Julia Schäfer
Julia Schäfer is currently on leave. We are looking forward to welcoming her back to New Leipzig Talents soon.
*1972, since 2003 curator and art-educator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig. 2000 Assistant at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 1999-2001 freelance at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2001-2003 assistant curator Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig. Julia Schäfer studied fine arts, art education and German literature at the University of Osnabrück and Academy of Fine Arts Dresden. Schäfer focuses on the possibilities of art mediation in curatorial strategies. Julia Schäfer taught at Burg Giebichenstein, Halle/Saale, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Between 2014 and 2016, she was member of the Board at the Cultural Foundation of Saxony. She published several books.
Julia’s confessions
Q. DO YOU HAVE A ROLE MODEL OR LIFE MOTTO?
A. There is a piece of art by the American artist Christine Hill across my office desk. It says: 1. Know what you want. 2. Do what you like. This slogan has accompanied me for 14 years. My art teacher always used to say: People who are crazy get more out of life. I have been quoting that phrase often for almost 30 years, too.
Q. WHAT EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE STANDS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY?
A. Playing the violin in the orchestra, visits to the museum Weserburg in Bremen during my studies, art lessons in high school, buying a Kandinsky poster at the age of 15.
Q. WHAT CAN YOU NOT LAUGH ABOUT?
A. Injustice, discrimination of all kinds.
Q. WHAT’S A BEAUTIFUL THING YOU BOUGHT YOURSELF RECENTLY?
A. The gorgeous catalogue about the architect Lina Bo Bardi: Brazil’s Alternative Path to Modernism and a nice tent for my family.
Q. WHAT BOOK WOULD YOU NEVER GIVE AWAY?
A. The poems by Kurt Tucholsky – I have been highlighting the poem “Das Ideal” for 30 years, to read it in all circumstances of life or to pass it on to other people.
My diaries.
Q. WHEN DO YOU FEEL MOST ALIVE?
A. When I am with my family. While hiking. When singing. Also, very often when I mediate art and I feel it is received to some extent. I love that.
Q. WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN?
A. In life and the universe.
Q. WHERE IS YOUR MOST PEACEFUL PLACE?
A. Mountains are my most peaceful place.
Q. WHAT WAS THE LAST GOOD DEED YOU DID?
A. My daughter’s piano school was urgently looking for new rehearsal rooms. I organized a vacant apartment on the premises of the GfZK. Now, we sometimes hear piano music in the office.
Q. WHAT HAVE YOU RECENTLY DREAMED ABOUT?
A. To have more time for everything.
Q. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC?
A. I like dancing to HipHop, listening to Deine Freunde and Fiva with my children. I also love Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and 3 etc.
Q. WHAT IS HARDER FOR YOU: STARTING OR STOPPING?
A. There is a good balance. It depends on what it is all about!