Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11

Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein 3rd November 2014

Thejas Jagannath ! 1174 points • 132 posts

Learn more about Jeppe Hein's transforming artwork in this interview! more info "

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Jeppe Hein has produced many experiential artworks. He bases his artworks on interactive and community oriented features. Jeppe Hein is a famous artist based in Berlin and Copenhagen. He has produced artworks that have been showcased around the world. For instance, appearing rooms which is a water fountain at The South Bank Centre, London has become very successful and popular among residents. He also experiments with mirror and minimalist/conceptual art forms which gives people a reason to connect and draw meaning from his art. He has also contributed a lot to public art as his artworks are usually featured in public spaces. This makes them more accessible so that everyone can enjoy them in the urban realm. https://urbantimes.co/2014/11/bringing-people-together-through-interactive-artworks-an-interview-with-jeppe-hein/ Seite 1 von 29 Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11

I had the opportunity to interview Jeppe Hein. In this interview, he provides some great insights into his artworks, why he makes them interactive and public, and the things we can expect to see from him in the future.

Take a look at our conversation below:

Thejas: Why do you choose to make your sculptures interactive to the public?

Jeppe: In my view, the concept of sculpture is closely linked to communication. Rather than passive perception and theoretical reflection, the visitor’s direct and physical experiences are more important to me. A level of immediate perception is only achieved with an artwork that the viewer is directly involved with. Thus interaction is a distinctive element of my artwork and the viewer plays a vital role.

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Thejas: What type of artform do you practice with your sculptures? Some call it minimalist or conceptual art – what do you classify it as?

Jeppe: Although I see myself in the traditions of Minimalism and Conceptual art, I would not consider myself being part of a particular movement. I would rather say I have been inspired by other artists like Dan Graham, Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, Larry Bell, Olafur Eliasson and Asger Jorn, because they all work with communication and experience. Their works are always physically present and perceptible. People shall not only look at them, but also feel them. My artistic approach is a similar one.

Thejas: Public art brings new meanings to people around them and can form a communal feeling. What are some of your artworks, which are interactive to the public? How do they convey meaning?

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Jeppe: Almost all of my artworks are interactive to the public and offer the possibility

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of participating in the action of a piece, of being confronted with the surprise of the unexpected. By challenging the physical attention of the viewer, an active dialogue between artwork, surrounding and other visitors is established.

My Modified Social Benches, for example, borrow the basic form from normal park or garden benches seen everywhere, but are altered in various degrees to make the act of sitting on them a conscious physical endeavour. Each bench has feet, offers space to sit and a back to lean on. But unlike usual benches, it consists of elongated, winding, rapidly rising or falling lines of seating with high arches, sharp bends or small loops. With it’s modification, the space it inhabits become active rather than places of rest and solitude; it fosters exchange between the users and the passers-by, thus lending the work a social quality. Due to its alterations, the bench end up somewhere between a dysfunctional object and a functional piece of furniture and thus point out the contradiction between artwork and functional object. The visitor can use it as a bench and sit on it. At the same time, the bench has its own sculptural quality, thus inviting the viewer to look at it and to walk around and through its structure.

Thejas: You are known to experiment with mirror sculptures such as Reflecting Frequencies in Denmark. Why do you have a fascination with mirrors?

Jeppe: Mirrors alter and question our perception of our surroundings and ourselves by increasing and multiplying the heterogeneity of a space for example. Mirrors make us reflect on our own presence by addressing our physical and mental experience of an environment and our position within it. Viewers become aware of the limitations as well as the possibilities inherent in the act of looking. So, my mirror installations always refer to the presence of the visitor and the artwork in the space asking the audience: Why are you here? What are you doing here? How do you observe artwork and space? How are you observed by artwork and space?

Thejas: How does your art redefine the public space?

Jeppe: In my opinion, an artist generally should be a kind of seismograph perceiving the atmosphere of a space as well as its influence on people’s mood and behaviour

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transferring it to the artwork in order to change, add or highlight special features. I think

art can be a tool to create a system of reference between space and viewer, by which I https://urbantimes.co/2014/11/bringing-people-together-through-interactive-artworks-an-interview-with-jeppe-hein/ Seite 6 von 29 Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11

attempt to break traditional attitudes and expectations of art.

Art, similar to architecture, is a way of expression in space with communicative and functional aspects, with the capacity to intervene in the field of social interaction and to form social constellations. Therefore, I consider art in public as a social sign with the ability to provoke and challenge communication and reflection. This is particularly relevant at a time when places for communication – such as free, creative spaces and areas designed to enable interaction and involve people in a dialogue with the surroundings and others – are absent from most contemporary cities.

Thejas: Is it the nature of the sculpture or the type of people attracted to the sculpture that makes it interactive in public art? Does the type of material you use contribute to how interactive a sculpture is?

Jeppe: Generally, I think art should be created for people. Instead of placing an artwork without reference or connection to architecture and audience in public space, social aspects should be considered during its development and the dialogue

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between object, space and observers should be enhanced by a piece. The open

character of public spaces offers the opportunity to work in a very conceptual way.

Without any institutional restrictions, the conditions of nature, space, the public and the surroundings can be reflected then translated into an artistic https://urbantimes.co/2014/11/bringing-people-together-through-interactive-artworks-an-interview-with-jeppe-hein/ Seite 8 von 29 Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11 surroundings can be reflected then translated into an artistic

idea. Moreover artworks in public space open up new possibilities for the viewer to lose his timidity and respect towards art. When people see an art piece developed and integrated in public space, it is often easier for them to get a first access to it.

Material is a medium for me to promote exchange between viewer and artwork. Sometimes industrial made material is suitable for this purpose, sometimes hand-made material is the best choice. Most industrial made materials, like mirrors or neon tubes, are a part of our everyday life. People are used to it nowadays and interact with it constantly – often without even recognizing it. I try to utilize this unnoticed acquaintance and growing acceptance in my installations to attract people’s attention.

Thejas: Can you tell us about your work Appearing Rooms fountain at the South Bank Centre in London?

Jeppe: Appearing Rooms is a programmed water pavilion that comes across as a labyrinth

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made out of four outer water walls in the shape of a square, which is sub-divided

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into smaller spaces by four independent walls within the structure. The 2,30-metre-high

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water walls randomly rise and fall, defining all possible right-angled configurations of the space in sequences of ten seconds before changing shape and appearance. The visitor is allowed to move within the structure from space to space, finding himself in differently shaped spaces inside, or suddenly on the outside, of the pavilion without any possibility to control or govern the confinement/exclusion.

Thejas: You have also experimented with a number of fountains as places for public space. What makes the fountain a special attribute to the public space?

Jeppe: For a couple of years now, I have been using natural elements such as water as a material to create architectural constellations and sculptures that seem to https://urbantimes.co/2014/11/bringing-people-together-through-interactive-artworks-an-interview-with-jeppe-hein/ Seite 12 von 29 Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11

a material to create architectural constellations and sculptures that seem to

be substantial and immaterial at the same time. These temporary spaces are appreciated for directly activating the viewer’s awareness and attention as it provides the possibility to physically experience art in a different way and to perceive the surrounding from another perspective.

Accordingly, this “liquid architecture” can be considered to be a social sculpture inserted playfully in everyday life situations. The interaction established can stimulate multiple reactions: from amusement to curiosity, from doubt, to wonder and surprise. My water pavilion reactivate and emphasize a place as a meeting point, a calm and peaceful area where people can take a rest and have a break from everyday life. Where an exchange between the diverse inhabitants of the area takes place and a joyful and cosy atmosphere arises.

Thejas: Who are the targeted audience for your sculptures? Do you think about what type of people interact with the

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sculpture or is it built for everybody?

Jeppe: It’s for everybody. My artworks are intended to ideally bring together people from different contexts and origins providing them with an opportunity for mutual exchange. Independent from background, gender or age, no matter if it is a child or an art critic, people are encouraged to interact with the work, the surrounding and other people. When people enter one of my water pavilions and suddenly face a person with a different culture, another age or skin colour and both smile at each other, they will forget in a second who and where they are because it is an amazing feeling to stand in a room full of water. I hope this experience strengthen the sense of community between the various groups that generally reflect a community at large.

Moreover, it is important for me that my art is not only exhibited in the context of the art world, but also seen and experienced by people who usually don’t visit a museum. In consequence, I created a variety of works in public space, which offer passers-by the possibility to interact with sculptures without even knowing that it is art.

Thejas: Can you give us an overview of your future projects? https://urbantimes.co/2014/11/bringing-people-together-through-interactive-artworks-an-interview-with-jeppe-hein/ Seite 14 von 29 Bringing People Together Through Interactive Artworks: An Interview With Jeppe Hein – Urban Times 24.11.2014 13:11 Thejas: Can you give us an overview of your future projects?

Jeppe: I am currently preparing my solo show Stillhet at Galleri Nicolai Wallner in Copenhagen that will open up on November 7th, 2014 and I am on view in the group shows Antworten auf Calder: Mobiles in der Gegenwartskunst at Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (Germany), Schwindel der Wirklichkeit at Akademie der Künste in Berlin (Germany), Bikuben at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (USA) and The grass is always greener… at Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde (Denmark). In addition, I am working on two major solo shows coming up in spring and autumn 2015 in the US and Germany as well as several commission works that will be inaugurated during the course of next year.

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