Thomas Scheibitz


The studio situation in this photo is overloaded in a number of respects. On a few days throughout the year I'll put together a kind of Schaulager, a combination of storage and display where different elements are stacked up against one another—large versus small, old versus new, etc. This stops the working process from becoming like an exhibition situation that will later be presented in, say, a gallery. Everything is assembled in a kind of deliberate disorder—one thing illuminates the other. This also provides the best solution when a portrait is taken in the studio, because I don't like to have half-finished or discarded elements in the background. In fact I'd rather not be photographed in the studio at all.

My studio used to be a garage. I originally rented it for just a few weeks so that I could do trial setups of a large sculpture for Venice. Those few weeks have since turned into more than six years, but I still have to deal with the fact that the building's scheduled demolition might happen at any moment. In the end, the temporary nature of this situation has really benefitted the way I work, because it stops you from becoming too entrenched and keeps you on the move. But it has also shown me that a garage-sized space is ideal for a studio. There isn't much daylight—only when the doors are open. Instead I have movable lighting units, ceiling lights, and a few (but important) dimmable lamps. A wall we recently built divides the space into a painting studio and a sculpture studio. The rest will remain flexible until the building is eventually demolished.