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Arts.21 - The Cultural Magazine | 4.03.2017

March 6, 2017

This man doesn’t just shoot photos – he creates images. Wolfgang Tillmans is one of the most exciting contemporary artists. The Tate Modern is currently celebrating him with a huge exhibition. And Arts.21 with a special.

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Wolfgang Tillmans in seinem Londoner Studio
Image: Birgit Kleber

He makes sculptures from photographic paper and photographed wild techno parties. The sound of the subculture is as familiar to him as the silence of the night. Poetic still lifes, political collages, portraits – Wolfgang Tillmans transcends boundaries and genres. He’s a detail-oriented observer. Born in Remscheid, he was the first German artist to be awarded the prestigious Turner Prize. The artist who engages with the present and fights Brexit. Now London’s Tate Modern has dedicated a huge exhibition to him. But how do Tillman’s pictorial worlds come about? What drives this man? Arts.21 spoke to him about fame, intoxication, and Europe’s political shift to the right.