I look at the character of the exhibition and I treat it as I would a painting or an installation. When I did the Summer Exhibition at Royal Academy, I did it exactly as I would when making a new work.

For example, in England, we teach about Expressionism, but it is not the same in England as it is in Germany, because Expressionism is more important in the history of German art. So although it is the same history, the emphasis is different.

In Britain the power of authority was weakened. There was much more individual freedom and there was great academic freedom.

Sometimes we look at a work of art and we immediately think that it is German art, but with some we don't, it's not so obvious.

If I did not love the things that I do, how could I spend my life doing this? You have to invest what you spend your life doing with pleasure.

You can take things from the past, from the culture, from the immediate past and things that have not yet entered the culture, so they have no history yet. You can create your own context.

Usually when I go to the Summer Exhibition, I think every room is too much the same, and I loose my capacity to look at individual works.