Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken is an American multimedia artist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
CountryUnited States of America
allowing art collecting cultural embedded haunts left love minds owning preserving stays
I love art that haunts me, that stays with me, that is left embedded in my mind. I don't really think there is any use for owning or collecting art; it is more about remembering and preserving it in the minds eye and allowing it into your cultural DNA.
attempt create defined interested medium mediums spectrum tools using wide
I have always just made things. I don't see what I make as being defined by a medium or aesthetic. It probably comes more from a fundamental restlessness, an attempt to create tools for questioning or understanding, and I have always been interested in using a wide spectrum of mediums to do this.
amazing favorites flea markets paperback protest protests spot weak
I have a weak spot for late '60s-early '70s yippie paperbacks and protest manifestos. I find them at flea markets or online. One of my favorites is 'Right On,' a compendium of student protests made into this 95-cent paperback with the most amazing graphics.
mediums platform
I always thought about 'Station to Station' as an approach. It was about creating an alternative platform for culture where different mediums could co-exist.
barrier communication created ends format itself maybe medium utilize web
Communication is paramount, and what medium or what format you utilize should be a non-issue. In some respects, that has created a barrier for new media, especially web new media, because often times maybe the media itself comes before the concept, before the ideas, and ends up navigating or dictating the outcome.
art core creating cross cultural empower friction mediums music natural provide reasons
One of the core reasons for creating 'Station to Station' was to provide a space for exploration and cultural friction between different mediums. It should be natural for mediums like music, film and art to cross over, and we wanted to empower that process.
entirely minutes
The 'Station to Station' film is made entirely out of one-minute films, and each of the 62 minutes is a completely different person, place or encounter.
linear modern rather standard voices
The 'Station to Station' film is a fast-moving journey through the modern creative landscape. It's a kaleidoscope of voices and impressions rather than a standard linear film.
began feels itself sculpt though
The 'Station to Station' film has been fascinating to create. It feels as though it made itself in a way, and after awhile, the film told us what it needed and began to sculpt itself.
work
There's really no differentiation between the work I make and the world I live in.
art levels
Art is always a search for understanding, and the different levels and frequencies of that search feel completely comfortable and natural to me.
affected based born course feeds interested religious rupture seen society time work
We are all affected by the time we are born into, and of course that feeds into your work. Society is based on storytelling - religious myths, opera, film - and 1968 was always seen as a time of rupture and fragmentation. I have always been interested in those words.
art exists galleries venues
We live in a world where art exists in galleries and museums, and musicians have to play the same venues over and over.
act change explore looking ourselves seeing self singular view whether
In our daily lives, we see ourselves often in very reductive ways. I want to explore motion, change and flux, whether we are looking in the mirror or seeing ourselves in our surroundings. The singular view of self contradicts the act of living.