Hans Ulrich Obrist: the artist interview in the service of curatorship

Abstract

Contemporary art is in constant evolution. New forms of expression and artistic codes challenge the notion of art itself, involved in a process of dialectical crisis between aesthetic and content.
Since the inception of conceptual art, the substance of the work of art has found difficulties to manifest itself by declaring the need for philosophical, sociological and anthropological support in order to be read. It increasingly needs to be accompanied by explanations, therefore the artist has learned to use external tools to explain the content of his work to the public: exhibitions, criticism, and artist interviews are fundamental mediations in contemporary art.
Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist has created The Interview Project, a series of books of interviews codifying this literary genre in relation to art, the artist and curating. Taking as examples a series of interviews to artists by critics and curators, this essay aims to analyse them from a sociological and anthropological point of view, as a form of mediation between artist, work and audience, highlighting their narrative method.