Age is just a number and there is no clear definition of being what is an adult and every person is different. We can’t define it, so everybody is looking for their own answers in life. 14 is a sensitive age. It’s when you start thinking about your own future, so we wanted to make a series of age 14. After the Tokyo and New York issue, we selected 15 people in Berlin who have very diverse background, different ages and professions for 14 Issue in Berlin.
Third interview is with High-school / Gymnasium student Finn. He has three different faces as a photographer, DJ and Collage artist. A day after a DJ party of his we sat down and talked about what inspires him and young creativity at a cafe in ….
—Hey Finn! Please introduce yourself at first.
Finn: I’m Finn, 17 years old. I was born and raised in Berlin. I’m a photographer and DJ as well as a collage artist, occasionally a party organizer. I always spend my time with a lot of fun stuff.
—Could you tell us about yourself when you were 14 years old?
Finn: I was still insecure but there were a lot of ideas in my head. Having a lot of friends was not so important to me and I often stayed in my room, listening to music all day or cutting papers and creating collages. I also collected some books.
—What did you do in those days?
—What did you think about at age 14?
—Please tell us your most memorable moment at age 14?
Finn: It wasn’t exactly when I was 14 but I had a very important experience when I turned 15. I lived and went to school in West Berlin and didn’t have a lot of friends in those days. One of my friends whom I met in Prenzlauer Berg invited me to a party in a club. It was my first party and I met so many people who were creative and nice and dressed up in their own, independent style. I realized that was the world I wanted to be in.
—It sounds like a very important experience for you. What did you want to do when you were14 years old?
Finn: I wanted to be a film director. I love movies and I thought telling stories through movies was so much nicer than through photography and artworks only. There is acting and natural human behavior at the same time. It’s very important to me that movies can create a feeling inside of me.
—What kind of movies did you watch in those days?
Finn: I always tried to watch art-house films because my mother had a lot of them. I love Quentin Tarantino. His movies are cool and in a 70’s style, so they were always my favorites. Also Alehandro Hodorovski. I watched “The Holy Mountain(1973)” when I was 14 or 15 years old and still love it.
—Oh, that’s a very young age to find about Alehandro Hodorovski and watch this film!
Finn: Yeah I know. I grew up with computers and the internet, so I could google everything. I found a picture of this movie by Instagram and I wanted to watch it. Also I felt it was quite early for me because I couldn’t understand a lot of things, haha.
—I see. What do you think about your future now?
Finn: I think the way I live is more important to me than a job title. I wish I can succeed as a DJ and a fashion photographer, but I know it’s very hard. I met a woman at a party in Vienna last week and she told me that she owns a club in New York and is looking for DJ and so on. During the conversation, she told me that the toughest thing that young people don’t understand is that you can’t do it forever. I felt like she crushed me, but I think sometimes I need experiences like this to think on a deeper level.
—You have three different activities. How did you start each activity?
Finn: At first I started photography at age 14 when I got an analogue camera from my father. Half a year later I started to create collages because I learnt to make them at art class. There were some old magazines in art class and I really love the texture of old papers. I started DJing just about 6 months ago when I was still 16. I got to know a lot of music through my dad because he loves music and especially Jazz. Luckily I had the opportunity to borrow a turntable at a DJ workshop, and started after that. Mostly old school techno from the 80-90’s and house music. Also some world music, soul and disco.
His first self-portrait at age 14
—Your collages look very religious and political. Do you have any concept?
Finn: I always thought about religion a lot because my family is Catholic. But I never actually believed in it. I like the aesthetic aspect of religion because I watched Alehandro Hodorovski’s films. I do the collages in the night time usually on my little office desk and listen to the radio.
—How do you keep the balance between them?
Finn: I always concentrate on one thing. For example, I was completely into photography for the last two months. I worked as a photographer for 2 articles of “SLEEK”.
—Sounds good! What inspired you at age 14?
Finn: Grace Jones. I watched her music videos on YouTube at first and her lifestyle seems to be cool and crazy. Of course “The Holy Mountain(1973)” by Alehandro Hodorovski. Also Instagram. I got my account when I was 13 years old. I remember my first post was an old-timer car. Then I followed photographers, film directors, fan pages of my favorite films etc… I got some visual inspiration.
—Do you have any message to 14 year old teenagers?
Finn: Get lost from the internet. Research stuff and watch movies nobody else forgotten. Do something inspired by arts.
—Do you have any upcoming news that you want to share to the readers?
Finn: I will produce a song with a friend of mine this year. It’s a cover of “Brother Louie(1986)” by Modern Talking. Also my friend presents his collection, so I’ll have a shoot for his lookbook. I’m really looking forward to that!
text Yukiko Yamane
Finn Ethan Killing
@djkillling：https://www.instagram.com/djkillling/
@thecutfather：https://www.instagram.com/thecutfather/
https://soundcloud.com/hallelujahchildren/
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