Purple Magazine
— S/S 2016 issue 25
Alex da Corte
sculpture in a field of dreams
artists series by MAURIZIO CATTELAN
in participation with MARTA PAPINI
Portrait by ALEX ANTITCH
all artworks courtesy of the artist
Alex da Corte
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — How old were you in 2008?
ALEX DA CORTE — Twenty-seven.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Where will you be in 2050?
ALEX DA CORTE — Haunting someone’s house.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — If Land Art was sculpture in the expanded field, what is your art today?
ALEX DA CORTE — Sculpture in a field of dreams.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — How much is your work related to newspaper headlines?
ALEX DA CORTE — I would say that some of my work is definitely culled from the newspaper, but there is approximately a 10-year delay from when I read it to when it finds its way into my work.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — If we recorded your Skype calls, what would we hear and see?
ALEX DA CORTE — I have used Skype only a few times. My face is kind of big, so I feel like you might only be able to see that on the screen. You would hear the sound of a cartoon barrel speaking.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Is there something that you are not free to say? What is your definition of freedom?
ALEX DA CORTE — I am free to say anything, but choose not to say everything. Freedom is a state of mind.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — How much data do you generate per day?
ALEX DA CORTE — I like to text, so probably a lot. I’ve had the unlimited plan since the early 2000s, and I like it. It’s the longest relationship I have been in.
TRUE LIFE, 2013, HD Video, sound 3’44”
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Are data and metadata good for us?
ALEX DA CORTE — Sorry, my phone just died.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Are we becoming metaphors of ourselves?
ALEX DA CORTE — Yes, in the sense that as we expand virtually, we are simultaneously able to refer back to our physical, material selves. This juncture of creating space and reducing gaps functions much like metaphors do.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — What do you think the Internet would look like from inside?
ALEX DA CORTE — Batman Forever.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Are you more interested in interstellar or Internet space?
ALEX DA CORTE — Interstellar.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Is the future a construction / illusion we’ve inherited from the ’60s?
ALEX DA CORTE — Yes. I am kind of disappointed that Interstellar wasn’t more like Austin Powers.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Is there something you believe in?
ALEX DA CORTE — I believe that there are a lot of things I don’t understand and have yet to discover. I believe the children are our future.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — If you could take credit for any invention, which would it be?
ALEX DA CORTE — Toilet paper. I think it’s something people like.
As Is Wet Hoagie (with Borna Sammak), 2013
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Making art is, to you, a way of getting rid of objects? Or is it a way of collecting them?
ALEX DA CORTE — Getting rid of them. There is a lot of stuff in the world, and it is nice to find it and think about it for a while, but it is also nice to let it go away.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Is art, for you, a crystal ball or a time machine?
ALEX DA CORTE — I thought this was for Purple, not Interview. It is a little bit of both, insofar as it spans time both forward and backward, knowingly and unknowingly, picking, plucking, and probing.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — If you invented an app, what would it do?
ALEX DA CORTE — Get a taxi, private car, or ride share from your mobile phone.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — How can we hide from machines?
ALEX DA CORTE — Take a square sheet roughly double the length of your body and drape it over your head.
A work in progress at Alex da Corte’s studio, New York
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Are you born an artist? Will you die an artist?
ALEX DA CORTE — You are born an artist, or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice has less fireworks. The artist is always there.
MAURIZIO CATTELAN — Isn’t any resistance futile?
ALEX DA CORTE — Certainly not.
