I discovered Michael Clark in i-D magazine when I was 17 or 18, probably because of his links to Mark E. Smith’s band the Fall. For years I only knew Michael’s work from images; eventually I started to look at films of it on the Internet, but I never saw it live. I was never really into dance, but I knew a lot about Michael—in particular, his links to Bodymap and Leigh Bowery and his obsession with David Bowie. Bowie and his work with Brian Eno in Berlin in the 1970s is very important to me.
Last summer I was curating an event for Mercedes in Berlin and realized that I would love for Michael to do something for it. I expected him to say no. But I called him, and it was a fantastic call; we shared so many interests. Eventually he said, “Okay, I’ll do it as a tribute to David Bowie.” It brought the whole thing together for me.
I didn’t go to the rehearsal. I wanted to wait for the performance, and when I saw it, I found it mind-blowing. So punk. So anarchic. So sculptural. And I was very, very impressed technically: The projections were amazing, and Stevie Stewart’s costumes were beautiful. My friends were so moved that some of them were crying. Me too! I cried three times. I thought, I could see it all again right now, in an hour, next week. It’s the sort of stuff you want to see all the time.
