Harald Schaack
Harald Schaack is a Dusseldorf-based multidisciplinary artist who uses multi-media art and creative direction to examine deconstructivism. From a glance at his work, such as his project: man, this sucks hard right now (2022), you get the impression it is about the interaction between artificial intelligence and human life, something increasing amounts of artists are exploring today. However, the longer you sit with it, which incorporates the generation of images via artificial intelligence and audio that was created through a collaboration with a friend, this sucks hard right now (2022) is about the conversation between artists, artificial intelligence and reality.
Using artificial intelligence data sets and more traditional forms of creation, Schaack’s work underscores what it means to create today and challenges how the viewer interacts with art; is viewing an online exhibition on a mobile phone different to going to a physical exhibition, is one less of an experience than the other? Such questions are raised through Schaack’s work.
Recently, he has founded the grotesk.group, a group of artist friends that are able to push one another’s art.
It’s 00:07 here in Melbourne as I type these questions. What would you usually be doing during this time on a weekday?
To be honest: I probably sleep. My sleep rhythm has become quite conservative and I find it really nice to get up early and - even if it's just barely - start before the rest. Whatever works, I guess.
How does being a multidisciplinary artist effect the way you view a project when it’s in its infancy stage? Do you create with a particular medium in mind for each project, i.e. sound, painting, etc.
When I can approach a project completely unbiased and free, I pay attention to which medium feels most natural to me. The first thoughts are probably the most emotional, but that's also why they are the most valuable, because they give the impulse for the next steps.
Your exhibitions feature a mix of technology and social media with utopian paradise imagery, do you think technology is pushing art forward or is the artist the one pushing?
I believe that it is a give and take, a kind of dialogue and perhaps simply - romantically speaking - a teamwork, through which art, the artist and thus also technology is driven forward. It's probably easy to compare it to an inspiring conversation where ideas, techniques and opinions are revealed, where you listen to the other person, rethink their views and see a change in their thinking in the very next sentence.
How does the collaborative process challenge you as an artist?
It depends on who I'm collaborating with. When I work with other artists, I often have to free myself from my focus and realize that we are all thinking in different directions. Especially the beginning of the creative process, when it is all over the place, that's where patience is applied, which I don't always have. I like to work very fast.
When I work with data sets and artificial intelligences the challenge is different. I see the steps of data collection and input, as well as creating the visualizations, as a kind of counter question or mirror. I often feel the images that are created are a reflection of the data we leave behind as humans and often wonder what that says about us.
What theme in your work can you not help but include, no matter how hard you try not to?
Stubbornness. Probably not the most obvious answer, but after being told many times that I can't do something a certain way, or that you shouldn't use a certain technique that way, I keep realizing that I want to do things wrong on principle. It doesn't matter if it's a program that I'm not using for its intended purpose or a workflow that is obviously cumbersome or pointless. I often just want to misuse things. Everyone is trying to do so much right - it bores me so much.
Is art therapy for you? Or do you keep the art that is therapy for yourself?
I don't think I've ever hidden and held back any artwork for personal reasons - unless the work just didn't appeal to me enough. However, I believe that my works are a kind of therapy for me. Breaking rules, using things the wrong way, hedonism and sexuality are not necessarily themes that run through all my work, but keywords that mean a lot to me for a variety of reasons and I enjoy. However, they are also topics with which I have dealt longer, and which have sometimes caused me some headaches.
Do you have any projects brewing for future exploration?
Recently I founded the grotesk.group with artist friends - a kind of umbrella for us, our ideas and experiments under which we can live out and push ourselves. I've been thinking a lot lately about human movement and how I can instrumentalize and visualize it. For example, in the art form of ballet I see a lot of possibilities for me and my art that I would love to explore; taking movement sequences, modifying them and then using them as a multiplier for machine learning is something I definitely want to implement this year.
interview JULIANNA P
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