[NetBehaviour] Bomb Magazine - Artists in Conversation | Annie Abrahams & Igor Štromajer

[marc garrett]

Bomb Magazine - Artists in Conversation | Annie Abrahams & Igor Štromajer

Igor Štromajer & Annie Abrahams
by Gretta Louw

In January 2014, I was thrilled to set up an online meeting—from our 
three homes in Germany and France—to discuss our practices, backgrounds, 
and what we're trying to achieve with our various modes of networked 
performance.

Gretta Louw Tell me about the beginning of your art career. Annie, you 
had another life, studied biology; I read in an interview where you said 
that studying biology taught you about the world around you and your 
bodily functions but not how to live, so you switched to art, where you 
could experiment more easily. This really resonated with me because I 
studied psychology and felt the same—that art is a place to experiment 
and gain knowledge, to learn something. What do you think about the idea 
of the artist as researcher?

Annie Abrahams All three of us come from different backgrounds. Igor 
started in art but not as a net artist—he started in theatre. So we all 
have another background, another way of being. Art is about life, and 
science is about your environment and the way you look at it. Art is 
about the questions you have, and not the answers.

Igor Štromajer Perhaps this is one of the most important things, that we 
all come from somewhere else. I was studying art, but it had nothing to 
do with what we are doing now. Furthermore, it had nothing to do with 
anything contemporary. I was studying historical theatre and it does not 
help me at all in what I am doing now. I am sure that what you were 
studying—psychology, biology—is much more handy. You have a much better 
background for this kind of performance art.

more…
http://bombmagazine.org/article/1000085