"But, that’s only one ride in the theme park that is LA. There is also little Tokyo, Chinatown, Mexico, Russia, Armenia, Koreatown, etc. - all together, more than 140 different ethnic groups and 224 different languages. Here you can find any religion that people ever dreamed up, from the Church of Satan to the Chassidic Jews wearing huge fur hats and tight caftans like their ancestors wore in Galicia 200 years ago, walking with their children on Shabbat under palm trees in the Californian sun.
In South Central, Black kids loiter at street corners with a magnum in their waistband, controlling the drug-trade. And, in the heavily-gated communities of the rich, private police officers in smart, black uniforms protect all the precious miracles that plastic surgery is creating these days. And, of course, there is that industry which has fabricated dreams for the whole world since 100 years ago: Hollywood.
All these different people live here in some kind of peaceful anarchy. LA is a city without a center and it has no memory - there is no past and no future, only the here and now. It is like a raw wound that nobody cares to bandage. I never felt so free in my life. I think it’s a freedom that comes from the fact that nobody gives a shit."

Gottfried Helnwein, quoted from an interview by Michal Szyksznian, 2009

In Part 1 of this interview with the Polish website Celebritarian.pl, world-renowned artist Gottfried Helnwein talks with writer Michal Szyksznian about the clash between artists and dictators, the mediocrity of society and how he dealt with the attempted destruction of his installation Ninth November Night in Germany.