“I try to make meditative artistic processes visible in a sensitive, sensual way with everything I have at my disposal.”

Name

Anja Heymann

Profession

Artist sculptor media art

Website

anjaheymann.de

Where are you from?

I was born in Bremerhaven and live in Leipzig

Your style in 3 words?

sensual, extreme, passionate

Your weakness? Your strength?

Perfection is boring…control them. Growing a thicker Skin to protect yourself from all evil is a goal for the near future.

What makes you different?

I try to make meditative artistic processes visible in a sensitive, sensual way with everything I have at my disposal

When did you decide to become an artist?

When I was a teenager I started experimenting with a lot of things and sprayed Picasso’s the blue nude on my childhood bedroom wall.

Do you choose your art form, or does the form choose you?

In the course of my artistic Research, the form usually chooses me.

What do you find most fascinating about the creative process?

How everything comes together and fits together is almost uncanny at times.

A few words about your favorite creation?

A protective coat, the “Coat of infinity”, my greatest work to date. This coat arose from research into a project „protect you and protect me” and its basic idea deals with the questions about protective coat Madonnas, where everyone who needs protection receives protection. The object consists of 3 linen cloths and 3 million needles, is 2.50 x 3 m in diameter and can be walked on.

What surprised you most about your first art shows?

You bring something to the outside that you couldn’t do otherwise and show yourself vulnerable, this perception from the outside was wonderful. The wonderful feedback and the inspiring part of giving and taking.

Someone else’s work that inspired or inspires you…

A selection would be Louise Bourgeois, Monica Bonvincini, Mona Hatoum, Anselm Kiefer and many others

Who would you like to work with someday and why?

With Louise Bourgeois she would still be alive, she was the pioneer of installation art and expressed her feelings and passions in her materials and installations in such a catchy way. Her social references were very inspiring for me.

A new project coming up or an idea you want to work on?

I am currently working on various things, on the one hand with Al, from which I try to remove emotionality, and on the other hand with the properties of materials and their flow behavior, among other things.

Finish the sentence „More important than my career is……

…nature, because it holds everything together, my family and more kindness and peace in the world.

2024: Where are we going?

I think it will be a challenging year socially and personally, but I would like to remain hopeful and optimistic

Do you think about time as an artist?

Yes, I think a lot about time in the creative process, what does time do to me? Especially in the creative process for the needlework, the temporal aspect became a major logistical task, moving each individual needle through the fabric at some point became a flow work, which sometimes became meditative sections where one lost oneself in space and time..

When the going gets tough…

…it helps me to build a castle in the air and also be able to lose myself in the work.

Put on your future vision glasses: What direction is our generation
moving in, what will our world look like in 50 years?

I’m trying to stay optimistic, we will invest in saving nature… many are already moving in the only right direction. We live in a networked andneeds-optimized way. Now it’s about thinking outside the box and striving for a direction, doing everything we can to ensure that our nature is preserved.

What would you do if you could change the World?

Love instead of hate, moving closer together, understanding and compassion, cleaning up the oceans, less packaging, more plant-based nutrition.

What does freedom mean when it comes to art?

To be able to free one’s soul with a self-determined form of expression.

If the universe is everything and it’s expanding, what is it expanding
into?

On average, galaxies are moving away from each other. You can imagine galaxies moving towards each other like hairs on a balloon that can move back and forth. The space expands. You can think of it like blowing up a balloon. The skin of the balloon is the space. The space thins out. There’s nothing around it. I want to stay optimistic and hope that the balloon doesn’t burst right away, so that’s what I think new worlds, diversity; you create a warm place of togetherness and satisfaction…

Tell us about your future plans…

Observe without judging

Your city’s favorite spots?

Obenauf Café, Küss mich wach, VintageLaden, Leipzig/ Connilsland/ Porte Leipzig, ODP Galerie, Leipzig

A book that everyone should read…

Christa Wolf, Stadt der Engel, the overcoat of Dr. Freud

Last but not least: what is your favorite Song?

The space in between, Jan Blomquist

One last statement please: „Wood or stone, gold or art?”

In love with art!

Your #…..?

#anjaheymann