This episode is for you — my loyal friends and followers who share my deep love for the purest form of human expression there is: art.

Many of you have asked me to open up more, to share what sits behind the platform, the voice, and the choices — so here we are.

As The Art Bystander marks its three-year anniversary this February, I sit down for an intimate conversation with my life and business partner, Ellen. Together we reflect on why I started The Art Bystander, what has driven it from the beginning, and what continues to guide everything we do.

From the bottom of my heart — thank you for being part of this journey, for your curiosity, your trust, and your presence. I’m deeply grateful you’re here with us.

#theartbystander

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Today on The Art Bystander, I speak with Marlies Wirth, Curator for Digital Culture and Head of the Design Collection at the MAK in Vienna, about one of the most quietly radical figures of late-20th- and early-21st-century culture: Helmut Lang. Our conversation turns not to his later sculptural practice, but to the architecture of a legacy that reshaped how we understand design, communication, identity, and the very idea of what a fashion house could be.

The MAK’s new exhibition, Excerpts from the MAK Helmut Lang Archive — running 10.12.2025 → 03.05.2026 — reflects on the years 1986–2005, a period in which Lang’s vision dissolved the boundaries between disciplines. His work unfolded across clothing, graphics, architecture, staging, branding, and digital experimentation — not as separate gestures, but as parts of a single cultural language. Long before he stepped away from fashion, Lang had already begun to operate like an artist moving across mediums, using every surface as a site of meaning.

This retrospective reveals how deeply his ideas anticipated the world we now take for granted. It recalls the moment he livestreamed a runway before the internet had become a stage; the years when he turned New York itself into an extension of his voice; the way his presentations and stores became environments rather than commercial spaces. Lang’s legacy is not simply a story of minimalism or aesthetic restraint — it is a study in how form can become communication, and how identity can be constructed with both precision and quiet intensity.

In speaking with Marlies, the past becomes newly vivid: not nostalgic, but architectural. We explore how Lang’s decisions — from the shape of a jacket to the rhythm of a campaign, to the destruction of his own archive — can be understood as part of a larger narrative about authorship, memory, and the courage to redefine oneself.

This episode looks back at the cultural landscape Helmut Lang helped build, and the echoes of his vision that continue to structure how we see and experience the world today.

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Welcome back to The Art Bystander, the podcast that explores the stories, ideas, and people shaping the world of contemporary art. Our host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar is taking you behind the scenes of one of the most influential art fairs in the world — Paris Photo. Founded in 1997, it has become the leading international fair dedicated entirely to photography, a place where artists, collectors, curators, and institutions converge to celebrate and challenge the medium.

Joining me are Florence Bourgeois, Director of Paris Photo, and Anna Planas, Artistic Director. Together, they’ve been redefining what a photography fair can be — expanding its cultural scope, international reach, and curatorial ambition.

In this conversation, we’ll discuss the evolving role of photography in the art ecosystem, how Paris Photo bridges artistic and commercial worlds, and what it takes to curate a fair that remains both relevant and visionary. So whether you’re a collector, a photographer, or simply curious about how images shape our times — this episode is for you.

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