Methods of Art – Archive of Artists Interviews

I find the term “artist” and the definition of the term “artist” a very entertaining let’s say, or amusing
problem because today, to call yourself an artist, in some instances it appears to be an arrogant
statement which to me derives from the history associated with modern and contemporary art and
the perceptions of what an artist may be. Or let’s say the traditional perception of what an artist may
be. In other words, a being that is an illuminated individual who by some magical or powerful reason
has this vision that he is able to put in an artwork or an object that then becomes sacred or becomes
adored or celebrated by a community. So you become a very special person that has this innate
ability to express yourself on a very high level and I think that it’s an interesting perception that has
dominated a great deal of art to this day. Still when you say, I am an artist, it almost feels like you
need to prove it. In most societies when you claim that you are an artist there has to be some kind
of proof, in the same way in which when you say this is an artwork, you know, the burden is on you
to prove that it is in fact something should be deemed valuable to be an artwork. It has been
interesting to me to see that many people of my generation and later, sharing the same discomfort
with what the term artist conveys, have tried to elude or escape from it by saying things like, ‚I’m just
a maker, I am a cultural producer, I am an agent of change or in some cases, I’m a social practitioner
for example. But I happen to think that it is actually really important to always stress that category of
art and that category of artist because it’s precisely that area of human activity that is thoroughly
grounded in the ambiguous and in the shifting identities. It’s the place that we have to explore new
territories and new questions and to destabilize what is always assumed. And indeed it’s an
uncomfortable place to be, but I think this is at the same a very necessary place to be. The moment
you say that I am an artist, it’s basically acknowledging that you exist in that shifting territory of
meanings and of narratives and of human concerns that are constantly defining us. I am an artist
who works in a museum and that’s a very uncomfortable place to be, because an artist who works in
a museum is basically… Is an actor who is basically working behind the set of the stage. Looking at
the stage in motion and in action when you should theoretically be on the stage. So it feels like a
very contradictory thing to be. Like a place, that you should not really belong to. But I also believe
that being an artist is also being an outsider, or being someone who is always kind of not in the right
place. Someone who is not exactly fitting in. And that very act of not quite belonging to where you
are, I think is incredibly important to make your mind reflect and respond to those facts. When an
artist enters in anthropology, or an artist enters into political activism, or an artist enters into social
work, that fact of not really quite fitting in, not being one of the people that were, let’s say,
professionally trained, or directed from the beginnings of their lives, to fit into that realm is important
to acknowledge and it becomes absolutely a part of who you become.

Pablo Helguera / Artist

Bio

* 1971 Mexico City/MX, based in New York City. Helguera works with installation, sculpture, photography, drawing, socially engaged art and performance. His work focuses in a variety of topics ranging from history, pedagogy, sociolinguistics, ethnography, memory and the absurd, in formats that are widely varied including the lecture, museum display strategies, musical performances and written fiction. His work as an educator has usually intersected his interest as an artist, making his work often reflects on issues of interpretation, dialogue, and the role of contemporary culture in a global reality. Pablo Helguera performed individually at the Museum of Modern Art /Gramercy Theater, in 2003, where he showed his work “Parallel Lives”. His musical composition, “Endingness” has been performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Helguera has exhibited or performed at venues such as the Museo de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; ICA Boston; RCA London; 8th Havana Biennal, PERFORMA 05, Havana; Shedhalle, Zurich; MoMA P.S.1, New York; Brooklyn Museum; IFA Galerie, Bonn; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo; MALBA museum in Buenos Aires, Ex-Teresa Espacio Alternativo in Mexico City, The Bronx Museum, Artist Space, and Sculpture Center, amongst many others. Since 2007, he is Director of Adult and Academic programs at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He has organized close to 1000 public events in conjunction with nearly 100 exhibitions. In 2010 he was appointed pedagogical curator of the 8th Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which took place in September, 2011. He is currently Senior Resident of Location One in New York. He presented a solo exhibition at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 2012

http://pablohelguera.net

Transcript

PDF

Credits

The interview was conducted on March 4 2015 at Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Interviewed by: Johannes M. Hedinger

Filmed and recorded by: Konstanze Schuetze

Edited by: Paul Barsch

Transcript by: Wolfram Eggebrecht, Lea Hoßbach, Ella Tetrault

Produced by: University of Cologne (Cologne), Institut für Kunst&Kunsttheorie