When it comes to searching for creatives, Berlin’s hardly a bad place to start. So we called into see one of the best: Dirk Bonn is one of those artists who are hard to classify: he’s a carpenter, a store designer, fashion show video artist, DJ and former owner of a skate shop. What does the studio of such an interdisciplinary artist look like? We ascended the stairs to his Kreuzberg warehouse to found skateboard paraphernalia, a wood work shop, shelves of old installations and a photography/video area. It’s a place full of ideas, unfinished thoughts and half-started installations. “I like it when things are unfinished, dirty and rough,” Bonn said. “I’ve never been interested in the traditional. I work as fast as I possibly can so that nothing gets lost during the process. I think one should actually try to include unfinished processes within a project. I search for people who work in this way.”
In his 25 year career, Bonn has majored in collaboration, establishing a network of artists to help realise his very varied projects and ideas. However he was alone we visited: “Sometimes I throw everyone out. It’s important to spend time with yourself in order to receive and place emotions. I tend to do so in the shower, early in the morning, or while driving. To unexpectedly receive an idea is the most precious gift I can think of receiving.”
Watch this space to read more about Sleek’s Search from Berlin to Copenhagen via Hamburg in a Mercedes CLS 500, and in the next issue of the magazine, publishing in a few weeks’ time.