Rebecca Cleman and Karl McCool Interview, January 2021

Interview

Rebecca Cleman and Karl McCool interviewed by Barbara Clausen and Kristin Poor, January 22, 2021

Rebecca Cleman is the Executive Director and Karl McCool is the Distribution Director of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) in New York. This interview focuses on their work with Joan Jonas at EAI over many years and how their current professional relationship has developed from this long standing collaboration.

Transcript

• “Rebecca Cleman and Karl McCool interviewed by Barbara Clausen and Kristin Poor, January 22, 2021 (Interview Transcript).” Joan Jonas Knowledge Base, Artist Archives Initiative, 2021.

Abstract

The interview begins with Cleman and McCool each describing their roles at EAI and the history and mission of the organization, noting that it was founded to help support alternatives to the institutionalized ways that art was presented in museum and gallery settings [00:00–03:16]. McCool speaks about going through the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) Program at New York University [03:18–04:38]. This leads into a conversation about ongoing challenges and questions that come up in regards to managing, distributing, and preserving works (like significant shifts in technology) and how these challenges have affected works’ availability [04:39–08:53]. Cleman and McCool also discuss how EAI cares for materials together with the artists and what that process is generally like. They touch on how they are able to have a personal relationship with Jonas, given that she also lives in New York [08:55–13:04]. From here the interview focuses on working with Jonas in the present day and how the stewardship of preservation, education, and public programming is manifesting in relation to Jonas, specifically with Mirage and Organic Honey. Cleman states that a lot of it has to do with the current shift to digital files and flat screen displays. While Jonas does have strong feelings about how her work is shown, she keeps an open mind and is flexible when concerns arise [13:05–22:08]. Next the two walk through the process of working with an exhibition space or a curator who wants to present Mirage or Organic Honey, explaining that the works have specific rules that apply [22:09–35:10]. 

Cleman and McCool then discuss how EAI might be considered a site of moving images and how the overlap between artists working with video and artists working with film was influential for Jonas’s work [35:15–41:03]. The interview then segues to different curatorial and programming efforts that EAI has organized over the years that have featured Jonas’s work, such as screenings, panel discussions, and live performances [41:04–42:49]. The two also speak about distributing performance documentation and how that is related to the work [42:50–51:50]. They mention that in the last ten years, artists such as Jonas or Carolee Schneemann have reached far wider audiences than ever before. They explain how that phenomenon is echoed in the demand EAI receives for these artists’ work [51:51–57:33]. The interview ends with the two discussing their thoughts on Jonas’s legacy in regards to video distribution and how continuous work with an artist might take on different forms over many years [57:34–1:03:13].