Kristina Berning

Age: 31

City: Berlin

www.kristina-berning.com

How long have you been in Berlin?

I’ve been living in Berlin for 5 years now.

What is this myth about artists and their studios? If you claim yourself an artist, or if you want to be one, it seems like it’s important to first have a studio. Why?

I think an artist needs a studio to have enough space to think about art. I think you can’t really work at home, because you don’t have the atmosphere of thinking only about your work.

When I finished my studies and moved to Berlin, I knew that I had to have a studio from the beginning, because I knew it was necessary to work. At the same time, I had a really tiny budget to start here, so I rented this studio as a working and living apartment, and I lived and worked here for two years. If you look here, this was my bed, now it’s just a storage area. The room next door was the kitchen. This is how I started here in Berlin.  

Was the rent much cheaper back then?

It was already not that cheap, but it was better than now. The rent for this studio is now 400 Euros. But I share it with another artist, and this is the only possible way I can afford it. To have the studio and an apartment at the same time, sometimes it makes you crazy what you have to pay, and also to pay storage somewhere else. I rent three places just to live and do my job.

Are you a full-time artist?

Yeah, I am. Since January, I have to admit. In the beginning, I always had money jobs. I was working in a café, later on I worked at a school as an art teacher. But things developed quite well and I got some art awards recently, and now I don't have to work a second job, I can just do art.

How did that breakthrough come?

I think it’s hard work, and training also. I started to write applications when I was still in university. So I just made a kind of training for myself on how to write applications, ‘cause I knew that this is the kind of thing I would have to do later on. This is how I will get money, how I will get exhibitions and stuff.

I just did the same applications every year. I collected these applications and when the very same opportunity came again the next year, I looked at my old application and saw the mistakes and made it better.

But in general, I can say being an artist is not only about going to the studio and making the artworks, it’s also very much office work. And this is very pragmatic. To have good photos, to have good texts, to make clear applications for grants, for residencies… for everything you need and want.

So I’m all focused on grants. Because the good thing about art grants is you get money and you can stay free in your work, you don’t have to do anything special. You become compensated for what you do anyway. This is a good way.

What percent of the work is writing applications and all that office work in your whole art practice?

I guess all in all, it’s about two days a week, and four days for the studio.

So every week you are working on some applications?

Yeah, I constantly have something, somewhere. There is always something I am working on at the moment in the studio, and something I’m preparing, which will follow. I’ve made some kind of calendar, in which I collect the deadlines for regular applications. So, it’s every year, the same stuff. In August for example there are three applications, and I apply there. And I don’t get frustrated if I don’t get accepted.

I think it’s totally normal that you send a lot of stuff, and you get something back, some acceptance and some rejection. It’s not personal. Sometimes what you do doesn’t fit with what they are looking for. But the more you do, the more good things come back. Vey very simple somehow.

Do you see, or do you think, there is a career path to become a professional artist? There are certain steps that you need to take?

I think it totally depends on what you create. I do sculpture and they are not easy to sell, because they are very big, or they are fragile. And I think every artist needs a kind of system that fits with their own work. So if you are a filmmaker, then you need to go some other way than someone who is a painter.

Do you also sell your work?

Yes, I do. I have a few private collectors who have a lot space. And also museums who have their own collections. Those are the people who collect my works.

Do you have strategies? For example, you know certain types of work will sell better, so maybe for getting money, you sometimes make that type?

No, I know artists who follow this kind of thinking. They create works which they think they are able to sell. And I think that certainly leads to boring repetition. I think to have this selling atmosphere while working destroys everything.

The creation process should be free from business. I think it is very important to separate that. To be free in the work, and then go home and sit at your computer and do your office work. But don’t mix everything together.

Do you have a gallery that represents you?

No, I don’t have a fixed gallery. I sometimes work together with galleries. But not someone I’m constantly working with.

Do you want one?

Yes, but I don’t want just any gallery. I really want a good gallery. I had an offer from a gallery, which I didn’t want to work with. Because what I’m interested in and where I want to be with my work has to be reflected somehow in the profile of the gallery. There are incredibly so many bad galleries. To just have any gallery is not a credit for someone.

I guess it’s also difficult in the gallerist’s career as it is in the artist’s. Maybe it’s not really much easier. But anyway, for those galleries that you are interested in, will you approach them yourself? Or you think if you focus on making your work better, they will start to come to you?

Yeah, I thought like that at the beginning that I just have to work and things will develop. But I learned that this was kind of naïve. So there are things that work without having to do anything. Like if you win art awards that have a good reputation. This is something that really works for me.

But to really get personal contact with a good gallery that you really want, then you really have to work on that. I’m not a specialist on recommending how that works, because I haven’t found that gallery yet. But maybe I’m a specialist in telling how it doesn’t work.

Yeah, what's your advice?

It depends also on the personality of the artist. There are people who are really good at going into some place and talking and shaking hands and making jokes, having no problems adapting to a situation. For those people, it’s good to just go to openings and to focus on one gallery that they like, and to go to every opening until they know the people there. This is maybe an idea.

But what I try to do is inform galleries continuously about what I do, send them catalogues and invitations of my exhibitions, invite them to my studio. Yeah, this is the way I try.

It doesn’t work?

Not yet. But I am optimistic. There is no reason why it should not happen.

Do you actually need other people in your generation to take power, instead of waiting for the older generation to give you that chance?

I think it’s not the only way, but it’s easier when people are around your age. I see people at my age start to work in galleries, or start to open spaces, and work at institutions. It’s a great thing to see my generation finally start to work in the art business. It´s easier to get in contact with them in general.

Today, for an artist to succeed in their career, what do you think is the ratio of this kind of business mentality – thinking about their career, strategizing about things – versus actually making good work?

You certainly have to do both. You have to be a really good manager, and a really good creator. Both are necessary. A few colleagues of mine from university didn’t continue to work as artists because they weren’t able to fulfill this business part. To go somewhere to present your work, to talk clearly to someone about your work, and to present yourself is a very big part of it. People who are shy or don’t have self-confidence really struggle with that.

So it’s very important that people leave university with good self-confidence when they start as an artist, because you have to stand up for your art and yourself a lot. And you need power for that.

So it really takes a certain type of character to succeed then.

Some people find galleries or supporters very early, so they don’t have to fulfill this part. They don't have to be so strong, they can concentrate on the creative part. So it depends a bit on the company. You can be any artist and have any character you want, but you need the combination. If you don't have this strong part in someone else, then you have to be that for yourself.

I’m curious if at any point, you ever thought that your career is not happening, that it’s too difficult, maybe you are not good enough. Were there any moments like that? Any doubts about this path of being an artist?

There are always moments when I think I don’t have good ideas or it doesn’t make sense to go into the studio today. But I developed some strategies to avoid getting frustrated. When I’m in the studio and I don’t get any ideas, then I have to leave and go to museums or see exhibitions. I also like to visit places where I can see material, like property markets or factories. Places where I can find inspiration.

In other words, you just find ways to overcome that feeling?

Yes, I find inspiration somewhere else, somewhere from outside, from experiences and other things. But most of my ideas come from working itself. So even if I have no idea what to do, I know that I should not stop doing. Inspirations happen while working.

Where do you see yourself and your career right now? And what’s the eventual goal that you have for yourself?

I focus on what I’m doing at the moment and what’s the next step that I want to accomplish. I’m really busy with these steps and I have no idea how many steps will follow.

But I’m 31 now, and if I take the next step in 3 months or whenever, then I can't see where that goes. I’m just lucky the way it’s going at the moment and I´m always looking forward to the next step.

I am always working on finding people who fit with me and my work. It’s very important that you find a few people who really support your work. So it doesn’t have to be many people, but it has to be a few that you can always count on. Someone who is with you somehow. Artworks are incredibly different, but somehow I think my ideas are not so strange that someone else is not able to understand. And I’m sure every artist can find a place where his or her particular work fits. But in order to find the place, first you have to find the person.

Can you tell me a bit about what's going on with the Berlin art scene right now?

I think the interesting thing about the Berlin art scene is that it’s totally diverse. There are artists who studied in Berlin, there are artists who studied in Germany and came to Berlin, there are the European artists who came to Berlin and artists who came from abroad. This is not one group, these are different groups.

Do they mix with each other?

They do, but not so much. Of course they mix if the exhibition or the gallery is interesting for everyone. But I see that there are many groups and not just one big crowd.

Are the works they make really quite different from each other?

It’s always strange to say something in general. But I can tell you my first impression about that when I arrived in Berlin.

I thought the art I had seen before and the art that I could see here was different. I often saw political work, which was a bit unusual for me. Art was quite apolitical where I studied.

When I moved to Berlin I was wondering about that difference. And I thought maybe the reason is that Berlin is a capital, the city has a very strong history. This is totally present everywhere in the city that you have these two parts, the former western and eastern parts of Berlin; the past is a part of the present, everything is totally aware. When I grew up I had no idea about Berlin and its separation from World War II. I mean I learned that in school, but it was not part of my reality. To live in Berlin makes you feel like you’re walking around in history. Maybe that’s a reason why political awareness is stronger here.

Why do you think it is important to be an artist in Berlin?

Before I came to Berlin I lived in a much smaller city. If I told someone there “I am an artist”, I always got special reactions. People were totally fascinated or worried or confused. Like “oh can you live on that, blah blah...” I totally wanted to live in a place where people treat me like a normal person, where I am not special. In Berlin there are thousand of artists. You are not the stranger here, you are just a normal human being. This is a big relief.

What is the one thing that you like least in this art system? Can you think of anything that can be changed, or needs to be changed?

One thing that I really don’t like is that in Germany there are many applications where you have to say what you are going to do if you get the award or residency. This is totally absurd for artists who work more in the process. I think this is totally against free work. This is one thing I don't like.

I also don’t like that artists usually don’t get paid for exhibitions. Most of the time I organize the transport and I go there, build up the exhibition, and I’m there for openings and interviews, for everything, and I don't get money for that. I think that’s a very very big problem here.

Like an artist fee? For all the work you do, your labor.

Yeah, so in Germany, there is no rule for that. Everyone thinks you work for free. This is really a problem because many artists do so many exhibitions. A few of them are busy all year with one exhibition after another. But they don’t get paid for that, and I think this is really a big problem because this would be a very good solution for the money situation of many artists. They have exhibitions at good places, even at museums you don't get money if you exhibit there.

When I had my first exhibition at a museum I had people who helped me finish the installation. There was a curator, an electrician, a photographer, an assistant, even a caretaker. Everyone was in a rush, doing something to finish the installation. I looked at these people and thought, “Wow, everyone gets paid me, except for me.” That’s so wrong and needs to be changed.

Interviewed in Neukölln. Berlin, August 7th, 2015