On the hottest day on record in Hong Kong – when the temperature nudged 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) – contemporary art’s best-known orchestrator of angst found herself forcing her way through the crowd at a former prison compound.This was not the frosty, theatrically sullen Anne Imhof often seen in magazine shoots and society pages. Dressed in her customary black, she appeared not like the enigmatic art-world diva whom Marina Abramović picked as one of the most influential women of 2022. She was just another person trying not to melt in the August heat.She arrived at the Tai Kwun arts and heritage centre in Hong Kong’s Central neighbourhood without an entourage, accompanied only by her partner, Devon Teuscher, a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre.Declining Imhof’s suggestion that she join the interview, Teuscher affectionately patted her arm – “Today, it’s all about you” – and slipped away to get a coffee nearby.Shortly afterwards, seated in an air-conditioned meeting room, the German-born Imhof recalled how the couple met during the making of her three-hour production, Doom: House of Hope (2025).The work in New York – Teuscher and Imhof’s home along with Berlin – was a highly stylised adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.True to Imhof’s famously curated gloom, the dystopian set featured brooding young people in school uniform, sports jerseys and joggers, a giant countdown clock, SUVs and a pervasive sense that civilisation had misplaced its keys.