Last night (at about ten pm) I managed to pin down Katharina for her interview. I should stop saying interview I think, they are more like conversations.
Anyway, it was good, very interesting and I was glad we got it done as I leave Linz in two days! She is incredibly busy, and at 26 and still studying she is doing remarkably well with a gallery and platform space representing her in Vienna. It was inspiring stuff indeed and it was the kind of conversation that made me reconsider some of my own opinions.
This richness that comes out in a conversation with someone you have got to know quite well is such a different thing to the online questions I have also sent out. I’m not sure those are actually much use anymore, they are interesting, but perhaps there is not a broad enough sample to make it truly useful.
Saw a really interesting exhibition yesterday in Nordico (the museum for Linz’s stuff). Actually the exhibition wasn’t great, but there were some good facts and figures around the place ranging from the city’s Nazi past to how they got capital of culture and what that has meant.
One room was about employment. Hitler and Goering built a massive factory here, one which brought masses of employment and development to Linz and probably made the place what it is today. Now it is VOEST Alpine and still employs loads of people. There were some thoughts from local people about employment and their working hours and one film has VOEST workers next to artists and cultural workers (whatever that may mean..). Now this was interesting – the two major industries in Linz shown together inviting comparison. The factory workers said that the company was very good not to encourage overtime or excessive working, they provide things like a swmming pool and little day trips and holidays for their workers and see the health of their workers as something to be invested in. I don’t know how true this all is, but it sounds good. All of the workers interviewed said that home and life were completely separate and they had no problem leaving work at work.
The artists and musicians on the other hand said they were happier earning less and stuggling for time, but they all felt that no one understood how hard they work, and that their hours were frequently more than 12 a day. There was also a common thread of being constantly ON and also not feeling their was enough time for the true vocation (be it painting or music or other) as they needed more than two or three jobs to make a living.
some quotes from the artists’ interviews:
‘it is all very uncertain, I go from one project to another without thinking about next year’s income.’
‘it all intrudes on my private life, or I don’t have one because it is all mixed together. I think I have unlimited working hours.’
‘it’s all too little to do with what I studied these days, but I need my day jobs to fund my lifestyle. To be honest sometimes it’s all a bit hard to manage.’
and from a Voest Dept. Manager:
‘those people who work many hours extra can be very useful, you can always give them an extra project or call them late, but overall they represent a problem to the system as a whole.’
(I’m showing this last bit to my husband..)
Gettingpaid/ websites blog:
Two interviews done with Artists here today – things speed up when the end gets closer!
These were really interesting as they were more like conversations that developed out of the initial questions (artists I can’t get to have been answering an online survey, which is no where near as satisfying or revealing). Often way off topic, there were some great snippits of things that came up that made me think twice about my standpoint on things.
First thing I’ll mention – I shall come back to it after transcribing them, but my goodness 45 minute interviews contain a lot of words! – is marketing. This was mentioned in both as being utterly essential to getting your work seen and one of the artists said he couldn’t understand why some of his friends didn’t have websites yet.
I am of a similar opinion, although I do think it’s better to having nothing online than to represent yourself poorly. Before I came to Linz I googled all the artists and was really frustrated when I couldn’t find anything on one of the artists anywhere. After seeing both of his studios I am still a bit unsure of what his work is about exactly, a fact that I both like and am frustrated by. I guess what I like is that there is something to discover on my own terms, I don’t have a statement spelling it all out and arranging it neatly online. I wondered whether I look at artists’ websites and then think that I know all about them, when I probably haven’t a clue. Judgements are made very quickly after all and if an artist used comic sans or similar on their website I would probably dismiss them entirely (not really, well maybe..).
However, finding out from people in these chats how many contacts come from the internet (certainly for me it’s the majority) and where that can lead: I think spelling it out is probably wise. I also love having a website because you can see who is looking at your work. You know when, where, which things they look at, how long they spend and ip addresses with ac.uk and gov.uk are very informative. I know how many referrals I get (this month my blog has given me 7 for example), it’s not what you expect that gets you the most traffic. I am always incredibly pleased when people link to me, and in my stats I can see I am getting ten times as many visitors as this time last year.
Free websites and blogs are great, but I like having more control over the appearance and getting statistics! I must admit that I had the help of programmer-husband who got me started – but I can do it myself now. It might seem expensive but I think the £50/year for hosting is very good value. HTML is not too hard to learn, try this step by step website:
http://htmldog.com/
Ooh, I found this today and was very pleased: Kirsty Hall saying how much she hates the myth of the tortured artist. She also has links to a couple of other blogs that agree.
http://kirstyhall.co.uk/blog/2009/08/the-tortured-…
I have been asked to be in a show in Blackpool at the end of the month and by some miracle will be able to organise myself into it between returning from Linz and going to YSP for first part of the project! A fellow a-n blogger is in it too and some faces I know from Liverpool.
This exhibition might be quite a pivotal moment for me: the work is one I have shown before! The work still exists, it is not in a skip, damaged, stolen. It is infact in the boot of the car where I left it.
I have been thinking about this for a while, since I thought about how often one of the artists here was exhibiting (along with other people I know) and how that might be acheived with the help of making films and sending DVDs. Not that I’m saying film is easier, not by any means! But it is easier to transport, replicate and I want more of that. Enough spending £200 driving places with a car full of wood and tools, more spending £10 on posting some things in a box please.
I have spent the last eight ish years making site-specific works that no longer exist when the show or residency or whatever is over. Documenting things brings other problems, particularly that of skewing the way people view the work. Plus I don’t show photographs or re-show works so that doesn’t help too much either. Last time I tried to do this I ended up remaking it anyway.
I have a couple of (small!) solo shows coming up in 2010 and I was thinking that if either were bigger, I would never be able to do it, unless they gave me a year to work for it. I have no stock, for want of a better word.
For Drawn In at the Bluecoat space in April I made a piece about heights, danger, voids, the unknown. It is called ‘From the Mountain to the Abyss’ – see pics. As this was made in the studio and not in response to a site – actually is was made in response to a paper at a conference the week before – it was different. I can keep it, it is transportable. So, it will get its second outing this month and I will pack it with pins and diagram and go to the opening for drinks. This is good.
I don’t think I want to make all my work like this, in fact I know I don’t, especially as I need the deadlines of exhibitions and other things to act as important kicks up the bum and I love responding to new places and histories. But for my own sake, my bank account’s sake and to be able to apply and take part in more opportunities, I think I should be doing this more often.
