Emerge, Little Flowers, Emerge!

As spring arrives, new artists burst from their chrysalises and hungry caterpillars turn into beautiful Lepidoptera fluttering around the garden of art. frieze asked a selection of them what their plans are and what, apart from other practical concerns, it’s like to be gripped by the fear that ultimately their work might be a meaningless speck on the vast page of art history.

Sonoma Barfjuggler, 25, New York, USA

f What kind of work do you make?
sb Oh for Chrissakes, really?
f Erm …
sb I mean, where I’m at right now, with my practice and everything, is, like, so far ahead of you.
f Many of our readers are probably unfamiliar with your work and so would be interested to know …
sb Jesus, you’re so uptight!
f We just want you to say …
sb BACK OFF, ASSHOLE!
f … what sort of work you …
sb Have you, like, even read the news lately? There’s the tsunami in Libya, and the other one in … in … and I, like, totally know tonnes of gay people and I’m really totally concerned, right now, as a feminist, with the plight of all the Egyptian student refugees protesting the nuclear bombs that are, like, going off all the time in Tokyo and countries like that and killing all the baby animals in Mexico and you’re, like, asking me what kind of work I’m making?
f You make miniature dolls of James Franco from used toilet rolls, don’t you?
sb My practice is totally like super-super political activist …
f We’ve seen photographs of your work.
sb [Silence]
f They’re on your Facebook page.
sb OK. Yes. I MAKE MINIATURE DOLLS OF JAMES FRANCO FROM USED TOILET ROLLS. Satisfied? It’s totally political and over your head and no one reads your goddamn magazine anyway. [Sobs uncontrollably]

Terrine von Esplanade, 26, Brussels, Belgium

f How would you describe your work?
tve This question is boring. I cannot answer it.
f How do you see your artistic practice developing in the near future?
tve I am so bored with this. You are so petit bourgeois.
f Do you have anxieties about your career as an artist?
tve I am deeply involved in researching possible Utopian gestures in relation to repositioning the idea of a notion of potentiality. I cannot possibly answer your trivial questions. You bore me. You are beneath contempt.
f Do you have any friends?
tve I cannot believe you are advancing such a bourgeois concept.
f No, seriously, do you have any friends?
tve [Sobs uncontrollably]

Pete Milksprang, 27, London, UK

pm Hi, how may I help you?
f How have you found life post-art school? Latte please.
pm Tall, grande or venti?
f Grande. Do you have a studio or do you consider yourself to be post-studio?
pm Regular or soy milk?
f Soy. Do you have any upcoming exhibitions?
pm That’s £2.99 please.
f This coffee is disgusting. Have you put regular milk in this? I asked for soy. And a blueberry muffin too. No, not that one, you cretin … that one.
pm [Sobs uncontrollably]

Pierre Costa-Geneva, 23, Berlin, Germany

f What do …
pc-g So, I am in a super interesting group show in Brussels in June followed by a solo show in this super new project space in Milan then these super nice collectors have invited me to collaborate on a show with James Franco in their dacha near Murmansk in August after which I am going to Beirut or maybe Ramallah for a curatorial conference but maybe I will do it via Skype because the conference organizers only bought me a business-class flight so perhaps I should go to Mexico City because my friends have this huge apartment there it depends because I am in this super important group show with Liam and Tino and Philippe in Tel Aviv in September but then I have to finish these works for my gallery who are doing FIAC in October and then I have to work on this mini-retrospective catalogue of my work that König Books are publishing would you like to contribute an essay I’m looking for someone to contextualize philosophical aspects of my work but it can be anything really no there’s no fee but I really liked that essay you wrote in Artforum oh sorry you write for frieze oh it must’ve been by someone else then so anyway I thought I might go to Amsterdam because I have some friends there who have this huge apartment actually you might know them they are friends with Ryan Gander do you have his email address I want to be in a group show with him anyway this super friendly curator there who is friends with Hans Ulrich wants to meet with me because she might be doing something with Dasha or Anita or someone who once bought my work though I might meet them in Venice are you going to Venice yes I am showing there as part of this super political ongoing project that this super hot curator is doing based on Bertolt Brecht do you have Bertolt’s email address I want him to contribute to my catalogue?
f [Sobs uncontrollably]