When Lady Gaga says I am her inspiration, you reach kids between 12 and 18. Now I am like a brand - jeans, Coca-Cola.

The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind.

The public is in need of experiences that are not just voyeuristic. Our society is in a mess of losing its spiritual centre.

Once you live in New York, you can't live anywhere else. Living in Paris is like going in slow motion. It's so bourgeois. I get so bored.

I hate repetition. Even when I am home and have to buy milk, I go a different way each time to avoid having a habit of anything. Habits are really bad. So to me it is really important to live in what I call the spaces in-between. Bus stations, trains, taxis or waiting rooms in airports are the best places because you are open to destiny, you are open to everything and anything can happen.

First of all, to do performance art, you really have to give 100 percent. I only know that I have to give 100 percent and then what happens, happens.

Being an artist is not easy - I have always said that to the students I have taught over the years. It's a huge sacrifice.