Dr. Papageorgiou: Greetings Michal, we have known each other for years and I am very happy to see you again after a long time.

M. Szoltysek: Hi Wassili. I’m looking forward to our conversation. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: In this blog, we usually talk about the intersections of plastic and aesthetic surgery with other professions and specializations. I’m deliberately not going to talk about liposuction, Botox or tummy tucks in this talk. I’m going to focus entirely on you as a person and your remarkable CV as an artist and businessman. So let’s start at the beginning. Where were you born? 

M. Szoltysek: I was born in a classic working class city, no comparison to Athens or Barcelona, where I was lucky to have found the spiritual influence for my art. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: Some people say that the question of where you were born, as the beginning of a life, is wrong. The question of where you were conceived is more important. Because conception can also be seen as the beginning of a life. In your case, the question remains: In what kind of system were you born into? 

M. Szoltysek: Exactly. It was born into the so-called socialism, but in reality it was communism. You can sympathize with it philosophically, but unfortunately it quickly turns into totalitarianism, and that’s a huge problem. However, this can also happen with many other systems too. I hated the fact that the individual was always subordinated to the general public. But that was the case back then. And I was very happy when we emigrated to Germany, shortly before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. To Cologne, to be precise. I was 15 years old at the time. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: What was it like for you? 

M. Szoltysek: Just the classic. Wow great supermarkets, super cars, everything in abundance… The American belief that “the sky is the limit”. But I had to learn the language and find my way around first. On the whole, that worked out quickly. I was able to make friends very quickly in Cologne at the time – it’s Cologne, a famously sociable city. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: After graduating from high school, did you go straight to university? 

M. Szoltysek: Yes, I studied economics and finished it quickly or without much effort. I thought that as an artist you also need marketing, so it can’t hurt. Not exactly the typical path of an artist. (laughs) 

Dr. Papageorgiou: At the same time, you also had your first exhibitions and some legendary vernissage in the heart of Cologne.

M. Szoltysek: Yes, everything went by itself, you were intensively involved with something, and as far as both my studies and my career as an artist are concerned, I’m lucky enough to be able to say: 1+1 makes 3. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: Wait a minute, that may have been the case for you, but we know a lot of people from the past for whom 1+1 doesn’t add up to 3, but rather 0 or even minus. I think you have a special talent, you manage to know exactly when, so you have an incredible nose when it comes to timing. I remember we had lost track of each other for a few years, I had to keep moving, Bremen, Osnabrück, Berlin, Aachen etc. to finish my specialist degree, and you were suddenly the owner of an online marketing company, now netspirits, a real player in the business. How did that come about? It wasn’t really your field back then. 

M. Szoltysek: Well, we, me and a good friend of mine, did it here and there, mostly for our art projects at first and later for friends. When we then had more and more clients, all on recommendation at the time, we sat down together, analyzed and decided to start our own business. Even as an artist, you have to earn money somehow if you’re not selling paintings. Every artist knows what I’m talking about. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: That’s exactly what I find so fascinating. After completing your studies and starting a career in art, you simply change tack and found an internet marketing company at the height of the global economic crisis. 

M. Szoltysek: And why not? You have to take life as it comes. And I have even more plans, which is why I sold most of my company shares a few years ago. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: Many people feel very restricted as to what they should do and what they should dare to do. In particular, many want security, security and more security. I have the impression that the willingness to take a risk is not very high. 

M. Szoltysek: Yes, I’ve noticed that too, especially in Germany it’s very ingrained in people. In Spain, it’s not so rigid. It’s a philosophical thing. A balance: security versus freedom, if you like. I am a person of independence. I want and try to live freely, never at the expense of others, of course. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: You’ve touched on something very important here. Security is very important to some people, freedom to others. I believe both sides should be respected.

M. Szoltysek: If I don’t feel free, I can’t breathe, others have to feel safe to breathe. Yes, exactly. The most important thing is that these people treat each other with respect and that these two groups are not played off against each other. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: I absolutely agree with you. Respect is not a one-way street.

M. Szoltysek: And life is not a one-way street either. As an artist and entrepreneur, I tend to look at life and the various situations in life in a multi-layered way, detached from labels. The interpretation of what we see is absolutely subjective and massively influenced by the perception of our fellow human beings. But believe me, you can almost always see something beautiful, be it nature or something deeply human.

Dr. Papageorgiou: A philosopher once put love and freedom in an XY coordinate system, i.e. the X-axis as love and the Y-axis as freedom. Where would you put yourself? 

M. Szoltysek: Who was that? 

Dr. Papageorgiou: Luciano De Crescenzo, former head of IBM Italy, then as a second career super successful writer. 

M. Szoltysek: Yes, clever idea. According to our conversation, I would be right at the top of the Y-axis. But that’s not the case. I also love a lot, so it’s hard for me to make a monumental entry. Please tell him to develop a new system that I can enter myself in! 

They both laugh. 

Dr. Papageorgiou: Thank you very much for the interview. 

M. Szoltysek: Likewise.