When, at the end of the 1960s, I became interested in the Nazi era, it was a taboo subject in Germany. No one spoke about it anymore, no more in my house than anywhere else.
But we should also not forget the difference between what first motivated me and the work that is the result.
I might have been born into a very literal sense of chaos, but in fact that state is true of all of us.
History is formed by the people, those who have power and those without power. Each one of us makes history.
I was interested in transcendence from a very early age. I was interested in what was over there, what was behind life. So when I had my first communion I was very disappointed. I had expected something amazing and surprising and spiritual. Instead all I got was a bicycle. That wasn’t what I was after at all.
Art really is something very difficult. It is difficult to make, and it is sometimes difficult for the viewer to understand. It is difficult to work out what is art and what is not art.
But I believe above all that I wanted to build the palace of my memory, because my memory is my only homeland.
If I do something that depresses, it’s not because I’m depressed, but because political life and history is depressing.
Ruins, for me, are the beginning. With the debris, you can construct new ideas. They are symbols of a beginning.