Interview: THEO JANSEN

I first discovered Theo Jansen's work just over a year ago and immediately started correspondence with him. Today, we sat down for what is a key interview in the roster bringing together the worlds of science and art in the most natural and unexpected ways.

Theo Jansen studied physics at the University of Delft, Holland before becoming a painter. After his seven year career in painting, he started work on the UFO project which entailed the creation of an actual flying saucer that flew over Delft in 1980 causing pandemonium in the town and attracting considerable attention to his work.


For more than 10 years now, he has been working on the genesis of new nature in his Strandbeest creations which he envisions becoming completely autonomous, intelligent, wind-powered life forms. As an introduction to this work, here is his presentation on this fascinating project for TED:

Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures

What prompted you to quit your studies of Physics at the University of Delft and becomes a painter?
I was young of course. The hippy period was there. I was distracted from my study by all these new dreams of people and a lot of friends of mine were artists and so I decided to become one as well and started becoming a painter.


And have you continued painting?
No, it stopped as soon as I started the UFO project at the beginning of the eighties and then the UFO project had such a success also media wise and I had been famous for about three months in my country for that and so I chased it more or less on bigger projects. After that, I couldn't paint anymore, sit in my studio and just paint. It wasn't possible anymore.

Following on from your painting, you seem to have had a desire to “work outside the box” and pursue new forms of expression through the painting machine and light sculptures. How did these projects develop?
After the UFO project, I had to do something more technical things and my interest for physics which has never been away during painting, it was really a rebirth in the technical interest after the UFO so I wanted to make something technical.


The painting machine was something interesting because in those days there were no printers yet so it was quite unusual to paint with a painting machine like that especially as the perspective of the images that came out of the painting machine because it made real size photos in front of the wall so the distance didn't matter at all. If a chair was standing a meter or 100 meters it would be the same size. That was the special thing about the painting machine because you could also make the opposite perspective objects with it so I also made photographs of chairs and tables which were in opposite. Things which were closer were smaller and things which were bigger were further away from the wall so it's just the opposite of normal perspective.

What did you learn from them?
My mind was really going on thinking. It made me change my living just for a lot of dreaming about abstract 3D forms in my head and the possibilities of machines. It really did change my thinking and my attitude. I was asked to write a column for a university magazine that really was sort of, this is a Dutch expression, “a stick behind the door”. That means that someone is standing there beating you up when you don't do your homework.


And did this work have any influence on your Strandbeests?
It surely had as this column really forced me to think about anything in the world and because every time I tried to find new, strange perspectives on reality and in effect, the strandbeests they started off as a column in the newspaper and that is about 18 years ago now and in the first period after that nothing happened. I had written the column and then half a year later, I got the idea of going to the shop and buying some of these tubes. I started playing with it and I did that for an afternoon and in the period of the afternoon, I decided to spend one year on these tubes, on these conduits because I saw so many possibilities in there. It turned out to be more than I could ever think of all those years ago.

"...I discovered that I was making new forms of life and by doing that I hoped to get wiser about our existence and our own forms of life."

With the Strandbeests, you have stated that you are making “new nature”; what is your intention in developing “new nature” and what have you learned from your work on the Strandbeests?
The motivation changed. I started off building robots that could gather sands and build up dunes to save us from the raising of the sea level and during working I discovered that I was making new forms of life and by doing that I hoped to get wiser about our existence and our own forms of life.

I have all kinds of theories about symmetry and about multiplying, the sequences in evolution by doing evolution again and new, I think I discovered a lot about the mechanism behind it.

I wrote about this in my book The Great Pretender where I have written many theories about life.

The Animarus Rhinoceros Transport

Are your creations entirely built according to functional parameters or is there some poetry in their design?
Well, the strange thing is that I don't want to make something beautiful. When I work, I always work on function and it turns out when it's finished, it usually doesn't function that well but I surprise myself how beautiful it appears.

Their forms are very beautiful, very poetic.
There's nothing I can do to that. That's sort of this secret artist in me which I'm not aware of secretly making beautiful things.


You have mentioned that the next step in your work is giving your creations brains. Have you made progress in this phase and what does this entail?
Well, the progress is that the nerve cells don't eat that much any more.

Would you briefly explain the nerve cells to put things in context?
Well, the nerve cells are the element, the basic element of the brain. You could also say it's a sort of computer. In a computer, the nerve cell divides where there is an input or output and my nerve cells work in the way that the input is zero and the output is one so it's the opposite from the input and that means if there is air on the input, pressure on the input there is no pressure on the output.

"...the brain will in future contain a time mechanism which runs parallel with the tides of the sea so they will know in advance when the sea is coming..."

With this principle, you can make a network just like in electronics. And so you can make binary counters, time mechanisms. For instance, the brain will in future contain a time mechanism which runs parallel with the tides of the sea so they will know in advance when the sea is coming up so they can go to the dunes before that.

Also, they have sensors which feel the water of the sea. That works quite well these days. They have a sort of tube which is going very close to the ground sucking in air all the time. As soon as it comes into the water, it swallows the water of the sea and then it feels the resistance of it and then it immediately goes the other way out of the sea again because it's longer.

One minute into the rolling surf, they're lost because they're sucked in and cannot come out any more. Future Strandbeests will have step counters which will be reset by feeling the water and they run away from the sea and they count the steps away from the sea so they know where the sea is.

This is what you could call a very primitive imagination. We have our imagination,we have a sort of mirror world in our head which represents the real world around us. It is a copy of the world and our world is very complex but the beach animals world is very simple. On the right hand side is the sea, on the left is the dunes and there's no disposition toward those two elements and so these nerve cells, one nerve cell, works quite well which it does now then the possibilities are endless.

Would you tell us about the animaris speculata that remained attached to its mother acting as a kind of scout? How did this develop and would you tell us a little about how it worked?
Well, it didn't work really well. I've advanced

Is this something you discontinued?
Yes, I stopped the process because I found better ways to feel the soft sand. The animarus speculata worked with a wire in there and there was a lot of friction. It would work a lot better now because the lungs, the wind stomach, plastic bubbles would be a lot better to feed the speculata. It turns out that when the animals run into the soft sand, then the pressure goes up in the animal and you can do this quite easy with a big force that can be pulled out again. These days, they are quite able to walk on soft sand as well, the dry sand.

Theo Jansen's workshop in Ypenburg, Holland

As well as your beasts, there are the programs you’ve developed from the worms simulation to the algorithms you now use for the evolution of the Strandbeests. How have these evolved over time?
I used the computer mainly to develop the lengths of the tubes in the feet. In the middle of each animal there is a sort of backbone which makes a circular movement. The circular movement is transformed into a complex movement down to the toe, the feet. That translation is very much depending on the length of the tubes in between and there are 12 tubes which determines the movement of the toe. The combination of lengths is very important so I wrote a genetic algorithm in an Atari computer to develop the right proportion of the 12 tubes and those were 12 numbers, a sort of genetic code which survived best and these genetic codes are just 12 numbers and I call them also the 12 holy numbers. They determine how the animals walk like they walk.


How important is the environment to you and your work?
Well, I don't think the PVC pipe which I use is very good for the environment. Of course, I never leave them on the beach as part of the environment. The way I work with wind energy is...

Would you consider the environment a partner in creation?
Yes, especially the big dangers on the real beach is the storms. They must always walk with their nose into the wind. When the wind comes sideways they blow over. I work now on programs so they always know where the wind comes from and they put their nose into the wind. Seagulls do the same thing when they are standing on the beach otherwise they would blow away as well.

The place where I work now is quite inland, about 10km inland to have a sort of sandpit, 30m x 50m, here I'm working on them until they're mature enough to go to the real beach because they're not strong enough to survive a very long time in the beaches more than 5 minutes.


So you have a nursery or training area?
Yes. Because the elements on the real beach are a lot worse than they are here. I really must train them a lot better. I think in about 4 years, I'll go to the real beach with the animals and I will have a sort of mobile studio which runs after them and I can do my repairs and hopefully I won't have to do it every third minute like I have to do now.

What was the last thing to surprise you and what did you learn from the experience?
There was an exhibition by a guy called Gerritcan Vakal. He was a Dutch artist and he died in '84 and he made also machines that run on the difference in temperature between day and night. They run very slow. I think they do 3cm a year and he put one of these machines in a desert in Nepal somewhere, he put them in the beginning there and it will be on the other side in 38 million years so that's very funny I think.

Are they still working.
Well, I think the machines never worked but the thought is very good. He is one of the artists that really inspires me. Always when I have an exhibition, I try to include his work.


Generally speaking, art and science tend to make for strange bedfellows with resistence from both sides. Photographer Felice Frankel for example refuses to accept that her work is art and the art world in general is having a difficult time coming to terms to massive influx of new media. Why do you think this is and how do you think the divide between the two can be improved?
Well, I think it is just another matter of what is in people's minds. It's just the institutes that make the people. I mean somewhere where you earn your money, it's what you are. I mean I think engineers are more artists than they want to know and because they work at the university they think well I'm an engineer I'm not an artist. People tend to exaggerate what they think they are. Artists do the same. This world tends to split up just because of psychological reasons.

"If you didn't give anybody money any more, you'll see the real artist and you'll see the real scientist and they'll probably be one person."

And do you think there should be more art in science with more emphasis toward creativity in its tuition?
Well, it's something you cannot force, these boundaries, these institutions give money. You tend to do what gives you the money or recognition. I think if those elements were not there like you have for Eskimos who doesn't have any institution, he doesn't know he's an artist when he makes a little piece of art and he doesn't know he's a scientist when he makes a piece on his canoe to hide him so he can shoot the seals.

If that is the purpose to be blank again and have no prejudice feelings about what you do, I think money would change a lot. If you didn't give anybody money any more, you'll see the real artist and you'll see the real scientist and they'll probably be one person.

Is there any advice you would give parents to nurture children in learning the skills you use?
Yes, well I think when kids go to school they'll usually learn a lot more from each other than they learn from their teachers. So I think putting in a school doesn't matter, if the environment of the kids is okay, they will learn a lot. They might not when they go to economic school or something, they might not become an economist. I don't think the direction or the subject of the school matters so much, I think the mentality is more important than what you study.

And was there anything in your own childhood that led to your current work? (outside playing with pipes)
No, I had a very average family. I don't know how this all came. I think the hippy times did a lot (laughs).


What kind of impact do you hope your work will have both in practical and artistic terms?
What I see now, a lot of people seem to recognize what I do in their own imagination and follow me in my fairytale and become sort of partners or participants. Obviously they don't work with me but stand behind me, support me and really talk with me as if they are part of my project. That of course is something for an artist is very nice when people seem to understand your work.

In the future I hope that these animals will develop in the end that they can live on their own and I don't have to cure them any more and at the end of my life that they will live for a long time after I'm done.

Thank you.
It was a pleasure to do this.

Links:
strandbeest.com
strandbeestmovie.com
Theo Jansen Wiki
Theo Jansen (Art Futura)
Wild Things Are on the Beach (Wired)
Theo Jansen (TED Profile)
Interview (artificial.dk)
Theo Jansen (Galerie Akinci)

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Interview: STACY WAKEFIELD FORTE

This is the first part of dual interviews between the twin founders of Evil Twin Publications.

Stacy Wakefield Forte studied book design at the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated from the Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam in 1994. As well as working with her sister on Evil Twin Publications, Stacy was Design Director at Artforum and Index magazines in New York.

Now living the Catskills of upstate New York, Stacy continues to design books, is a member of Booklyn, and works as a volunteer at hydro-powered WJFF Radio.

What effect did travelling outside the US at a young age have on you? And what were the key things you learned during this period? Charmed by squatting? Was it difficult to return to the home country?
Travelling internationally at any age is fascinating. You discover things you take for granted that other cultures look at completely differently. I loved squatting for the same reason, it expanded my notions of how basic things like housing and group living could and should work. In the netherlands there is a community around squatting that functions extremely well. People in that scene are very community focussed, which is surprising to be around coming from the US where the culture is very individualistic. American underground art and music culture is exciting exactly because of our intense individualism. But the dutch are much better than us at anything community-centered, like squatting and collectively run businesses and projects. In my experience.


You’re currently collaborating with Fritz Haeg, researching earth sheltered homes for a new book. Where did you discover Fritz’s work and how did the collaboration begin? And what drew you to the subject of earth sheltered homes?
I met Fritz in LA through mutual friends and we spontaneously discovered a shared fascination with earth sheltered houses. We both had ideas percolating around them that made more sparks when combined. Earth sheltered houses are so romantic and wonderful. Covering a house with a sod roof so that it blends with the landscape and the home is protected from the elements makes so much sense.

For some reason this style hasn't captured the sustainable-building imagination as much as it should, so I think this project is really important for bringing rooted houses more into the public conciousness. There are issues around building them, it is a little more complicated and expensive to build them than above ground houses, and the right site is very important. but with more attention and discussion brought to them, these things can be addressed and improved on. So our goal is to investigate earth sheltered building, its past and present and potential, and see what we find.

What are the prominent memories and key things you learned while working as design director for Artforum and Index Magazine?
Artforum is an extremely well-run independent magazine with a phenomenal staff. I was really lucky to get to work there. The design of the magazine is necessarily straightforward and subservient to the text and art images, so as much as i loved the working environment and being involved in such a venerable institution as Artforum is, I don't think the designer has a very integral role there. At Index I had the chance to have much more impact. It could be very challenging to work there because it was a small and chaotic operation, but that added to everyone's sense of urgency and personal accountability. The role of design in the magazine was huge, I worked in very close creative collaboration with the publisher, Peter Halley, and we tried out all kinds of ideas that editors would have killed at other magazines.

Usually as a designer, you are working to please a panel of editors, who are by nature word people and not always visually adventurous. I have no problem with that, I think that kind of collaboration between a designer and editor can lead to the most accessible and relevant design. But index was a departure from that because the only person with final say over my work was Peter Halley who is a visual artist, as well as a writer. He was always pushing me to be wilder.

"My aim is always for my work to be invisible."

Our goal wtih index's design was to make it look simple, naive and "undesigned". I also got involved in the editorial side a bit-- I interviewed Dutch band the Ex about their tour of Ethiopia one time, and pitched ideas for people to include and brought a couple writers and photographers in, and all those things contribute to having a sense of ownership over the whole project which is different from just having a job. Everyone there felt that way and developed close working relationships, I still work on projects with all the editors who I worked with there who now are doing completely different things. I also always went on press and oversaw the printing of the magazine, and I learned so much about printing from doing that, that was always an interesting experience. Magazines often send production people on press, but its not often that book designers get to go. I'd encourage any designer to do it whenever possible.


In terms of design, how would you say your work has developed over the years? And do you approach design projects differently than when you began? Why or why not?
My aim is always for my work to be invisible. if a publication is well designed, the reader is looking at the photos and reading the text in a logical and coherent manner and not thinking about the design at all. Early on, like all designers, i was really eager to show what i could do and define myself with a certain style.

"i'm much more interested in design as a solution to a problem than as an artwork..."

Also i think every designer is susceptible to elegant little flourishes and details and layers of froth. which I adore. But i'm not doing design like that these days, I'm obsessed with clean and invisible. i'm much more interested in design as a solution to a problem than as an artwork... solving the communication problem and creating a satisfying object, which works both for the editors i'm workign with and for the eventual reader. Also I think some designers are great at detail oriented things like posters and logos, but my forte is the codex form--the way pages flow into each other and develop accumulated meaning.


Would you tell us about your work with Allyson Vieira on Untitled(Geometry + Democracy) and how you approached design of this? And what attracted/interested you in Allyson’s work?
Allyson's work is so special to me, its rare to find something both so visually appealing and intellectually satisfying! She's extremely smart. We discovered our mutual love of 18th century history when we were both working for Peter Halley, before I ever saw her work. I am especially intrigued by the way different eras latch onto previous historical moments that fit contemporary purposes. The influence of ancient greece on the upheavals of 18th century france and america is a rich subject and allyson's thoughtful exploration makes connections between things for a reader to contemplate, without making definitive statements.

How do you approach your collaborative works on album covers with your husband Nick? And what is your idea of what makes for a good album cover?
When we work on records together, Nick is the one with the vision. He makes collages and always knows exactly how he wants the artwork to be. just help figure out how to make the type and packaging effective.

Whatever happened to the Turn-offs?
we all just moved on to other things I guess! I liked the playing music with a group of people a lot, but i'm not a musician.

Would you say you are influenced by your sister? If so, would you explain how this manifests itself?
I'm very influenced by my sister, she's always thinking about and learning and observing new things that she shares with me, she's always interesting to talk to! She's very smart and thoughtful.


Do you still practice photography? And how did you approach the photographic work you did for Transient Songs and Mud in My Veins?
I take lots of pictures always, some of which i use later in design projects like i did in transient songs and mud in my veins. I see my photography as an archive of images i can use freely in design and book projects. I like to crop and mess up my pictures a lot, i have a lot of freedom because they're my own work. I just finished an artists book called "sensuchtig" now. Its a tiny edition of 6 copies with the text and photos all printed in my darkroom and its bound roughly by hand. That kept me entertained all winter, hanging out in my dark room editioning it. I think i'll work on another book made of photographic prints this winter, I really enjoyed it.

Generally speaking, how has the personal ‘zine changed since your publication of “Greetings from the Endless Highway”? What effect has the internet had? And what are the opportunities now and for the future?
Now the kind of personal writing that used to go into a zine becomes a blog. But at the same time, changes in the printing industry and the availablility of computers for design have contributed to a thriving artists book/small press/artistic self publishing moment. You don't see so many photocopied zines the way you did ten years ago, but you see more creatively printed and bound artists publications than ever before.

What are your thoughts on the categorization of arts between “high brow”, “low brow”, “fine art”, and “outsider art”? Do you feel these labels serve any purpose?
I think these labels are useful to define the context of work. Artists can have viable careers in any of those categories. The most prestigious high brow fine art market is certainly hard to break into, Collectors and galleries and curators expect artists to have a certain background in schooling and a studio presence in new york or some other metropolitan area, They don't want to bet on young artists who aren't dedicating themselves to their work completely and poised to make it big. Its a high-stakes business.

In New York you see a lot of young artists who are focussed on trying to break into that world and frustrated. But thats true of young people trying to get ahead in any business. And of course the most ambitious folks in any field tend to come to New York. Which is what makes it such an entertaining place! But yeah I have no problem with those labels, they have meaning and may be defined differently by different people.


Would you choose a colour (it doesn’t have to be a favourite) and explain the ideas and feelings it generates for you?
Chocolate brown looks very victorian to me and i use it for everything.

What are your aspirations for the future? And in addition to your project with Fritz Haeg, are there any other projects in the pipeline?
My aspirations are to keep making books! I want to keep getting interesting work projects like i have been (Right now I'm on my way to Hong Kong to press check a huge photo book I put together with Vice Magazine) and also to keep making my own books. I have a bunch of collaborative projects still in the discussion stages, but the thing I'm furthest along with is another artists book which is about the catskills.I'm collaborating with letterpress artist Kerin Brooks Smith who runs Em Space studios upstate on a four color photo letterpress book, she's a very talented printer.

And if we end with a political message, a piece of advice to artists, and a recommendation?
19th Century literature is my answer to all three. George Eliot, Tolstoy, Stendhal, Thackery, Jane Austen, The Brontes, etc etc. in cheap paperback. There's nothing better.


Links:
Introducing Evil Twin (SiouxWIRE)
Evil Twin Publications
Evil Twin Blog
Artforum.com
Index magazine

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Interview: MARCI WASHINGTON

My favourite works from Marci Washington are obtuse glances that appear to be specimens from an Edwardian murder mystery showing the suspects, the crime scenes, and the objects involved. Though apt, that is still oversimplification and only scratches the surface of Marci's work which hints at much more in the dark spaces between.

Growing up in California, Marci Washington attended the California College of Arts & Craft where she received her BFA in 2002. She's currently pursuing her MFA and CCA while building her collection of work and exhibiting.

SIOUXFIRE: How would you say work has progressed since graduating from the California College for the Arts in 2002? And has anything surprised you in regard to your work in this time?
MARCI: I think that there are still some things from then in my work now, and I think I’m interested in making art for the same reasons that I was back then, but I hope that the paintings are technically better, as well as more developed in terms of the story I’m telling. When I was in school I wasn’t very interested in narrative, but now the story that connects all of the paintings is a really important part. The paintings are like hints toward the bigger story.

The really weird thing for me now is how I spent so much time trying to get away from these dark gothic kinds of tales just to end up totally immersed in them. I used to be worried that people would just think that I was some super melodramatic goth girl (which I totally was), but now I know that it would be kind of silly to discount something that has always had such a huge impact on me. So now I paint all the dark melodrama I want.


SIOUXFIRE: To me, your work has a hint of folk art and Erte with a hint of David Lynch thrown in; how would you describe your work as a whole?
MARCI: I think of my work as illustrations for a novel that doesn’t exist. I borrow tons from the romantic gothic novel and from old bookplate illustration. I’m also super influenced by film. My paintings are kind of between bookplates and film stills.

"I liked the teeth because they were a way to imply violence without showing a violent act."

SIOUXFIRE: One of your most intriguing pieces simply pictures falling teeth. Would you tell us a little about how this came about and what you were hoping to achieve? And what would you say are the differences between your portraits and works such as this?
MARCI: Paintings like this I think of as supplements to the figures and settings- revealing a little bit more about the narrative, or helping to set the mood. Giving clues to the bigger story. I liked the teeth because they were a way to imply violence without showing a violent act. They also have so many different symbolic meanings. Everyone has dreamt of losing their teeth at some point, and it’s usually a pretty horrible dream that seems to be an expression of social anxiety- losing your friends or family, etc. Violence and losing your connection to others? Perfect.


SIOUXFIRE: The visual simplicity of your paintings have come in for some criticism; would you explain your intention in keeping the image simple?
MARCI: I am interested in communicating very clearly. I love to make paintings that are very simple, but still have a lot of weight to them. I like to find moments in my narrative that reveal a lot about the story and the psychological space of the characters, and then narrow it down to the essentials of that scene. One critic called my paintings “deceptively simple”- I really love that. I hope that they seem simple, but that there is much more beneath the surface when you spend time with them.

SIOUXFIRE: You’ve also created some sculptural pieces such as the chandelier of faces and jewellery; how do you approach this kind of work? And some of the jewellery was “pirate jewellery”, would you explain a little about that?
MARCI: The chandelier of severed heads was specifically for a show, and it was probably the only sculptural thing that I’ve done, but I really liked it. I’m not sure how it’ll pop up again, but it’s definitely in the back of my mind.

The jewellery is really just for fun. I was working for a jewellery component manufacturer and working with a lot of jewellery designers, so I just started making things for myself. Then Kelly Lynn Jones really liked some of it and wanted to sell it on Little Paper Planes. So I make it for her and for Cinders in Brooklyn, but that’s about it.

It’s just a fun hobby that helps me afford to not work a real job too much. Sometimes it intersects with what I’m doing art wise, but usually it’s just it’s own thing. The pirate jewellery was really fun- lots of bone dice and sculls, pearls, and old coins. It turned out so cool, but way too expensive to really sell, so I just made it for friends. It might make it to Little Paper Planes sometime, but I’ve just been too busy to work out the kinks since I’m back in school.


SIOUXFIRE: You’ve cited fiction and history as important sources of inspiration. What is the last piece of fiction you read and what did you think about it? And what period of history intrigues you?
MARCI: I love the French Revolution and Edwardian England. I love turn of the century turbulence and the gross reality of people’s good intentions. I love how the fiction of these time periods reveals the anxieties and social conditions of the time. I also just love a good story- history and fiction are both full of really great stories with ulterior motives.

Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Bleak House are all really great stories, but also pretty pointed social commentary. Their ability to have a critical comment relies completely on their ability to draw you into the story with romance, mystery and drama. At the moment I have a bit of a crush on Nathaniel Hawthorne. I just finished the House of the Seven Gables- so good!


SIOUXFIRE: What films or music haunt you?
MARCI: My absolute favorite movie right now is a Korean film called A Tale of Two Sisters. It’s set in this big house in the country with really great wallpaper where all of these horrible things happen. It’s not like an American horror movie where the scary parts just flash really fast, they hold the scary parts for an excruciatingly long time- moving so slow, you think you can’t bear to watch anymore. Then something fast will happen and you think you’re going to jump right out of your skin. That movie totally got to me. The colors are so beautiful and the story so well crafted- that’s how I want to make paintings.

"I got to this really horrible place where I started to think that I had to know what they were about before I even painted them."

SIOUXFIRE: What is your favourite work by Elizabeth Peyton and why? And would you explain how you discovered her work and how it affected you?
MARCI: When I was in undergrad I was getting so much pressure to be able to talk about what my paintings meant. I got to this really horrible place where I started to think that I had to know what they were about before I even painted them. Suddenly I had no idea what to paint and I got really stuck and depressed.

When I saw Elizabeth Peyton’s paintings, suddenly I understood that you can just paint what you like for whatever reason you want to paint it and the content will come on it’s own. I was working at the school library at the time and super in love with all of these photos that I found in books there- photos from history books, magazines, old snapshots, etc. I just started to paint from all of these photos that I had been attracted to for whatever reason, and suddenly I understood why I had been attracted to them in the first place. I understood what they meant together as paintings, and I didn’t have to worry about planning it out, the content was there in the images I had selected and in the way they were interpreted by my hand. I don’t think I could pick a favorite, but the SFMOMA has one that I absolutely love to visit in person.


SIOUXFIRE: Is it important for you to create work that can be enjoyed by as many as possible? And what do you think of the split between so-called “high brow” and “low brow” art? In some circles it’s a no-go area to do album covers or t-shirts. What do you think of this and would you do an album cover for a musician you didn’t like?
MARCI: It is really really important to me to be able to communicate with as many people as possible. I’ve never been interested in making art that only people educated about art can understand. A lot of that work is really great and I like it, but I’ve never seen myself working that way. The paintings that I really like are ones that get you right in the gut and make you think about them because they affected you physically and mysteriously before intellectually. A good painting works on both of those levels.

"The weird grey area between illustration and fine art can be a really great place to work from..."

The “high brow” and “low brow” thing is tricky. I like art that is accessible, but I also think that it has to have sophisticated content to be worth looking at. Some of what people call “low brow” has some really sophisticated content being delivered, but some of it is just trendy visual one-liners that sell everyone else short. There is a world of difference between the two, but right now all of that gets grouped together.

The weird grey area between illustration and fine art can be a really great place to work from- you have a much wider audience. To me it’s all about drawing people into your content- romancing them into spending time with your work and discovering the content behind it. Album covers, t-shirts, and zines are all tools for the same purpose- to deliver “high-brow” content in the guise of pop culture. I’m really careful about the projects I choose- there needs to be some similarities in what we’re trying to accomplish. I’ve done two album covers- one for The Rosebuds, and one for A New Spelling of My Name. With both of them, we had conceptual similarities that made the project a good fit.


SIOUXFIRE: You mentioned in an earlier interview that you were interested in making a film. Is this still something that you want to do and has this project moved forward at all? And would you ever consider animating your works?
MARCI: The film thing is a collaboration with my sister and hopefully, we can finally start on it this summer. Film and video takes so much planning! I just haven’t had time with all of the school stuff going on. I did a photo project that was super fun and kind of pointed to how the video thing might start to work out. I’m not so interested in animation- but real people sound like tons of fun.

SIOUXFIRE: What are you aspirations for the future? Ideally, where would you like to be in 10 years time?
MARCI: All I want is to have the time and money and space to be fully immersed in my projects. So yeah, I hope that I don’t have to go back to working a real job too much.

Thank you, Marci.


Links:
Marci Washington
Marci Washington interview (Fecal Face)
Little Paper Planes

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Interview: THE DIRECTOR OF "LYNCH"

Lynch is a unique documentary on David Lynch which intimately follows his creative process. Filmed over two years, the film follows David's journey through ideas as he completes his latest film, Inland Empire.

The director immersed himself in David's world, living and working with him over the two years enabling him to capture a more personal side to the artist.

Being the first interview with the director of Lynch, I feel priveleged and grateful that unseen forces have chosen SiouxWIRE to begin their campaign.


There's been a lot of speculation surrounding your identity. What is the intention in removing yourself (at least in name) from the production and do you feel it augments the documentary in any way by doing so?
MY CHOICE TO USE AS PSEUDONYM WAS A PERSONAL ONE AND IT IS SOMETHING THAT I DO WHENEVER I ENTER INTO ANYTHING CREATIVE. I HAVE HAD MANY PSEUDONYMS BEFORE AND COULD QUITE POSSIBLE HAVE MANY MORE. I NEVER EXPECTED THIS TO BECOME SUCH AN ISSUE, BUT I UNDERSTAND THE CURIOSITY IT SEEMS TO BE CREATING. IT IS UNFORTUNATE IF IT TAKES AWAY FROM THE FILM IN ANY WAY AND I HOPE THAT IT DOESN'T.


How did the project develop? And what did/do you hope to achieve with the documentary and what initially attracted you to the it?
I HAD KNOWN DAVID FOR YEARS BEFORE THE IDEA TO MAKE A FILM ON HIM CAME TO US----- THE INITIAL IDEA ACTUALLY BELONGS TO JON NGUYEN----- HE CALLED ME ONE DAY IN NEW YORK AND ASKED IF I THOUGHT DAVID WOULD LET US MAKE A FILM ABOUT HIM. I TOLD HIM I DID NOT KNOW BUT IT COULDN'T HURT TO ASK---- SO I HOPPED ON A FLIGHT AND MET WITH DAVID AT HIS HOME IN LOS ANGELES WHAT I WANTED TO ACHIEVE WITH THE DOCUMENTARY WAS TO BE ABLE TO GIVE PEOPLE A PERSONAL VIEW OF DAVID'S CREATIVITY----- CREATIVITY WHICH IS CONSTANTLY COMING OUT OF HIM. FROM THE TIME HE WAKES UP TO THE TIME HE GOES TO BED HE IS CREATING.

What did you learn during the creation of the film in terms of documentary filmmaking? Is there anything you would do differently if you had the chance and would you approach future documentary projects using the same methods?
TO BE HONEST I AM NOT SURE EXACTLY WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING--------- MAYBE THAT YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR EVERY SHOT AND THAT THERE IS NOT A SECOND WHEN YOU CAN RELAX BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. IF I WERE TO DO ANY FUTURE DOCUMENTARIES I WOULD EMPLOY MANY OF THE SAME TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS SOME NEW METHODS----- BUT I AM STILL IRONING OUT THE SPECIFICS OF THAT.


To what did David Lynch's own methods directly or indirectly influence your filmmaking?
I THINK THAT DAVID'S COMMITMENT TO EXPERIMENTATION HAS HAD A BIG INFLUENCE ON ME----- I NEVER FELT AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING NEW OR DIFFERENT.

Personally, what have you learned while working on this film?
I LEARNED THAT WHENEVER POSSIBLE GET THE BEST SOUND YOU CAN.

Prior to starting the documentary, what were your expectations of David Lynch and how did they change over the course of making the film?
I WASN'T SURE WHAT TO EXPECT FROM DAVID TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH. HE IS A FRIEND BUT HE IS ALSO VERY GUARDED---------- AT A CERTAIN POINT I REALIZED THAT HE WAS GOING TO LET ME FILM EVERYTHING I WANTED AND THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE UP TO ME TO EITHER SUCCEED OR FAIL---------- HE WAS GOING TO GIVE ME THE WOOD TO BUILD THE FIRE.


Would you say this is a film aimed at a general audience, artists, fans of David Lynch or all of the above? And generally speaking, what do you think each of these groups will get from watching the film?
THIS FILM IS AIMED AT ALL AUDIENCES, BUT IS PROBABLY A BIT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO PEOPLE WHO KNOW A BIT ABOUT DAVID. THE POINT OF THE FILM WAS NOT TO ISOLATE ANYONE THOUGH---- I WANTED ANYONE WHO WAS CREATIVE TO BE ABLE TO GET INSPIRED BY WATCHING DAVID CREATE---------- I WOULD HOPE THAT EACH GROUP WOULD WALK AWAY FROM THE FILM AND WANT TO GO HOME AND MAKE SOMETHING.

What do you feel separates David Lynch from other directors in terms of his creation process from writing to working with actors and technicians on set?
I WISH THAT I COULD TELL YOU WHAT MAKES DAVID DIFFERENT THAN OTHER DIRECTORS BUT I HAVE NOT EVER FILMED OTHER DIRECTORS SO I CANNOT COMPARE THEM TO HIM. I THINK THAT ALL DIRECTORS HAVE THEIR OWN STYLE AND THAT IS A GREAT THING.

Was there a particular day's filming or event that sticks out in your mind?
EVERY DAY OF FILMING WAS SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT.. THE PROCESS AS A WHOLE WAS INCREDIBLE------------- IMAGINE IT------- SHOOTING DAVID EVERY DAY FOR OVER 7 MONTHS.


How did you approach editing two years of material and did the structure of the film develop organically from the material or did you have a preconceived blueprint from which you worked? (Out of curiosity, how much material was actually shot?)
THE FIRST 7 DAYS I ATTEMPTED TO EDIT THE FILM I WAS CRIPPLED WITH A FEAR----------- THEN 1 DAY I FOUND THE WAY TO BEGIN WEEDING OUT THE STUFF I DID NOT WANT TO USE AND THINGS FELL INTO PLACE FROM THERE I SPENT MANY MANY MANY MONTHS TRIMMING THE HUNDREDS OF HOURS DOWN TO 50 WHICH IS WHAT I MADE THE FILM FROM. I REALLY DIDN'T HAVE TOO MUCH OF A BLUEPRINT EXCEPT FOR A SMALL STORYLINE THAT JON HAD TOLD ME ABOUT---------- HE WOULD COLLECT QUOTES FROM DAVID'S CAREER AND SEND THEM TO ME AND I WOULD PICK THINGS THAT INTERESTED ME ABOUT THEM AND SEE IF I COULD WEAVE THEM INTO SOME SORT OF STORY. OTHER THAN THAT I EDITED ON FEELING. IF I DID NOT FEEL A CLIP IT DID NOT MAKE IT INTO THE FILM.


Was there anything that surprised you either during the course of filming or looking back at the material?
I THINK THAT THE THING THAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST WAS THE CAMERA WORK AS I WATCH THE FOOTAGE I CAN TELL WHICH CLIPS CAME FROM WHICH TIME PERIOD--------- AS THE FILM WENT ALONG THE CAMERA WORK GOT BETTER.

Does the subtitle "one" denote that there will be an additional film from the material you collected?
A TRIPTYCH IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.

On completion, are you left with fewer or more questions than when you began?
I NEVER REALLY HAD MANY QUESTIONS FOR DAVID----- I WAS MORE INTERESTED IN SHOWING HIM RATHER THAN QUESTIONING HIM------ SO I GUESS I HAVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF QUESTIONS AS I HAD HAD WHEN I BEGAN BUT TO BE QUITE HONEST I HOPE THAT I NEVER GET ALL THE ANSWERS------------

Thank you.

Links:
LynchDocumentary.com
LynchDocumentary MySpace
DavidLynch.com
David Lynch Wiki

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Interview: MOTHER VULPINE

It is with regret that this interview with the members of Mother Vulpine comes at a turbulent time time for the band and there is some question as to whether this interview is for premonition or posterity.

Based in Leeds(UK), the band have created a guitar-driven gothic fable which has been supported by their artistic talents, not least Matthew Bigland's direction of their video for "Keep Your Wits Sharp".

First off, would you each introduce yourselves and what part you play in Mother Vulpine?
Matthew Bigland - vocals, guitar, visionary frontman
Lindsay Wilson - guitar, backing vocals, renegade female
Tom Hudson - bass, backing vocals, uncontrollable driving force
Ben Waddleton aka Shakes - drums, disco-maestro

On your MySpace it says the band members are the “Vulpine Siblings”. Are you really siblings? And how did the band form and what was the first single you recorded?
Vulpine Siblings refers to the concepts the band is based on - a dark, mythical tale envisaged by Matt, where a woman is left on her wedding night by a man who is said to have the heart of a wolf. She gives birth to their four children, and the true form of these children is unknown - human, wolf or both. The concepts of the band are based around that myth.


The band formed over a period of about four years, where Lins and Matt played guitar together and began the sounds and concepts later to become MV. A while later, they originally enlisted Tom's help as a guitarist, but realised he fitted perfectly as a mean bassist. In April last year, they came across Shakes and decided to give him a try. The dance influenced beats were just what they were looking for to complete the vision.

Almost exactly one year later, we are to release our debut single called Keep Your Wits Sharp (her words are quick). It was released May 2007 on Leeds label, On the Bone Records. We were lucky enough to record it with Justin Lockey from Yourcodenameis:Milo - after we sent him a demo, he called us the next day and was adamant he would record some of our songs. We've gone on to form a good friendship with the rest of the band and we're expecting to play with them later in the year.

At what age did you get into music?
I think music is something that is instinctually built into you – everyone has as much passion for it and that passion has come about in a few different ways – from Shakes learning drums as soon as he could hit a pan, Tom going to see gigs with his dad aged 7, Matt learning guitar from a young age but asking to be taught how to improvise instead of playing someone else’s songs, and Lins, a bit later as a teenager being completely inspired by the sounds a guitar could make.


What are your plans in regards to an album? How far off before we get our mitts on it?
I think it’ll be a while yet – we’ve only been going a year and we’re really trying to get our name and live shows out there as much as possible at the moment, there’s a possibility of an E.P. or another single aimed for Autumn, again recorded with Justin from YCNI:M. We’re unsigned as well which means we’re trying to leave our options open and see how far we can get as an unsigned band.


You’ve written quite a few songs in the last year. Have these been songs you’ve had and only just recorded or are they entirely new? And what’s your approach writing music? Where do the ideas come from and how long does it take to pull it together?
We still play a couple of songs in our set that we wrote the week we became a band – one of which people say is our best song. We’re trying to take some time to write at the moment because oddly enough it sometimes takes a back seat with us doing all our own artwork/posters/videos etc. We’re intent on having a strong identity and all that is just as important, but we’ve definitely got to a point where we just need some solid writing and recording time. Our process of writing is still developing as we’ve still only written about 10 songs. Mostly Matt will head up the main riffs/vision and the band will build around it, or sometimes he’ll have worked on an almost complete song, including drum parts. Some can pull together in a couple of sessions, others can be trickier and we have to leave and come back to.


How has the touring been going? Anything surprise you while on tour? And how was it being the Eagles of Death Metal's main support act? Did you learn anything from EODM while on tour?
The EODM tour was amazing, more than any band at our level could wish for – I mean, we’d never toured and suddenly we were playing the likes of Manchester Academy and fucking London Astoria! I think for ourselves it was kind of how we expected touring to be, and for a pretty hardcore national tour I think we did really well, a lot of people told us we were the best support act they’d ever seen – a lot of the time you end up with a crap band you don’t pay attention to, but we played it like they were there for us and there were a lot of people who were into it. The EODM guys were great – we didn’t know if they would just say hi and that would be that, but they were good to us – made sure we had food and beer and invited us when they were partying. We learnt from them too, and Jesse is a real businessman, he knows the game and he plays it, which was his advice to us.


Matthew, you directed the video for the brilliant Keep Your Wits Sharp (Her Words Are Quick) yourself. Have you been interested in filmmaking for long and where did you learn? Would you tell us about making the video, the idea behind it, and how you settled on the look of it?
Hello. Yes I have been interested in film and the making of it for long time, for about as long as i've been listening to music. I didn't learn anywhere, and i've never been to any film school or anything. But I've always imagined images to music i've listened to.

the making of the video

One of my favorite things to do when i was a kid was to plug in to my headphones for hours on long drives with my mum and listen over and over to one song or an album, and create shot by shot video's of my own to the tracks. To a point where i'd memorized the screen plays totally in my head so i could play it in my head when i listened to the songs. I didn't really know what I was doing then, and i didn't know what 'screen plays' and 'pans' were then, but I'm pretty sure it must have helped. I still remember the screen plays to tracks like "Get It Faster" by Jimmy Eat World and endless Foo Fighters' tracks. I blame it on an over active imagination! Making the video was an awesome experience, we managed to assemble a great team of people to work on it, and in the end we had a crew of about 25 people all stood in a wood just north of Leeds at about 7:30 in the morning.


I didn't really know how we'd managed to assemble it all, but we somehow had so I just kind of tried to grab the Camera Operators by the horns and really describe what i wanted each shot to look like. The video overall had taken a lot of planning, like organizing the wolf and its trainer, and quad bike's to film off of the back of and slow motion set up's etc, which took me, Lins, and Matt Maude (best buddy, great producer/co-director) a lot of time and stress, but it seemed like for a debut production I had set the bar pretty high with what i wanted, like wanting it to be outside, in unpredictable English weather and working with animals etc.

"I wanted to convey that panic and helplessness of the butcher and to try to really harness that uncomfortable energy throughout the whole video."

I had story-boarded the video really precisely, more like a film than a music video, so when we came to shoot it really was a case of me standing behind the camera with the operators and matching up the the image on the paper to the image on the screen. We'd go through the shots and the movements pretty methodically and then just have a go at shooting it.

The idea behind the video as a whole was basically to convey a fairly ominous and intimidating persona or situation, and for the observer of the video to feel like they we're almost involved in the plot just by watching it. I wanted it to be unclear as to who we we're in the video, and the relationship between us and the wolf to be really blurry. I wanted to convey that panic and helplessness of the butcher and to try to really harness that uncomfortable energy throughout the whole video.

Some of the longer cuts, which would last up to 20 to 30 seconds (like for the verses for example) we're pretty tricky to shoot, and took a lot of rehearsal and a lot of takes to get right. I wanted the video to look washed out and dark. We we're really interested in the possibilities of colour correction that would be available in the edit. We we're thinking of films like 'Sleepy Hollow' and things of that nature, but obviously we didn't have the budget or the time to involved correction to that degree.

So after shooting, with the help of Jay Cover, our chief editor, we just gradually tried different ways to colour it until we we're happy with what we we're seeing. We wanted green to be apparent throughout the video. Shooting took 2 very long days, and editing took 6 even longer days, as we had to work pretty quickly as we had deadlines to keep to. I think as a first video we're all really happy with what came out.

Would you describe the music scene in Leeds as you see it? And what do you see as the differences and similarities between Leeds and Sheffield? Any other up-and-coming artists from Leeds to look out for?
You sometimes forget how good this music scene actually is after you’ve been here for a few years until you visit another city. You could stumble across a decent band almost every night here. We don’t really intend to be a ‘Leeds band’ because we’re aiming for something more timeless and conceptual, not fashionable – which is what some of the music scene is here. There are some brilliant bands though – Wintermute, Napoleon IIIrd, These Monsters, Sky Larkin just to name a few.

What musicians would you say inspired you and/or do you just admire?
I think we admire musicians that do what we intend to – to make music for the love of it and to create something we’d all want to listen to – I’m still not sick of the songs! (Lins) We love bands like QOTSA, Yourcodenameis:milo, Daft Punk etc. but then everyone has their own input – Shakes’ dance background, Tom’s energetic hardcore (i.e. Blood Brothers), Matt’s poppier background (think Grandaddy/Foo Fighters/Presidents of the U.S.A etc) and Lins classic rock upbringing and love for post-rock. You can hear all that when you listen to the songs and I really like that.

Okay, we know Matthew does video, are there any other arts outside music that any of you do? (writing, painting, photography, etc.) And what artists do you admire outside music? (filmmakers, writers, painters, etc.)
Everyone is really into their art in this band – Lins does a degree in Visual Communications (video production/photography/design etc.), the same course that Tom has just graduated from. He works alongside Jay Cover, the 5th member of the Vulpine family (was a major part of post-production on the video and designed the single artwork) – together they form the NousVous collective (see their website) where they do art for other bands, as well as other music videos/animations, they make zines and put on exhibitions. Matt quit his fine art course to concentrate on music but is very artistically inspired and has a hand in every detail of the band, including visually. Shakes is also on an art degree and gets involved in computer-aided design/animation etc. So we’re pretty busy all round.

What’s there to look forward to from Mother Vulpine in the future? And what does Mother Vulpine look forward to in the future?
There’s a strong likelihood of a tour around September with a big U.K act and potentially a small slot at Leeds festival, should we get through the competition!

A release of some sort in the autumn, then we’ll take it from there and set out for apocalyptic world domination.

Cheers.

Links:
MotherVulpine.com
Mother Vulpine MySpace
OnTheBoneRecords
Drowned in Sound feature
BBC OnTheBone feature

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