Constance DeJong Interview December 2019

Interview

Constance DeJong interviewed by Kristin Poor, December 11, 2019.

Constance DeJong is an American artist, writer, and performer with permanent audio installations in Beacon, NY, London, and Seattle. She has collaborated with artists such as Tony Oursler and wrote the libretto of Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha. DeJong is currently a professor of art and time-based media at Hunter College. In this interview, DeJong describes her experience in seeing some of Jonas’s performances and writing about the artist in the 1970s.

Transcript

• “Constance DeJong interviewed by Kristin Poor, December 11, 2019 (Interview Transcript).” Joan Jonas Knowledge Base, Artist Archives Initiative, 2021.

Abstract

The interview begins with Poor asking DeJong how she met Jonas while living and working in SoHo. DeJong describes the artistic scene of the time and explains that artists would often work in a cross-disciplinary manner [00:28–05:17]. Moving on, DeJong discusses writing about Jonas as well as her own interest in writing about other artists as a peer [05:23–09:35]. DeJong then recounts her memories of seeing Choreomania in Jonas’s Grand Street loft in 1971 [10:24–13:04] and Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy at LoGiudice Gallery in February 1972, which was the first of Jonas’s performance she wrote about for the The Drama Review [13:05–19:12]. Poor and DeJong talk about how DeJong was hardly exposed to Jonas before experiencing Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy and Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll and describes her idiosyncratic approach to writing about these works [19:24–26:21]. DeJong mentions seeing Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll at Leo Castelli Gallery and shares her thoughts about the piece, Jonas’s relationship with technology [27:49–33:07], and her ability to layer materials and meaning [35:25–38:55]. From here, DeJong mentions that she saw the 2003 Queens Museum exhibition several times and shares her love for the work My New Theater [39:04–42:23]. Poor then asks DeJong if she has any thoughts or advice on exhibiting Jonas’s work in the future [42:26–46:40]. Next, DeJong discusses Jonas’s influence on her own work and the development of her ideas [46:43–50:46]. The interview finishes with Poor asking DeJong if she has any questions that the Joan Jonas Knowledge Base should ask Jonas and who she thinks should be interviewed by the team [50:48–55:11].