Unforgettable Moments After Tibet, Wieland moved to Aachen. He moved into a lovely old style apartment where he renovated everything himself. It was amazing (at the time). He had painted everything white, even the floor with hardly any furniture and a huge white fan swinging from his bedroom ceiling. Little did he know that in the near future he would barely function without one.
Half a year later I applied for a one year foundation course in art and design in London. The minute I got accepted and it was clear that I was moving Wieland didnt want to loose out on adventure and be the small town guy. He asked for a transfer from his university in Aachen to the one in Berlin, forfeiting his grand education for fun. We then started the habit of visiting each other once a year.
First time he and Mum came to visit, they came with a carload of rubbish meant to make me feel more at home: a full library, stuffed animals, record player and all the paraphernalia. Things I couldnt really fit in six square meters.
Reality turned out to be every holiday. I had show up in Berlin three times a year and he had come to London once a year to check up his little sister. A tradition was forged.
One visit coincided with my foundation year final show. It was all about "POWER". I created this enormous costume but nobody agreed to wear it. Enter Wieland…195cm and nearly impossible to sneak past Lenny, the hall of residence warden but with a bit of teamwork, two chatting Lenny up and two slipping past. I nearly had my model smuggled.
Seeing all the stuff and the costume overtaking my room, he asked what it was all about and I told him it was what he was going to be wearing when he went on stage the next day in front of the whole school. He was not impressed with the situation, nor was he particularly impressed with the sleeping arrangements…just prior to his debut, he and I were meant to squeeze into a less than single, dormitory standard cot. How could I ask the star of the show to sleep on the floor when there wasnt actually any floor space. And he did, no complaints, no nothing, just amused resignation.
So morning broke, I gave him a coffee and strapped him into the chicken wire costume for the day. And then, lucky him, once I had disentangled him from the boot of the old yellow Golf, and once they had digested the sight before them, administration decided they might as well use him as the "POWERFUL" finale piece. So, not only had he my expectations to deal with, the whole management (and so my final year marks and reputation) were depending on him to impress the ever critical art community.
Once he had decided that he was fond enough of London to visit regularly for four years, he pushed me to apply to the best school in the UK, proximate to London. And he said, "well, if it doesnt work out and they dont accept you, go to Spain: Madrid, or Barcelona…brilliant places, I always liked them anyway. And so an expensive but hilarious three times a week phone habit was forged.
In between the Berlin Wall came down and of course, Wieland was one of the first ones to be there. Always good timing. He caught me early in the morning to tell me all about it and I thought it was another one of his fantasies…well…I would learn later that he wasn’t the only one living in this beautiful dreamland.
Ricarda 2006-11-10
