Interview with Tim Barnes

WHAT DOES YOUR SCREEN SMELL LIKE?

INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST TIM BARNES

Tim managed to find time to answer a few questions between various sound distractions

You would I believe describe yourself as a kinetic sculptor. Can you describe your practice to me?

I am a kinetic sculptor, or kinetic sound sculptor to be exact. I have spent the last year searching for a material that is both dynamic so as to be continually surprising and engaging but also critically robust and creatively fruitful. (A plane flies overhead) That material is sound.
A painter usually cannot paint without moving something and the role of movement in my kinetic work is just as necessary, only automated to continually produce a sound. My work is made to invite an attentive listener and is often very quiet and considerate of silence. (Door closes) I feel an artist who uses sound must not forget the silence and should not interrupt it unless they have something better to articulate.

Your work has a powerful emotional effect on the viewer; something is shared between the sculptor, sculpture and spectator. Is the emotional response intentional or a happy bi- product?

Some people might talk about the humour in a work or bring some kind of emotional significance to the situation but this is really just baggage. (Rattling in the wall cavities) I believe in some ways that artworks can be like terminals or depositories where thoughts and ideas can be left or collected, perhaps revisited.
But I think listening is an immensely personal act. Critical listening places the perceiver at the centre of the universe.

I believe that you sometimes pine to be a painter. Do painters have an easier time within the larger art world?

I suspect painters have an easier time in general, but it doesn’t bother me being someone who sculpts. I am however a little envious of the format of painting, (Telephone Rings) but the dynamic surface eventually closes down towards something finished. If it was impossible to finish a painting then I’d paint. It’s partly the idea that a painting can be finished that I find unsatisfactory about painting.

As a sculptor the environment in which your art is seen must be very important. How do you feel about your work being exhibited in a disused garage space? Do you think context is important?
I think as long as the art works aren’t parked in the garage space, we’ll be alright. I consider more than most the auditory environment, what sounds have the potential to interfere with or modify my work in some way. Usually this is not a problem.

Your sculptures are kinetic and by definition contain moving parts and also emit sounds. One might imagine that the computer screen would be a compatible medium. Is this so?

The medium of the computer screen is such that it does not allow my work to be engaged in the way I want it to be. My work is centered around the listening body and there is no opportunity for a bodily, reciprocal exchange through the screen.

Do you think there will come a day when there is no longer a place for ‘real’ art in the ‘flesh’?
(A pen rolls off the desk and falls on the floor) I don’t think so. Ideas involving the occasion, the body or the installation, these all require a live audience to appreciate it fully.

Finally; What does your screen smell like?
It smells like it’s over heating.

Interview with Josue Borgues

WHAT DOES YOUR SCREEN SMELL LIKE?

INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST JOSUE BORGUES

Josue’s words came to us across the ether via satellite.

Could you briefly describe your work?

I model in wax, interpretations of the human body and I combine them with prosthesis as false teeth, glass eyes, etc. and also with industrially made objects as pipes, springs, and so on. The results are quite humoristic hybridized creatures.

How is sculpture different to painting? Was your move toward sculpture anything to do with enhancing the viewer’s encounter?

In my case sculpture expresses more eloquently ideas related to the human body, we are mater and as such we are three-dimensional, I find easier to talk about the body if I create one, if I touch and model with my hands.

Have you ever exhibited in a space like this before? Can you say how it might affect your work?

Not like this one really, I don't know how my pieces will read in the Garage Space, but I am looking forward seeing how this rather urban and alternative can change things.

Do you involve a computer in your work and if so how is it used?

Well, I often google anatomical images that helps me remember some details of the body I had forgotten. I also use my computer to listen to music while working.

We asked him what his screen smelt like and are still waiting a reply.