Artist Intent and the Interview in Practice

One challenge in conserving contemporary works, with their ephemeral nature and use of unprecedented materials, is defining artist intent. Interviews are conducted with living artists to pinpoint this issue. However, artist intent is sometimes too intangible a concept to be defined in this manner.  I argue that the focus of the interview should shift to more concrete facts about materials and processes, and in doing so, information regarding intent can be gained subsequently. An interview with Robert Gober is discussed in this poster as an example.