Marlon, you are a poet, musician and visual artist. As part of this year’s asphalt Festival, you are moving into the Weltkunstzimmer, where you will live and work in an open studio. Festival visitors will be able to visit you on a total of seven days. How did the idea for this project come about?
Ideas often just float around in the air. Artists stumble upon a book or an idea by chance, and then an impulse and the right circumstances come along. Opportunities. After moving into a new studio and with my constant ability to use and fill spaces, I had this desire and idea somewhere in the back of my mind to reveal my use of space – whether it works or not. At certain stages, I always had people in my studios, artists or not, and it was precisely the unfinished work situations that seemed to be the most exciting. I was often asked where I got my texts from, where the thoughts took shape. Often I couldn’t even describe it. Of course, they suddenly take shape, a sentence is picked up or shoots out through constant thinking. Then, however, a combination of knowledge, practice and inspiration happens in many ways. Creating a catalogue from which to draw is important to me in every way. The creation of such a catalogue, for example through a new studio, different energies and new input, is the moment I want to show. Recently, new ideas have also emerged that I would like to expose to a change of location.

Most artists prefer to work away from the public eye and only show their work when it is finished. What appeals to you about letting people participate in the creative process?
I can imagine that some people might be interested in that. In addition, I am currently experiencing for myself while working how some sketches, of whatever kind, simply spark something, create a wave, set something in motion. That creates a moment of tension. I have no fear, no shame, in showing my mistakes, my stumbles, my detours, my explorations and my hits from the subconscious. Either way, poetry, and for me art as well, and thus life, embodies the truth of error.

The Weltkunstzimmer also aims to produce texts inspired by conversations with guests. Is this way of working new to you?
No, my writing happens mainly through contact with the world. However, concentrating it in this way or activating it in a performative exhibition has not happened very often.

How important is it to you in general to interact with viewers, listeners and readers, i.e. those who consume your work?
Extremely important, if it’s an exchange. Just listening to myself is not enough for me. I am fundamentally a communicative person, both actively and passively. I need feedback. That’s where I find answers and questions.

What projects are you currently working on?
First of all, the DJOundBO collective, more on that in a moment. Then there’s the band Botticelli Baby, with whom I’ll be touring a lot. On these trips through Europe, I experience a lot that I incorporate into my art. The exhilaration on stage and the many people I meet inspire me. At the end of the year, I’ll be spending some time in the studio recording a few new songs. Poetry runs through everything I do, and I want to explore some new approaches to text and writing at the asphalt Festival. My solo music project, The Puffins, is also maturing and will continue to grow.

You studied philosophy and history at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since 2015, you have been a student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. You have realised numerous exhibitions and performances, written a book and played concerts across Europe with your band Botticelli Baby. One could get the impression that you are creative around the clock. Is that possible?
Yes, it is. It works well until I collapse. What is creativity, I ask myself here, and return to the question? At some point, I came to the realisation that I cannot stop collecting, perceiving and absorbing things, impressions and people, and allowing myself to be moved by them. I couldn’t end my life. Being inspired and inspiring others leads to both my actual artistic work and my everyday life. Drinking coffee in the morning, taking a few notes, recording a dream, reading a few poems or listening to music are just as much a part of my work as concentrated hours at my workplace in the studio or on the street. So it’s always a game of input and output. It’s always life, my work and my life.

You already mentioned it briefly: this year, you have teamed up with artist Josefine Henning to form the art collective “DJOundBO – TRÄNEN, SEX und ALKOHOL” (TEARS, SEX and ALCOHOL). What can we expect from the two of you?
We will be focusing specifically on duo performances. For example, what can tenderness be in an artist relationship? Or the observation of the other in their respective existence? There will be a poetry book with linocuts and poetry drawings, which already has 120 pages at the moment. By the way, we are still looking for a publisher! Linocuts, Polaroid photography, mobile installations and exhibition concepts for the whole year. Several exhibitions are in the planning stage, which may deal with room-in-room concepts and performance memories, remnants and live performances, and the creation of one’s own spaces. Painting, drawing and notebook art are always the lifeblood of the whole. Stickers, reading booklets and smaller works also flow into it. In all this setting off, on the way or even detours – the latter being particularly important – all mistakes are allowed. Life is the life of artists, in this case.

Opening reception on Friday, 1 July, 6 p.m. at Weltkunstzimmer. Bösherz’s open studio will then be open daily from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. until Saturday, 9 July. Admission is free.

The interview first appeared on Alexandra Wehrmann’s Düsseldorf blog theycallitkleinparis. Wehrmann works as a journalist for various media outlets and, since 2015, has been writing about people who contribute to urban life in whatever way they can on her blog. In 2021, she published her book Oberbilk. Hinterm Bahnhof (Oberbilk. Behind the Station), which she co-authored with photographer Markus Luigs.