Methods of Art – Archive of Artists Interviews

Where my family is from in Sri Lanka, since 2009 you have this kind of accelerated microcosm to see how contemporary art kind of establishes itself as a function of economic liberalization. And you can see almost on fast forward how that works as part of processes of gentrification by which cities around the world are shaped and kind of on the frontline of globalization. And it’s these kind of structural operations of art that are typically disavowed by art people in favor of prioritizing only what art does for its viewer. As if the viewer’s interpretation is the only thing worth talking about. And I think, that comes from a kind of like a delusional worldview that has our comprehension at the center reality. But this idea, that reality can only be correlated at our interpretation of it, I think that’s a worldview that seems to be unraveling in so many directions. And I think- something that for me is really important that has changed in how I understand what art is for, is that I’m no longer thinking of art as being for the viewers interpretation. I’m no longer thinking of art as something that is completed by interpretation. I’ve come to understand spectatorship as part of the process, part of what makes art work, part of like maybe even part of the materials, rather than its purpose.

Christopher Kulendran Thomas / Artist

Bio

Christopher Kulendran Thomas is an artist whose work manipulates the processes of circulation and distribution by which art produces reality. Thomas’s work has been included in the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016), the 9th Berlin Biennale (2016), „Bread and Roses“, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2016), „Co-Workers: Network As Artist“, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2015) and „Art Turning Left: How Values Changed Making“, Tate Liverpool (2013). Forthcoming exhibitions include shows at Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin) and Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm).

Transcript

PDF

Credits

The interview was conducted in summer of 2017 at the „Institut für Kunst und Kunsttheorie“ in Cologne.
Interviewed by: Kristin Klein
Edited by: Elisa Roßkamp
Transcript by: Eva Klein
Produced by: Cologne, University of Cologne (Post Internet Art Education Research)