Tobias Urban, Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka and Florian Reither first met at summer camp in 1978. Fifteen years later they formed Gelitin, a Vienna-based art collective – or, as they put it, ‘four bodies that are actually one artist’ – that has produced works including interactive outdoor installations and irreverent performance pieces. Best known for a humorous approach to art-making, the group counts among its works Die Wachauer Nase (2014), a giant nose that pokes out from a bank of the Danube in St Lorenz, and Otto Volante (2004), a self-made, fully functioning rollercoaster constructed within Massimo De Carlo gallery in Milan. Gelitin’s most recent exhibition, ‘All for All’, is at Perrotin in New York from 5 March–11 April.
Where is your studio?
Wherever we hang our hat. Our studio is most certainly something we have in ourselves. The real studio is our shared appetite for art, risk, arguments, mess and the moment when an idea turns physical.
How would you describe the atmosphere in your studio?
Vibrant, flux, sexy, loud, very calm, crazy wild, total banana, peaceful, boring, sleepyhead, welcoming, birdcage, tunnel, cave – everything and different. It changes with the hour, the weather, who’s present.
Is there anything you don’t like about your studio?
No.
What does your studio routine look like?
No routine. Routine is not possible; it kills the studio – too dangerous. Sometimes we start with an amazing joke and end with a sculpture; sometimes we begin with a serious plan and happily destroy it. The only habit is staying available to accidents, to each other, and to the point when a thing demands to be made.
How do you find working together in your studio? Does anyone else work with you?
Lots of people: friends, family, gelatinettes, energy traders, sleepovers, ticking bombs, outcasts, leftovers, future superstars, fallen angels… we all work together. We found each other a long, long time ago.
Do you have many visitors?
Yes.
Who is the most interesting or unusual visitor you’ve had?
Hopefully someone who walks in sometime next week. The best visitor is not a famous name but a catalyst: a person with a strange tool, a story or an impossible proposal. We like visitors who don’t come to confirm what we already do, but to disturb it – politely or not.
Do you listen to anything while you work?
Yes, we listen to the sound of the machines, the bees, the birds, the clouds flying by, voices, scratches –everything. We want to know, feel and experience, so we keep our eyes and ears and noses, all our orifices, wide open.
What is the most unusual object in your studio?
Gelitin.
‘All for All’ is at Perrotin, New York, from 5 March–11 April.
