TV plays a different role today than it did five years ago. Is it still important to us? Sarah and Felix, who live and work as artists in Berlin, both say: definitely! We talked to them about their first television experiences, the importance of film and music in their art and about the details of their work.
The first time, television was an adventure. Young Sarah sits watching TV, her face smeared with ice cream, wondering "Can the newsreader see me?" "For a long time I grew up without television," says Sarah Bernauer, "And at first it was hard to grasp." What is real, what is an image, what controls our perception? And why are we only too happy to be deceived? Sarah also asks such questions in her artistic work.
Sarah lives and works in Berlin and Basel. The 34-year-old artist was born near Bern and studied multimedia and applied arts in Basel and Vienna. Her video installations and performances deal with different forms of the perception of reality. Her works have been shown at international art fairs and the Kunsthalle Basel (Basel's main art gallery). Her latest project "Feeling Felt" is sponsored by Loewe. Some of its episodes will be on display during the International Consumer Electronics Fair 2016 (IFA) in Berlin.
Felix loves a range of TV shows, including comedy and his "guilty pleasure", trash TV — everything from Jan Böhmermanns police rap to "Germany's Next Top Model", as long as it satisfies his craving for trash. As an illustrator, he specialises in portraits — and has learned to look closely at life. "I make selfies" he says, but instead of using a camera, he works with brushes and paint.
Felix is an illustrator who focuses on portraits and lives and works in Berlin. The 37-year-old was born in Leipzig and studied architecture in Weimar, Naples and Berlin. He prefers to work with gouache watercolours, pencil or coloured pencils. His clients include ARD, Arte, Berlinale, Berlin Transport Authority (BVG), Hugo Boss, Max Planck Institute and Vogue. Most recently, he portrayed the scientific work at the Konrad Lorenz Institute Vienna as artist in residence.