Joan Jonas on Joan Jonas: Performance/Video/Installation

Interview

Joan Jonas on Joan Jonas: Performance/Video/Installation at University Art Museum (now UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), Berkeley, interviewed by Barbara Clausen and Kristin Poor, August 26, 2020.

Transcript

• “Joan Jonas on Joan Jonas: Performance/Video/Installation at University Art Museum, Berkeley, interviewed by Barbara Clausen and Kristin Poor, August 26, 2020 (Interview Transcript).” Joan Jonas Knowledge Base, Artist Archives Initiative, 2021.

Abstract

The interview begins with Jonas speaking about how she met David Ross, a curator at the University Art Museum (now UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), Berkeley and the initiator of the show [00:00–01:39]. From here, Jonas discusses how the museum asked her to put together the exhibition and how she approached the idea of a retrospective at that time, explaining that she had the entire museum building at her disposal and focused on her video work [01:40–04:04]. The discussion then turns into the decision-making processes behind the selection of works or parts of works that would be exhibited and performed [04:10–07:52]. During this time, Clausen points out that Jonas performed her pieces Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll, Funnel, and Upsidedown and Backwards in the galleries and Poor takes a moment to ask about the rehearsal process [05:35–07:52]. Jonas then speaks about her pieces Juniper Tree and Organic Honey and how versions of her work have an interesting relationship between stage, performing space, and exhibition space [07:53–15:28]. Poor also points out that the Organic Honey materials were moved from a different place after the performance and stayed up for the rest of the show; this evolves into a conversation about how Jonas moved through the environment at Berkeley in her performances and how the artist developed her first versions of installations during this retrospective [09:40–15:28]. Moving on, Jonas speaks about the two different video programs presented during this show. One was a continuous video screening in the galleries and the other was a one-night program where she gave a lecture about her videos [15:29–18:36]. 

Jonas then speaks about how this exhibition has impacted her thinking about how to show work in a gallery, explaining that she thinks about it piece by piece. Poor acknowledges here that Jonas’s performances and video were at the core of this retrospective [18:37–23:02]. Clausen then asks Jonas about the catalogue, which was made in collaboration with Eindhoven, and the roles of Rudi Fuchs, Jan Debbaut and Douglas Crimp in the creation of the publication three years after the Berkeley retrospective [23:02–26:05]. Jonas reveals that the occasion of the catalogue was the first time any of her scripts were published. She dives into more detail about the process of preparing the scripts with Douglas Crimp and the descriptions of all her videos with Lizzie Borden [26:06–30:34]. From here, Jonas talks about how she considers her own approach to her work. Focusing on her audience, she explains that it was important to expand from the East Coast to the West, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s. Clausen points out that by the end of the 1980s, Jonas had reception in Europe and asks Jonas to compare that to reception in the U.S [30:36–34:05]. Switching topics, Poor inquires Jonas about working at Crown Point Press, which displayed some of her Mirage prints during the retrospective, and printmaking and drawing in general for her [34:09–37:25]. Circling back to the exhibition, Clausen asks Jonas about sound and how it played a role in each piece [37:25–39:31]. The interview ends with Jonas explaining there were not any props or other materials from Mirage in the exhibition because the piece really depended on the video [39:48–40:59].