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Speaking with Tacita Dean, about Tacita (in preparation to her new film première in Paris)

 

Tomorrow the new Tacita Dean’ film will be presented with a solo show at Marian Goodman gallery in Paris. According to the artist’s strategy, the basic info concerning “JG” – the film is inspired by her correspondence with J.G. Ballard in regards to the Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty – are provided by the introductive text published by the gallery (available here). Nevertheless, since most of Tacita’s best works are in continuity with the personal motivations she gives each time, we publish here some unpublished fragments from a dialogue we had with the artist in 2011, on the occasion of her Turbine Hall commission. As you will see, we were not interested in talking about the artwork…

 

On November 7th 2011, 4:56 pm, via Skype:

 

How much time do you usually spend in your studio daily?

 

It depends, when I am producing a work I’m used to get here at eight in the morning and I stay until eight pm. But if I have to work quite intensely I stay here until late at night.

 

In regards with the art of doing movies, do you have any specific ability?

 

Film making needs a lot of knowledge, but I am not a technics.

 

Do you have any hobby?

 

I go to flea markets. In my case it is connected to the work, but it is also a pleasure.

 

Do you play any sport?

 

No, I don’t.

 

Which is the thing you love the most of being an artist?

 

It is difficult to say that really. Being an artist means that I have a lot of freedom, to be what I am and do what I want. When there is not too much stress, there is nothing more pleasurable than working on something.

 

But when you are an artist, you are an artist twenty-four hours a day, isn’t it?

 

Yes, exactly you are.

 

You are free to be anything, but not free from being an artist.

 

Exactly. (laughs)

 

Are you a reader? Do you like books?

 

Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to do today, some reading. I love books.

 

What are you reading?

 

I’ve just finished The marriage plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.

 

Did you like it?

 

Yes, I like it very much because he is a friend so I wanted to read it before I saw him. I was in London just to meet him this week-end.

 

And music?

 

Yes, I listen to it sometime, but not a lot because I don’t have a record player here.

 

Which is the last cd that you bought?

 

I don’t know. I just bought a whole of listenings just because I needed to have something to listen to. It’s a real mixture of stuff. I am not really a music person.

 

So, do you think about music only in relation to your work?

 

No, not at all in relation to my work. But I needed some cds for the studio because I didn’t have very much and I bought a lot of Neil Young, actually and a bit of classical music. Again, I am not a music junkie.

 

You told that if some days you change your medium, you would move to painting.

 

I say that sufficiently.

 

Do you paint sometimes?

 

I paint my drawings, usually just monochrome. I say that because people always ask me if I would go to digital. I mean I use digital the whole time but not as a final thing. I just always say, no, I am not going to go digital, I may bring up painting and maybe I will. Or maybe I write. Because I also write, and maybe I write a novel.

 

The thing that really strucks me about your work in the Tate is that you can look at it like an abstract work with a lot of meanings. But at the same in the video of the Tate press you say that film is a very important medium and we have to keep it. So, which is in your opinion the real aim of an artwork?

 

Well, the film is also an art work. On this occasion it has much to do with the medium and I don’t want it to have just one single message because that’s not what I do at all.

 

Why do you live in Berlin and not London?

 

Because I got a scholarship in Berlin in 2000 and I never wanted to go back. It’s much easier to work here. I like the city very much.

 

Where is your studio in Berlin?

 

It’s in the centre, by the Hamburger Banhof.

 

How is it?

 

It’s not a big place.

 

Do you have a lot of assistants?

 

No, I don’t. I share my studio with Thomas Demand. I have administrative assistant four days a week and then one doing tax a day per week and I have somebody who comes every thursday to do physical things. When I made the film, I needed a film studio and then I had a whole crew.

September 22, 2014