ARTISTS TALKING

Whether selling, exhibiting, in residence or commissioned, the artist is working with others, and most of the time these will be specialists in their own area. Understanding what each expects of the other will be critical to the success of the project. Graham Fagen begins all these encounters with sessions that allow for "knocking preconceptions on the head".

"The Artistic Records Committee of the Imperial War Museum asked me if I would be interested in going to Kosovo. We then had a meeting to discuss what they wanted and what I thought I could offer.

They don't advertise for these sorts of things. I had just had an exhibition at the ICA in London and I think they thought that my approach to my subject matter (at the ICA I made a documentary about contemporary living called "Nothank") could be translated to a situation like Kosovo."

Unique situation

"I think that the opportunity to be in a unique situation - being with the British military, having the kind of access that journalists don't get – is one of the reasons I took the Imperial War Museum commission.

I was also intrigued by the situation in Kosovo. Through my work I deal with things I call 'cultural formers.' So it was a unique opportunity to learn from conflict, to learn from a destroyed culture."

Approach

"I think the way I work as an artist helped me learn from and deal with the potential difficulties with the commission. Whether I am making a show for a private gallery, public institution, museum, out door commission, whatever, I try to keep the same approach. There is a job to do; I work with other people to achieve a result.

I need professional regard from all the people I'm working with to make the job work. Professionalism is about trust in both directions and trust as part of a team. Building confidence in each other opens up more and more opportunities."

Professionalism

"The starting point is knowing how you function as an artist, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, knowing how you can do the job - how what you do can make sense of a particular context.

If I had not had a strong understanding of my practice I think I could have floundered with this commission. The subject area is huge and could be overwhelming.

My 'professional' approach kept my feet on the ground and my head focused."

Impact

"It has taken me some time to get Kosovo out of my system. The commission was at the forefront of all my thinking for about a year and a bit.

My show at the Fruitmarket in Edinburgh in November 2002 saw me get rid of it. But the subject matter and of course the experience of the commission help inform what I do now.

Strange things happen with your subject matter and how you represent it. "Theatre" - the exhibition, which was the result of the Imperial War Museum commission - is slightly aggressive. I'm just finishing a video work for the Scottish Pavilion for Venice called Life Study (after Giorgione). I guess it's about life and I've surprised myself by how violent the work is."

The artist (updated November 2006)

After completing a BA at Glasgow School of Art Graham Fagen took an MA in Art and Architecture at Kent Institute of Art and Design. His work encompasses exhibitions, commissions and socially-engaged practice. Projects include Subversive on the Side of a Lunatic, Henry Moore Institute Leeds 1999; Theatre, Imperial War Museum 2000; The Forest and the Forester (after Maeterlinck), Grizedale Arts 2002 (with residency), Two Pocket Parks, Tree Planting and Where the Heart Is, The Centre and Royston Road Company 1999-2002; Commission to Kosovo, Imperial War Museum 2001-02.

‘Killing Time’, a commissioned collaboration between Fagen and Graham Eatough, director of Suspect Culture theatre company, was at Dundee Contemporary Arts in November 2006. Solo show ‘closer’ was at doggerfisher gallery, Edinburgh in December 2006. www.suspectculture.com/newsletter/index.html#article01
www.doggerfisher.com

An edited version of this profile was published in November 2006 Good Practice publication Negotiating your practice.

Lee Corner

Lee Corner has worked in the creative and cultural sectors for more than twenty-five years, specialising in organisational development and human resource management. Over recent years, she has devised training and professional development programmes that she now runs for individual artists and groups across the UK.