Carolin Samson
A FEW QUESTIONS FOR… CAROLIN SAMSON!
Carolin Samson is a multi-talented artist, curator and publisher of “TheWhyNot” magazine. She loves art and lives it here in Regensburg, among other places. With ROOMSERVICE, there was a great project this year in which artists had the opportunity to show their work in hotel rooms at the LUIS Hotel. The next exciting project will follow on September 12: THEWHYNOT POPUP GALLERY at the Degginger.
RegensburgNow: Dear Carolin,
How long have you lived in Regensburg and what brought you here?
I moved from Hamburg to Regensburg in 2007. My husband set up a company here and commuted for two years until we decided to make Regensburg the center of our lives.
What have been the stages of your life so far?
I grew up in East Westphalia between Bielefeld and Osnabrück. I moved to Düsseldorf straight after leaving school and started studying architecture. Both the city and the course weren’t really my thing. So I went back, studied art in Osnabrück and , founded my first gallery and worked in museum education at the Kunsthalle in Bielefeld. From here I went to Paris for a semester, then to the Scuola di Grafica in Venice and then to Mexico for a year between my first and second state exams. Here I set up an art school and worked as an artist in a studio. Then I went back to Germany, to the old country. But I still had one foot in Mexico because I really just wanted to complete my second state examination quickly. But then I stayed and moved from a tranquil Frisian village to the Reeperbahn. In Hamburg, I taught at a school, set up a gallery in what is now the Gängeviertel and accompanied the process of transforming an abandoned place into an art district. Today, the Gängeviertel stands for an established art scene. When we moved to Regensburg, I handed over my studio, which I also had in the Gängeviertel, to a studio community, today’s Salon Valentina. In Regensburg, I worked as a freelance art teacher, both in schools and in my own art school, the LABOR for young researchers and artists, which I ran with a partner on St. Kassiansplatz.
That was one of the milestones I always had buzzing around in my head. Unfortunately, I had to give up the premises because we moved to Cologne without knowing that we would come back to Regensburg.
Since I had to act independently of a location from then on, I founded the online magazine THEWHYNOT in 2015, in which I present young artists and organize exhibitions with them. Since I’ve been back in Regensburg, I’ve been looking for premises again that I can use as a studio, gallery and art school because I want to work more in art education again. I also want to start a school program again soon.
What do you particularly like about Regensburg?
I love crossing the Stone Bridge early on Monday mornings. When Regensburg is just waking up. To feel the fresh wind at the height of the Bruckmandel and sometimes even the smell of the sausage cake being stoked at the end of the bridge. When the medieval towers appear in the sun and people hurry out of their houses to work in the many small alleyways. Then the first tourists. Americans, Japanese, Chinese… I love looking into the eyes of these explorers and seeing their joy and amazement. They always put me in a good mood, perhaps because I recognize myself in them when I discover a still unknown city somewhere in the world.
Regensburg then suddenly starts to pulsate.
Until late in the evening, when the Regensburgers are among themselves again. It doesn’t get quiet in the city until relatively late. There’s always something going on. And it’s always peaceful.
I think that’s why I love it here so much. All is still right with the world here. You can feel safe and secure here. It’s like home.
In summer, it’s almost Mediterranean. I can understand why Regensburg is often referred to as the northernmost city in Italy. I’m just waiting for the first palm trees to be planted. Everyone is out and about in the alleyways, sitting in one of the countless street cafés, bars and beer gardens, or by the Danube. Listening to the buzz of summer.
And then I love the proximity to nature. You can quickly reach the Bavarian Forest and the Alps. We have everything on our doorstep. The Regensburg area is a dream and offers a high quality of life. 
What don’t you like so much about Regensburg?
Regensburg makes it difficult for me as an artist to work here. Real estate prices have exploded, which makes it difficult to find affordable exhibition and studio space. It makes me stagnate artistically. I sometimes feel paralyzed. That’s why I’m actually thinking about activating a studio in Hamburg again, where I can work from time to time.
THEWHYNOT POPUP GALLERY opens on September 12. What do I have to imagine?
The POP UP Gallery is a temporary gallery for contemporary and urban art. I’m taking the opportunity to show a small exhibition of works by artists from my THEWHYNOT magazine at Degginger. It starts on September 10th and is open for a month from Wednesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 19:00. In the magazine itself, I present artists who inspire me, who I like and who have some kind of message that I want to share. I have already introduced over 50 artists in total and would like to share them offline with those who are interested in art. As the POPUP Gallery in Degginger doesn’t have a huge amount of space, I mainly exhibit small works, which are affordable and can be considered what I call a gateway drug to collecting art.
The artists have all already had large and small exhibitions and have established themselves, some of them very successfully, at . For example, there are small wooden sculptures made especially for the exhibition by Hyland Mather aka THELOSTOBJECT, an artist and art dealer from the USA, who runs a very successful gallery in Amsterdam. Or Matthias Edlinger, who is a successful filmmaker and whose art has long been rooted in the Munich scene. But I am also showing Rayk Amelang from Regensburg, who recently had a major museum exhibition in the Leerer Beutel. All artists can also be discovered online at www.thewhynot.de. 
You’ve just been to Venice on business. What did you do there?
As an artist in residence in Venice, I had the opportunity to set up my studio in an old barracks on the Lido and work here artistically. Together with the Lost Traces team, which is made up of architects Stephanie Reiterer and Jan Weber-Ebnet and develops architectural traces for young people, I lived here for the month of August. The so-called Caserma Pepe is once again part of this year’s Biennale for Architecture and an incubator for artistic and urban development projects. The French pavilion has explored the collective use of such a building and presented it at the Biennale. Together with the French, the Italian hosts of BUURB and people from all over the world, we worked here and helped to develop the place into a cultural center. Three character traits that you would spontaneously use to describe yourself:
Phew… I would find it much more exciting if others would describe me with 3 terms. (Note from RegensburgNow: ok, super likeable / creative / cosmopolitan & inspiring. That was 4 terms).
What does a typical working day look like for you?
No two days are the same for me. As I work independently, I have my tasks every day, but I can organize them as I wish. However, I always get up quite early. I have a morning routine that I try to stick to every morning. That’s when I get the most important tasks done. I’m most productive in the morning. After all, I do my bookkeeping and reply to emails, write to artists, write articles and plan projects. In the afternoon, I work artistically. I also have all sorts of other projects that I manage alongside my work as an artist and art mediator.
You seem to be bubbling over with ideas. What inspires you?
Above all, living places with stories. I was able to experience that again in Venice. When places have a certain magic, I am bursting with inspiration and the urge to create. Bad Gastein is another place that inspires me immensely. And Mexico.
I also love visiting good exhibitions. But I’m rigorous in my selection; if something doesn’t excite or inspire me, I quickly leave again. Then other artists inspire me, for example Jorinde Voigt and many young artists from San Francisco at the moment.
And I love good books about art, philosophy and spirituality. Once I’ve discovered one, I can’t do anything else but read it.
And then there are some people around me who I find incredibly inspiring. These are usually people who travel a lot, are cosmopolitan, often even have several nationalities within them and have found their own passion.
Hands often appear in your art. What do they symbolize for you?
Actually, they were a compensation I needed for the fourhundretpinkclouds project, in which I applied pink clouds with oil paint on the pages of an artist’s catalog. I applied the paint directly with my fingers and not with a brush. A very direct and tactile process. As I often deal with the meditative aspect of art, this was also a form of meditation coupled with an affirmation. The artist’s catalog showed reinterpreted war scenes from the biggest and most successful war films, which I in turn superimposed with the application of paint. For me, hands are also a transmitter of energy. We use them to make contact with other people. They can heal and calm.
Please describe Regensburg briefly in your own words:
Vibrant, loving, peaceful.
What is your favorite place in or around Regensburg?
In Regensburg, the walk across the Stone Bridge, the Mea in Stadt am Hof, the many small alleyways. Around Regensburg, I always love a SUP tour on the Regen, a hike on the Alpin-Steig or a snack on the Tremmelhauser Höhe.
You also present trips in your online magazine “TheWhyNot”. Where do you like to go?
I love Mexico. Not just because I was allowed to live there for a while. I’m in love with the people and the music, the landscape and the sea. Mexico gives me a lot of strength and energy. I’m somehow a different person there.
When I want to calm down and completely surrender to nature, I love going to the Seychelles. There is a beautiful little retreat there that is so magical and changed my life a bit after my first visit.
If we stay further afield, then Hawaii is a place where I could even imagine pitching my tent. Hawaii combines everything: magic, nature, cultures and different lifestyles.
But at the moment, I love going to the Alps. Bad Gastein, for example, is a place I’ve visited regularly since I learned to ski here as a child.
What are you currently working on or what is your next project?
Here in Venice I have continued my METTA series. These are breath drawings. Very fine lines in which each line represents a breath. I breathe in at the beginning of the line and breathe out until the line is complete. It works like a meditation, which in turn brings me into full concentration and sharpens my focus. You can see in the lines what the state was like during the drawing. Full concentration or more “wanting than being”. In the latter case, the lines are slightly shaky or not on track, but you can only see this if you look closely. Every morning, a small drawing is created here on the Lido, marked with the date, place and time, as well as several large METTA drawings.
I have also started a series of textile works. I made flags up to 2.50 m in size from fabrics, ropes and ribbons, most of which I found or bought here in Venice. I have laid up to 4 lengths of fabric on top of each other and painted them with ornaments and graphic patterns.
Flags have been an object of identification and a shrine for many centuries. They are still solemnly consecrated today in our Christian faith, serve to send prayers to heaven in the Buddhist faith, and were not only a point of orientation in battles in the military sphere, but also a very important symbol of honor and loyalty. Venice was a very inspiring place to start this work, and I myself am curious to see how it will continue.
Do you have a childhood dream that you want to fulfill or have already fulfilled?
I always wanted to travel a lot. My parents traveled a lot with us back then, so it was always clear to me that I didn’t want to stay in one place for too long, but rather discover the world. In 2015, I took a trip around the world with my husband and traveled around the globe in almost 4 months.
Do you prefer to cook yourself or do you prefer a restaurant?
Both. I love cooking and sometimes use it as a creative outlet when I’ve finished an artistic project but it’s still bubbling inside me. But I also love beautiful restaurants. The ambience, the style, the food and the people have to be right. Then I can go out to eat alone because the atmosphere totally inspires me.
Another Regensburg question: Knackersemmel or Prinzess chocolates?
Crispy roll! Of course I prefer savory to sweet. But it doesn’t always have to be meat.
What makes you happy?
First of all, nature. Getting up very early in the morning with the sunrise and going out into nature makes me extremely happy. Provided I’ve slept well and long enough! I love the peace and quiet, the fresh air, the clarity, the awakening and the new opportunities.
Thank you very much for the lovely interview, dear Carolin! Carolin Samson will be giving a personal tour of THEWHYNOT POPUP GALLERY at Degginger on September 12 at 6 pm. More info at www.thewhynot.de
// THEWHYNOT POPUP GALLERY // 7 artists, 4 weeks on 40 sqm.
When? From 12.09.2018, Wed-Sat 11:00-19:00
Where? In Degginger (Tändlergasse 18 or via Wahlenstraße 17)
