What to do with ex-friends?

A proper filing helps with the next tax return. Or in the search for the warranty certificate for the washing machine, which is just a year old and already broken. Friendships, on the other hand, are often too unwieldy to place between the covers of a file folder.

"All my friends" by Claire Lenkova, published by Kunstmann

Nevertheless, Claire Lenkova did exactly that and cataloged friends and acquaintances according to the "all my friends" principle. On index cards she has put together scraps of memories and profiles of those who have remained in her memory. Instead of trivialities such as favorite color / favorite food / favorite band, as you know from their own friendship books, the index cards are less well-meaning and thus all the more meaningful: The smell and dialect of a friend Claire Lenkova has documented, cataloging the reason for separation.

How she got the idea and what she thinks about friends and friendship, Claire Lenkova tells in an interview.



ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Have you already sent copies of "All my friends" to all your friends?

Claire Lenkova: No, why? The title is quite ironic to understand ... There are not only friends in there, but people I liked or loved, but also people who just went to my mind. Admirers who believed that I was the right person for them ... There was, for example, the Indian, who just ran after me drunk. I took him to my apartment simply because I was curious to find out how people tick ... Well, the finding was not spectacular in this case: I had long blond hair and should sleep with him immediately. I had trouble getting him out of my apartment again ... Or the Gebissmann, who could have been my grandfather and whom I had met during my then side job during the Abis. He took out his dentures in the restaurant, politely asked if that annoyed me and still believed that I could figure out chances.



On the next page: "No talent for dishonesty"

Photoshow: "All my friends" by Claire Lenkova

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Or did anyone in the book already report to you - even if the book has just been published?

Claire Lenkova: I would like to refer you to the imprint of my book. It states: "Any resemblance to living or dead persons is purely coincidental, this work is fictional and merely casts a bad light on the author."

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Are not friendships too private to present to all the world - or at least the Germans - as a book?

Claire Lenkova: As I said, friendships are only one of the topics, there are also categories like "best man" for my sponsors, "e.V." for "former (also: unsuccessful) admirer", "e.F." for "former girlfriend" or "love". I think I did not say anything about my friends that would upset her. However, I do not know why you should ask me to handle kiddlers with their lunacy. I did not ask anyone to ring me out of bed at four o'clock in the morning and to pant: "Is this company fucking?"



ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: What matters to you in a friendship, what makes a good friend?

Claire Lenkova: That he is recorded on a file card? Nonsense, I'm not an expert on friendships, and my book is no guide to make friends.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: And how important is honesty in a friendship?

Claire Lenkova: No idea, I have no talent for dishonesty anyway.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Would you have told everyone in the book everything you've written about him or her?

Claire Lenkova: I always do that. Only the nice things I have concealed. They are only in the book. As a surprise, so to speak.

On the next page: Art as Therapy?

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: You sort people into drawers in your book - why?

Claire Lenkova: Maybe I'm just comfortable? The frightening thing about pigeonholing is how many people actually fit in and make themselves comfortable in so little space. And who does not fit, I certainly will not force. I am interested in the schematizations, clichés, typifications that we deal with every day. So they also appear in my book.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Can one measure the intensity of friendships, feelings, love at all?

Claire Lenkova: Everyone can measure that for themselves. The doctor also asks: How strong is the pain on a scale of one to ten? And everyone knows what is meant. Same thing with earthquakes. I do not do anything else.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Does Sorting Help Complete With Dormant And Discontinued Friendships?

Claire Lenkova: If you're wondering if art is therapy for me, the answer is: It's a bit more complicated. As so often in life.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: You have moved quite a lot in your life. Has that affected her friendships?

Claire Lenkova: I go ahead and who stops, just stays behind. The few people who like me keep up contact with me even when I move.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Did you learn how to cultivate a friendship - if necessary from a distance?

Claire Lenkova: So often I have not moved again ... There are Internet, telephone, letters, you can chat or sit in the ICE, hitchhike or sign up after a few years ... I think so You do not have to learn that, we grew up with it. If you want, you can only look for your friends on the internet. The meaning of the distance has decreased tremendously.

On the next page: "Do you remember ..."

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Can you revive friendships in your opinion?

Claire Lenkova: Can you be sure. At least, as long as that does not mean that every sentence begins with the words "Do you remember ...".

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: How many really good friends do you have today?

Claire Lenkova: I would have to look in my file.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Is the number of friends important at all?

Claire Lenkova: When moving, maybe. Especially if you live on the fourth floor. But it's always so dark on the ground floor.

The photo gallery: This is how the friendship album looks like

Claire Lenkova

Claire Lenkova was born in Zwickau, grew up after leaving the GDR in Bavaria and studied Illustration at the HAW Hamburg. She describes herself as an artist, cartoonist and illustrator. "All my friends" was created in connection with the exhibition "Herrenzimmer and Damenensalon".

Claire Lenkova: All my friends Publisher: Antje Kunstmann Price: 16 Euro

Ex Best Friend (March 2024).



Friendship, Drawer, Restaurant, Claire Lenkova, All my friends, Friendship, Honesty, Friends