Face to Face: Interviews as Practice in the work of Stephen Sutcliffe

Thompson, Susannah (2025) Face to Face: Interviews as Practice in the work of Stephen Sutcliffe. In: Theorising the Artist Interview. Routledge Research in Art History . Routledge, New York, pp. 164-182. ISBN 9781032419602 (hardback); 9781003360575 (ebook)

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Abstract

This chapter considers interviews as material within artistic practice. In particular, the chapter considers the way in which contemporary artists have appropriated existing or ?found? interviews with artists, writers and other cultural figures to generate new works of art. The work of Glasgow-based artist Stephen Sutcliffe is a key example, whereby much of Sutcliffe?s own work is formed of film collages from an extensive archive of British television, film sound, broadcast images and spoken word recordings which the artist has collected since childhood. Through an extensive editing process, Sutcliffe?s films often contrast sound and image to create subversive, unexpected and often comedic narratives commenting on themes such as class, national identity and gender to suggest alternative readings of the interviews through the juxtaposition and synchronization of visual and aural material.