Did you always wanted to be an artist?
As a child I really liked art, although I had no real idea what is was. My image of artists was very cliché, because I was only ten. I just knew I liked painting, especially landscapes. So that’s almost the completely opposite of what I do at the moment. Creating things with my hands is still my passion, but now I focus on every type of media, from video and photo to different materials.
Marcel Hiller – ‚Im Schatten der Nacht staucht die Stufe den Fuß in meinem Le Coq Sportif‘, 2014, installation view, mixed media, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, DE, 2014. Photo: Ben Hermanni.
This is a totally new environment for you. How do you usually work?
I start with a kind of analysis, or maybe that word is too strong. Let’s put it like this: I try to understand the situation of the location. What’s the drive and the logic of the space? Then I disrupt something.
For example, at my last exhibition I used the steps of the stairs, and re-used them to create a different situation. I want to re-invent the space. The piece is not the most important, it’s the connection with the location. That’s why I like to change the scenery and work outside traditional locations. My work never feels finished, but the situation I’ve created can be finished. When you move the piece, it’s time to rethink it and start the proces again.
Research picture Volkshotel 2014, photo by Marcel Hiller
How do you like staying at Volkshotel so far?
I slept really well, that’s the most important thing, haha. And it’s made very professionally. Obviously, they had a clear vision of the use of spaces, so the functions are clear. In essence it’s a hotel, but I think that the use for visuality also expresses a feeling of subculture and taste. It has all the aspects of a good hotel, like a restaurant, roof top terrace, a nice lobby (I like the word lobby by the way), but it’s not a classical business hotel. Not that posh or bobo, that’s nice.
Marcel Hiller in Volkshotel, photo by Raymond van Mil
And how do you like Amsterdam?
I did a project in W139 on Warmoestraat a while ago, so I knew the city. I find it a bit of a stressful city, because there’s not much air. Luckily it’s quite green and the water is very special. The ferry and the NDSM Wharf, special places. Not being invited as a tourist makes it a different experience. When you’re on holiday, there’s pressure to see the hotspots, the right things. I don’t feel it like that, it’s more pragmatic because I have a purpose. And the hotel is nice, to have space for yourself, to read, work and let the rest pass by.
Marcel Hiller, work in progress, photo by Raymond van Mil
