Conversations on art

It is one thing to look at a work of art, to scrutinize its materiality, to observe the conditions of its exhibition, to construct more or less free interpretations of it until it becomes the object of very personal projections, or on the contrary to nourish one's reading with historical or objective information. It is another to collect the word of an artist. To listen.

The interviews with the artists participate in the writing of an oral history of the art, a history for a long time underestimated. Yet it has always fed the work of researchers and curators with first-hand information. And it proves to be just as precious for the different art publics, who can leave this sometimes intimidating tête-à-tête with a work, to understand the conditions of a practice often mysterious because invisible.

These interviews will look back at the careers of the invited artists, focusing on their art practice, with a particular emphasis on the material conditions of the latter. How does one become an artist? What is a creative process? How does a work develop over time? How is it nourished by external influences? But also: where do artists work? In what financial and family economy do they work? What collaborative networks do they set up? And how does the routine of the artistic activity share with the more expressive and creative dimension of their work?