Tim Noble and Sue Webster Interview: In Search of Imperfection


“If things are going too nice, you have to mess things up, trust your instincts.” Meet the acclaimed British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster while they work on mutual self portrait, using a blindfold as a method.

Tim Noble (b.1966) and Sue Webster (b.1967) first became known for their shadows portraits, created from sculpture-assemblages of ordinary things. In this interview they talk about how they continue to grow as artists while demonstrating some resent working methods.

They also talk about their relationship with each other, and how they each add something necessary. It is the fusion of opposites, which gives the work energy, Sue Webster says. It is a constant battle to keep the mind free and remember that “anything goes” – regardless of the expectations of the art world.

“If things are going well, you’ve got this inbuilt instinct just to throw a spanner in the works, and to mess it up, and see what happens” Sue Webster explains.

Noble and Webster mix strategies of modern sculpture and punk-attitude to make art from anti-art. Their work derives much of its power from its fusion of opposites, form and anti-form, high culture and anti-culture, male and female, craft and rubbish, sex and violence.

Interview by Jonas Hjort, 2013.

Recorded at: Edition Copenhagen by Jonas Hjort
Edited by: Jonas Hjort
Produced by: Jonas Hjort & Marc Christoph Wagner
Music by: Tricky
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Supported by Nordea-fonden

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