Researching (foraging) interview techniques
Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewing Howard Becker
Question ideas:
'My favourite style of interviewing is [the style I used when] I did a study of actors and theatre people some years ago. They all claimed that they were very busy and they didn’t have a lot of time to talk to me but they would make an hour. When I sat down with them they almost always asked me, ‘How long is this going to take? I am very busy’. So I said, ‘I’ve only got maybe two questions: the first one is, “How did you get into it?” and, “Then what happened?”’ So they laughed and then they started talking and they talked for maybe two or three hours! I only asked questions to clarify things. So that is what the interviews are for. I don’t think of it as a very complex or complicated thing to do; it’s really just a conversation. You are sitting next to somebody on an aeroplane and you start talking to them: ‘What kind of work do you do? Oh, you are an art curator. How did you get started doing that?’ I mean it’s just that kind of conversation.|
Or another kind of question that I use a lot is to ask about problems, trouble: ‘You are an art curator. What do you have trouble with as an art curator?’
I ask. ‘What happened?’ ‘What did you do?’ Something that is open and that you can respond to in a way that makes sense to you.
One of the things he said is that one has to be a little bit technically unskilled; his interviewees often helped him to fix his machine!
Studs’ greatest trick is that he keeps quiet, he doesn’t talk a lot, he doesn’t give you his opinions, he wants to know what you’re thinking about. That’s the big trick of interviewing: to listen. It’s surprising how many people want to interview somebody and then they talk all the time.
Howard Becker - Outsiders
- The Tricks of the Trade
- Les mondes de l’art (Art Worlds)
here’s an obvious one: never ask somebody, ‘Why did you do that?’ Always ask them, ‘How did that happen?’ Well, that’s a trick, but in fact it has a strong theoretical background, which is that people don’t do things for reasons; they do things because they are in a situation, something happens, they have to react, something else happens, somebody says something, and what they do is build up what they do, over a period of time, as a response to everything that is going on around them. So if you say to them, ‘Why did you do that?’ you are essentially asking them to justify what they did. It’s almost an accusation: ‘why did you do that?’
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SUZI Quattro interview questions in the Metro
Did you learn anything about yourself from writing the book?
Is it necessary to have an alter ego if youâre a pop star?
Are you bothered that complete strangers will know quite intimate details of your life now?
Looking back, were you surprised by how determined you were to become successful?
You idolised Elvis so why did you turn down an invitation to Graceland?
When did you realise youâd become famous?
Why were you so popular in Australia?
Whatâs the weirdest gig youâve done?
Is your house really haunted?
What contemporary female singers do you like?
Did you learn any tips from the reality show you did, Trust Me Iâm A Beauty Therapist? NO :-)
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Reflection
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Very intersting to think about the different roles of the interviewer and how they can frame the interview - from 'An Anatomy of the Interview'
Bickers, Patricia, Wilson, Andrew, umetnostni
zgodovinar
An anatomy of the interview
pp. 25-28
Bickers, Patricia, Wilson, Andrew, umetnostni zgodovinar, (2007) Talking art : interviews with artists since
1976 Art Monthly : Ridinghouse
Detective
Prosecutor
Psychoanalist
Interrogator
Biographer
Researcher
Analyst
Collaborator
Confessor
Basking in the reflected glow of the star (Martin etc. - Princess Diana)
A beautiful construct (for the) silent observer
The word ‘interview’ describes a visual, not an aural experience,
literally a mutual view. It is an important genre of art history and
criticism because it incorporates the primary, the subjective and the
contingent. It is based on exchange, contestation and affirmation, and it represents an evolving critical discourse.
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Which role will I assume when being the Interviewer?
Which role will I assume when being the Interviewee?
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An interview is a performance (with a particular angle), edited and presented to the third participant - the viewer
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Being interviewed as putting on a performance - DRESS UP??
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Include my interview from Egoiste - 2001??
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Proust interview questions
The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature. Here is the basic Proust Questionnaire.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your current state of mind?
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
On what occasion do you lie?
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Which living person do you most despise?
What is the quality you most like in a man?
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
When and where were you happiest?
Which talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Where would you most like to live?
What is your most treasured possession?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
What is your favorite occupation?
What is your most marked characteristic?
What do you most value in your friends?
Who are your favorite writers?
Who is your hero of fiction?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Who are your heroes in real life?
What are your favorite names?
What is it that you most dislike?
What is your greatest regret?
How would you like to die?
What is your motto?
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MARQUEZ :
WHAT IS CULTURE?
According to UNESCO, culture is what people add to nature, everything that is produced specifically by human beings. I believe that culture is the social use of human intelligence.
One Hundred Years of Solitude / Inspired by So people fly mats, and do other wondrous things, among which we grew up and lived. I think I made up my mind not to invent or create a new reality but to find the reality with which I identified and which I knew. That's the kind of writer I am.
NEW FAVOURITE PERSON – bell hooks <3
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шейпшифтър
Reflection
Try to be more honest with ideas and not do things for pure aesthetics or cultural capital
Find meaning
Be less of a people pleaser
It’s ok to admit that you don’t know something – is this my FFF task?