The film I Love My Hair depicts Erik Schmidt incessantly shaking his head back and forth, accompanied by a voiceover read by the artist about a girl called Pilli. Since 1990 Schmidt has been writing short stories, such as Fernsehen (Television) and Salzstangen (Pretzel Sticks), recounting Pilli’s frustration when clothes-shopping and driving through the city. The relationship between the images and sound is rife with contradictions; the link between the artist’s narcissistic posturing and Pilli’s depressive mood is purely associative, both revolving around topics such as beauty and consumerism. 

In his early works, and indeed in the film Parking (2000/02), Schmidt began to use his own body as a performative means of expression, deploying hallmarks of his oeuvre such as ironic self-staging or movement as a form of aimless wandering.