Porsche Real-time Berlin.

Real-time Berlin.

Connect
Reading time: 5 min
3/1/2019

Alina Knott. She loves the combination of power, speed and aesthetics. For artist Alina Knott, no other car embodies these attributes as perfectly as a Porsche. We've collected her from the analogue world of her studio at Dianasee in a Porsche 718 Boxster GTS so that she can show us ‘her’ Berlin, and avoid the capital city's congestion thanks to navigation with real-time traffic information.

She holds the palette in her left hand, a large dollop of red paint sits on top of a dried-in dark blue. Today, she is putting the finishing touches to her painting of a red Porsche 911 against a blue background. “I always work on several paintings at the same time, because the individual layers of oil paint dry very slowly,” explains Alina Knott, who is dressed all in white.

Her constant companion is her 14-year-old chihuahua, Dauphine. “My ideas demand discipline and calm. When I paint, I can't listen to or think about anything else. It's like being in another dimension. I lose all sense of time when I'm standing in front of a canvas,” explains the 44-year-old, as she starts to paint the B-pillar of the 911. She creates a precise line in rich red, then mixes in a little more black. Light and shadow play a very important role in her work. Next, she takes a deep breath and paints the edge of the door without pausing. She then takes a couple of steps back – three, or perhaps four metres. She smiles.

“I know the way to my friends' house (...), but at lunchtime it's so busy that I'm glad to be able to get real-time traffic information and avoid potential traffic jams.”

A digitally assisted drive. She goes out onto the terrace and looks at the painting through the huge window. Taking a quick satisfied glance in the other direction, Knott breathes deeply. She looks out over Dianasee, whose surface is so still that it's as if she makes a deal with the lake to remain calm when she needs to be creative. She picks up her elderly dog and leaves the studio. Today she has a very full schedule. She first meets a friend, who wishes to be simply called Ole, at the Porsche Design Store on Kurfürstendamm. Ole drives a Porsche 911, 930 Turbo model. He has Knott's painting of his classic car on display in his business premises. Next, she has a meeting with Gregor Andréewitch, General Manager of the Hotel Waldorf Astoria, where a number of her works will be exhibited in May. In the evening, she is due to visit the Berlin State Opera with her husband Jens, but first things first. Right now, it's time to hop in and explore the digital world of Porsche.

Porsche as an attitude to life. Knott normally drives a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS, in which she can be found not only on the streets of Berlin, but also on race tracks. She's never driven a Boxster, so Porsche Drive has provided one for her today to give her a chance to test out some of the functions of Porsche Connect. Using the My Porsche app, she synchronises her calendar entries and destinations to the Porsche 718 Boxster GTS. “I know the way to my friends' house from Porsche Design and the Waldorf Astoria, but at lunchtime it's so busy that I'm glad to be able to get real-time traffic information and avoid potential traffic jams,” says the Ukraine-born artist. She taps the touch display and searches online for a restaurant between the Porsche Design Store and the Waldorf Astoria. Not that she has time for lunch today – this is more about discovering new locations, absorbing knowledge and getting to know the features of the My Porsche app. A few minutes later, Knott sits into the 718 Boxster GTS and connects Porsche Connect to the roadster's PCM.

The offer described here is for a 2017 model year 718 Boxster GTS, and indicates service availability in Germany.