As of: February 15, 2024, 4:52 p.m
By: Katja Kraft
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With a clear view: Milen Till in front of two works from his “Parkett” series, which can now be seen in the Munich Galerie Klüser.
© Marcus Schlaf
For years, Milen Till was successful with his brother Amédée as the DJ duo Kill the Tills.
Then he left Munich's nightlife - and became an artist.
His works can now be seen in the Klüser Gallery.
A visit.
At 15, Milen Till dropped out of school and moved into the night.
He and his younger brother Amédée fluttered through the clubs like butterflies - where they flapped their wings was the beat.
The Munich DJ duo called themselves Kill the Tills.
Together they hosted legendary parties, pumping oxygen into the guests' blood via their turntables.
Love is like Oxygen – and the brothers were full of love for these ecstatic celebrations.
Dancing, fidgeting, bawling, ecstasy until the clouds are purple again.
Everything for this moment.
That went well for many years.
“But in the end it wasn’t so good anymore,” says Milen Till today.
He is now 39 and has a skateboard running in a continuous loop on the rotating turntables he used to have.
An installation he made a few years ago.
In my early 30s, after the “hard cut” that was necessary.
Art instead of beat matching.
“I had to make this radical break away from being a DJ to save myself.
I could no longer ignore the psychological and physical alarm signals,” he says.
He stands in the Munich Klüser Gallery with a strikingly clear, penetrating gaze.
In front of his own works, in his second solo exhibition in these rooms.
Unreally beautiful for him.
“I always thought living your dream was a paradox - because if you live it, it's not a dream.
But today I know: You just have to dare.” This tall, upright man, who you can hardly recognize in old photos, proves what is possible.
There's a hunched over guy with a hat and headphones hanging behind the DJ booth;
He looks tired, characterized by lack of sleep and lack of boundaries.
Brothers at the DJ desk: Amédée (left) and Milen Till heated up the Munich crowd as Kill the Tills.
Like here in 2015 at the opening of the Simona Barbieri shop.
© Getty Images
So it's a tough cut.
“All I owned, what I always took with me to the various shared apartments or apartments I lived in, were the turntables that I bought when I was 15.
When I retired from nightlife, I started putting objects on it.” Kinetic art.
Inspired by Jean Tinguely, Daniel Spoerri, the “Nouveaux Réalistes”.
“I found all of that very exciting.
I felt there was something there.” His brother’s girlfriend also felt that.
She contacted Gregor Hildebrandt, who had just been appointed professor of painting and graphics at the Munich Art Academy in 2015.
And immediately fell in love with Till's turntable skateboard object.
This belongs in the academy's annual exhibition, said Hildebrandt, who lives in Berlin.
But then I had to realize that this isn't quite so easy in Munich.
If you want to be represented in the students' annual exhibition, you have to - surprise!
– be a student.
So Hildebrandt said to him: Apply to the academy.
“But that seemed totally absurd to me.
At 30!
I already felt way too old.
I thought the train had left.”
Milen Till made it to the Munich Art Academy
But because only those who dare win, he set off again - from the night into the glaring light of the academy.
Hiding forbidden.
“That was what saved me and brought me back down to earth.
That I had to get involved with the academy and the harshness that prevails there with a new seriousness.” Showing my own work, facing the feedback – “that’s where it gets down to business.”
He received his diploma two years ago.
And he exhibited at Klüser during his studies.
Under the title “Gap Filler” he filled holes in the parquet of the gallery rooms with blue acrylic glass triangles.
A homage to Blinky Palermo’s “Blue Triangle,” which is emblazoned above the entrance door at Klüser.
Now Milen Till is taking the game further in his current show.
Imitates the herringbone pattern of the floor on the canvas - and there is one of the blue triangles in every work in the new “Parquet” series.
“I'm not only interested in playing with color nuances, but also the nostalgia behind it.
When I think of parquet floors, I immediately think of beautiful old apartments that people can afford less and less.
I was lucky enough to grow up in an apartment like this.
“I feel right at home there,” says Till.
“For me, it’s not just a floor, it’s a work of art.” And then the patina that makes you pause: what has probably already happened on these floorboards.
Who crawled, jumped, ran here.
And danced.
Danced like there was no tomorrow.
Until March 9, 2024 in the Galerie Klüser, Georgenstraße 15, Tue.-Fri.
11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.