If Gilbert & George are London’s living sculptures, then Friedrich Liechtenstein is Berlin’s ornamental hermit — once a fixture living in the office and showroom of an eyeglass company, now a celebrity nationwide following his viral YouTube commercial “Super Geil” for Edeka supermarkets.

In it, the East German — part flaneur, part raconteur, part crooner, former puppeteer — whose real life appears suspiciously like a never-ending performance art piece, injected the quotidian with the absurd for a humorous, surrealist take on groceries.

Following 12 million YouTube views with a well-received concept album about the town of Bad Gastein — a place whose glories lie firmly in a previous century — Liechtenstein now holds the distinguished position of Bad Gastein’s artistic ambassador. Add to that his success in the publishing of his memoirs Selfie Man — coming from the man who is the ornament to many a fan’s selfie taken after stopping Liechtenstein on the street — and one gets a sense of irony as artform.Where once he intermingled freely as the host at PLATOON BERLIN’s members’ night every Thursday, Donnerstag Bar, or performed at some of Berlin’s most discriminating venues, such as his shows as RADIALSYSTEM, now Liechtenstein may be content to hide from his adoring fans in rather unusual circumstances: his own flat.