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Konstantin Schneide and
Ai Weiwei |
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 nyone who has gone to art openings in Berlin, Germany has seen Konstantin Schneider. Instantly recognisable for his yellow hard-hat camera, Konstantin Schneider has become a veritable identity within the Berlin art world. Schneider’s self-declared twenty-five year love affair with art has led him to record over two thousand exhibitions in his time, including the work of highly regarded artists such as Georg Baselitz, Norbert Bisky and David LaChapelle.
Beginning in 2004, these recordings were intended to document art exhibitions for people who could not attend the openings, but overtime they have evolved to become a form of performance art in their own right. In 2006 Schneider’s website Kunstkontaktor was established and it has since become the main platform from which the public can view the Berlin art scene.
Born in 1959 in Lower Saxony, West Germany, Schneider abandoned his desire to become a professional actor and studied languages in Saarbrücken, near the French-German border. In the 1990’s he undertook further studies in communications science. After graduating he worked in advertising, before leaving to pursue Kunstkontaktor full time. Schneider’s affinity for acting has remained with him, and can be seen in the importance he attaches to the role of persona adoption in his work. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that Schneider was awarded the title of Berlin’s 88th most embarrassing celebrity by Tip Magazine, with his intention to disrupt and challenge the often reserved gallery atmospheres.
Schneider not only documents in Berlin but also travels extensively for his work. He has received considerable attention abroad including being labelled as the Berlin Ambassador of the Arts by The Indian Contemporary Art Journal. Schneider was a central figure in the exhibition Konstantin Schneider, Jan Sobottka - Berlin Artspotters at the German Consulate in New York City. Konstantin Schneider is currently based in Berlin, Germany and is involved in both international and local projects.
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Cindy Sherman | Sprüth Magers Berlin
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Konstantin Schneider: I was born in 1959 in the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, West Germany. I lived there until 1978. When I was young I wanted to become a professional actor, but I wasn’t successful at getting into an acting school. So, I went to a university near the French border in Saarbrücken, West Germany to study French and Spanish. From 1991 to 1997 I studied Communications Science, which included multimedia, philosophy, advertising, and marketing and I have a Diploma in Communications.
While I was in Saarbrücken I joined a theater group and I tried to break into professional acting until the mid 1980s, but it never worked out. I still participate occasionally in theater productions; for example, in 2005 I acted in a production of “Angry Men”. The reason I mention this is because I am essentially performing in the gallery while I document the art world.
Art Interview: Do you consider yourself a performance artist?
Konstantin Schneider: I didn’t think so when I started, but now I whole-heartedly believe that I’m working as a performance artist.
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BERLIN artspotters
German Consulate General
New York
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Art Interview: I find it interesting that you not only document professional art exhibitions but you also exhibit in them. For example you participated in an exhibition in May 2009 at the German Consulate in New York City entitled “Konstantin Schneider, Jan Sobottka - Berlin Artspotters”, which was curated by Marc Wellmann. More recently you contributed to an installation piece by Edmund Piper entitled “Zirkus Minimus” , which was shown at the art fair Preview Berlin.
Konstantin Schneider: The event in New York was very good for my reputation. The “Zirkus Minimus” project that was shown at the Preview Berlin art fair was a nice opportunity for me to show that I have already seen enough artwork to be a curator. I am penetrating the art world very, very slowly with that idea. Some curators have shown me a lot of respect by confiding in me that my eye is similar to theirs. On occasion they depended upon my opinion because they don’t have enough time to look at as much art as I do. So, some art professionals are very pleased that I visit galleries.
Art Interview: How do you select the exhibitions that you cover?
Konstantin Schneider: In the beginning it was very clear that I was primarily supporting the emerging art scene. I began documenting art exhibitions in 2004 and began publishing Kunstkontakter in 2006. At first I covered the emerging art scene in the smaller galleries in Berlin - Mitte, but it wasn’t long before I was visiting the bigger players. I was guided by Berlin’s art landscape and would go wherever there were a lot of exhibitions. Even if some of the galleries were presenting work I didn’t like I would give them a chance.
Art Interview: Do you attempt to maintain a neutral viewpoint when filming?
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KUNSTKONTAKTER KONKRET
Konstantin Schneider in conversation with Christoph Schlingensief |
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Konstantin Schneider: Of course. Since you run an art magazine you know that you can’t pretend that everything is marvelous; you have to show what is out there.
Art Interview: Do you still prefer to document emerging artists rather than established artists?
Konstantin Schneider: At my age it is difficult to draw a line between a young artist and one that could be considered established. When I started to document in 2004 I met a “young artist” named Jonas Burgert who was showing at the Berliner Kunstsalon. He was delighted by that project and I found him very interesting, so I have followed his career. He is now one of the few artists to establish himself in the history of German art. He has an exhibition launching this evening at Haunch of Venison in London.
My concept from the beginning was to document exhibitions for people who felt uncomfortable with going into a gallery. There are people out there who are too shy to talk to the top artists or don’t approach them out of some supposed respect. I am not shy, so I will talk to artists such as Georg Baselitz. As a matter of a fact I will be going to see Baselitz again this Sunday at CFA Berlin.
Art Interview: Why did you begin documenting art?
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KUNSTKONTAKTER KONKRET
Konstantin Schneider in conversation with Peter Weibel |
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Konstantin Schneider: I have had a 25-year long love affair with the arts but I began documenting art in 2004 when the Berliner Kunstsalon began in Berlin. They asked me to create a website for them and by coincidence I had bought a video camera a few days previously.
Art Interview: Did you initially start off documenting in Berlin or were you able begin internationally?
Konstantin Schneider: In the beginning I was very proud to be a Berliner and thankfully there were enough exhibitions to cover here. I was just experimenting to see if I wanted to continue documenting or if I would get bored after a few months. But every exhibition I visited was interesting.
Art Interview: How many exhibitions have you documented so far?
Konstantin Schneider: I think it must be around two thousand. Some weeks I made up to twelve documentaries. That makes forty-eight a month, five hundred and seventy six a year, multiply that by four… Yes, over two thousand.
Art Interview: What were some of the more outstanding exhibitions that you have documented?
Konstantin Schneider: My favorites have changed over the years. In the beginning it was very important for me to have spontaneous meetings with artists like Jonathan Meese, Norbert Bisky and David LaChapelle. These meetings sometimes came about through unexpected connections. It was even possible for me to get an interview with Hermann Nitsch in the first year, which was quite a surprise.
Art Interview: Are you in contact with the artists and art dealers before you walk into an exhibition?
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Daniel Richter
OH LA LA
Contemporary Fine Arts |
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Konstantin Schneider: Most people feel that if they go into an exhibition they have to be invisible - that one should look at the art but not attract the attention of the other viewers. I chose to take on a persona that disrupts the viewers’ attention. When I walk into a room wearing a bright yellow helmet with a video camera mounted on top of it people notice me. In order to surprise the viewers my visits have to be spontaneous, so I never talk to the artists or dealers beforehand. That has given me a notoriety that has put me in a potent position.
Art Interview: How have the press reacted toward you?
Konstantin Schneider: I received a very positive reaction in the first year of my project. I became something of the “hero of the hour” at Karl Lagerfeld’s “One Man Shown” at CO-Berlin in 2006. There was an enormous media presence there but I also sensed the press’ fear that I might destroy their status quo.
In 2008 I was elected by Tip magazine as the 88th most embarrassing celebrity in Berlin. I didn’t know if that type of criticism would be to my advantage or not. What I am doing is very idealistic. I struggle to do what I do, and I feel successful when I have earned enough money to travel as much as is necessary. So initially I found it strange that a person who is paid very well and working for a large publishing house chose to focus on me in such a way. I wondered if they were attempting to sabotage my project. But after a while I realized that being on that list was a mark of acceptance. I found that people were congratulating me and astonishingly more doors opened for me.
Art Interview: Have you experienced mixed reactions from artists and dealers over the years?
Konstantin Schneider: Of course. In the beginning when the galleries didn’t know me some of them asked me not to take pictures. One gallery actually ask me not to come back, but to be honest it was my own fault because I had accidentally bumped into a piece of art. There are enough galleries in Berlin that losing one or two is not a problem; it simply refines the list of galleries that I visit. In a way it strengthens my position, because if a gallery does not respect what I am doing then they will not be documented.
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Shanghai Biennale | Translocal Motion
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Art Interview: Some of my sources have claimed that galleries have paid you beforehand to document their exhibitions.
Konstantin Schneider: That is not entirely wrong. People at all levels in the art scene have watched what I do and have been astonished to see that I am successful despite not earning money directly from my documentation. For the first two years I was able to generate enough support from generosity alone. This made me somewhat of an ‘institution’ in the scene. So for example, when I told an art dealer that I was attempting to make a trip to China and that I had my plane ticket already, he offered to finance my hotel.
Art Interview: Who do you consider your target market to be?
Konstantin Schneider: My target market is the whole art world. From the beginning my central idea has been to reach a broad audience. One of my undertakings is to enable people all over the world to see what is happening in Berlin. I have built myself an email list so that people all over the world, no matter where they are, can still be involved in Berlin’s art scene. The internet has also allowed my work to spread as people come to know it through other websites. Connections are formed in this way; people hear about my work by word of mouth.
Art Interview: Anyone who thought recording digitally at galleries is free of costs would be mistaken. Although you have arranged collaboration deals, your work still has expenses. How do you finance Kunstkontakter?
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KUNSTKONTAKTER COMPACT
Hamish Morrison, ZERN,
Schuster, Jarmuschek, Frisch
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Konstantin Schneider: For the last year and a half I have financed everything through donations; such financial support is vital in allowing me to continue my work. I also receive payments from galleries under special conditions. These sources of income make my work possible, but they are not always plentiful. For example, we received funding for our exhibition in New York, but we still had to find people there who were hospitable. To be honest much of the time I still have to live like a student.
Art Interview: Are you running Kunstkontakter alone or do you have people working for you?
Konstantin Schneider: I am very bad at delegating work, so I always do the work myself. However, I will have to learn how to delegate if the scope of my work is to grow; without delegation further growth is not possible.
Art Interview: Have you found it difficult to concentrate on marketing and technical issues with the amount of traveling that you do? How do you balance your work in the field with your work in the office?
Konstantin Schneider: I work very intuitively - there isn’t a formula: I have a sense of what I should do, but there are always ways to be more efficient. Sometimes I spend several days at a time focusing on one aspect of my work, and other times I need to re-consider and re-arrange my travel-schedule. For example, from April to June I was working in Brussels, Vienna, New York and Basel. Upon returning I then had to focus on processing the work I had completed during that time. It is affordable for me to cover Paris, London and Berlin, but I have also managed trips to Shanghai, China and New Delhi, India.
Art Interview: The Indian Contemporary Art Journal did an article on you and they gave you the title of Berlin Ambassador of the Arts.
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INDIA ART SUMMIT
Privat Pioneer Selection I
Pragati Maidan New Delhi
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Konstantin Schneider: Yes I am very proud of that; it was very good for me.
When I was in India I received a lot of attention due to that article - I found it very overwhelming. I had only been at the India Art Summit 2009 for an hour when people started saying that they knew their art fair was important because I was there.
Art Interview: By having the Indian Contemporary Art Journal take note of your work a new Asian market has effectively opened to you. This could be doubly beneficial as it can also give you higher credibility in Berlin.
Konstantin Schneider: I have noticed people smiling a little wider when they see me. I saw going to India as a pioneer struggle because I knew only a few people from Europe attend there. Just today Anemone Vostell, the Managing Director of the Landesverband Berliner Galerien (Galleries Association of Berlin) and I were discussing how Berlin galleries only go to art fairs by car.
Art Interview: Have you seen a change in how Berlin is perceived internationally, and has this corresponded to a change within the gallery scene?
This oral history transcript is the result of a digitally recorded interview with Konstantin Schneider on Oct. 9, 2009. The interview took place in Berlin, Germany and was conducted by Brendan Davis for Art Interview Online Magazine. Andrea Pahor wrote the introductory text. |
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