Li Di's German Studio

TEXT:Sue Wang    DATE: 2011.6.8

After I finished my studies at Braunschweig HBK, Germany in1996, I had to look for a studio for my career as freelance artist. I did not find a suitable one until 1998 when I met a minister who was very interested in art collections. As he knew I had been looking for a studio, he let me have the empty house belonging to the church as my studio. It’s a typical German-style old house of wooden structure and it’s empty for disrepair with two stories each was about two hundred square meters plus loft. It is located at a small village called Bevenrode which is 12km away from the north of Braunschweig where I live. It’s near a very old country church, so quiet that only birdcalls can be heard and weeds in its yard are taller than me. I usually spread a blanket on the grass, lying on it and reading. The second floor was used as my studio until 2004. When the church repaired it, I thought I had to look for a new one, then the minister asked me again when I was still interested in that loft. I’ve never been there before his propose. It turned out to be great! Although it’s not as broad as stories, the area was the same. Thus I stayed for nothing but the familiar tranquil and birdcalls. Now I’ve been happily working there for 15 years and most of works exhibited at the Today Art Museum, Beijing were completed there.