video, 3 DVDs, 3 hours total

‘Artist’s Statement’ is a very common term in North America, but in Germany it practically doesn’t exist. Talking about art is someone else’s job, and not necessarily the artist’s. Working for the educational program of Documenta11, I realized that most of my colleagues, who were art historians, were very aware of what the artists said, and considered the artist’s statement to be the most authentic point of access to an artist. I also realized that visitors were very interested in meeting the artists, perhaps with the same intention. What does the artist look like, how does he talk, behave? It seemed to me that finding the artist’s persona, hidden behind his artwork, is looked upon as a solution to the riddle that is perceived in every artwork.

I started to collect artists’ statements in early 2002. Up until 2004 I taped 52 statements in 12 different languages. The statements are not cut; they are kept at their original length, between 40 seconds and 10 minutes each. The shot consists only of the artist’s face, with their name as subtitle. Some artists may be well known, others not. The statements are kept in the same order as they were taped.

"Artist’s Statement" was shown in 2004 at Eastern Edge Gallery, St.John’s, NF and in 2005 as part of the group show "Proximities: Artist’s Statements and their Works" at Kamloops Art Gallery, BC, both Canada.

http://kag.bc.ca/2005exhs.htm
http://easternedge.ca/2004-05.php

participating artists:
Wathiq Al-Ameri,
Can Altay,
Giselle Amantea,
Jörg Amonat,
Inga Bayer,
Susanne Bosch,
Mari Brellochs,
Astrid Busch,
Thérèse Chabot,
Angélica Chio,
Johannes BBB Deimling,
Jn. Ulrick Désert,
Vera Greenwood,
Juliane Heise,
Almut Determeyer,
Carsten Eggers,
Larissa Fassler,
Michael Grosch,
Nicoline van Harskamp,
Yoko Hata,
Emely Heath,
Norbert Heins,
Minna Henrikkson,
Sybille Hofter,
Katrin Jaquet,
Nenad Jeremic,
Vladan Jeremic,
Martin Kaltwasser,
Borga Kantürk,
Folke Köbberling,
Stefan Krüskemper,
Christian Kuras,
Ma. José Laframboise,
María Lezón,
María Linares,
Valerio Marques,
Doris Marten,
Susanne Martin,
Mindy Jan Miller,
Éleonore de Montesquiou,
Satoshi Morita,
Carmen Mörsch,
Bronja Nowak,
Serkan Özkaya,
Ed Pien,
Yvette Poorter,
Naomi Potter,
Barbara Prokop,
Tanja Ravlic,
Ana Rewakowic,
Tulle Ruth,
Alexander Schellow,
Albrecht Schäfer,
Michael Vorfeld,
Renate Wolf,
Johannes Zitts