INTERVIEW WITH HART MAGAZINE
Søren Dastrup
-by Ale Zapata (Curator / External Projects Coordinator at Improper Walls)
In the framework of the exhibition EMBRACE ME, Lena Kuzmich initiated a collaboration with HART Magazine. You can get a limited edition of posters of the exhibition prints available in the online shop of @hart.magazine or at our online shop. But first let’s get to know more in detail what HART Magazine is about!
A: Who is behind HART Magazine?
H: Behind HART are Niklas van Schwarzdorn, Creative Director, who is a photographer and also known as the drag queen Miss Ivanka T and Léon C. Romeike, Fashion Director, who is a stylist and model. For every issue we have different contributors who collaborate with us on the content.
A: What's the magazine's main objectives and motivation?
H: We once defined HART like this:
HART MAGAZINE IS A BI-ANNUAL MAGAZINE FOR POST FETISHISM AND QUEER CULTURE. BASED AND CREATED IN BERLIN – ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST VIBRANT, QUEER CITIES.
WE PORTRAY THE EXCITEMENT AND COMMITMENT OF THE UNIQUE SUBCULTURES AND CLUBBING SCENES, WHILE SHINING A LIGHT ON POWERFUL QUEER ARTISTS AND ICONS FROM THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY.
WE ARE ANALYSING, DOCUMENTING AND CELEBRATING THE COMMUNITY WE WERE BORN FROM AND SEEK TO PORTRAY OUR OWN BEAUTY.
WE ARE A PLATFORM FOR POWERFUL QUEER ARTISTS THAT WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE AND ALWAYS HAVE.
WE ARE NOT AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT THE LIVES AND STRUGGLES OF OUR COMMUNITY – REAL AND UNCOMFORTABLE AS THEY SOMETIMES ARE. WITH OUR RAW AND BOLD AESTHETIC WE ARE REFLECTING THE WORLD AROUND US WHILE MAINTAINING AN INTELLECTUAL APPROACH AND A RESPECT FOR QUEER HISTORY.
OUR WORK IS INFUSED WITH A POST FETISHISTIC AESTHETIC THAT IS INHERENTLY LINKED TO BERLIN AND THE QUEER SCENE AND HAS REPEATEDLY MADE ITS WAY INTO POP CULTURE.
A: How do you choose the artists you feature?
H: How we choose our collaborators is very different for each case. Some we approach, some approach us. A lot of the time people submit their work to us and we decide if it could work for print or online. Many artists that we featured online collaborated with us on a print story later. What exactly influences our decisions is hard to define. We have worked with celebrities and influencers, students and very small artists and people that just inspire us. It just needs to feel right.
A: Could you tell us what post fetishism is and what its role in contemporary art?
H: To us post fetishism means something that is after the classic understanding of fetish. It is about the pink choker that you can buy at H&M and about the latex dresses that you see on a Saint Laurent runway in Paris. As with many words that start with "post-" it is a very vague word, but that's what we love about it. It is about the way people visually communicate sexuality and their desires, sometimes more subtle than other times, referencing the classic codes of fetish. The possibility to communicate sexuality visually is something that quite naturally has found its way into art.
A: Could you name 5 artists we should keep an eye on <3 ?
H: All featured in HART: Keymo, Miss Meatface, Marcel C. Wilkens/Erased Memories, Bartecky, Niklas van Schwarzdorn/Miss Ivanka T.