This is: Jeppe Hein
Mirror Labyrinths, Modified Social Benches and neon boxes are just a few ways of how Jeppe Hein is creating happiness and wonder through his art. Born in Copenhagen, based in Berlin, the Danish artist embraces the issues of our times through his sensual pieces. His participatory art becomes a tool for communication, which does not focus on what the audience sees but rather challenges what one feels when becoming part of his exhibitions. Starting with his moving benches, all the way to his current global engagement art project, Breathe with Me that he realizes in various places around the world, as well as on his Instagram account, Hein creates new ways of perceiving art. I caught up with him about creative practice, branded artists and what it means to be mindful.
When Hein started the interactive Karrierebar in 2007, he was among the trailblazers within Copenhagen's Meatpacking District: “The project was a fantastic experience, in every other store there were still only butchers with bloody shirts on. I worked for many years with friends, colleagues, artists and engineers and learned a lot. We created a space where art was integrated in the everyday life and challenged people to see their life differently. The whole interior and its functions were designed by artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Monica Bonvicini. When guests sat down at the bar-counter designed by Hein, it began to move slowly from side to side, creating the possibility of something social evolving from the functional.
Regardless of the artistic intentions it became a hip bar for those who wanted to hang out in a place that added some artistic flair to their lifestyle. Even though many people came to sip cocktails while looking at art pieces, a lot of them were not aware of what they were part of and could not appreciate the deeper sense of the place. “But it was a success in a way that people could experience new ways of feeling art. I’m sure if I would have done it in a more international city like New York or Berlin it would still be there. I could imagine doing something like this again some day”, he summarises, “but not right now – I promised my wife.”
Having studied at the Royal Danish Academy, Hein once held a lecture at the art school and felt odd when he gave students the banal advice: “You have to get up early in the morning to become successful”. Hein still gets up at six, because “it's the most quiet time to meditate”, he tells, but the message he was trying to get across at that time was more than just an empty phrase. “You have to work between boundaries and borders. Get friends, and dare to work together. That's what we did with a group of artists, when we organised exhibitions and parties in empty spaces selling drinks in order to fund our artistic production” he recalls of his early years as an artist in Copenhagen. Further, Hein tells me “to not be fixed on one thing but learn from all kinds of cultures and disciplines. Mix your profession with philosophy or even a carpenter, but combine a lot of different things. That will bring you to another level of creativity.”
Defining art as a form of communication, it seems Hein doesn't detach art from marketing and management. In one of his books he even wrote that he was acting like a businessman in some ways. When touching upon the relationship between managerial aspects in a creative profession, Hein further elaborates on his interdisciplinary approach: “I founded the organic clothing brand Change Yourself and I recently launched a small coffee company called Smil Kaffe.” According to the artist it does not kill the creativity to turn art into something more commercial: “Even if those projects are kind of a branding, I never thought of it in this way. We are too fast to judge things because of their appearance. I thought a lot about my career and how could I talk to the right people, but looking back now the main thing is to be open minded and not to judge other people.”
Nevertheless, at some point Hein was extremely fixated on his career: “I was counting exhibitions, more than focusing on what to exhibit”. In other words, he did things mostly for others and his reputation. But why do we do what we do? A heavy-weighted, inevitable question shared by many who gradually forget why they actually liked playing football, writing books or doing yoga sessions. Instead of seeing why we are doing what we do, we are tempted to impress other people and, apparently, we are doing it for reasons outside of ourselves. At some point in his life, Hein considered himself to be just that: “I was constantly on and accessible, always in the process of becoming something else”. Throughout this gloomy episode, he published the book The happiness of burnout because even though he suffered a lot, at the same time Hein recalls it as “one of the most beautiful things that happened to me”.
After losing the relationship to his body, Hein developed the motto I am right here, right now. “It’s something I have to remember and always get back to in my life. I even tattooed it on my underarm, so when I don't feel my body, I still remember it”, he jokes. Hein was already an internationally renowned artist before he burned out. But to be more present, he changed his approach towards life: “It’s more about the small things, being in the moment and doing one thing at a time. If you make something to eat, instead of listening to the news or watching a movie, just cut your ginger and try to do it with mindfulness, even if it’s only two seconds. When I am baking bread and testing the dough, I try to really feel it. To do those small things, not only when practicing yoga and meditation, but trying to practice it the whole day.” After walking me through his morning routine, including ginger tea and mediation, Hein emphasises the effect his children have on his mindfulness: “Being with them is being right here, right now. They have no concerns about the future or the past, and the more we are present in the moment the happier, we are.” In an anecdote taken from his book, Hein alludes to Kung Fu Panda, a movie his kids would watch in which the old turtle tells the miserable panda a simple story: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why they call it ‘present’.”
Even though there is no artificial timeline on which you can pinpoint what changed between before and after, Hein stresses that his approach to life in general shifted: “I am not afraid to say ‘no thank you’ but also to say ‘yes’ to the good things. The energy you send out to people is getting returned, and I think if you exude positivity you will feel that in your life.” The encounter with his boundaries also brought another dimension to his work. It has become more existential: “I understood that I am a spiritual person and this led to a new layer in my creative practice. Now I try to put as much energy into my dreams as into my fears''. Admitting that those sentiments may sound trivial or cheesy for some people, Hein insists there is more to that than meets the eye or ear: “People are always somewhere else than you are. But I am using those artworks to go very deep into myself. I often looked at my reflection and it hurt, but these quotes turn the mirror into a way of looking beyond my fears.”
