Lives of the artists

Interview at at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival of Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director of the Serpentine Gallery by Simon Martin from Pallant House Gallery.

Obrist had written a book on contemporary artists which aims to act as a modern day Vasari. He talked a lot about his research technique which is that over many years he has been interviewing leading contemporary artists and recording those interviews. He says he took this approach because all his curatorial work begins with conversations. He said he tries to look at the wider person not just their art works to show what might be influencing that work. These recordings are building up into a huge archive of the contemporary art scene.

I felt a little sorry for the interviewer as Obrist’s style was rather to start talking and not stop. It became a bit of a monologue, an interesting monologue, but more a great train of thought than a discussion. This amused me rather as at the heart of his idea was discussion with artists and I did wonder by the end how they got a word in edgeways!