Douglas Clark, (June 2012)
A Submersible: If I could first ask you about the kind of things you're currently doing/thinking about as an artist. Are you working on anything at that moment?
Douglas Clark: I'm presently three years into a part-time, practice based PhD. The title of my research seems to be constantly changing but the latest and hopefully the last incarnation of it is New Genre Art and the Monument in the 21st Century. In short I am looking at the artist created monument. The monument in this case is based on the original latin root of the word meaning to remind or possibly warn. Monuments in the past have generally been used to show power, hold on to power, intimidate, glorify and so on. Basically the 'Establishment' and/or dictatorships decided on the monument. In the last 50 years or so the monument has seen a certain degree of democratisation and artists have used them for their own agendas. One thing is certain the monument is always political.
As art has changed - the 'Expanded Field' as Rosalind Krauss put it, new genres of art have come about. Where monuments were and still will continue to be in many circumstances, made of stone, wood bronze, even gold, new techniques will and are, being used to create monuments. A good example of this is Elmgreen and Dragsets Denkmal fur die im Nazionalsozialismus verfolgten Homosexuellen or in English Monument to the Homosexual Victims of the Nazis. It is in Berlin adjacent to the Holocaust Memorial near Brandenburg Gate. It is a concrete cuboid with a window in it. Look in the window and you will see a video. It was two men kissing but it could have changed by now - it is supposed to change every 2 years.
This use of new media and techniques is what I am interested in. Although I take the PhD seriously , I'm not, definitely not, an Academic - couldn't even spell the word until a week ago! I am an Artist and I am an Engineer too although I no longer practice the latter.
The engineering does reflect in my art. I construct, I build. When I went to art school I tried to leave the engineering part of my life behind and did for a while but it came back and since re-embracing it, my work has improved. The turning point was discovering the work of the photographers, Bernd and Hilla Becher. They photographed cooling towers, blast furnaces, pit heads etc in Europe and the USA from the 60's on. Much of this industry has gone now although the Germans, bless there hearts have preserved quite a bit - check out the steel works at Duisburg Nord. The Bechers showed me the beauty in big f**k off industry. I realised then that Engineers are Artists, the thing is, not many of them know it. Form follows function as the saying goes.
I grew up in a time where there was still substantial industry in the UK. Great Britain after all was the cradle of industry. It has drained away before our eyes due to poor management, poor industrial relations and most of all lack of long term planning and investment. I'm not a serious left wing artist but being of an older generation I have seen the mistakes as they have happened and despair.
These thoughts have played through to a recent work. Architectural Apparatus No.5 (Inverted Triumphal Arch) at Salisbury Art Centre [the artwork was there until May 18th 2012]. The original title had the subtitle (Monument to Lost Industry) but I have changed this to (Inverted Triumphal Arch) as I thought it was too "in your face" and just not right.
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Douglas Clark, Architectural Apparatus No.5 (Inverted Triumphal Arch), 300cm x 150cm x 400cm, Steel, 2012
It is though, in my mind, a monument to lost industry. I have appropriated a classical monumental form and turned it over. I have made it of cold rolled steel and let it rust. The context of the piece is that it has been ripped from the ground thrown away, landing on its back. That is my monument, the new genre in this case being the appropriation and manipulation of this classic monumental form to my own ends. I have also been working on video and it is fun. Whether I use this media again (I have used it once before) I don't know. I would really like to combine video with constructed sculpture but that may be some time off, we will see.
A S: So reading what you have said, and also the content on your site, I'd really like to hear more about Ecstasy of Truth. You may well disagree in terms of your own view on your work, but the way the screens face each other seems fundamental. For me at least, it seems to bring about the phenomenological aspect that a lot of your other works seem to share. This sense of the "viewer" dealing with the ideas of your work very much in space. Beyond this, to me it seems like a fairly significant departure from the other things you have done. Could you say how you see the piece relating (if at all) to the rest of your work? 
Douglas Clark; Ecstasy of Truth; dimensions variable, Two 5 minute looped videos (back projected), 2011-2012
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D C: The video work: Well this is experimental stuff. In my research re. New Genre Art and the Monument in the 21st Century I was interested in how video could be integrated within a monument. My experience in the medium was virtually zero so I thought I'd see what it was all about. I mentioned the gay monument in Berlin where Elmgreen and Dragset had a looped video of same-sex intimacy running within the monument. This is the sort of thing I was interested in. In the future I will look at say, Performance, Graffiti, Sound, and Light shows and maybe IT based art and so on. It's such a wide field I may not touch it all and I'm wary about it diluting my own practice but we will see how it goes.
The video experience was frustrating and pleasurable at the same time. I got to collaborate for the first time. Marina, the artist in the video, is an old friend and wonderful performance artist. She leapt at the idea and although the ideas were mine, needed little directing. I got to use professional equipment in a state of the art studio at Corsham Court. This caused problems as my technical ability didn't match the equipment. There were compatibility problems with the software that caused problems with the filming of the second video so this was pretty much a vertical learning curve. In the end we videoed it again in another studio with a simple camera that you could get from any High Street outlet. The quality was just good enough but I know I would do it differently in the future.
Although my view is that all monuments are political (some say that all art is political but I wouldn't go along with this) the video piece didn't have any serious tub-thumping message. The two videos were synchronised to interact with each other so that when one screen made a gesture the other screen reacted to it then the other screen reacted to that and so on. The idea behind it was about how you question your own actions in your head so it is like one side of your subconscious questioning the other side.
It was envisaged that this piece would work best if the two screens faced each other directly. People could then interact by walking between the screens and be physically part of the work. Unfortunately on Redcliffe Bridge we only had the one Control Cabin to place work in. There was another cabin across the road which I had hoped to use but the Harbour Authorities said "No" as the kit in there lifted the bridge!
So faced with this I could either have them facing each other in the space which didn't work with respect to the relational aspect with the public, facing the street which again didn't work because the two screens ceased to interact together or angled at 45 degrees to the street which seemed the best compromise. This allowed interaction of the two screens but strangely, also with those watching from the street. We used the old trick of Marina staring straight at the camera. This gave the same effect as a persons eyes in a portrait following you around the room so in this case, if you were looking at Marina's image on the screen she would be looking straight back at you. The images on the screen were also life size so the relational aspect had implications here too. One reaction I loved was from a guy walking past with his girlfriend. He was overheard to say " Every time I pass, she (Marina) frightens the shit out of me" - Result I think!!! Others interacted in different ways. A Hen Party stopped for the whole of the loop (5 minutes) and waved at it and reacted to all Marinas gestures...and they weren't drunk! All interesting stuff.
In the end I would like to use video and sculpture together at some time. It does happen on a small scale now for instance in the work of Tony Oursler but it could be so much more. There are interesting things happening in 3D projection and Lasertag so there is stuff out there already.
A S: Ok thanks Doug, I've really enjoyed speaking with you.
D C: Thanks for asking.
Links:
www.dougclark.org
www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=12910
Interview with Douglas Clark conducted via email, (April 2012)
The video experience was frustrating and pleasurable at the same time. I got to collaborate for the first time. Marina, the artist in the video, is an old friend and wonderful performance artist. She leapt at the idea and although the ideas were mine, needed little directing. I got to use professional equipment in a state of the art studio at Corsham Court. This caused problems as my technical ability didn't match the equipment. There were compatibility problems with the software that caused problems with the filming of the second video so this was pretty much a vertical learning curve. In the end we videoed it again in another studio with a simple camera that you could get from any High Street outlet. The quality was just good enough but I know I would do it differently in the future.
Although my view is that all monuments are political (some say that all art is political but I wouldn't go along with this) the video piece didn't have any serious tub-thumping message. The two videos were synchronised to interact with each other so that when one screen made a gesture the other screen reacted to it then the other screen reacted to that and so on. The idea behind it was about how you question your own actions in your head so it is like one side of your subconscious questioning the other side.
It was envisaged that this piece would work best if the two screens faced each other directly. People could then interact by walking between the screens and be physically part of the work. Unfortunately on Redcliffe Bridge we only had the one Control Cabin to place work in. There was another cabin across the road which I had hoped to use but the Harbour Authorities said "No" as the kit in there lifted the bridge!
So faced with this I could either have them facing each other in the space which didn't work with respect to the relational aspect with the public, facing the street which again didn't work because the two screens ceased to interact together or angled at 45 degrees to the street which seemed the best compromise. This allowed interaction of the two screens but strangely, also with those watching from the street. We used the old trick of Marina staring straight at the camera. This gave the same effect as a persons eyes in a portrait following you around the room so in this case, if you were looking at Marina's image on the screen she would be looking straight back at you. The images on the screen were also life size so the relational aspect had implications here too. One reaction I loved was from a guy walking past with his girlfriend. He was overheard to say " Every time I pass, she (Marina) frightens the shit out of me" - Result I think!!! Others interacted in different ways. A Hen Party stopped for the whole of the loop (5 minutes) and waved at it and reacted to all Marinas gestures...and they weren't drunk! All interesting stuff.
In the end I would like to use video and sculpture together at some time. It does happen on a small scale now for instance in the work of Tony Oursler but it could be so much more. There are interesting things happening in 3D projection and Lasertag so there is stuff out there already.
A S: Ok thanks Doug, I've really enjoyed speaking with you.
D C: Thanks for asking.
Links:
www.dougclark.org
www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=12910
Interview with Douglas Clark conducted via email, (April 2012)