FAQ / Sabine Delafon + Paolo Priolo
PP: Hello Sabine, How are you? Mediamatic is near...
SD: Well, thank you, yesterday I woke up at 04:00 to work on the fanzine that I’ll be taking to the Amsterdam Biennale 2009!
PP: The end of the year is fast approaching too: what are your good intentions for 2010? If your intentions are bad, better still...
SD: In recent years I’ve become very sensitive to dates: times, days, years, personal birthdays, collective anniversaries. Dates are symbolic because they help us to remember. With every date comes a small death. For 2010 I hope to change this rather melancholic sentiment in a jubilant celebration of birth and life.
PP: Speaking of birth and death with Alléluia in 2008 you played with an Italian obituary notice. Did you want to die and be reborn?
SD: That too. I toyed with death. It’s dangerous, both psychologically and realistically. A superstitious person wouldn’t have done that. I protected myself with a four-leaf clover! Alléluia was an intense project that marked the whole year of 2008.
PP: Along these lines, if you could reincarnate in an artist from the past, man or woman, whom would you choose? Would an artist really be your first choice?
SD: Today, Albert Einstein.
PP: What do you like about Einstein?
SD: His genius, his astounding modesty, and his humanity.
PP: Would you like to be a scientist?
SD: I am honoured to be an artist.
PP: What, in your opinion, can art achieve that science can’t?
SD: When I identify myself with a scientist, I’ve got my feet on the ground, connected to earth. When I visualize myself as an artist, my mind is projected upwards. This is the difference, in my opinion art should, in theory, have more freedom than science. Thus it should be science that guides art and not viceversa.
My equation could be: Science + Religion = Art
PP: I grant science primacy over art, and therefore I dislike the word art. I prefer to speak of creativity, applied to diverse disciplines, not confined to the so-called artistic sphere. Art in itself is a vague concept largely connected to its marketplace.
SD: The market value attributed to a work of art. Time is the only judge capable of affirming or discrediting this value. Money has a power similar to that of faith.
PP: Art doesn’t exist, except in a romantic or market context. Creativity, on the other hand does exist, but creativity is ubiquitous: in science, technology, business, theatre, literature, painting, music, performance, fashion... How do you define art? What does art represent to you?
SD: Having a reason in life and a good alibi for a myriad of things!
PP: Earlier you said: Science + Religion = Art. Do you believe in God?
SD: ...
PP: In 2005 with I'm Looking for Myself you started a hunt for your body double? Why? Did you find it?
SD: I was looking for a person I could swap with, or substitute, a twin. Is this a romantically or scientifically viable pursuit?
PP: Yes, of course. You’ve already told me who you would like to be. Now, I’d like to ask you - on the subject of body doubles - who would you like to be like?
SD: Right now, Barack Obama!
PP: What do you expect from a President Premier Noble like Obama?
SD: I don’t expect him to delude us. Belief is one of the most important ingredients for success. I believe in his honesty and good intentions.
PP: What do you like wearing?
SD: I’ve never worn a Sabine Delafon T-shirt for example!
PP: What do you like to be when you grow-up?
SD: I would like to be an Artist.
PP: How would you like the SDC to develop? Have you ever considered transforming it into a business?
SD: I’ll have to touch base with Andy Warhol on that one...
PP: What extreme would you go to for fame or success?
SD: I care to preserve to my integrity, that success and fame merit.
PP: Have you ever stolen anything?
SD: ... they are part of my Confessioni (2005 - 2010).
PP: What would be the first thing you would do if you had 3 million Euros?
SD: I would, for an instant, have the illusion of being happy, and I would do my best to exploit that happiness for as long as possible.
PP: In 2005 you dedicated the I LOVE TO performance to the city of Turin, then your home. Now you live in Milan, since when?
SD: Since 2006.
PP: What relationship do you have with Milan? Do you like it?
SD: I could like it...
PP: Would you dedicate a project to Milan?
SD: Anticipating a project kills it. Einstein said: “If A is success, then the formula is: A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.”
PP: Which is your favorite city?
SD: An Asian one, I think
PP: Your favorite film?
SD: Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: a Space Odyssey
PP: Your favorite book?
SD: I’m currently reading Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo.
PP: You began to exhibit in 1998, in a collective hosted at the Galleria Massimo Carasi di Mantova. What have ten years of experience taught you about the contemporary art world?
SD: It’s a question of awareness and choice, talent and destiny.
