Audio Arts: Volume 21 No 2

00:00:01 Marion Coutts interviewed at The Chisenhale Gallery about her work Cult. Marion Coutts' work Cult, at the Chisenhale Gallery 'investigated the phenomenon of the outsider encountering the group'. Nine small video monitors placed on nine narrow plinths, at head height were installed on a shelf or podium about eight inches above the gallery floor. An image of a cat's head was seen on each monitor, with barely susceptible movements. This totemic and metaphorical work evoked a slowed down, ritualistic space where the multiple readings included undisclosed ritual, alienation, inclusion and exclusion. The whole staging of the experience of walking from the bright sunshine outside, then through a constructed light trap into the subdued light of the gallery, suggested a transition from the real world into a 'tomb like', contemplative and silent space. 00:16:21 Wim Wenders talks about the difference between his activity of still photographer and his role as a film director during his exhibition Picture from the Surface of the Earth at Haunch of Venison Yard. The internationally renowned German auteur filmmaker talks frankly about the difference between his activity of still photography and his role as a film director during his exhibition Pictures from the Surface of the Earth, at Haunch of Venison Yard. An Indian cemetery is discussed and its historical relevance. Wenders explains his working methods and artistic vision which embraces both the profoundly religious and the geometry of the banal. He clarifies his attraction to the transitory traces of man and talks about his photographs of Ground Zero and their message of healing. 00:40:18 Ori Gershtdiscusses the development of his new works at the time of his shows at the Tate Britain and Andrew Mummery Gallery. Ori Gersht made this interview about his new works at the time of his shows at the Tate Britain and Andrew Mummery Gallery. Gersht discusses the development of his photographic practice, his book Afterglow, his use of video and the role of time in his approach to making work. Gersht talks about the gap between his ideas and what happens in the process of making - together with his interest in issues surrounding national borders and national identity. These concepts are evidenced in images as diverse as time-lapse photographs of settlements in Galilee and 360-degree representations of football stadiums. 00:49:08 Riiko Sakkinen talks about his recent activities as part of a residency at Camden Arts Centre. Riiko Sakkinen talks about his recent activities as part of a residency at Camden Arts Centre. During the residency Finnish artist Sakkinen concentrated on London and specifically the gallery's local area. He discusses his engagement with the cultural diversity of the city and how this informed his T-shirt selling intervention and his artist book, which includes drawings, found imagery and menus.

00:00:01 Paul McCarthy interviewed at The Groucho Club about his work Blockhead on the riverside at Tate Modern. A partnership between Henry Moore Foundation Contemporary Projects and Tate Modern enabled the presentation of Paul McCarthy's Blockhead, on the riverside at Tate Modern between May and October 2003. Standing some 35 meters high, the work was billed as the largest-ever inflatable sculpture. In this interview McCarthy discusses the development of Blockhead. The work, loosely based on the character of 'Pinocchio' evolved from Chocolate Blockhead, commissioned by In-between for Expo 2000, Hanover. He describes the experience of being inside of the hollow inflatable structure: 'It's a little like being inside an oil rig, a boat or a ship or down in the basement of a building or furnace room'. He notes the piece's monumental character: 'When you stand below it and look up, for me there was a sensation of a cliff'. He goes on to talk about the influence of minimalism and of artists such as Donald Judd and Tony Smith and his fascination with the undiscussed issue of minimalist object's hollowness. He is then asked whether his own interest in hollowness refers metaphorically to commodities and Western systems of consumption, and responds to the question of how his mammoth inflatables might relate to 'spectacle culture'. 00:21:59 Interview with Victor Burgin in his studio at Goldsmiths College at the time of his shows at Matt's Gallery, London and the Arnolfini, Bristol. Victor Burgin spoke in his studio at Goldsmiths College at the time of his shows at Matt's Gallery London and the Arnolfini,Bristol. The interview begins by discussing the work, Listen to Britain, contextualising Burgin's use of computer technology and the importance of the 'trace of history' through media and landscape in the work. Burgin then goes on to discuss his relationship to philosophical thought, writing and politics. Talking about the different roles his activities have Burgin stresses the importance that writing and educating have for him along side the making visual art in his overall contribution to a political process. 00:37:43 The American poet John Giorno performing his poem There Was a Bad Tree at Sadie Coles HQ, September 2002. On the night of the opening of Cigarettesandwich, an exhibition by Ugo Rondinone at Sadie Coles HQ, the American poet John Giorno performed his poem There Was a Bad Tree. Giorno was the star of Warhol's film Sleep and involved with artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and writer William Burroughs. He performs in his typical animated and energetic style. Poetry and language play an important part in Rondinone's mediation on romance and melancholy and the reading by Giorno emphasizes the contemplative nature of his work. 00:49:52 The curator Cuauhtemoc Medina, now Tate Modern's advisor on Latin American art, talks about curating, 20 Million Mexicans Can't Be Wrong, at the South London Gallery. The curator Cuauhtémoc Medina, now Tate Modern's advisor on Latin American art, talks about curating, 20 Million Mexicans Can't Be Wrong, at the South London Gallery. He discusses his decision to include specific artists to intervene with and interrogate the space. The conversation explores the work of Melanie Smith, Francis Alys, Santiago Sierra and Pedro Reyes. Medina emphasizes the feeling of energy and the megalopolis experience that he wished to evoke by attempting to coerce the viewer as they moved through the exhibition.