Around and about in Linz

Bronze bread rolls and other artist dilemmas….

I met Beate this afternoon for coffee, cake and debate in the communal garden of her flat. These big apartment blocks come right out to the pavement, and you have no idea that behind a couple of doors is a wonderful enclosed park really. Linz is a secretive place. Nothing is on the surface.

I went to meet her cat Spok, and also to discuss a project Beate is curating. Several years ago she was invited by a new media and design agency to develop a project bringing invited artists to work alongside them. As I sat in the sunshine, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and merrily getting stung by mosquitos (14 bites!) I listened to her outline some of the experiences she had with it to date. One particular client of this agency was a major bread manufacturer, but when she went to meet with them she found that he only wanted artists whose subject matter was… bread. This anecdote got us started on a whole discussion about the difference between artists and designers. Designers are given a starting point and a brief and expected to work within it. Artists expect a brief, if there is one, to fit their work, and bring a starting point with them. Both ways of working have advantages – but also very different implicit mindsets. I am learning to be less flexible about what I will or won’t do, and about what I am interested in or not.

Meanwhile, all this was happening whilst English hopes were bring trashed on the football pitch by Germany. You can guess which way Austrian sympathies were leaning.

Robyn left today to go back for some commitments in the UK before returning in a weeks time. With Cecilia arrived, and Sue on the way I am aware of how time seems to be slipping away from me. I have 12 pieces of completed work and another on the way. Originally, I wanted to have finished making work by the end of tomorrow so that I could debate layout and installation on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think tomorrow will have to be a big work day. It is a bit of a challenge to balance the relational aspects of time here with the actual production of work. I keep having to cut really interesting conversations short in order to get back to the studio. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.