|
Interview Jo Hsiao with Peter
Bogers. (published in the catalogue "A Journey of the Senses",
an opening show organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Taipei. Hsiao :
Peter, you were educated at the Graduate Sculpture Department of the St.
Joost Art Academy, Breda. In what circumstances did you begin to develop
your interest in producing multimedia installations? Bogers : Twenty years ago,
I studied at the St. Joost Art Academy in Breda, Holland and around
that time the first home video cameras arrived on the market. For
me, this was the most exciting period since performance art. I was
intensively involved in performance art, partly in co-operation
with other artists. Performance art was popular as an alternative
underground art form for a certain public. In using the video camera,
I ultimately discovered the possibility of distancing myself from
the all too personal and direct confrontation with the public. In
fact, I started to use the video camera as an intermediary and a mediator
between the public and myself. I had the choice between "live"
action for an audience or recording the action on video and showing
it at a later time. The availability of video recording equipment
provided the possibility of freely capturing processes in the seclusion
of my studio and then deciding later whether and how I would like
to bring these processes into the open. In this way, the video camera
was a liberation from the oppressive, direct confrontation with an
audience. Initially, I wanted to deal with that confrontation, but
gradually it started to interfere with my freedom and prevented me
from experimenting with visual means in an unrestricted way.
I value this freedom and I am continually aware of having to
conquer it, time and again, both with respect to myself and to the
outside world. Hsiao : In Marieke Van Hal's
interview, Rene Coelho, curator of "The Second" and director
of MonteVideo/TBA, thought that your work is very physical by nature,
and it is always autobiographic. Do you agree with his views about
your work? Bogers : The starting point
will always be my direct personal experience and fascination, but
transforming these experiences to a universal, non-personal level
is the main part in the process of creating an artwork.
I aim at universal timelessness and beauty. Thus Rhetorica can just as well
be shown and understood in Taiwan as it can be in Holland, the work
is not dependent on geographical, cultural or political circumstances.
The creation of Rhetorica started with my amazement for the way my then
two-year old son was experimenting with language and slowly finding
his way to communicate through sounds. The work puts the unconcerned
experimenting curiosity of a small baby in contrast with a self-conscious grownup attitude. Because
physical human conditions are a lot more universal then mental conditions,
I like the idea of physicality playing an important role in my work. Hsiao : With Rhetorica, the intriguing play of image and sound invites
the viewer to linger. Do you see image and sound as equivalent elements
in determining the form and content of this spatial installation? Bogers : I always try to
avoid making images and putting sound to it at a later interval. I see Rhetorica as a sculpture,
and in sculpture sound cannot deliberately be used to intensify the
visual experience, as is often the case in film. I want to use image
and sound as an indissoluble entity. Hsiao : Many of your installations
seem to embrace the theme of alienation. Bogers : On the one hand
you have reality, on the other you have art. Art deals with artificial
reality, and artificial reality is closely connected to alienation. Hsiao : As a new media artist,
what do you think the art of the future will look like? Bogers : Media art is prone
to be quickly relegated to the realm of the novel, the experimental,
and unfortunately, trendy short-term thought. Relatively new means
of expression often attract people who hardly have anything to do
with art. They are mainly interested in the technical innovation aspect.
Although one extensively employs technical innovations in art, art
and technique will always continue to be at odds since the balance
between them is very delicate and therefore, easily upset. The fragility
of this balance certainly holds true for media art, a form that could
not exist without techniques developed by scientists. Twenty years ago, one could expect amazed and admiring
reactions when one announced an attempt of creating video art. Today,
nobody is surprised anymore, which is a better starting point for
viewing art. Fortunately, the obscure factor of the video image's
impressive novelty no longer exists. The problem of a new medium's
trendiness will always dissolve, the novel ultimately becomes normal
and accepted and will eventually entirely disappear. Thus, a time
will arrive when nobody will paint, nobody will know what media art
is. and human beings will no longer communicate through their voices
or perceive through their eyes. For the time being, however, the moving
electron through all kinds of material, will continue to play a dominant
role in human communication.
|