(1) How long have you been making installations?
Since 1982, at M.I.T./USA.
(2) Why did you choose to make installations and not anything else?
I do a wide range of work on communications with and without technology. Installations permit me to organize space and I need them for the interactive behaviour in them.
(3) What do you think of your own works?
I like them because:
- I can follow-up in them, as a series.
- They are perceived as useful in setting up science experiments, too.
- They describe our immediate cultural future, as from 1982.
(4) What do you think the difference is between your own work and other installations?
The science dimension and the network aesthetics they relate to.
(5) What do you think of the relationship of traditional artwork and installation?
Most traditional artworks are currently decorative. Installations permit me to organize space and I need them for the interactive behaviour in them.
(6) What is the size and material of an installation determined by?
Size depends on the environment of the organism. For materials, any video-communications equipment will do: simple slowscan, or the latest video conferencing equipment (usually 2 cameras, and minimum 2 tv-monitors will do, plus cables).
(7) Could you mention the installation you consider to be the largest and the smallest one?
Smallest: “Face to Face - 1” (unless extended). Largest: “Face to Face - 2” (as it necessarily involves geographical distance).
(8) Is there any object or idea that cannot be installed?
No.
(9) How does environment affect the installation of the work?
“Face to Face” can be re-formed to fit any environment (exactly the same minimal equipment can permit us a sequence of different installations).
(10) Do you know any fact that restricts the possibilities of installation?
I need electricity to activate the “Face to Face” but I don't need it to illustrate the concepts involved! And not any technology to start with!
(11) Do you like making installation for order or at request?
I work on my own anyway. But I end up having proposals. Requests means I will be doing “Face to Face” in public and I like the challange, plus I enjoy the complexity of public policy and legislation involved.
(12) What do you think of preserving an installation?
I think it is an educational artwork.
(13) Can the value of an installation be estimated and how?
The process can: my survival, to keep on working. And of doing the work on site. I get paid indirectly. It is not the materials of an installation, but how I anticipate them.
(14) How does copyright apply to installations preserved only in documents?
People who know my work have reacted against occasional attempts to copy it. People who did copy have been unable to pursue the work anyway (whether in USA or in Greece).