Bruno 9li or Novelli, for those who do not get the pun, has a degree in Graphic Design and loves to paint and draw. He spends hours at home forgetting about life and the world outside. However his outside influences are immediately clear as one is confronted by the shapes, animals and elements of nature that come together in his colorful artwork.

It is with an open mind that he takes inspiration from a variety of sources being fascinated by the philosophy of the classical world, the greeks and even Eastern Europe. He is also inspired when exploring, good music, interesting graphics, creative processes and physics. His paintings are infiltrated with science fiction and psychedelic influences. It becomes apparent when in conversation with him that all he thinks and feels is expressed and contained within his art.

What do you like most about your home?
It is my refuge, a place where I can delve in to my thoughts. I love the layout of Sao Paulo, the location and having ample space allows me to do all that I need. I’ve lived and worked in this apartment for four years, here I am able to create comfortably. The room that is my studio is a space where I can really withdraw and the vast windows allow for an inspiring outlook on the city.

How would you describe your home?
My home is my ship. Here I can forget life. I can read, plan, envision,create and also relax. It is a place of tranquility. I like to see the contrast- to see the sky and concrete cubes antennae and the Serra da Cantareira all side by side.

You left Porto Alegre four years ago and moved to Sao Paulo. Why did you decide to move to this city?
Many of my friends were here, which heavily influenced my choice. Sao Paulo is also a very good place to work, it is always full of opportunities and within the context of Brazil, I think of the city as a cultural giant.

What do like most about Sao Paulo and what are you less fond of?
The vast choices of leisure, culture and cuisine. There is always plenty to do and discover. However I am less taken by the chaotic traffic that disrupts the flow of life in Sao Paulo.

How does the city influence your art?
I like to place disparate themes side by side. I am drawn to contrast and Sao Paulo is a city full of them. You can be on one street and be surrounded by multiple scenes and situations of which not one is like the other.

Which artists do you admire and look to for inspiration?
While I admire contemporary artists in more recent years I have looked to and studied the paintings of the gothic era for inspiration.

You started doing street art. What did you take with you from that experience?
I started out drawing on paper, distributing hand-painted posters throughout the streets of Porto Alegre. This experience was very good for me. With street art you get an immediate response, people look at the pieces and identify with the art they have before them more readily. Much of my development as an artist happened on the the street. Whilst this period allowed me to evolve and I have kept many of the good memories with me, I do not think I would return to this kind of work; I now place more focus on the art itself as opposed to where it is placed.

What is the relationship between your work and nature?
It is a very strong one. I have an eye for nature; I observe and am constantly surprised by it. Natural phenomena such as the birth of a flower, inspire many of us who create art. Observing and placing value on each of these events was very important when I started developing my style.

You said you like mythology and that you use them as references for your art. How does this happen?
Mythology is very much alive to me, I like to look varied forms of mythology; Greek, classical, medieval and South American – all interest me. But what I care about the most is the beginning and evolution of art around the world – it is this that drives my work and ignites the desire to always know more about it.

Thank you for this interview, Bruno!
Check out his website for imagery of his art and upcoming exhibitions!

Interview: Juliana Duarte
Translation: Cosima Ehni
Photography: Fran Parente

Our longtime friend and collaborator Ilan Rosenblatt dug deep into his musical history to compile this exquisite 16th edition of our mixtape series. We met this veritable French rap addict during his extended stay in Berlin around 2003, when he was working at Rio, Berlin’s legendary Club in Mitte. This was also the place were this Parisian native proclaims to have broadened his musical spectrum as it is nicely reflected in this selection.

When he moved his permanent base back to Paris, we soon thereafter began to shoot some of the great FvF videos with him as our Director of Photography and videographer (please watch his work with Akroe and Joseph Dirand). We are looking forward to an extended collaboration in the years to come. Enjoy this superbe mix with a distinct local flavor: From Axel Bauer, Expression Direkt and Jaques Brel to Para One & Tacteel, Koudlam and Horace Andy.

Tracklist:
1. Horace Andy – Just say no
2. Jurassic 5 – Freedom
3. Axel Bauer – Cargo de nuit
4. ILL – Les bidons veulent les guidons
5. La Cliqua – Comme une sarbacane
6. Expression Direkt – Dealer pour survivre
7. Niagara – Tchicki Boum
8. Boot Camp Click – And so
9. Dels – Shapeshift
10. D&D All Stars – How it soundz
11. Slum Village – Climax
12. Jacques Brel – Vesoul
13. Simian Mobile Disco – I believe
14. Hushpuppies – Bad taste and gold on the doors
15. Para One & Tacteel – Rome
16. Slice & Soda – Dead of Winter
17. TV on the Radio – Staring at the sun
18. Herbert – Suddenly
19. Danton Eeprom – Thanks for nothing (Etienne Jamet Remix)
20. Playgroup – Number one (Blackstrobe Instrumental)
21. Koudlam – Flying over the black hills with crazy horse

But while we are busy working from our Berlin base, our longtime contributor and close friend Antonia Märzhäuser sat up her temporary residency in Istanbul. She will bring some fresh and exciting interviews straight out of Turkey starting next week with artist Melih Özuysal and his amazing place in Istanbul-Ortaköy. Get ready for some nice pictures by Ege Okal and mystic fairytale housing, colourful painted walls and some insights of the Bosporos metropolis past and future.

Heading west, Jordi Huisman and Thijs van Velzen from our FvF Amsterdam team met the curator of the prestigious FOAM photography museum Colette Olof in her lovely apartment in Amsterdam Oud-West.

The FvF Vienna team with Alexandra von Quadt and photographer Lukas Gansterer hung out with upcoming artist Clemens Wolf in his studio. We are very excited for this very special European city.

We are very happy that the project we started in 2009 literally went beyond our local borders and enabled us to meet many interesting and inspiring people. And there is more international content to come.

Born and raised in a family of gallery owners, Alicija came into contact with art from an early age in her childhood in Kattowitz. Although she was awarded with the Piepenbrock Prize in 2008 and the Robert Jacobson Prize in 2011 for her sculptural work, she decided to branch out and work with several forms of expression, such as film and photography, in order to communicate her ideas. Gregor’s artistic work represents an exciting combination of formal abstraction with references to pop culture, which have been awarded by prizes such as the Vattenfall Art Prize in 2008, amongst others.

We pay them a visit at their apartment which is furnished with individual pieces that Alicja has gathered from Ebay. It is early afternoon on a Sunday- by this time Alicja is usually already in the Atelier. We drink tea and eat real Swiss pralines that Gregor has recently brought back from Zurich with him.

So when did you come to Berlin?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I came to Berlin in 1998.
Alicja Kwade: 1999.

And what brought both of you here?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I studied in Mainz. For me, it was due to personal reasons. My daughter was born here so I moved here to be with her. But before that I had already travelled back and forth a lot.
Alicja Kwade: I didn’t actually want to move to Berlin at all – I would have much rather gone to New York or London. But after weighing up the finances I realised that those were not an option. So Berlin was the next best.

How did you meet?
Alicja Kwade: Pretty classic. We met at uni in Cafe Mittelachse, wasn’t it?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I’d already noticed her around. But we didn’t get to know each other until we were in the same class. I was working as a tutor.

Is it ever difficult being in a relationship with another artist? Don’t you ever feel in competition?
Alicja Kwade: You have to avoid it at times, but mostly it works out.

Do you talk a lot together about your work?
Alicja Kwade: A reasonable amount… not an awful lot.
Gregor Hildebrandt: It’s ok. But on the other hand, that’s what both of us do on a daily basis, even permanently. We go to openings together because that’s what we both like to do. We have a lot of friends whose girlfriends we have never seen, because exhibition openings are not something that everyone is into.

What makes Berlin so special for you?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I can’t speak English.
Alicja Kwade: But you really have to be able to speak English here! Otherwise, if you’re out in Kreuzberg it can get pretty difficult.

Can either of you imagine living elsewhere?
Alicja Kwade: Maybe for a year at some point, but not forever.
Gregor Hildebrandt: I like to travel, but am always happy to come back to Berlin. We’ve just been in Paris for a week, where it’s amazingly beautiful, much more so than Berlin. But I’m not allowed to smoke there and have to spend a crazy amount of money to get by… but the food is way better, absolutely!

Do you only travel in connection with your work? Or do you pack your bags and jet off just for a holiday now and again?
Alicja Kwade: Every 2 years we tend to go away for a week, not for long…
Gregor Hildebrandt: But even then you’re taking pictures.
Alicja Kwade: We mostly travel for our work and then sometimes stay a few days longer.
Gregor Hildebrandt: We went to Lanzarote once, but then ended up calling it a work trip.
Alicja Kwade: … because of the photos I took there.
Gregor Hildebrandt: I heard Thomas Scheibitz quote Isa Genzken recently: “What am I meant to take a holiday from?”.

You’re friends with a lot of other artists. How important to you is the exchange between each other?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I don’t think we have any friends who aren’t artists in fact.
Alicja Kwade: Somehow we’re always on the topic. But we don’t just constantly talk about art, but also the general gossip and joking around.
Gregor Hildebrandt: I sometimes get the feeling that artists nowadays withdraw themselves more and more, for example, hardly any articles in the art world are actually written by artists themselves.
Alicja Kwade: I think it’s because the roles of authors and curators have taken on a greater significance than in the past. So these roles have separated.
Gregor Hildebrandt: It’s turned into such a huge field. The study of art was not even an option in the past.

You have a lot of art by other artists in your apartment. Do you swap or buy from each other too?
Alicja Kwade: We swap, buy and get birthday presents- that’s what we always have such great birthday parties!

The way you decorate in general is very unique- you have some great furniture.
Gregor Hildebrandt: Alicja does all of that.

Where are all the pieces from?
Alicja Kwade: I’d find it a shame to buy new furniture. I get most of it from Ebay at a great price because I know what to look for. I really enjoy it. It’s not important to me which designer it’s by, I just have to like it.

Do you also restore the furniture yourself?
Alicja Kwade: Yes, together with my father. I often get tips from him or send him things I’m looking at on Ebay to get his opinion.

So although you don’t go on holiday, which 3 things would you take to a desert island?
Gregor Hildebrandt: Wow that’s hard…Friends?
Alicja Kwade: Sun cream. Good food. A computer with Wi-fi,
Gregor Hildebrandt: We’d have to take swimming shorts or I’d feel naked. We can leave the friends, but take a towel!
Alicja Kwade: A camera. Then we could leave it there.

Who would you invite to dinner, living or dead?
Gregor Hildebrandt: I probably wouldn’t want to invite the people who I think are great.
Alicja Kwade: Those major personalities that you’re so in awe of, you can’t really just invite to your house very easily.
Gregor Hildebrandt: I’d rather meet them in a bar.

So who would you want to go for a drink with?
Gregor Hildebrandt: There are many…Nico.
Alicja Kwade: Lou Reed in his best years.
Gregor Hildebrandt: Jacques Brel.
Alicja Kwade: From the dead, Houdnini and Nicola Tesla.

Who is Nicoal Tesla?
Alicja Kwade: A scientist who later unfortunately went mad. He was the real person who invented the light bulb along with the alternating current.

Where are your favourite places in Berlin?
Alicja Kwade: I think we agree on that one: Themroc and Bar 3.
Gregor Hildebrandt: A friend of ours runs Schlessisch Blau, a type of brasserie. Amazingly good!

How does a typical Sunday look for you?
Alicja Kwade: Gregor sleeps in while I’m already working in the Atelier, then we meet in the evening at the latest around 21:30. One of us brings food- me or him, then we choose something to watch.
Gregor Hildebrandt: Mostly Columbo.

Alicja Kwade is represented by Johann Koenig and Gregor Hildebrandt by Galerie Wentrup.

Interview & text: Lisa Bosse
Translation: Anya Kinneavy
Photography: Dan Zoubek

When we’ve met Guinea-born Alpha Sidibe, as a studio manager of Christian Louboutin, in his homely apartment, we had a lovely afternoon which was the exact opposite: relaxed and super fun. We opened a bottle of Crémant and talked about his extensive shoe collection, nightlife in Paris and why he hated Berlin when he first went to visit.

Tell us a little bit about your background.  How did your start your career in fashion?
I studied sociology and communication, focusing on communication in fashion. While I was studying, I was working as an intern in a couple of press offices in Paris- like Ralph Lauren. Then I worked for the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. During my last year at university, I decided to do a longer internship in order to really dive into the fashion scene. It was important for me to learn all the processes. This is when I started working for Christian Louboutin. Initially I was told that they were a small company and that they were not really in need of more people in their communication department. Nonetheless they still gave me a chance to see how I worked and if I were any good. So I began working in the business planning division, even though my passion always was in PR. I began as an assistant to the creative director, helping out with new materials and trends; acting as a link between the creative director and the design studio. After a year and a half, I became a coordinator of the studio, working with the creative director and the shoe- and handbag departments.

Christian Louboutin just celebrated its 20th anniversary. For a long time, they only did shoes, but after a while they began designing handbags as well, and it keeps on growing. Although the bags now have their own department, their designs tend to follow the shoes a lot, to match the spirit of Christian Louboutin. It’s a brand with a very original spirit, also because we don’t follow the market. Its spirit is quite unique: very free, original, crazy and fun- all at the same time. This is how I like to see it.

You seem very passionate about the brand and about the design.
Exactly! I like to feel what the people want, what they need and imagine how fashion will translate this in future collections. So what I do, I like to see it as being a link between the people and the designers, tell them what’s happening around… Although I am much more a communication person, whenever I can, I love to talk to the design team about trends and future collections. Especially now that Louboutin has started doing a line of Men’s shoes. I am a big shoe addict, I recognize myself in this collection.

How long have you been living in this apartment?
We’ve lived here for two and a half years. The funny thing is that when we moved here, friends started to come over and they would all say “Oh, I know this place, I’ve been here before!” It turned out that this was previously the apartment of an editor of Purple Magazine, who used to have a lot of parties here, and many of our friends have been attending.
I love it here. The flat has a great energy. We tend to collect things: we always bring a lot of stuff back when we travel. My Boyfriend kept his old apartment and we use it as a storage for all the things we bring and cannot have here.

Are you from Paris originally? What do you find special about living in this city?
I am from Africa – I was born in in Conakry, Guinea. I came to France when I was four years old. We lived in various different places in France. I’ve been living in Paris since I am 16.
Paris is a really beautiful city. I have to say I travel a lot, but I never found such a beautiful place elsewhere. And there is this energy that is difficult to describe. I love my life here, I have good friends, a great job. Although I know it can sometimes be difficult in Paris, because the people are not always so open at first. But after some time, you find this great way of life, it’s casual & friendly as well. But then again, there’s a lot of establishment here, it can be very traditional, very calm and sometimes you feel there is not enough to do, and it would be cool if Paris got more new energy, if more new young people came. And this is exactly what I try to do with my parties, to give a new kind of energy to people. We got a lot of positive feedback, people told us “we needed that in Paris.”

What is the social life in Paris like?
There is this great place here called Maxim’s, it a restaurant and a club. I had a good friend who worked there, and I hung out there all the time. And then I got asked if I wanted to organize a new party at Maxim’s. So we started having this party every month: we called it “Oiseaux de Nuit”, literally night bird, which is the French expression for a party animal. It matches perfectly with my day job, I meet a lot of interesting people at night.

Where do you get inspiration from?
I don’t travel that much for work, apart from the occasional trip to New York. My boyfriend and I tend to travel more for fun- short weekend trips in Europe. We like to take little breaks regularly, in London, Madrid, Barcelona or Italy. But these trips are also essential to working in fashion: you have to know what is going on elsewhere, what’s happening around the world. I try to connect as much as I can with the city I’m visiting: see what’s going on, what people wear, where they hang out…
Berlin, for example, is a city I really like. Not so much the first time I visited, it was winter and extremely cold. I hated it at first, but when I came back in summer I loved its energy. There is a great mix of people, and they seem to connect well between themselves. It looks like it’s easier than in Paris. And there are new places popping up all the time: if you don’t go there for a year, then everything has changed again and the scene has moved to other spots. Very dynamic.

Thank you very much for the interview!

Interview: Mascha Kaessner, Tim Seifert
Photography: Ailine Liefeld
Text: Aymeric Lorenté

His story telling goes on forever and some might wonder how many lives he already lived. His passion for photography has taken Magnus to some of the remotest places on this planet, whereas his fashion photography brought him close to people like Anna Nicole Smith and Pamela Anderson, before they hit the limelight. He talks about how he fell in love in Berlin and why Iran is on his list of places to go…

Tell me a little bit more about your roots: you are half Swedish and half English.
My mother was an Aupair in London and went to see some gigs and that’s how she met my father for the first time. They fell in love and lived in an apartment on Leicester Square. I was conceived there in a very small street of Leicester Square, called Bear Street. It is probably the shortest street in the world. When my mother was pregnant they decided to have me in Sweden and we ended up going back and forth, because back in the days it was difficult to afford a child on a band.

Your dad is a musician?
Yes, he was, a drummer. My parents eventually got divorced. When I was 16 I became a punk rocker and moved to England and squatted for a few years. They were amazing days of Punk Rock and New Wave in the early 80s. It was such an interesting generation: Thatcher, riots, Sid Vicious, everyone was squatting. After that I went back to Sweden and worked on different projects. All sorts of shady stuff and I decided to change my life. I had a friend who was from Afghanistan and he was always telling me about Afghanistan and I started romanticizing about this country. That was the time Russia was occupying Afghanistan. I felt I wanted to do something with my life and went there with a camera but didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I just had an urge to go there. I stayed there for a couple of months and went in there with the Guerilla. I turned back when the whole group was attacked by Russian helicopters. That’s when I decided to stop as it was beyond what I wanted. The risk was too big. It was a very intense time but also beautiful.

Have you ever been back?
No.

Would you ever consider going back?
No. As long there is war there it is too dangerous. I have a daughter and I love my life extremely much and it is worth too much. So this is how I got into photography. I never studied photography, I just took pictures of what I saw. I had no idea and no aim. Back in Sweden I had a friend who helped me printing and he said why don’t you start taking pictures, they are really nice. I applied at a school, but they refused me. Then I met a guy who just got back from New York, working for Avedon and he was opening his own studio and looking for an assistant. I didn’t know what an assistant was, but I went for it. I was with Mikael Jansson for 3 years, who now shoots campaigns like Calvin Klein etc.

Do you think it was easier back in the days than it is today?
No. In some ways it is easier today and in some ways more difficult. I think back in the days things sometimes would happen much more natural and people had less expectations. I hear a lot of these stories of people having no clue and ending up doing the most amazing things. When I started you couldn’t go anywhere without knowledge. Like a taxi driver in London for example, you need to have knowledge. Today you take a camera, laptop and photoshop and things look quite good already. In my days I was in the darkroom for 3 years, printing, using chemicals.

Do you still work in the darkroom?
No. There’s no call for it. Well, there are still photographers who do it the old-school way and I just wondered if you miss it. I do miss it a lot and maybe one day I get back to it. But the way I work today is digitally and analog, but I scan the negative. It’s faster, but not easier to get the right look on computer.

You moved to Berlin not that long ago. You lived in Brighton before. What made you come to Berlin?
I came to Berlin just a year before the Wall came down during a trip I made through Europe. I had a strong feeling with Berlin. That was the first time. The second time I was asked by Sisley / Benetton to shoot a story, like a diary. The idea was to find people and do a story around them.

And they were real stories or set up?
They were real stories and I went here for 3 weeks and I found guy called Thomas Kretschmann, a young and upcoming actor. We became really good friends and still are. Another friend I met then was the guy who now owns the club called Asphalt. I kept on going back to Berlin. I had friends here, I liked the people and the mentality and I felt really at home here. I was living in Brighton and we just didn’t want to move to London or New York, which would have been the right thing to do for me career-wise. I also wouldn’t want to live in Paris or Barcelona right now.

Why is that?
It’s great, but it’s very touristic and expensive. It is really hard to find a space and to get by. It’s just not my climate. It’s the same with London – 10 people sharing an apartment. So Berlin was on my list and I moved here 2 years ago.

How did you find this place?
We were looking around, but I couldn’t really find what I wanted. I wanted something different. I drove around Berlin and found so many places that weren’t listed and just started calling the people who own the buildings. And the first people we called were the people who owned this place.

You use this as a work and living space and also share it with others.
Yes. I have my good friend Leo, who is an architect and graphic designer and there are two other architects and we do a lot of stuff together, books, projects and lecturing. Right now there are designers who are doing an exhibition here. So there is always something going on over here. We have parties.

You mentioned you really liked the people in Berlin when you came over the first time in the 80s. How would you describe the typical Berliner … they sometimes can be quite tricky and difficult.
I don’t find them tricky and difficult. They have a certain attitude towards life and you just have to respect them the way they are and they open up. Maybe there is a typical Berliner, but there is a constant movement, like in New York. So whoever comes here has to become a Berliner. And a Berliner can be so many things.

Where do you hang out in Berlin?
I go to Paris Bar – I like the atmosphere there. There a few small places and I go to Kreuzberg. I do move around the whole city. I don’t go to Wedding much or Moabit. I love Stadtpark Friedrichshain. It’s the best park in Berlin. I go swimming in Weissensee – it’s fantastic! It’s a really interesting place because you get the full mix of East Berliners, foreigners…

As a photographer, is your work mainly based here or do you work more internationally?
I bring my clients here as much as I can. It’s a nice way to bring money to Berlin. I like being here and being close to my daughter. I used to travel 200 days a year and now it’s maybe 60 days. Far less then it used to be. I meet new people all the time. My close friends are real Berliners though, born and raised here.

Since you started with photography, can you see yourself ever doing anything else than that?
Photography for me is a way of story telling and if I could write I would do that. I can see myself doing a movie if there is a story I like. I prefer spending my time on things I believe in.

You make your money in fashion photography and you worked on several campaigns for H&M, among them the one with Anna Nicole Smith, which apparently caused several traffic accidents.
Unfortunately and I am very, very sorry about that.

How far are you involved in these campaigns and how did the one with Anna Nicole Smith in the early 90s take place.
They asked me to do the next underwear Christmas campaign and they were wondering which model to choose. I was in a magazine store, just looking for ideas and Anna Nicole Smith had just done a big story in Playboy and I thought that is everything that fashion is not about at the moment. Everyone was looking at Kate Moss. And I thought, why not. The funny thing was, that I was doing a campaign for the Social Democrats in Sweden at the same time and they gave me free hands. So I was working very closely with the Prime Minister of Sweden, not only as a photographer, but also as a visual consultant. This stirred up a whole feminist thing– some women said this is good, big women, it is perfect and others just thought it was sexist. I am kind of semi-feminist and I always try to put normal girls into my fashion campaigns.

Apart from the Playboy feature, this campaign really put Anna Nicole Smith in the spotlight.
It did. It was quite tragic and I regret what I did. She was very sweet. I was invited to her house in Hollywood, as she wanted to meet me prior the shooting. I came to this house, which used to belong to Marilyn Monroe.

She did have a big obsession with Marilyn Monroe.
Extreme obsession. And the whole house was full with pictures of her or Marilyn Monroe. I just thought “oh, why am I doing this” – it was a kind of a freak show. It was what she wanted to be. It was her choice. She was very sweet, nice and charming lost girl. It is a tragic story, like many. After that I proposed another story for the swimsuit campaign and of course I proposed Pamela Anderson. She was an extremely nice person and it was the only time she was shot without make-up.

I know, you have to look almost twice at the pictures. The face looks familiar, but you don’t recognize it immediately. Anna Nicole Smith and Pamela Anderson are both actually really beautiful women but so deranged by big hair and make-up.
I think Pamela Anderson didn’t have her boobs done by that time. She was really fresh and she was super scared being without make-up.

It must have been difficult to persuade her to do this without make-up.
Oh, yes. I said to her let’s try it and if you don’t like it we don’t do it. She has freckles and you never seen her like that. Looking back at this now, I think they are the best pictures I have ever seen of her.

Was your client somehow disappointed because she didn’t look like Pamela Anderson?
No. No one looked like Pamela Anderson back then, but she kicked off a whole thing that everybody wanted to look like her and every girl in Sweden started dying her hair blonde. It started the whole blonde-boob-chick thing.

You also work on your own projects and you did this whole story, Fin de Sieglo, on Cuba. I was quite surprised to see you shot it entirely in black and white. Why is that? I’ve never been to Cuba, but I imagine it being full of rich colours.
I fell in love with Havana. It was a pure love story. It took me years. I am not a conceptual person, I am not good at that. I was looking for a way to portrait the city and I limited myself to shoot the city on an 8×10 format. It was extremely difficult, because setting up the camera for just one picture can take up to half an hour. You have to tune everything perfectly and if you hit the camera, you have to start all over again. It took me overall 3 years and thousand and thousand of pictures to get it right. And I ended up with maybe 60 or 70 great shots. It’s never honest with black and white but you take the colour away and you focus on the essence of the picture, the people and the movement.

How much time did you spend in Cuba?
1.5 years, going back and forth.

Where did you stay?
I lived with a family, which became like my family. I had a grandmother and two brothers. I had a room there with my things on the wall.

Are you still in touch with them?
Yes, I am. My grandmother turned 90 this year. She is a very vibrant, beautiful lady. Very annoying, too – we always used to fight.

How did you find them?
Through a friend. They were simple, but very honest, authentic and I could trust them. I had a lot of equipment.

Do you have any plans going back there?
I could see myself living there. I have to see what is going on out there. It can all go pear-shaped. Things have to develop very slowly, otherwise it goes like in Russia.

You travel a lot. Are there any places you like to go?
Iran is a place I really want to go to. It is on my list. Brazil, I would love to go, but Iran is a place I dreamt about for a long time. Every time I had a chance, it has been politically instable.

What intrigues you about Iran?
The history. I am always intrigued by places that are outside the world. What I love about Cuba is, that there is no McDonalds, there is no H&M. It is going like to another planet and I believe Iran would be the same feeling. It is isolated and protected its own culture. It is difficult to get an idea of a place like Iran, because we are so influenced and manipulated by the media. I don’t read the newspaper, apart from The Economist and the New York Times.

Do you watch the news?
No. We have a TV in my daughter’s room, because it helps her to learn German. But I haven’t had a TV in the last 15 years. I don’t like it.

You mentioned to me you once spent a whole week with the Rolling Stones, without taking a single picture. Was that a job?
No, I was invited to hang out with them, whilst they were in Sweden touring. We partied and were together at the studio. I wasn’ t asked to take pictures and I felt it was cheap to do, so I never did. Maybe that was stupid.

Thank you for the interesting interview! For more information on Magnus’ work, make sure you check out his website.

Photography: Ailine Liefeld
Interview: Lisa Bosse

She was a fantastic host and we literally hung out most of the interview on her couch, enjoyed some sparkling wine and in the end witnessed a stunning sunset from her panoramic window overlooking the East River and Downtown Manhattan. She not only showed us to her wonderful apartment but also walked us through long, spooky concrete corridors of the building – mainly inhabited by artists – to her studio where she was working on the final touches to her holiday windows devoted to the theme „Carnival of the animals“.

How did you get started with what you’re doing? How could you best describe your range and your disciplines?
Well, I started sort of accidentally by just coming to New York with an interest in art and wanted to have shows and doing that whole hustle. But getting closer to it, I realized it wasn’t really my thing. When I first moved here, I lived on 17th Street when Barney’s was still there, and you’d see these cool people in the window. It was a mystery who these people were and then one day, one of my roommates came home and said, “There was a kid in there with green hair. Like, you could go do that.” We didn’t realize it was actual artists doing that. There’s that time when you’re young and you want to do all this stuff but you don’t really know anybody or how to get in. I interviewed at Macy’s and it’s so fortunate I never got hired there because I think it would have been really rough to actually try to deal with that huge store.

How did you start working with Bergdorf Goodman?
I think I only got into Bergdorf’s because it’s kind of very hands-on, although it’s really luxury retail, it’s also very small and familiar. I got in solely because of the chaos of it. I just was able to slip in in 1998. Over the years, it just became something I realized I really enjoyed doing. They’re my home base.

Can you describe the process of doing a window for a client?
The studio now does very complicated things that fulfill people’s fantasies. Clients come to me with a problem and they need a really pretty solution for it and we figure it out. It may not always be what they think they want because if they knew what they wanted then they would’ve just given me a specific assignment. My role is evolving, but historically the work is very much a collaboration. For a large store with a creative department I am working directly with a designer or creative director and listen very deeply to what their space or brand needs. For smaller stores I provide the design. We work from vague to specific. We give them a menu, a few ideas, a little mood board…

What happens with the displays after the seasons?
Some of it is garbage which I’m very uncomfortable with, as the daughter of environmentalist. But often times the brands take the display and use it in their own showrooms. Some stuff does get reused. Bergdorfs often reuses the items I make for them, they are referred to as “legacy props”

Tell us about the openings, the reveal of the windows…
There is not always an opening. Usually you’re really tired from a long week of installing. Until the last minute we pull in the last things to finish up the window; One year I was running between the catering and sound systems to literally fill up the window as the party was being set up. And then 15 minutes before the window presentation you run upstairs and change from your dungarees to a party at Bergdorf’s. I think after one glass of champagne, its nearly a hallucinogenic experience. Everybody on average works around 60 to 80 hour a week on the installation week. Now, I do try to enjoy the openings because it gives you a sense of closure you need to have if you work on such a big project.

Do you consider yourself an artist?
I do consider it art. I just don’t work in a gallery setting. That’s not the path I took.

Where are you originally from?
I was born in Oregon and I grew up in California. I grew up in Fresno, California and went to school in Santa Cruz and then moved here while I was still in college basically.

How long have you been living in New York?
I moved here in ’94. After five years, it got a little easier. After 10 years, you kind of cross that threshold and you think, okay, all the stuff starts to come around and pay off a little bit. After 15, it does get a lot easier. This is the first apartment I’ve lived in that I don’t want to leave. Every other apartment I would decorate to tolerate it, but this one, you can start at a different place. It’s a beautiful place. I don’t really need to do much. Well, actually I did get rid of a lot of things that somebody else had done before I moved in just to make it more its original shell.

What do you like most about the city? What wouldn’t you be able to live without?
People. The intelligence and the excitement of people. I just love that there’s all these things happening: people making things, getting excited and having conversations about it. Just being around artists. I think New York is a really beautiful place. Just the weather and everything this month has been so beautiful. If I ever should get sick of people, I’ll move somewhere else to be around plants or something.

Do you go upstate?
Yeah. I spend time in the Hudson and Woodstock area up there.

Where do you get your furniture from?
From all over! Junk and antique stores, flea markets and I look on ebay. The modular Paul Cadovious shelving I have purchased from many different sources and cobbled it together. There is this shady guy in Long Island that I’ve noticed is selling individual pieces and I have bought some items from him to complete the office. But he’s kind of a creep.

How often do you close your curtains? This view is amazing!
In the summer, when it gets really hot in the daytime, we keep them closed. At night, the light is too beautiful. It keeps you totally connected to nature. I see the moon. I see the sunrise. I see the sunset. I enjoy seeing the light changing. It’s so easy in New York to forget we’re on the water. It’s a real gift. The woman who manages the building is a little bit of a matchmaker. I just had to tell her that I want to be in light. Before – my old studio was right by the Manhattan Bridge, in this otherwise crappy building with crappy landlords.

What do you know about this building?
It was built as a La Rosa pasta factory and… Apparently, some of the cauldrons are still downstairs in the basement. There was also an illegal matzo factory in the basement.

How important is music to you?
Very. It was a neglected part of my life , at some point I just looked at my iTunes and realized I hated half the music that was on there. Especially when you’re working in a studio, you always need new stuff. So I enlisted a friend to be my musical coach. Since then I go to record stores in town and force myself to look for music seasonally and buy things I know nothing about. Actually, I like it so much now that I go on a monthly-basis to buy stacks of records and cds. I go to Other Music because I like the people who work there and they’re so very helpful. I usually am still too shy to talk to them, but I read their listings.

Do you like to cook?
Yeah. That is probably my lifelong art. I care about people’s experience and take hostessing very seriously. When I am working with a store it isn’t really that much of a difference. You’re giving somebody a good experience when they walk in to a place, helping them know their place, helping them understand what’s going on. Whenever I can, I have people over.

Thank you so much for the great afternoon and nice talk!

Go have a look at the website of Johanna for more info and work: www.burkeandpryde.com

Interview: FvF
Photography: Grace Villamil

Silke Neumann is one of these individuals. The trained communications and PR specialist has lived in Berlin for eleven years and has been active both privately and professionally in the fields of art and culture. Silke and her agency Bureau N are always part of the inner circle, whether it’s the Bauhaus exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, the abc – art berlin contemporary fair or the Glenn Brown show in Galerie Max Hetzler’s temporary location. She enjoys inviting her contacts to themed dinner parties in her prewar Moabit flat located near the Tiergarten park: “I find it a wonderful way to bring people together who would not otherwise meet,” Silke says. “I’m also wild about cooking.”

How long have you lived in Berlin and in this apartment?
I’ve lived in Berlin for eleven years and in this apartment for four. It’s taken a while for the apartment to reach its current form, because it’s not my style to buy things according to a plan. My apartment has evolved and with it the art and furniture that it contains. Often the works hanging on the walls are by artists I know, or they’ve been bought from galleries I work with. For instance Marcel Bühler from Andrae Kaufmann Galerie, Betinna Krieg or Alexandra Leykauf. The daybed is by Daniel Heer, a Swiss designer who makes horsehair mattresses by hand and collaborates with Kvadrat. Mornings I sit here in the sun, eating my breakfast and reading the paper. The light object on the wall here is my own creation. My second passion is travel, as you can see in my apartment – there are antiques from Vietnam and a rug from Damascus.

I notice that the dining room has a prominent place in your apartment…
Yes, we often throw dinner parties here. I organized the last one with my friend Sarah Illenberger. We always have a theme. Most recently it was a “moules frites” party, or for spring we took lemons as our inspiration. Sarah designs the invitations and we invite people from our respective fields: artists, designers, architects… I think it’s a nice way to bring people together who otherwise might not meet. I also really love cooking, so that’s a plus.

Bringing people together is part of your job. Can you tell us more about what you do?
I work in communications with a focus on PR and specialize in art, culture, design and architecture. Those are the people and topics which surround me and excite me. My agency Bureau N is located in the former Polish cultural institute at Hackescher Markt. We have a 250 square meter room in what used to be a cinema. I have a group of tables with three employees and then there are two other groups of tables with journalists such as Ralf Grauel or Holm Friebe – the whole deal, basically.

When did your interest in art begin?
I was in contact with art from a young age because my father would take me to openings and museums. Over time I met more and more people in the field and at some point it was clear that it was an area I wanted to work in as well. For a long time I worked in communications for big brands such as Smart and Smirnoff but something was missing. That’s why I decided to go freelance: since then I’ve worked together with various artists and gallerists such as Max Hetzler, the abc art fair and Clemens Tissi.

Is it hard to penetrate the Berlin art scene?
I was lucky enough to get a relatively early start. I first worked for Häberlein & Maurer before switching to the field of culture seven years ago. At the time, many galleries and institutions still handled their communications in-house. Things have become more professional and a lot has changed in the intervening years. I was just there early on and that’s why I have a good network.

Which projects are you particularly proud of?
I think Gallery Weekend and abc are fantastic – I would count them among the most exciting art events in the city. Otherwise I’ve just finished a very cool project for the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and for the Kubus in Berghain.

So you’re in charge of communications. Do you sometimes to curatorial work, too?
No, I do communications. But of course that goes far beyond just writing a press release and sending it out. I work very closely together with curators; we check in with one another and think about what will work and what won’t work… We also look after the catalogue, website and merchandising for abc…

Which work are you most impressed by?
I remember it very clearly. It was Monet in Munich – an enormous triptych that one just sunk into. And a couple of months ago I had a similar experience with a work by Bridget Riley. Her circle piece was drawn onto a fifteen-meter wall, millimeter by millimeter, by a Swiss team. That was impressive.

Do you have something in your apartment that you can’t bring yourself to get rid of?
Behind you there’s a guard that my father made and gave me when I moved out. The movers always ask me why I have such a weird object, but I’ve carried it everywhere with me. The same goes for that stone there. It’s from the garden wall in my parents’ house and it’s been my bedpost and many other things. It will stay with me too.

What drew you to Moabit?
Like so many others I started out in Prenzlauer Berg, in particular in the Bötzow neighborhood, but after a while it just got to be too much for me. Then I was searching for a larger apartment with my boyfriend at the time, and friends of mine who now live next door told me about this place. At first I thought “Are you nuts? Why would I want to move to Moabit?” But it’s true that you’re more likely to find these great apartments in the west. Also, I have many friends in the area and the park is just around the corner… Still, the area could use a few more bars and restaurants. I love riding my bicycle and there are some great paths around here along the Spree. I definitely don’t need a car.

You have a lot of art in your apartment. Do you consider yourself a collector?
No, I wouldn’t say that. There’s no system to it, I don’t own a set of works or anything.

What are your career goals?
At the moment I’m opening an office in Lisbon. A friend I’ve often worked together with on projects over the years moved there three years ago. She works for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and we realized Portugal doesn’t have an agency with our focus. Our first customer is the Lisbonaire, a design apartment hotel. We hope to expand further and we’re currently in talks with art book publishers and museums. My goal is to have a winter base in Lisbon and to live and work there three months a year. Naturally, my colleagues like the idea. Lisbon is great in comparison to other cities such as London because you can experiment without risking financial ruin.

Is it typical for you to experiment?
I think so. I’m easily excited by new things. It isn’t always a strategic decision. If I feel like doing something, such as the new Lisbon office, then I have enough energy to get things going. And I think it’s very exciting to discover the cultural differences in work environments. That’s why I’m such an avid traveler. For the last five years I’ve gone away for all of December. This year I’m traveling through Brazil. In previous years I visited Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Beirut and Damascus, South Africa, Argentina and Uruguay…

Are you a real backpacker?
Yes, definitely. I always look for friendly hostels where I can meet interesting people. I met an artist in Vietnam who invited me to visit his family for Christmas Eve. There was turtle soup and lots of vodka and even a little cake with a Christmas tree on top – totally wacky and sweet.

Do you document your travels?
Yes, with photos. But actually I document my travels through the objects I bring home. I guess you can see that looking around my apartment.

Have you ever played with the idea of setting up a life elsewhere and leaving Berlin behind?
No. I love traveling, but I love Berlin and my work too, and after a month away I always want to come back. That’s the greatest luxury – working in a culturally dynamic city and being able to travel to different places.

Do you enjoy being the boss?
Yes. I like making decisions. And at the same time I see my employees as partners. They bring their own ideas with them and work independently. But I think it’s good that there’s no-one over me trying to boss me around. Processes take a long time in big agencies. That for instance is one thing I really like about abc – you work directly with the gallerists and the entire team. And it’s great to be your own boss – I was just at Art Basel and in Venice at the Biennale the week before, and now I’m traveling to Istanbul… And I don’t have to justify to anyone why I think these trips are worthwhile. Of course it’s work, but it’s not only work. That’s part of our field, and my employees know that. It’s important to get out and be curious. And if you’re hung over and need to spend the morning on the balcony because you were out late the night before, then that’s OK.

How important are the internet and social media in your work?
No-one can survive without email these days. As far as social media goes, a lot has changed. It’s a lot easier to stay informed about art; boundaries melt away. I read some great blogs, such as But does it float where you can see connections between many different disciplines. The internet has done a great deal to advance this openness, and I’m grateful for that.

Many thanks for your time and for the fascinating interview.

You can learn more about Silke and her current projects at her agency website Bureau N and on Facebook.

Interview: Louisa Löwenstein
Text and translation: Sylee Gore and Sarah Weinknecht
Photography: Ailine Liefeld