| Summary: | This paper examines the ethical and art-historical questions that are raised when conversations with artists are edited for sound clips or transcribed for books and catalogues. Should the reader of an interview be aware of how much has been ‘tidied up’ or redacted? Does it matter that what one is reading is a version of the authentic truth of the original?
Drawing on four contrasting examples, I will trace the significance of the editing process, from the uttered voice to the edited page. Using Gretchen Berg’s interview with Andy Warhol, I discuss the ‘authentic’ artist’s statement. With Warhol’s a: A Novel, I explore the limits of a literal transcription. Discussing my series of interviews with the artist Morten Viskum, I examine the months-long process of determining the psychological underpinnings of his work. Finally, with the artist Nathalia Edenmont, I consider the interview in the context of a traumatic confession.
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