Wertical : presents London set designer Es Devlin and New York-based photographer Asger Carlsen on GoSee

Here are some extracts of the two June interviews by Wertical. This month, they featured 'Headful Set Designer' Es Devlin from London, as well as Danish 'Headful Photographer' Asger Carlsen, who lives and works in New York. Asger is showing his work at the ruttkowski;68 Gallery in Cologne at the moment. If you are keen to learn more about Asger and the exhibition, have a look at the gallery’s GoSee Blog, which features the works of the exhibition – including a price list.

Wertical : ‘Es Devlin creates sets for crowd pullers such as Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Take That, Shakira, Rihanna as well as theatrical productions, opera performances and sporting events. She is currently working on the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics as well as the opera ‘Les Troyens’, set to debut at the end of June.

Es Devlin’s life epitomizes the word ‘busy’. The 40-year-old mother of two has a tight schedule: while events and appointments are planned years in advance, they also have a habit of popping up spontaneously, too. More often than not, the British designer will receive a phone call in the middle of the night then find herself on a plane the next morning. Destinations can range from New York to Los Angeles, or any other city where a superstar might take up residence.

Tonight, she will be checking out the design of Kanye West’s and Jay Z’s ‘Watch the Throne’ tour, which she has been working on for about a year.’

Read the full interview with Es Devlin on Wertical.

‘Asger Carslen dares to bend traditional connotations of photography. What looks familiar at first quickly becomes alien.

In Carlsen’s best-known series, ‘Wrong’, he edits and distorts everyday scenes. People’s reactions range from strong dislike to admiration. However, the Düsseldorf-based venue NRW-Forum recently showed the exhibition ‘The Start of Art Photography’, where it listed Asger Carlsen as one of the photographers likely to have the greatest say in the future.

Constantly on the lookout for ‘moments’, Carlsen takes a photo of a truck driver while we wait at a traffic light. We met up with him in Cologne, Germany, where his exhibition Wrong is showing at the Ruttkowski;68 Gallery.’

Read the full interview with Asger Carlsen also on Wertical.