Life, Art, Traveling, Etc *
http://www.dourmana.com/late/index.htm
by PETKO DOURMANA

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Artist's Statement:

The creation of this project is directly related to my trips and meetings in Great Britain to investigate the media art scene in the country. The choice of the people I meet is determined by different subjective and objective reasons, but mainly by my interest as an artist, working with new media, and leader of a media art institution. Besides the official events and meetings, another reason for the trips are also the informal conversations with artists, mainly in clubs and pubs, discussing their problems and topics related to life, professional and personal motivation to work in the area of the new media arts.

Following my entirely subjective interest, I dared to ask some of them a series of questions**, which interest me, distinct the artist's general appearance and put him face to face with the media, which he /she have chosen for the realization of his projects.

Without pretending to be thorough, the streaming documentation of these interviews presents a definite picture of the media art scene, which is biased and critical at the same time, and the conclusions and analyses remain under the surface of the official activity and the professional ethics.
The desire for complete authenticity of the published information is the reason for the choice of video streaming for this project.

Petko Dourmana 2002

* The title is taken from the Saturday's cultural add in The Guardian.
** The structure of the questionnaire is based on LEXICOnCULT /a project by Triumviratus Art Group/

Questionnaire:

· How will you describe the project you are working on now in the shortest and most concise way?
· What can discourage you and what can motivate you in the process of working?
· With what team do you prefer to work, do you prefer specific generations?
· During the last years have you worked actively with artists?
· To what extent does the intuition govern your choice of team to work with?
· Which is your favorite book when you are working?
· Which is your favorite computer game when you are working?
· What do you always put off in the working process? Which problem do you prefer to hide from instead of solving once and for all?
· In what are you in doubt when you think about your new project? What do you worry about?
· Who/what is your closest ally?

· Who/what is your most serious enemy?
· Sport?
· What do you do when you feel that you have reached the limit of your artistic and physical strength?
· How much will your new project cost?
· Are you in serious difficulties with the budget of the project?
· Can such a problem influence strongly the result?
· On what do you prepare your projects - pages, notebook or straight into the computer? Do you draw your projects?
· Have you dreamed your future project or anything related to its creation?
· In the newspaper you come up with information on an investigation and lawsuit. The perpetrator of the heavy crime, by accident, has the same name as you. How would you feel?
· Is there a film directly related to the project you are realizing at the moment?
· What will happen if you have to leave art and earn your living with a new profession?
· Do you sense you "true" age - for example, do you feel that you are younger or older than you actually are? What is your "subjective" age?
· Do you think that the media, the critics and the society pay enough attention to the work of the artist?
· What is your favorite show on TV?
· How many people would you like to watch your new project? 100, 1 000, 100 000, million? Is there a limit for the number of viewers beyond which you would think that the artistic essence would be lost and would turn into a show?
· What do you think about drugs? Do you think that it can give new opportunities to the artistic impulse or enrich it?
· Compare yourself with an animal...Why did you choose it?
· Does your new project bear any direct, metaphoric or non-metaphoric relation with the last world social and political events?
· How did you respond to the surprising and fast changes on the political landscape?
· How do you react when your child /future child/ watches documentation of your projects - do you ask for an opinion, do you listen to it attentively or vice versa?
· Do you feel like a famous person?
· What is your first thought when you see yourself in the mirror in the morning?
· Share with us (honestly!) if when answering any of these questions you had to hide something or not tell the whole truth as you feel it ...

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