get sued. The entire Internet has become a jungle of copyrights in which artists always only have disadvantages. Because you contribute to it yourself, but you don't play a role compared to the big Silicon Valley companies that own everything. But these balances are now shifting.

 

Do you think that today, looking back, will reveal a shift in art production?

 

The most important thing will be how humanity manages to deal with climate change, which will significantly influence how our age is viewed in the future. That a financial system has resulted in the planet becoming increasingly uninhabitable. To realize, from a historical perspective, very short-term profits. Which art was created there will hardly be relevant anymore if you are confronted with major species extinctions, new wars, etc. Or maybe again in 1000 years as an artifact.

To go back to the beginning, that is also one of the reasons why I am interested in financial systems, because they are of course the pivotal points of our world. Everything has to be viewed globally; you can no longer do anything that is only local. This applies to me as an artist as well.