The ‘A Day in the Art Life’ series is meant to convey a sense of the life of art world figures; a taste of their routine or an ideal day in their life, sprinkled with some philosophical musings.
Dornhöfer not caring very much about the fact that it is forbidden to skate there.
Think of the couple as genius nonconformists who are about to change the world, like Marie Curie and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. Therefore, our only routine has to be not having the routine other people have…in order to destroy their expectations and use that momentum for the win. For instance, I, Sascha Dornhöfer himself, write all my business mails between 3 and 6 am. Thus, all my employees and partners can read them before they even had their first coffee.
Celebrating the life-life-balance.
When I get up about noon (I don’t sleep more than 5 hours) most of the stuff is read and feedback is coming in, still early enough for me to answer. That way I’m able to virtually be the first in the office while I sleep. Of course, to keep their productivity high they must not know that (and must not read this).
From the mid-afternoon on we do whatever we like, we have absolutely no plan, go with the flow, let inspiration for whatsoever strike. Berlin is full of everything and always in flux, so are we.
Concerning the couple as fine art skaters there is also a routine-thing going on, certainly one with a nasty twist: In our synchronized so called no-repetition-routines we chain one move after another without a single repetition. It’s impossible to recreate it on the spot without having a video. Of course, we share those routines in critically acclaimed arthouse-films (for free).
The couple relaxing on their comfy staircase. A device to get from one level to another without using a ladder.
I come up with my best ideas when I am about to fall asleep, when I’m in the Twilight Zone, where a substance similar to DMT kicks in and you dream while you are half-awake. I force myself to get out of that liquid dream, and then memorize those ideas or write them down. That’s why I don’t sleep that much, I guess. Like being in the office without being there - I’m on heavy drugs without taking any (at all).
A picture of the couple one day after they were found in the year 2525. Cause of death: life.
If it comes to art, we have our eyes everywhere but avoid hearsay. We don’t care about the market or what gallerists and artists pitch us. They just want to sell, and therefore, they say whatever you want to hear. If it’s love, it’s love, and then we buy. In most cases it takes no longer than 10 minutes to make a decision. However, it may take a little longer to get a deal both sides can live with. Almost always we like the same artworks, if not, one has to convince the other or we don’t buy it.
Our collection consists of works from 500-plus different contemporary artists, mostly sinister-funny and socio-critical stuff. But for us everything can be art. If it is an earned trophy in a video game like Dark Souls, an old Skinny Puppy t-shirt, a secret message scratched into the dead wax of a record by Underground Resistance or a painting from Anne Imhof. We treat everything equally. In order to make art more accessible we don’t hide our collection; everyone can see it. Art should not be an invisible privilege of a chosen few.
One of Thomas Grünfeld’s Misfits (Fox/Fawn) guarding a Checkered Pill called Red Snow (Thomas Zipp).
She is educating herself while he is playing video games.
Our idea of happiness does not work right now. Because we live in troubled times, and we are just not selfish and ignorant enough to feel good under those circumstances. We don’t have kids, so if we change our cosmic address our whole collection will be sold and invested into humanness. Until then, we will try to find the right balance, support art, small companies and good people… and be the least unhappy as possible.
The couple is allowed to skate in most of the galleries and clubs in Berlin. In this case Rothert left the König Gallery with a heavy concussion. However, the artwork by Jose Dávila survived undamaged.