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What is typically German?

January 19, 2015

In his work and in his private life, Rolf Sachs moves between the provincial and the cosmopolitan with ease. As the son of legendary bon vivant Gunter Sachs, he's always felt at home on the wider stage. More recently, though, he embarked on an artistic exploration of German mentality and culture. On this edition of Talking Germany, he speaks with us about identity, ideals and idyllic fantasies.

https://p.dw.com/p/1BhLB

Artist and designer Rolf Sachs is the son of a German father and a French mother. He grew up in Switzerland and now lives in London with his Iranian-born wife Maryam and their three children. And he’s the creator of an exhibition at the Cologne Museum of Applied Art (MAKK) called "Typical German?" His artist search for a "typically German" mentality is a work "with German roots," as the 58-year-old says, yet it's still shaped by the distance provided by his multiculturally-influenced perspective.