.artist talk
* Michael Sailstorfer

written Monica De Vidi

LE MILE caught up with conceptual artist Michael Sailstorfer after the opening of his new group exhibition, Nine To Know, at Ruttkowski; 68 Gallery in Paris.

Born in Velden, Germany (1979) and based in Berlin, Sailstorfer is known for his experimentation within the field of sculpture. His work defies natural dimensions and physical characteristics, creating an immersive and totalizing experience for his audience while transcending common aesthetic boundaries and challenging sensual perceptions. 

What made you decide to focus on sculpture? What was your first conscious work within this field of art?
As long as I can remember, I built things with my hands, either at my father’s stone workshop or at my grandfather’s farm. There are old photos of me holding a hammer before I was even able to walk. Art always played an important role in my family’s life since my father studied art in the 1970s. We often visited important exhibitions, such as Skulptur Projekte Münster, Documenta Kassel or La Biennale di Venezia, as well as with artist friends. When I applied at the Academy of Arts with my drawing portfolio, I received the feedback that my art was rather sculptural, so I applied for the sculpture class and got in. My first piece at the Academy was, of course, sculptural. For Waldputz (2000), I transformed a natural space – the woods near my father’s house – into an artificial space by cleaning the forest ground and the tree trunks. It was about removing material instead of adding anything new. Waldputz is one of the works that is still presented quite often and one edition is part of Centre Pompidou’s collection.


Your work inhabits galleries and art spaces, but the presentation itself has never represented the final product. Site-specific interventions are part of your vocabulary as these spaces feed off of your work. Is the relationship with the space spontaneous? How do you switch from natural contexts to gallery spaces?
My early works originate from a natural context. Back then, I was a student and didn’t have the opportunity to exhibit my art in galleries or institutions. When I started to display my work in gallery spaces, I was suddenly facing new challenges, since the interaction between space and sculpture is more present within a white cube exhibition space. For me, it’s highly important that all my sculptures are site-specific.


You are known for recycling and repurposing a range of different materials and found objects. Do you think that metamorphosis always represents positive development?
Deterioration and deformation generate a substantial value. When an object is degenerated, its function value ceases to exist, whereas its artistic value generally increases.


Is the new story always better than the former one?

It’s not about better or worse, it’s about telling a story and creating temporality from the start to the endpoint.

.artist talk
Michael Sailstorfer
speaks with
Monica De Vidi
first published in:
issue 28, 01/2020
*utopia / dystopia

What is more powerful for you as a source of inspiration: nature or artificial objects?


Usually it’s the balance and contrast between them both, creating excitement and determining the quality of an artwork.


What stage is more important for you, the initial concept or the final completion of the piece? Is there any correspondence between the two?
Both stages are equally important for me and can’t be considered separately. Generating ideas for a new artwork is always a magical process, but these ideas have to be concretized at some point. This happens during the execution phase, resulting in the final completion of the piece.


How did you come up with the idea of introducing kinetic devices to your work?
Isn’t this instability a paradox for sculptures? I started to work kinetically to provide the sculptures with temporality and vitalize them.


When is your exhibition complete?
When it’s accessible to the public. No work is complete without the observer who perceives it.


And what happens next? Does each of your works have an end?

When I show Zeit ist keine Autobahn (Time is not a motorway), I install a new car tire at the beginning of each exhibition. Over time, the tire wears out, but the work itself doesn’t. It’s the tire that is finite, representing movement, progress, and resources whereby it generates a picture in the observers’ head.



How does your work read into contemporary society? 
Every work can be considered from different angles, also from a political or playful one. At first glance, the playful side often provides access to the work, functioning as an icebreaker. But at second glance, the work has to be meaningful enough to withstand daily media coverage.


With The Popcorn Machine (2012), you managed to capture visitors using scent, sound, and sight. Is the link between object and surrounding space still tangible? 
The question is: what can sculpture be and how physical and present can a tiny piece become by adding media, such as scent or sound. We can just think about Andy Warhol who loved perfume and used it to bolster his presence.


credit
header image (c) MICHAEL SAILSTORFER
content image (c) Artist Portrait of MICHAEL SAILSTORFER seen by Ina Niehoff