Helmut Lang exchanged emails with our author for several weeks. Through this ping-pong of words, a conversation emerged, one reflecting the fact that every question engenders a different answer de-pending on who you ask – personality always plays a role
SLEEK: Beuys once said, “Anyone who doesn’t think will be thrown out.” What effect do his words have on you?Helmut Lang: Everyone is thinking. The question is, is it good enough for the thinker?Would you say that we are what we do? We are the sum of everything we do – the result of the lives we have lived so far.If you think of the Austrian Alps and briefly picture yourself there, what do you see?I see myself as a child standing on top of a mountain. I see the high mountain valley I grew up in and the end-less rows of mountaintops behind. I was curious about what world would be beyond it. I did not like the idea of indefinite confinement or a defined narrative. It was a trigger to go beyond and dive into the unknown.Can anyone ever really know just how much of a source of inspiration they are?Is it really important that one knows? Isn’t everything about love?Not always – love is a constantly changing situation in itself and has countless meanings and expectations from every single human. Every mother’s child is different. You once said that you believed you had been “de-prived of your own identity for a long time”. Would you still say that today?
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