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Interview with
Carles Congost |
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| Throughout the summer Carles Congost has
been showing Memories of Arkaran, produced in conjunction with
MUSAC, at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona.
Antonio Ortega, an artist himself, interviewed Carles Congost during
the last few days of the exhibition, in other words, after the
artist had had sufficient time to reflect on all it had meant to
him. |
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ANTONIO ORTEGA
Tell
me about the worries involved in having to be responsible
for a large production like the one you showed at Santa
Mònica.
Memories of Arkaran is the most complex of all the
productions I have done. I don’t know to what
extent I was aware of it when I first suggested the
project, but as the production progressed the difficulties
started appearing.
I wanted to work with the same team I’d had for Un
mystique determinado (2003) but I immediately saw
that there wasn’t quite such a close relationship
between the two works as I had imagined and that I
would need more people. Knowing how to handle so many
people without losing the thread is not at all easy.
You need to be able to listen to the suggestions and
advice from outside, but it’s also very important
at all times not to lose track of the original meaning
of what you’ve set out to do. You have to keep
the original idea intact.
On the other hand, you’re aware that there are
a great many things that can’t be foreseen or
controlled – small accidents that mean that you
constantly have to adapt to new situations and at the
same time try always to make the right decision. It’s
at these moments that you feel a sense of responsibility
and anxiety that you won’t fulfil any of the
expectations for the project. In the end, I can say
that this production obliged me to overcome a great
many fears, both personal and professional.
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Does it make sense
today to approach the idea of the image – and
particularly video –
from a purely experimental
angle? |
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What resources did you use to impose your views
on the team?
As I said, most of the people who worked on this production had collaborated
with me in previous projects. So it wasn’t very difficult to
impose a particular opinion because nothing was exactly new to them
and they knew which things I’m especially insistent about and
which others I’m prepared to let go.
Most of the team have a lot of experience of filming, either for
the cinema, TV or advertising. Their opinions about my way of directing
and of confronting different situations was quite a shock, but it
revealed a lot about the special situation that currently prevails
in the world of art.
As they see it, the way I work is pretty unorthodox and very often
goes against the grain of a cinematographic production, at least
in the way that filming is taught in schools. This makes me question
the nature of the film projects proposed by people who, like me,
have a background in fine arts rather than in the world of the image.
Does the approach to the world of images and, in particular, videos
in a purely experimental form make any sense today? Are there many
of us who are ready to take on productions that require such very
specific knowledge?
What should be the
artist’s contribution to a project of this
nature?
The artist has to know how to adapt his
ideas to the chosen format, and he therefore
needs not only to know but to master the language.
Otherwise, he’ll fall into the trap of
leaving in the hands of an anonymous team issues
that affect the understanding of the ideas he
wants to express. In my opinion, the discourse
of many visual artists loses its precision when
they insist on working in video – even
though it may be expressed well in other formats.
There is a great fascination with the use of
these new formats, but there is also a lot of
ignorance when it comes to tackling them. |
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| Carles Congost
in the making off from Memories
of Arkaran |
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How do you make the decisions about the presentation of a work?
Maybe one of the most significant features
of Memories of Arkaran is the fact that it was conceived
as a triple projection rather than a mono channel one,
and this gives it some of the characteristics of an
installation, which were absent from my earlier work.
This decision arose from my conversations with Frederic
Montornés (the curator of the exhibition) about
the idea of occupying the room and expanding the project
beyond the theme or plot.
I’ve always been rather lazy about thinking out
my work on the basis of issues related to the exhibition
space, and perhaps I’m now beginning to consider
these aspects and think of the space as a dramatic
resource to be taken into account. There are no great
innovations in format in most of my work, |
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and in this
respect I don’t think it requires any special
treatment. Many of my videos, for example, retain their
full meaning whether they’re viewed as a projection
or as in a television broadcast. There aren’t
a great many surprises. The general idea behind my
work is very closely linked to pop culture, and I think
of the presentation not so much as a specific staging
or mise-en-scène but more as a question of dissemination
and potential public.
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| Memories
of Arkaran is a work that breaks new
ground. |
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How important
is the curator?
The curator is the person who decides which aspects of my work he
wants to encourage and which he doesn’t. At times, it is actually
the curator who suggests the way of doing it. I like it when people
invent new ways of presenting and approaching a work, since it helps
me discover new ways in which I can relate to my own work. Obviously
not all curators approach an artist’s work from the same viewpoint
That’s what makes it really interesting. In fact, I like the
idea that a work can generate work.
What is your ideal
image of this piece and what it represents
in your career?
I have no ideal image. Each new piece sets off a particular dialogue
with the viewer that is very hard to predict. You have to build it
up gradually and you have to situate it in the right place. It’s
true that some pieces need more time than others. The feedback from
a work can have something to do with the expectations created by
an earlier piece. And sometimes these expectations are fulfilled
in the short term, but often they require more time.
I have some strange relationships with my works once they’re
finished. Very often quite a lot of time has to go by before I can
recognise myself in them. On the other hand, I always try to ensure
that they can be interpreted on different levels and that they respond
to different interests and to very different viewers. I recognise
that there’s a very extrovert part of my work that attracts
a certain type of person but alarms and confuses others.
For me, Memories of Arkaran is one of those works that could be said
to break new ground. Works that forge new paths. What I am convinced
of is that it expresses to perfection the relationship I have today
with this particular medium. Maybe it’s not a very direct one,
and maybe it’s confusing at times. Quite likely. But I can’t
stand clever videos.
The image of young art that’s so often put over by video and
photography is appalling, reducing it to a sequence of thoughts,
gags and inanities of every kind. I’ve got nothing against
home technology or low-fi – quite the opposite. But in my view,
the way so-called young artists use it shows a very low level of
commitment and rigour.
At a time when images are so ever-present, it seems incredible that
it’s so hard to separate the good from the shoddy, and that
such fancy rubbish can win competitions and obtain grants and – even
worse – be used to put on festivals and marathons in the name
of so-called modernity or understanding between the generations.
The new technologies have led to a democratisation of artistic practices,
but the time has now come for us to be more demanding and not let
ourselves be influenced solely by a fascination with the new media.
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I can’t
stand clever videos. It’s time
to be more demanding
and not let ourselves
be influenced solely by a fascination
with the new media. |
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Are
you trying to make any particular point?
Initially, I had thought of Memories of Arkaran as a stage
play. The idea was well received at the outset, but then I
began to have my doubts. Particularly when I was asked questions
about specific aspects of the play that I was unable to answer.
A project like that raised a number of questions that were
not among my priorities.
The transposition of the initial idea into a video format made
me think of an installation rather than a mono channel. This
way, I think it’s retained a very theatrical feel that
has been heightened by the fact of not using locations and
by the special use of lighting in creating the shots and above
all by working with the German designer Bernhard Willhelm.
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| Carles Congost in
the making off from Memories of
Arkaran |
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And what
next?
I want to concentrate on the processes involved in preparing a work
like this one. I’d like to pay greater attention to all the
studio work: the drawings, annotations, maquettes – all the
most intimate part of the project. Up to now, starting on a new project
has meant getting out and about to make contact with people. |
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