As of: February 9, 2024, 4:10 p.m
By: Katja Kraft
Comments
Press
Split
Conceptual artist Flatz posed naked for several minutes on a turntable on the stage in the rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Action instead of auction.
© Felix Hörhager
The artist Flatz wanted to auction off his tattoos at the Munich Pinakothek der Moderne.
There was a huge rush - but then: the auction was canceled.
Read what happened instead here.
Of course you feel like you're kidding yourself.
The big auction of tattoos by conceptual artist Flatz: canceled.
Questioning faces on Thursday evening in the rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne.
An auction was actually supposed to take place there.
Said Flatz had announced that he would sell the motifs on his skin.
When the 71-year-old dies, they will be cut out, prepared and presented behind glass.
At the auction, the buyer would first have received full-body photographs with the areas of skin marked - and then the pieces of skin after the artist's death.
(Read here: Our interview with Flatz about the big tattoo auction)
The provocation was well-placed: huge media hype in advance, insane crowds on the evening of the announced auction.
The rotunda is full up to the upper floor - including some of the around 1,000 guests who are not normally seen at exhibition openings in this building.
There is enough space for everyone.
Around 1,000 guests streamed into the rotunda of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich to witness the auction.
© Felix Hörhager
And then not again.
Bernhard Maaz, General Director of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, has just made an art historical plea for the importance of provocation and of snubbing the conservative audience;
Bernhart Schwenk, who curated the new Flatz exhibition, also emphasized that art is not subject to beauty contests - and then this: At the end of his speech, Schwenk surprised everyone by announcing that “a collector” had bought all the tattoos and that the auction was therefore canceled .
“He bought it wholeheartedly.
“Which, as I’ve learned, doesn’t happen all that rarely,” is how Schwenk puts it – and the defense chimes in.
Because that's a hammer, even without a hammer falling that evening: Who, you ask yourself, is this ominous collector?
Does it even exist?
Or is this all nothing more than a big PR stunt, a fluff?
The artist himself reacts coolly in the conversation: “My biggest Swiss collector paid a seven-figure sum.
Anyone would have taken it.
You would have taken that too!” The money – however much it is – should go to the Flatz Foundation, which supports artists.
So instead of auction there is just action.
But a double of that.
Before Flatz nakedly poses silently on a turntable on the stage for a few minutes, another man stands there.
Also tattooed, upper body exposed.
Flatz talks to him for a few seconds until the young guy leaves the stage and the older guy himself begins his performance.
As we later find out, that wasn't part of the action; the man probably wanted to disrupt it because he accused Flatz of stealing his idea.
Flatz' tattoo auction: is it all just a big PR stunt?
That suits this evening, which is strange in the best sense of the word, where no one can really tell you what is true and what is staged.
Also the red lines on the shaved back of Flatz's head: Is that blood?
Did he really cut the red star into his flesh?
In the end, are we all part of a great performance by falling for the mischievous enfant terrible?
My news
“We are the World” - read why this new Netflix documentary moves you to tears
Conceptual artist Flatz is auctioning off his tattoos in Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne: Skin Matter Art Reading
ARD “Tatort” today: Read Jule Ronstedt completely changed
The Nazi Documentation Center in Munich takes a look at right-wing violence: “There is a lot to do” read
“I am not a senior teacher”: Interview with Rudolf Buchbinderlesen
Momo remake: Rat Pack will be shooting in Croatia from spring
You can call this repulsive and cheap provocative theater.
Lots of people do that too this evening.
And we have heated discussions about the sense and nonsense of Flatz's work.
Questioning to the point of excitement.
Talking, arguing, laughing with each other.
More intense than ever at openings.
Not just seeing and being seen, but really perceiving: all of this happens when a guy like this flits into his comfort zone.
Functions.