Præsens

Beata Hock, 2005

Unusually traditionalwork(s)Surprise and trust

Treuka – Felix Carl, Annette Stieger and Tamara Trölsch – is an artistic trio living and working in Berlin; the name itself spells à la German the Russian word for a sleigh drawn by three horses. Although they work in a genre –drawing– that traditionally presents the output of a single artist, they produce collaborative pieces. And this is just one of the charming contradictions that characterize their work and artistic attitude, both of which perpetuate and challenge certain notions related to artistic production and the artist‚s identity. In the following interview we look into how they do this.

Præsens: What is the Treuka method? How do you collaborate on a drawing?

Treuka: We pick a theme and all three of us work on a picture about that theme. We do this in a rotational system: it is always a different one of us who starts the picture;when s/he feels s/he is finished with her/his part, s/he passes it on to the next person,who continues working on it and then passes iton to the third person, who completes it.

Præsens: Can you give us a brief survey of your history; how did you come up with the idea of joint creation and how long have you been working in this manner?

Treuka: No one really came up with the idea,it just developed. We studied together at the art school. Even back then we once had three sheets of paper on which we started three different pictures, and whichever one of us had something to add just walked over and added some lines and colours. Later, in 2001,we all had a scholarship at Nackel, where we continued to draw pictures in a similar manner.

Præsens: How do you choose themes that are equally attractive for all three of you?

Treuka: We don‚t. We do not choose themes;other people suggest themes for us. This also started at Nackel; we were supposed to cooperate with the local community, so we putout letter-boxes into which they could drop little pieces of paper with subjects on which they wanted us to work. At that time,however, the three of us still worked separately on a single theme randomly picked from the suggestions. Since then we have our ‚theme boxes‚ out at our exhibitions. We also accept suggestions from friends – and we never censor the subjects proposed.

Præsens::Did the people in Nackel like what they got? Did they recognize their themes on your pictures?

Treuka:They pretty much liked the pictures,although they were also surprised by the ways in which we processed their themes. But it‚s like that – we work like a service, but the clients are invisible and actually do not have much say after having placed their orders… We adopted the rotational "method" when we were working on our diploma work. We made wall–drawings in three different shops on the same street the locations of which formed a triangle. One of us started to draw in the flower shop, the other in the bakery, the third in the Italian restaurant, – and after two days we‚d swap.

Præsens:What happened to these wall-drawings? Or to all the other wall-drawings you did for exhibitions?

Treuka:They got painted over. That‚s how we want it; they don‚t have to stay.

Præsens:What was the reaction to your cooperative diploma work? Did your professors mind that you did not present individual artworks? Or, for that matter, do gallerists and art dealers mind that your pictures are‚ signed‚ with three names?

Treuka:No, not at all. We haven‚t met any resistance in this respect. If gallerists refuse to show our pieces, it is because they may not like the work; but in most cases they find this collaboration interesting.

Præsens:Artists, however, are generally not particularly happy when they are ‚told‚ what to do – even when it only means invitation to athematic exhibition. You, however, by taking over other people‚s ideas, seem to be begging for such ‚guidance‚.

Treuka:
Tamara: Oh yeah. We think that any theme is just as good as another. And it is interesting to get topics from other people because they come up with things we‚d never have thought of. And when you have to draw it, you start thinking about it even if you have no idea what it really means or refers to. For example, when what you get is just a date, it can be the date of somebody‚s birthday, apolitical event or a number of other things. So you do a bit of research and give it a little thought.
Annette: The theme is really only a trigger to start a picture, but you yourself also develop through the research that you do: you find information about certain things which otherwise might not become part of your world.
Felix: There is a little bit of play involved here with the importance of your choice of subject. We are not the kinds of artists who find their BigTheme and keep going back to it again and again over the course of years; we are just not like that.
Tamara: Interestingly enough, we do not use themes so much in our individual work; then I rather just apply colours and lines on a surface.

Præsens:So you do continue to produce art work individually too. What is the relationship between the two sorts of art practice?

Treuka:
Tamara:From a managerial point of view it‚s much easier to work in Treuka. We also distribute organisational tasks (calling and meeting people, arranging things and what have you), and there‚s more motivation not to postpone but actually to do these managerial chores when you‚re not only doing it for yourself.
Felix: From the point of view of creation, one frequently has this anxiety about finishing a piece. It often feels like a great responsibility;you have that when you work alone. In Treuka,you only have to blend in the picture and done part of it
Annette: Also, there is a challenge in this blending in. You have the trust of the other two, you are also responsible for their work –you will surprise them, that‚s part of the game, but you don‚t want to surprise them unpleasantly, to disappoint them. So at the same time it involves a greater responsibility than working on your own; it‚s a combination of surprise and great trust.

Præsens: Do you discuss the themes before starting to process them? Or do you discuss the finished pieces? I am asking this because I find a pleasing collision here: some of you engage with figurative and narrative modes of expression, some of you prefer more abstract approaches. And these theme-based Treuka pictures at the end do have a narrative character – but the narrative is certainly not a unified and transparent one, as it is fed from three different artistic worlds. So I guess it could be rather exciting to stand in front of your pictures and find out together how these three lines meet.

Treuka: The concept is not to discuss, so we do not normally discuss. Like when you are the second or the third person to draw, you only get the theme when it‚s your turn to continue the picture. And when you are not the one who finishes it, you might only see the picture when you walk into the gallery at the exhibition opening… All we decide in advance is the size and the material: canvas, paper,wood or wall-drawing.

Præsens: Do you mind when your idea or the little narrative world that you started to develop on the canvas is given a different direction by the contributions of the others? And how much are you influenced by what is already on a picture started by one of your partners?

Treuka: Felix: Digression is never a problem; and influence is the most important and exciting part of it all. Because you have to blend in,you have to work somehow with what‚s already there; it‚s not only about what you yourself think of the subject matter. Annette: It is like a conversation; we all speak to one another but not with words. Tamara: Or it‚s like a riddle that you have to solve. In the end, it has to be a good piece, a good composition, and you have to figure out how to bring yourself in without spoiling the picture even if it‚s already been hanging on your wall for two weeks …Annette: … and the others are waiting! When you work alone, you can put a work aside for half a year if you are stuck with it – but not with Treuka!

Præsens: While your final product, a drawing, is the representative of a rather traditional,canonized, if not old-fashioned, genre, this neglect of conventional ego-based ‘artisthood‚ lends your enterprise a fairly up-to-date, non-traditional or even postmodern twist – while you nevertheless retain some aspects of the freely and individually creating subject. And you top it all off with some conceptually based side-activities.

Treuka:
Tamara:Or you could just say that were present ourselves as a business company rather than as brilliant artists who solemnly work away in their studios. Anyone can sponsor us, for instance: they can buy a yearly membership and in return they‚ll receive a quarterly newsletter reporting on our activities, shows and how we used up the money. They‚ll also receive an end-of-the-year bonus art piece, small-size artworks or individually decorated household objects.Felix: Or we have collectable gift coupons. Ifyou‚ve collected a certain number, in return you‚ll get a little art piece by Treuka. Annette: At the opening of the exhibition to which we were invited, the topic of which was Deutsche Bank (…), we had a little action called Treuka Trust. Visitors could buy and sell Treuka shares and then trade them for Treuka artworks. To our surprise, people were very devotedly buying and selling Treuka shares and were very composed when waiting for their turn to buy, sell or trade.

Præsens: Well, I wish you then a thrivingnew yearwith many new members and inspiringthemes!

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