Non-stop art: why Doug Aitken is a man on a mission. By Hannah Ellis-Petersen.
He’s blown up his house, recorded the Earth’s tectonic plates, and worked with everyone from Tilda Swinton to Giorgio Moroder. Now the multimedia artist is taking over London’s Barbican. How does he find the time?
I am standing in a crowded gallery in London, looking up at a sculpture on the wall. It is a simple enough piece, three ostentatiously large 3D letters made from bluish glass, but the word they spell out – NOW – seems to drown out everything in the vicinity. The pretentious chatter, air kisses and clink of prosecco glasses are all suddenly muffled.
I’ve seen this work before. The piece, or one identical to it, was hanging in the immaculate LA studio of its creator, Doug Aitken, when I interviewed him three weeks earlier.
Aitken, a California native, is one of the most compelling and sought-after multimedia artists working today, with a list of collaborators stretching from Tilda Swinton to Martin Creed, via dance music legend Giorgio Moroder, but the first thing to say about him is that he is a lovely host. He’d only been given an hour’s notice for my interview but welcomed me like an old friend, making me peppermint tea “in honour of my accent” and humouring my nosy curiosity as I poked around his studio...
June 24 2015
