Zoë

City: Berlin

Introduce yourself?

My name is Zoë Claire Miller. I have been living in Berlin for 7 years and I’m an artist/organizer. Some of my largest recent projects have been the Berlin Art Prize, which is an artist-funded and artist-run independent art prize, and the Time Grants Campaign, which is a campaign to enact more public funding for the arts in Berlin.

Can you talk a little bit more about the Berlin Art Prize?

The Berlin Art Prize was founded in 2013 by Alicia Reuter and Sophie Jung, who are both writers/art historians, and Ulrich Wulff and I – we are both artists. And the idea came about because we felt like it was kind of a sad state in Berlin that there are so many artists, I mean, a really huge population of artists, over 10,000, and so few art prizes that seem to be doing something interesting, or that show the viewer something exciting.

It seemed like everything was either institutional invite-only elitism or pure corporate vaunt. Like Vattenfall, who has a monopoly on energy and provides electricity in Berlin. They had their prize, and it was completely about their prestige, and not about supporting the arts. And all the institutional and city prizes seem to always go to very very predictable candidates. They were all the kind of awards that you got if you were already really successful in the art market.

There are publicly funded art grants rather than prizes but there are so few of them, and they really weren’t accompanied by good presswork or by visibility. So it’s kind of like, oh you can look up, if you spend half an hour on the city administration's non-user-friendly website, you might be able to find the 15 people who got this award from the Berlin Senate in a given year.

We were really interested in the whole construct of how quality is declared, how reputation is built up. It always seems like it’s a very hierarchical top-to-bottom kind of system where those who have a lot of prestige and money are ready to declare, “Ok, I shared some of my power and prestige on you and by that I raise you up.” ‘Cause that’s usually the way it goes.

You know, if you are young and you want to make it as an artist, you have to find people in positions of power who are willing to support your work. If your personality is unsuited to Darwinian competition and self-promotion, then good luck with that.

And we kind of wanted to turn that around, to make it like a very accurate cover version of an art prize, with all of the classical aspects, but coming from a very different place, and in a kind of subversive spirit. 

So it’s composed of a group show with around 30 nominees, so people who are nominated are all exhibited. And each year, three artists win. And what they win is prize money, which usually isn’t much, because we have no funding. So it’s just kind of like what’s left over after we’ve paid off other bills. And most of the money we generate through selling drinks at the big opening party, but also through donations, and we have a lot of amazing local sponsors who give us very good deals, or print things for free, or support us with material.

But yeah, the prize money is mainly thought to cover the cost of the residency, so they are not supposed to pay any money out of their pocket. And they get a residency each year in a different country. The first year was in Italy, last year was in Georgia, and this year, it’s in Greece.

So the prize itself doesn’t really have money, but basically you have to wait till the opening day to generate money?

Yes, it’s not a very ideal situation. It also leaves us all in the air, and super worried about whether we will make enough money, and if not, what we do. Last year we didn’t make enough money, so we did another party later in the year to make the funds that we are missing, but it’s really a pity that the city isn’t willing to support the prize at all. Because I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of, and generated a lot of good publicity for Berlin and Berlin’s artists.

Oh, but I forgot one important aspect of the Prize also is the trophy. So you get a beautiful trophy and it’s made by different artists each year. But it’s really important for us to really bring people together, and to try to place everyone on a level without regarding all of these kind of aspects that other prizes and competitions have, where you are forcing everyone to do work on some certain subject, or where you say there is an age cut-off, or you have to have a degree in arts, which is really important for us, it’s completely inclusive. If you live and work in Berlin, and you’ve been here for at least half a year, you can apply, and nothing else matters.

On your website, it says this prize is based only on artistic merit. But, what’s the standard for artistic merit? Because when you choose together with certain people, there is always this subjective part of it. So how do you choose?

It’s always strongly subjective, and it’s something that I feel like we cannot put into words at all what artistic merit is. But it’s basically the sum of everyone who’s working on the prize, and the jury members’ opinion of what artistic merit is.

So, there is different jury every year. And the jury is invited to go through all the nominees, all the applications, and everyone who’s working on the team go through all the nominees, and then, that’s how we decide the nominees, and then, the jury alone decides who gets the prize.

But you really do notice that people have very very strong and different opinions at times. Also at times people have absolutely the same opinions so they must have a very synchronized definition of artistic merit. This year, the jury said, “Oh, we decided within ten minutes who would win when we saw the works. ”

How many people apply?

Well, on average over the years, I think it’s been usually around a thousand applicants.

How much does organizing this prize occupy within your whole working time?

It’s very very hard to say, because so much of it is just embedded in other time spent on admin work, like Berlin Art Prize emails along with other emails. But it’s definitely 3 months of full time work before the exhibition and during the exhibition.

So how do you pay yourself?

No one gets paid at all.

Three to four months full time working on this and no payment?

Yeah, I don’t know how we do it either. It’s totally insane. I mean that’s really the whole thing with the Berlin Art Prize. It’s like a completely insane idea that was somehow realized. And there are so many parts of it that just seem inexplicable. Like, how can this possibly work out? But this also feels like something that can’t continue this way. Because, for me and other people who are most intensely involved, It’s also very very emotionally and physically draining, and we all always have burn-out after the Berlin Art Prize exhibition is done. I just feel ruined. And yeah, there has to be a different solution.

So it feels like, you and this group of artists wanted to do something good for the artist community, but without being able to support yourself…

Yeah, I think it really kind of comes down to the whole ridiculous situation of precarity that everyone is in, in some way or another. But I think it’s kind of particularly aggravated or extreme in this case. Because the image the Berlin Art Prize projects outwards, because we have very good professional graphic design, makes a lot of people who haven’t done research think that we have money, that there is magical money coming from somewhere. It’s really funny, but it’s also tragic.

Are you guys thinking about solutions for the next step?

Yeah, we are. So far we’ve never gotten any public funding that we’ve applied for, but I think we can only continue if we get public funding, or we do take on a big main sponsor who really invests in it. Because so far we’ve always said, “Oh we don’t want to be attached to a big brand name.” But that might be the only way that’s possible to continue.

Yeah, that’s also tricky. When a brand gives you sponsor money, for one thing, it’s like publicity and branding for them. And also, do they really leave you alone to do whatever you want, or do they want to get involved and give you their opinions?

That’s the question. I mean that’s why we’ve always so far wanted to work with a large group of very diverse sponsors and that’s always the way that it has been. And they’ve kind of all had individual desires and needs of what they want to get out of Berlin Art Prize, but definitely no one was telling us what to do. It was clear, that was out of the question.

So they just give you some free services?

Yeah.

As you said, one thousand people apply and only three of them get the prize. How do you think those who get turned down should take it?

I think it’s more of a comfort that there is so much competition, that then you know… if we had money, if it was possible, every year there are hundreds of people who I think should be nominated. But we have to somehow narrow down to a smaller number. I think it is extremely subjective, and no one should ever be discouraged by rejection, which is obvious so easily said but not done.

At the same time, I do also find it amazing how many artists who do great work are not talented at making portfolios of their work and writing descriptions of their work. And how many artists choose to not write anything about their work. Because we say it’s optional, but obviously, certain types of works don’t explain themselves very well. And they obviously had a lot of context where it would be very helpful to know.

Every year we also do a class as part of our program with the Art Prize, which is free and open to everyone. We give classes like, “What’s the ideal portfolio?” How can you make things clear to your viewer? And what’s the right amount of information, not too much, not too little. Yeah, I feel like also people could ask for help more often. Everyone has friends who are graphic designers, everyone has friends who are art historians who can write text about art. It seems like artists should turn to them more often.

But also of course you always have this really really big divide between the portrayal of the work and then the actual work, which is why it’s important for us that the nominated artists turn in their real work, set up their work, and that is shown to the jury before the jury decides who wins. So it’s not all only based on a PDF.

Previously, you mentioned that there are ten thousand artists in Berlin. How did you get that number?

In Germany, there is this special kind of retirement/social security that you pay into that is for artists called KSK. So they of course know the number of artists. At least they know the number of artists who have been accepted by them. But you have to jump through some hoops. If you are not earning enough money with your art, you can’t get into the KSK, if you make too much money with other day jobs you can't get in, but if you make it in then the KSK basically subsidies the cost of health insurance.   

So those ten thousand artists kind of already sell their work somehow?

Yeah, I think often artists who are already successful leave this insurance plan because otherwise they would have to pay high amounts. ‘Cause it’s based on your income, so if you are earning a lot, you have to pay a lot more. And also, yeah, there are lots and lots of artists who just can’t make it in at all, because their works are not commercial enough.

So the actual number might be even bigger?

Oh yeah, for sure. Because also we have to consider everyone who’s only here for a while and doesn’t really get into this German system, people who have their insurance somewhere else in Europe, or somewhere else in the world, or people who only stay here for a year or two.

What’s happening here right now in the Berlin art scene?

I think the most huge recent kind of also geographically fixed trend is definitely “Post-Internet Art”, which is now like a démodé term, no one who does “Post-Internet Art” wants to be called a “Post-Internet” artist anymore. But a lot of artists who are really working with these themes of technology, branded aesthetics, dystopian, futuristic visions, post-humanism, links to the trendiest theoretical ideas like Accelerationism.

And otherwise, I think there are always very strong kinds of regional styles that you only recognize when you go somewhere else, then you see how different that is from what’s going on in the place that you usually are.

For example what would that be?

Well, when you look at things that are going on in all of the States, or basically New York, that’s the most important part for art in the States. You see things that have so many pop-art references that just would not be ok here. People would think that’s too pop, too superficial, and that’s just like the strongest thing in art history that people refer back to in America, it seems. Whereas here I guess would be more about other parts of modernism. Something that seemed quintessentially Berlin for a while was a kind of macho, rock'n'roll, bad boy darkness. See the Guido Baudach gallery. I would blame this on the weather.

I have the impression that Berlin seems so perfect for art and artists. Is this true? Do you see any problems here?

Oh, there are lots of problems, I mean there are problems everywhere, but some problems that we are definitely facing here is that the cost of living is rising. It’s increasingly hard to find affordable workspace. The situation is getting worse and worse for artists living here. I would definitely not recommend to anyone who doesn't have money to move here, it's impossible to find an affordable apartment. And of course, this is the thing everywhere. It’s just capitalism combined with irresponsible governance that notices critical issues too late, or just doesn't care.

But for a long time, Berlin held a very exceptional role, and what made it attractive for so many creatives was basically its poverty. It was always this strange kind of, like totally unprofitable bizarre hole in the middle of Germany that because of its cultural value was propped up through the tax money of the rest of Germany. Yeah I think it was definitely cooler other times. Even thinking about the 80s, the West Berlin in the 80s. Wow…

I think Berlin has always been the avant-garde epicenter even like during the Weimar Republic. I mean, after the wall fell, basically in the 90s, tons of tons of opportunists came in, and lots of artists who saw, oh there are so many empty spaces here for us to create stuff. And then, slowly more and more people have come in as Berlin has become more and more popular who kind of want to make a profit and are driving prices up.

But that’s also a very simplistic way to look at it. I mean the wages are very very low. In all of Germany, wages have not risen in accordance with the prices of living rising. But in Berlin, it’s been particularly extreme. Everything used to be so cheap here. And now things are coming to the same standard as the rest of Germany, but wages aren’t rising. So yeah, that’s really difficult. I mean everyone I know is living extremely precariously.

Is there no solution for this direction?

I think people need to organize themselves and put more pressure on the government to hear their needs and to meet them. I mean the city has so many secondary industries that are making so much cash off Berlin’s reputation as an artistic city. But the money is just not reaching artists at all, it’s reaching the hoteliers. It’s reaching the restaurant owners. It’s reaching the tourist guides. All of these different industries are profiting from cultural tourism. But the working class and artists are screwed.

And if the situation continues the way it is, the people who comprise the city's cultural capital are going to leave. And yeah, then the Berlin will be left with its youth hostels.

Interviewed in Kreuzberg, Berlin. August 25th, 2015