Max Siedentopf X HAPPY SOCKS

1) For the viewers who are not familiar with your work, how would you describe it in a few words?

Something that feels similar to when you put a banana, two nuns, a question mark and a depressed clown into a smoothie blender and film it in slow-motion.

2) What feeds your creativity and how do you keep stimulating it?

****A fresh smoothie and my daily surroundings.

3) Would you say you have any primary pop-cultural references that inspire you right now?

Those inspirations change as quickly as a tiktok trend. This year especially was inspired majorly by our new normal and all the limits that were forced upon us and the creative solutions pop-culture found to cope with those limitations and still stay creative.

4) During quarantine you launched “Home Alone Survival Guide”. How did this idea come about and was it your intention for it to be as engaging as it turned out to be?

“Home Alone - A Survival Guide” was created right at the start of the lockdown. Due to the lockdown almost all shoots were cancelled with everyone being stuck inside their own four walls with nothing to do. As challenging as this time was, I wanted to show that being stuck at home didn’t mean you had to be stuck - your home actually provided an endless amount of creative possibilities. Here I decided to post a series of instructions on social media of things you can do at home - these instructions were then photographed by people all around the world and sent back the same day. This collaboration went on for over 16 days amounting to 100 different instructions and over 1000 photos which were all compiled in a book. The entire project was always meant as a small experiment and never did I expect to gain so much engagement. I absolutely loved this large scale collaboration with people all around the world and all the creative outcomes that flourished from the project.

5) Many of your images play with the idea of the human body and expand its limitations

in terms of e.g flexibility, dimensions etc. What draws you that? Probably because I’m not flexible enough to touch my own toes.

6) Your work often touches upon the absurdity of your surroundings by emphasizing them, like in Tools To Secure School Safety And Security as well as How-To Survive In A Deadly Global Virus . Did that play a part in your work with Happy Socks?

I think the wearer of a pair of Happy Socks already brings enough absurdity into their own surroundings with the hot dog, broccoli or fried egg patterns - all I had to do was take a photo of them.

7) Something unique about your work is the models you select for your photoshoots. What do you look for when casting for your projects and are there any common enominators?

I think if you look long and hard enough you might probably find some common denominators - however for me the search is usually more through a gut feeling. I’m not interested in stereotypical beauty you always get to see in advertising - there are so many other and often more interesting people that don’t get enough exposure.

8) What excited you the most when Happy Socks contacted you for a possible collaboration?

My big toes were slowly peeking out of the front of my socks so the timing couldn’t have been better to get some decent quality socks in every colour imaginable.

9) If you were to narrate the story happening in this photoshoot, how would you describe it? Who are these people and what/where is this house?

Unfortunately I can’t remember much of the shoot. The moment we all put the socks on, everything started to become very blurry and colourful. The only thing that remained of that day were the photos.

10) If you could create a pair of Happy Socks, what would they look like? (i.e. colors, texture, features)

They would probably feature a good set of teeth so they can have a big bright smile to show how happy they are.