Interview: Maximilian Meisse
Luca Curci talks with Maximilian Meisse during ANIMA MUNDI 2022 – RITUALS, at Palazzo Bembo – Venice Grand Canal.

Born in Kassel, lives and works in Berlin. He studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart and at the ETH Zurich. He has worked in various architectural offices and as a freelance photographer and then become a member of the Deutscher Werkbund.

Luca Curci – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
Maximilian Meisse – Originally, I was an architect. This fact helps me a lot in assessing the urban space, which is the focus of my photographic work.

LC – When you take photos, are you usually inspired by the situation or do you find inspiration in yourself?
MM – I take inspiration from both. First I look for a particular place and then try to reinvent it with my gaze.

LC – How important is the editing process in your work? How’s yours?
MM – If you mean image processing of an already taken photograph: it does not play a very big role.

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in society? And contemporary art?
MM – Art can create new little worlds.

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
MM – I’m interested in the process of creation when the reality is reinvented via its image.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this event? How is it connected to the theme of the entire exhibition?
MM – My photograph shows the clash of two architectural and social eras that create an almost surreal place. The prefabricated building from GDR times seems to want to conquer the building from the 19th century but does not manage to do so. The quality of the old house cannot be erased.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
MM – I really appreciate the concept of ITSLIQUID and I am grateful to be able to participate in my work.