Why should an art student take notice of interviewing? Interesting and disputable question! Aren't art students more focused on fine arts and working with media of their choice? What can a sculptor or media artist do with 'interviewing' next to gaining some general background knowledge? Still Harry Heyink, the director of the EEA, asked me to do a lecture on it.
Of course Harry knows that i have been involved a lot in the radio project of the Rietveld art academy in Amsterdam, Radio Rietveld, especially in the years 2006-2008. And within this context he might know that i am used to interviewing artists, gallerists and others engaged in the arts for a radio or live performance setting. Next to making sound works and radio documentaries on art, in a former professional career i have been involved in interviewing also, but then in the marketing information sector. As I consider interviews as an important tool to gain knowledge on motivations, choices and perceptions of people plus the fact that current society is for an important part based onknowledge which was primarily gained by interviewing, I think that also for the artist some knowledge or at least deliberation on it is indispensable.
Let me first talk about more on the tool of interviewing in current marketing research. I used to work for many companies, small consultancies and multinationals, in the field of marketing research. I conducted consumer research ("How do people make decisions for products"), communication research ("How do people perceive messages via media") and market analysis (what are the actual sales of specific products, via what distribution channels, for what prices and how do you measure market shares?). In the consumer and communication research i was intensively involved in face-to-face individual interviews, group discussions, mostly in relation to specific products or 'categories'. Marketing research uses many methods to gain insight into the motivation and decision making process of people in shops, online and 'out-of-home' (cafes for example) and the public space; So, people in their role as consumers, decision makers and civilians.
One short example may be given here: I conducted a research product for a Dutch beer brand on how people make choices in the shop. For this i designed a 3 step model: first a method called 'natural grouping': You let a selection of consumers divide a selection of beer products, each time in two groups; they must give a motivation what is the criterium of division. It might be the 'taste' of the beer (pils versus special beer as white beer, dark beer etc.), the packaging (cans versus bottles versus 6-packs etc.), the alcohol percentage etc. All these divisional criteria are measured and induced in a computer program that analyses which criterium is mentioned most. If this is for example 'taste', then this will be the most important criterium in the to be built model.
A second stadium is shop visits with consumers to analyse how the beer aisles have been built, according to which criteria. The respondents see differences between different shop formulas. We discuss this later in a group and ask them question on what they think is important, annoying or appealing in a supermarket beer aisle. Based on these two stadia, the grouping and the shop visits we build an aisle and compare this with other ways of building aisles over a longer period of time, this method of research is called a test market.
Why do i tell artists this story of marketing research? While i want to show you that the commercial world, but not only commerce, also in politics and government, 'they' work with research in which interviewing is an important means to gain insight in the opinions and motivations to, in the end, influence people. Making the link to the career of an artist, also the professional artist will have to think about a way to get ahead, to be able to live of your work. One way can be getting access to subsidies, another way of getting your name and projects out, in short what is nowadays described with the word 'networking'. That also means talking about your work to a fellow artist, a galerist, a journalist or a visitor of your exhibition. These people will ask you questions about the use of materials, media or motivations behind your work. This combination of verbal and non-verbal presentation of yourself and your work might be of importance in building up a professional career.
You see, also here at the summer academy, next to developing a work here, you talk with each other about your work, your plans for the future and how to build up a professional art practice, the insight knowledge that you might very hardly get somewhere else in such a concentrated way. In short, you interview each other and sometimes try to gain knowledge, not only on each others work, but also on how to get access to galeries, money and parties! I mean, interviewing is everywhere! Now, the following question might come up: Are we only 'using each other' to gain knowledge or is there also an exchange of opinions which is open and equal? Or: Are people always saying everything? Very probably not! Well, today i want to introduce you to some techniques of interviewing to gain more knowledge out of a situation by asking the right questions!
Later today you will be able to witness an interview with a gallerist here in Berlin and i want you to observe what exactly is going on. I will ask him a row of questions and try to gain knowledge about how it is to be a gallerist, what is his view on art, how he selects his artists, how he finances his projects and how he considers his role on the career of the exhibiting artists. I would like you to look closely to how i conduct the interview, and if i get the answers to my questions. Then I want you to to do two things: one is writing a few sentences on a A4 on your work, where is your work about and why you think you are an interesting artist. The next one is to choose a partner for a short interview of around 15 minutes on his work and why he or she thinks to realise an exhibition on a preferred spot. Be critical! Ask questions on the concept of the exhibition, why it should be that specific location and how he or she thinks to finance the project. If someone says easily: "well by subsidies", ask further how to get that subsidy, how does your partner think to convince the people of the institution to finance your project. If you don't want to talk on an exhibition you just interview your partner on his of her work.
Lastly, i want then a few couples to give a short presentation of the results and if they got to know what they wanted and which problems they faced. Don't be afraid to ask 'inappropriate' questions or to be impolite or to be pushy. You can also be soft, tender and alert, you know best your own way of getting information. Very probably you already know each other and have some basic information, but ask that question that's already burning in your mind for a few days, it can be even a question on his crazy haircut, that horrible art work or why for God's sake he's going in the flow of digital art, can't she come up with something else? Well, I am exagerrating, but just go ahead. Meet you around and go for it!
© Hans Kuiper, 2010
