Name
Valerie von Meiss
Profession
Collage art connoisseur and founder of the Curve
Website
Who are you? What do you do?
I am the founder and host of the Curve – a private dynamic show room for contemporary collage art conveniently located between my living room and my kitchen in Berlin Mitte. The Curve is a hallway with a twist and with all sorts of directions. Every other month I showcase works of different collage artists demonstrating their own sense of direction.
Where are you from?
I am from Zurich/Switzerland and I live in Berlin since 7 years.
What makes the Curve different?
The Curve is still in the making and developing as we speak. With the creation of an art space that is not a typical gallery space (i.e. a sterile white cube) but a quirky round corridor, I hope to be a little bit ahead of the curve. I organise private events with selected guests, artists and friends, which creates an intimate and cosy atmosphere. While I enjoy the vast spectrum of photography, I have decided to only focus on collage art in the Curve, a particular passion of mine, and an approach to photography, which I believe captures our Zeitgeist beautifully.
Your weakness? Your strength?
My life has never been a straight line, which I guess can be seen as either a weakness or a strength. I don’t think in boxes and connect with all sorts of people from various fields. With a personal background in advertising and marketing, but a passionate photography collector as mother as well as many friends in the art world, I dare to challenge the traditional gallery structure. A weakness of mine is certainly my impatience when it comes to my own projects and goals.
When did you start the Curve?
In January 2017.
What do you find most fascinating about your work?
Discovering emerging as well as established collage artists is definitely one of my favourite parts. Witnessing how the analogue photograph becomes more and more important to the next generation of artists who grow up in a never-ending abundance of digital imagery. Appropriating as well as layering and creating new realities or memories is another fascinating aspect of collage art.
Someone else’s work that inspired or inspires you…
Julie Cockburn and of course John Stezaker are two artists whose works triggered my curiosity and passion for collage art.
A new project coming up or an idea you want to work on?
I met a talented artist from Munich, Milen Till whose works will be shown in the Curve at the end of April.
2017: Where are we going?
I see 2017 as a curve, where I don’t know what’s coming. In case you want to see where the Curve is taking me follow me here instagram/thecurve_berlin or here facebook/thecurveberlin
