Oliver Baudach (Oli) is a typical skateboarder. In a good way. He meets us with a smile that will not go off his face until the end of our conversation. We’re not special - Oli greets every visitor like this. And (be sure) will offer you a cup of ecological coffee, tea or water. He seems to be easy-going. A kind of lucky one. He’s a director. Director of Hatch, the world’s first (and the only one) sticker art museum. Here you’ll find 25 years of sticker collecting culture – collated and constantly expanded by Oli. It shows extracts of culture, creativity, advertising medium, commerce and street art...
Nobody cares that it’s a kind of “one-man-show”. And actually Oli never complains. “Yeah, nowadays Berlin galleries have lots of problems with different things - starting from the rents and ending with cutting of financial support by the city administration. But I hope the situation won’t be the same as it happened in Barcelona”, - he says killing us with his smile… Lucky one, as I said…
How did you start with this idea?
I moved to Germany in 1992 from Spain and from 2000 I’m in Berlin. I was working in a skateboard business. That time skateboarding was completely unknown in Germany - it was more movement in Barcelona where I lived before. Well, I was working in Germany for a skateboard business for an year, then I quitted this in 2006, thinking about how to continue… Then I was dealing with the Berlin Skateboard Club - they had this project of building Skate Park (Skatehalle Berlin), but I was really “art-interested” and I saw all this great art-stickers outside, though my own collection was the main part about boards and brand stickers. There are lots of artists who are specialized only in stickers - it’s cheap to produce stickers, and you can spread it everywhere, you know… And, yeah, when you’re able to see all these great art-works, but you don’t know the authors, you never have any possibility to enjoy them. Yeah, they’re getting bleached by the Sun or covered by another stickers or advertise posters… And then it started an idea to try to conserve this kind of culture. And, yes, first, it was this idea - oh yeah, I have to conserve this culture, I was thinking about it, and then I came to an idea of the Museum of Sticker Art. I went immediately to Google and started to search, and I realized that no one had a similar idea. There are lots of web-sites presenting the galleries with images, but there were no any place, where people can go, share something, leave stickers…
What are the sources of getting the stickers for your collection? How do you deal with sticker artists?
Well, skateboard and brand stickers are easy to find, because they always have great trade shows, majority of brands are located in Berlin. As for art-stickers, for the first time I needed to visit lots of exhibitions, opening shows and all these events… Sometimes I used to take stickers there… Yeah, and when I started my museum first in Friedrichshain, then the first artists heard about it… It was not easy to begin, because I had some financial support from Carhartt which is a commercial brand specialized on skateboarding and all this stuff - lots of artists never heard about me and never heard about my project. So they thought that I want to take their fame out of this movement and then to disappear after a while taking all this fame and that’s all. But when they came, took a look inside, I tried to explain them the idea that this Museum is completely non-commercial project and Cahartt makes it possible and I convinced them. First artists left the stickers in museum, and then they told about it to other artists - so, yeah, it became more and more popular. And since then I use to get every week donations from all over the world. It’s really amazing…Fortunately my place is still unique. I get in touch with lots of collectors, there are lots of sticker exhibitions all over the world, but fortunately for me they are all temporary. There is a big movement but I’m still the only one with a permanent location…
Well, what is more in sticker culture – advertising, subcultural language or art?
The biggest part of sticker culture is still advertise but now it’s becoming more and more social - you can see lots of stickers by, for example, antifascist organizations. And very often stickers are used as a kind of political protest to spread a word or opinion about something. Yeah, there was a small amount of sticker artists, but since the 90s it’s becoming more and more famous to use the stickers surface, to do artworks with it but anyway it’s still a kind of street culture - so lots of people still use to think that it’s a kind of urban trash. But, I hope, in my museum people can accept the stickers more serious, as a kind of art… Lots of people tell me that after watching my exhibitions they start to realize that it’s what you can call art, a creative piece…
How many stickers do you have for today?
Half a year ago I tried to count the number of stickers in my museum but then realized that it takes lots of time. But it has to be about 25 000 stickers. And my collection is about 10 000 stickers…
Does anybody help you in managing this project?
Does anybody help you in managing this project?
The head project is Sticker Museum but also I have mail-order for kids where there is an opportunity to get easier the stickers from the main and the most popular brands. It’s also running really good, but not good enough to have some employments or some helping people here… Fortunately I have internships from time to time, and this people help me a lot, but the biggest part of the time I’m alone. Usually my day consists of 2 parts. The first half I’m dealing with my on-line resources and the second one - with this museum. Fortunately, because it’s my passion, I forget very often the time and I’m stuck in museum till the late of the night doing the frames and all this stuff. As for catalogue - I have it in my mind, something I already started to do but it’s lack of time. I use to take all the opportunity using the potential of my friends - artists, photographers, journalists. So all the projects are running, but… slow. Luckily the biggest part of the people understand it - they know how many passion is inside the project. I never had any negative feedback from anybody…
Is there any special language in the sticker culture?
Is there any special language in the sticker culture?
I think, there are some special languages or movements but there’s no one special language for the whole sticker culture. Stickers are so diverted, there are so many possibilities… I think, there are special groups of people - surfers, skateboarders and also in the art-scene people, who are, for example, specialized in “passi-flash”, when you copy, for example, the logos of big brands, change them a little… Or people dedicated to copy other artists’ works doing it in different styles, changing the message… So, yes, there are lots of different movements but not the special one…
Be honest, how can you survive with Hatch?
Be honest, how can you survive with Hatch?
“Survive” is the perfect word for my project. It depends, where you focus your philosophy. For me it was very important to be friendly with visitors and artists. I see the museum as an extended arm of the movements on the streets. I get the stickers for free and my passion is possible, because of all this support, and I never have to pay for sticker donation. So I try to do the same with the visitors - free entrance, coffee, tea, conversation. As long as I have this support from Carhartt, and the website seems to be more and more successful - I can continue with museum as a kind of non-commercial project, and I can run the website as a complete commercial part. The on-line market is getting bigger and bigger - so I will work with the agencies to sell advertise spaces. I hope that it will run…
Do you use to create stickers by yourself as an artist?
Do you use to create stickers by yourself as an artist?
I was making stickers by myself, but now Hatch takes a lot of time, so… I have notes in my laptop, I’m full of ideas, but it’s still not possible at the moment to deal with it. But I’m really satisfied to be a museum director…
7 places to go in Berlin (by Oliver Baudach):
- Gestalten Space (Store & Gallery) - Sophie-Gips-Höfe, Sophienstraße 21;
- Superplan Gallerry - Markgrafendamm 31;
- West Berlin Gallery - Brunnenstraße 56;
- Neon Chocolate Gallery - Lychener Str. 23;
- Flea Market - Boxhagener Platz;
- Freischwimmer Restaurant - Vor Dem Schlesischen Tor 2 A;
- SO36 Club - Heinrich Plaz.
HATCH (Art Stickers Museum)
Brunnenstrasse 196, 3. HH Berlin
Monday - Saturday 12.00 - 18.00
www.hatchkingdom.com
Brunnenstrasse 196, 3. HH Berlin
Monday - Saturday 12.00 - 18.00
www.hatchkingdom.com