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Christian Jankowski runs into a Berlin art gallery, hugs Homeland actor Nina Hoss and holds up a map of Venice, which a gallery assistant staples to the wall. Taking off his coat, Jankowski begins putting the finishing touches to his show at Contemporary Fine Arts, a retrospective, – even if he doesn’t like the format. “It’s a statement, almost like the work is done,” he says. “You become fearful just hearing the word.”
Jankowski, the art world’s court jester, caused a stink at the 2011 Frieze art fairwhen he rolled a ₤10m yacht into Regent’s Park, London, and sold it for ₤65m. He consulted psychics to predict his Venice Biennale output and collaborated with Texan televangelists for The Holy Artwork. The Berlin retrospective features works from 1992 to 2015, including more than 40 videos, curated by Hoss herself.
Strolling into one of his installations, a Korean karaoke booth covered in tinfoil, Jankowski and Hoss sit down under a disco ball to talk about how a TV star came to curate her first art exhibition with only a week’s notice. Hoss, who plays the German intelligence officer Astrid in Homeland and has been dubbed “Germany’s best hope for winning an Oscar,” had no idea who Jankowski was when he invited her to collaborate with him.
Yet she gladly filled the role and the gallery jumped for joy. “Without Christmas, none of this would have been possible,” said Jankowski. Over the holidays, Hoss viewed 120 videos by the artist, but still had her doubts. “I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ It was kind of a risk.” She had no choice but to take a practical approach , focusing on the works available. “I didn’t want to think: ‘What does the art world expect?’ I just asked myself: ‘What can I connect with?’
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