Page 54 - Art Reveal no8

54 Art Reveal Magazine

How and why started you creating?

I was always creative
first as a writer in high school and college until 1975
then as a painter in NYC late 70s
then as a conceptual artist and sound artist in West Berlin until now

You start creating because you want to interpret your environment and receive social
recognition by doing it

How has your work changed in the past years?

As a sound artist (mainly performance) since the early 80 with mobile sound sculp-
tures and electro-acoustic clothes here a text I wrote about Audio Clothes a while
back for Leonardo:
http://www.benoitmaubrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Audio-Clothes.pdf
in the last ten years I have moved additionally into the field of non-mobile public
sound sculptures:
http://www.benoitmaubrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/SPEAKER_SCULP-
TURES_2014.pdf

If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and
why?

I cant imagine doing anything else and its too late to change my profession

What is your creative process like?

My artwork mainly deals with public spaces and how to intervene in them using
electroacoustic waves (sound)

I first consider a space before I intervene

What is the most challenging part about working with Mixed Media?

My decision in the early 1980s to stop working with pigments and canvas came from
a desire to interact directly with public spaces. This is why I decided to work with
loudspeakers and media. Loudspeakers have long been integrated into modern life
inside our homes, mass transportation, and public spaces -- wherever you find peo-
ple, you‘ll find loudspeakers. The art I make is not “high tech“, it‘s normal. Speak-
ers are cheap and commonplace: they can be found at flea markets, second-hand
stores, recycling centers or in garbage bins. I use loudspeakers much in the same
way that a sculptor uses clay or wood: as a modern medium to create artworks with
the added attraction that they can make the air vibrate (“sound”) around them and
create a public “hotspot”.

How would you describe the art scene in your area?

Berlin is pretty hot right now

What are your future plans as an artist?

Audio Ballerinas, Feedback Fred, Audio Peacock, and Electronic Guy are regularly
on tour

IGLOO