Wolfgang Tillmans Reflects on Fire Island's Impact on His Art and Music in New Interview
In a discussion for the upcoming 2026 publication "Fire Island Art: 100 Years," photographer Wolfgang Tillmans shares how a visit to Fire Island's Pines community in 2015 significantly impacted his life and artistic approach. Having first traveled there in the mid-1990s, he later acquired a home, which rekindled his passion for music and led to the revival of his teenage band, Fragile, at the 2016 BOFFO Performance Festival. Tillmans acknowledges the role of artist residency initiatives like BOFFO and FIAR in nurturing the island's creative spirit. His return in 2015, amidst notable political changes, sparked a new series of ocean-themed photographs. The interview, carried out by Michael Bullock, was initially published by Monacelli.
Key facts
- Wolfgang Tillmans first visited Fire Island in the mid-1990s and returned in 2015, eventually buying a house there.
- His decade on Fire Island renewed his musical practice, reviving his band Fragile, which performed at BOFFO Festival, Union Pool, and Tate Modern.
- Tillmans's 1995 photograph "Deer Hirsch" features his then-boyfriend Jochen Klein and a deer on Cherry Grove beach.
- Artist residency programs BOFFO and Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) help maintain the island's artistic community.
- Tillmans's 2020 music video for "Can't Escape into Space" used footage filmed at Sip-N-Twirl club in 2019.
- His Fire Island home includes a music studio where he developed his resurgent interest in music.
- Tillmans's photographic work on the island focuses on ocean and shoreline imagery, capturing liquidity with new camera technology.
- The interview appears in the book "Fire Island Art: 100 Years" (2026), edited by John Dempsey and published by Monacelli.
Entities
Artists
- Wolfgang Tillmans
- Michael Bullock
- Jochen Klein
- Stefan Kalmár
- Paul Bernstein
- Anders Clausen
- T.M. Davy
- Faris Al-Shathir
- Martine Gutierrez
- DonChristian
- John Dempsey
Institutions
- Tate Modern
- Museum of Modern Art
- Centre Pompidou
- David Zwirner
- BOFFO
- Fire Island Artist Residency
- Union Pool
- Galerie Buchholz
- Maureen Paley
- Monacelli
- Aperture
Locations
- Fire Island
- Pines
- Cherry Grove
- New York City
- United States
- Brooklyn
- London
- United Kingdom
- Berlin
- Germany
- Paris
- France